He rolled up his sleeves and set to doing dishes. This, he was good at.
“Well, you always say you look out for— Fine. I’ll call Balta. Right. Bye.” Beau flipped his phone closed. “I lit a fire under Ace’s ass.”
“I called Mrs. Gardner. She’s coming.”
“Then we’d best tell Jase and Andy.” They finished up the dishes together before heading back out.
“You reckon Missy’s okay?”
“Yeah. I think she’s just tired to the point that she ain’t taking care.” Beau nodded across the room at Andy, then jerked his chin toward the back.
Andy nodded, touched Jason’s wrist and murmured something, then Jase nodded.
Sam started getting tickled.
Bobblehead fucking bull riders.
Nod.
Nod.
Nod.
They all eased out, Janey taking the kids off to do some kind of homeschooling thing, Missy nodding off with Daisy in her lap.
“What’s wrong?” Jase was frowning, deep lines creasing his forehead.
Sam shrugged. “Missy don’t look so good. Mrs. Gardner’s coming.”
“Oh, shit. She’s not sick, is she? Aje would kick our asses.” Andy was a little green around the gills.
“No. She’s tired, is all. I think.”
Jason shook his head. “We should go. We could call Gramps.”
“Pharris is broke, Jase.” Sam wasn’t gonna have these hooligans go and get Coke up out of the bed.
“Christ, y’all. Instead of running off, make yourselves useful and help the woman out.” Beau was good at sounding like a vengeful uncle.
Sammy chuckled under his breath, careful not to let Beau hear.
Andy kinda stuttered. “I-we. Okay. Okay, what did we do?”
“Y’all didn’t do, but AJ can’t come back yet and she’s not right.”
“So what do we need to do to make it right?” Andy wasn’t an asshole, he’d just been all wrapped up in Jase, Sam’d bet.
He opened his mouth to tell them to get on the riding mower, but Jase couldn’t do that. Couldn’t nail shingles or fix disposals or… Fuck. He glanced at Beau for help. Beau gave him the wide eyes. Shit, that was a dilemma. They couldn’t even go grocery shopping.
Jason started laughing, the sound starting soft, then getting louder and longer. Andy stared, looking like he might shit a pink Twinkie.
“Shit, y’all. This…this shit isridiculous! I’m fucking blind and we’re trying to make like it’s just normal.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want you to feel bad, Jay Jay.” Beau cackled, right out loud. “You know we’re all about your fucking self-esteem.”
“Sammy, tell me, where is Bobo, exactly?” Jase grinned like an idiot, made a fist.
“Left three steps, then straight on until you hit the smug grin.”
