Everyone needed to breathe and not fuck up.
Dillon nodded easily. “I’ll go say hey so you can all stop being all guilty, eh?”
“Good deal. Tag, take Hank out with you to the barns, Nattie, fetch Benji. He’s the one that’ll slip. Balta, you’re with me, huh.” God knew Ace had been calling about a million times anyway.
Balta gave him a knowing wink. “I will run interference.”
“He’ll want to talk to me, but I’ll let you.” And be grateful for it, too.
They all knew their jobs now, and Dillon left first, trotting out to glad hand the bigwigs.
Natty was already on the phone with Tracy and they didn’t have to worry on Aje because he was at the hospital.
Now someone just had to call Jason and made sure he didn’t show up while Ace was still there.
Dillon was standing there, chattering at Ace and Cash, pointing this way and that, and he knew that his cowboy was explaining—so and so was here, Balta was here, the Taggarts.
Ace caught sight of Coke and waved him over, smiling wide, taking off his sunglasses so they could see eye to eye.
“Ace. How you doing, man? Cash?”
The smile seemed genuine enough, so he answered it, letting him put his worry away.
“Hey, Gramps.” Cash winked because him and Cash, they were off an age.
Ace clapped him on the shoulder. “Been trying to check in on you, Pharris. How are you doing?”
Check on him? Huh. “I’m working on it. My hand is knitted up and now we have to get Miz Gardner home and them babies born.”
“Babies?” Ace asked.
“Yessir. Twins.”
“Jesus Christmas,” Cash said. “Well, I’m here to help, if y’all need it. I got my work boots on.”
“Same here.” And just like that, the King of the Cowboys threw in.
Almost made a man feel bad for lying to him.
Almost.
Coke grinned. “Well, Joa’s up on the roof, so no one has to do that.”
“Well, he’s younger than us, huh? Where’s AJ? I want to see him, right?”
“He’s at the hospital. Y’all want directions there?”
“Yeah, I’ll head out there and also do a grocery run,” Ace said. “I’ll be back with steaks and burgers for everyone. Weather looks like it’s going to hold okay.”
Coke nodded. “Grab stuff for a huge batch of chili and cornbread, plus black-eyed peas, would you?”
“Yessir.” Ace winked at him. “Cash, you coming or staying here?”
“I’ll stay here and help out. If nothing else, I can clean shit.”
“Such an old lady,” Ace teased. “Dillon, ride with me.”
“You got it.” Dillon glanced over his shoulder, winked at him
