“Give me about two minutes, and you’ll have your pizza. Do you want some ranch to dip it in?”
“Did they send pizza sauce? They usually send pizza sauce when we order in little cups. Even if you forget to ask for it.”
“Yeah, weirdo, they did.” He went to pull that out of the fridge too, putting it down on the counter. “Did you want me to heat it up?”
“Nah, as long as the pizza is hot, I don’t mind cold sauce.”
“Cool. Cam pulled another pizza box out of the fridge, and it looked like a supreme maybe when he yanked a couple of pieces out. “I’ll heat mine up next, that way you can start on yours.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” He took a deep breath. “Look, about the vet.”
“Don’t worry about it. I had to make sure all your guys were good to go in case I decided to bring my roping horse out here for a while.”
He blinked, not sure he understood what Cam was saying. “I—wait, what?”
“I’m thinking about bringing her out here to help me out as much as you. There’s just not enough room at Mom and Dad’s, and I don’t want to end up with my horse getting hurt because one of their angry rescue horses kicked him.”
“So hold on. You want to board your horse here?” That was…weird as hell. Why would Cam want to be here?
“Just for a little while. I didn’t figure it’d be a problem. You got a bunch of empty stalls out there, some real decent-looking pasture land.”
Somewhere along the line, Mitch had lost the plot. He had no idea where, but then again, it was in the middle of the night. So maybe it wasn’t so much him as it was just late and therefore he was too tired to figure this out.
“You don’t have to think so hard. You can just breathe.” Cam winked at him, obviously playing. “We can work this out for the next couple of days. I’m gonna have to get back on the road soon,” he said, “but it seems challenging to try to deal with this on your own, and I need a place for my horse to rest.”
It was tempting and awful at the same time, which was weird. “I can’t make any decisions right now. I’m hurt, I’m exhausted, and I’m starving. But what can a couple of days hurt? Your people have been too good to me, and I know it. I’ll repay everybody.”
“Shit, man, we’re neighbors. Your kids seem like good kids, and you seem like you need a sandwich.”
“I thought you were making pizza.”
Cam stopped. His mouth opened. He stared for a second. Then he shook his head. “I am. It’s almost done. Would you like something to drink?”
“Milk, please. I’m so thirsty.”
“You got it.” Cam started opening cabinets, and instead of telling the man where the glasses were, Mitch sat there, staring.
His brain and body just couldn’t coordinate.
Cam pulled out a glass finally, then filled it with milk. “You need more of this. You got a running list anywhere?”
“Uh-huh. Right there on the fridge.” He jerked his chin at all the odd magneted stuff on the front of the refrigerator.
“Oh, good deal. Who has the pretty handwriting with the hearts and flowers?”
“Well, it’s not Sarah. Or Rachel, really. Rachel’s just not old enough. She’s going to have bubble handwriting. Bekka’s my hearts and flowers girl.”
“Milk.” He chuckled softly as he read the list. “I take it y’all eat a lot of cereal?”
“Right now, yeah—cereal, canned soup, sandwiches. Bekka is trying really hard to learn to make eggs, and she makes a very, very good spaghetti and meatballs.”
Cam grinned over, that roper scar at the corner of his smile making it all crookedy. “Apparently, she also likes grape jelly meatballs.”
“Oh, she’ll eat them, but they’re for my baby girl. Rachel’s birthday is coming up, and that is her favorite food ever.”
She wanted a bike, and dammit, he was going to get her one if he had to go steal it from a pawn shop.
“Cool.” The pizza was plopped down in front of him, and Cam went back to heat up his own pizza while Mitch snarfed up two of the pieces without even thinking about it. They hit his stomach hard, but man, it felt good.
