“Pecan, if we have it.”
One of Nattie’s wee babies toddled over to him, and he held out his arms.
“No lifting, Hoss. I’ll put him in your lap, if you want.”
“Yeah. That’d be good.” Nate lifted the baby up, Dillon put a heat pad on Coke’s neck, and Tracy went to get pie. The day was looking a lot better.
When his cowboy settled on the arm of his recliner, the day was just fine.
Wow.
Wow, poor Coke. The man was sound asleep in the recliner, a toddler in each arm. The pie and the pain pill had kicked in, and there was snoring and a serious aww factor.
Dillon followed Tracy to the kitchen, carrying pie-smeared plates and coffee mugs. “Does Coke get headaches like this often? I mean, this is the first once since…”
“He used to, all the time. After the first break, they were constant. I haven’t seen one in… Nate? Over a year?”
Nate had come in behind him to pour another cup of coffee. “Yeah. It’s worse in the cold.”
“That’s the muscles, though, in his neck.” Tracy started washing, winked at him. “Bullfighters have these weird things. Nate? Wakes up with leg cramps so bad he screams and walks for hours. Coop shakes all the time now, and Fred’s butt is numb.”
“I don’t think I wanted to know that about Fred.” He tried a smile, but it was less than bright.
“Hey, you just need to learn the signs. I think it’s great that he hasn’t had one in so long. You must ease him.”
“I try.” He hated to see Coke hurt. “He gets lots of shoulder rubs.”
“Good deal. He worked hard today, and I caught him picking up kids more than once. He forgets.”
“Well, now that I know, I won’t.” He winked, knocked Nate on the arm. “Don’t worry about the dishes, eh? Just put them in the sink.”
Tracy had done most of the clean-up with Susan. He could do the rest.
“Bah. You go get Hoss in the hot tub. Me and Tracy were gonna take the kids into town to that Santa movie, if y’all don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind a bit.” Dillon hugged Tracy. “Thanks, you guys.”
Tracy winked at him. “If you’ll let us borrow a house key, we won’t bother you when we come back in.”
“Oh, sure. Hey, take my truck, too, huh? It has snow tires.” He handed over the keys easily.
“I’ll finish here. Nate, bundle babies. Dillon, get Coke into bubbly water before he volunteers to help.”
“Got it.”
When he headed back into the front room, Coke was blinky but awake, and trying to get up. “Hey, babe. I got your trunks.”
“We goin’ swimming?” Coke gave him this warm, sweet smile.
“Soaking.” He heard the door close behind Nate and company. “In fact, we don’t need shorts. Everyone else went to a movie.”
“Oh? You didn’t want to go?” Coke let Dillon lead him into the bedroom, where the door to the hot tub waited.
“Nope. I wanted to soak and be quiet with you.” Dillon grinned. “It was crazy today.”
“It was. I didn’t ruin the dinner, did I?”
“No, babe.” Dillon hugged Coke gently. “Everyone had a great time.”
