“Okay, but if he had been hurt, and you know he has to have been, but if you knew he’d been hurt, would you go help him?”
“Huh?” Dammit. No, he wouldn’t have. Not before. Now he would. “Yes.”
“Dude, don’t lie. We both know that if he’d fallen off a horse and broke his neck, you wouldn’t have been in line to come take care of him and wipe his butt.”
“He’s never once wiped my butt.”
“Metaphorically, he has.” Mark sighed. “Anyway, don’t look this gift horse in the mouth. Stop it with the self-pity and think what you can do for him in return, if you don’t want to be a pity case.”
“That’s just it, buddy. There’s nothing I can do.”
“Oh, bullshit. Run interference with his momma. Figure out what his favorite movies are and cue them up at night when the girls go to bed. Talk to him about him. Cowboys love that. And it don’t cost you nothin’.”
“All right, asshole, there’s no reason to be ugly. I’m?—”
“I’m not being ugly. I’m just trying to get you out of the hole you’re digging yourself into.” Mark sighed. “Look, I’m going to send you some cash. Don’t argue because I’m going to do it. It’snot a loan. It’s a gift. Just enough to get you through the next little bit and let you feel like you got your feet on the ground.”
No. No, that wouldn’t work. “I don’t want you to do that.”
“And God knows I have never done anything you don’t want me to do. Let me ask your permission to do more shit. Suck it up, man. I’ve listened to how you feel about this dude. If you like him, then this lets you be on a little bit more even keel. If you don’t like him, then this gives you a reason to tell him to get the fuck out. So just shut the fuck up and say thanks, buddy.”
Mitch took a deep breath and let it out. “Thanks, buddy. I’ll pay you back. I swear to God.”
“Mitch, you and those girls are my family, just like I’m yours. You pay me back all the time by letting me be Uncle Mark. So just shut up and when you two do get it on, I want details. Like a literal blow-by-blow.”
“I promise you nothing on that front. I’m not even sure mine works anymore.”
Mark’s scoff was loud, harsh. “It hasn’t been that long, man. It still works. You just need a little encouragement from the right person.”
And that was the truth. His everything had been trying to work that day that Cam kissed him. All of his everythings, in fact, had been working in the best possible way.
Cam was the right guy at the right time, God help him.
Too bad he didn’t think he was the right guy for Cam at any time. But maybe he would work on that. Maybe Mark was right, and he just needed to get over himself.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” he said, and he couldn’t stop his chuckles from bursting out.
“You do that, buddy. You do it. I love you, man. Remember that. You’ve always got me in your corner, nothing else.” He knew Mark had a hard time being so serious, so he reallyappreciated that his friend was making such an effort on his behalf.
“I love you too. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Later. Bye.”
Mitch hung up and sat there on his bed for a minute trying to make that whole conversation make sense. If he went with it, which who knew whether he would from day-to-day, then what his brain was telling him was he needed to give Cam a chance and give himself a chance to see where things went.
Problem with that scenario was if Cam left him again, it might break his heart all over. And seriously, the odds were that Cam would leave because he was a rodeo man, and they always chased the game a lot longer than they did personal relationships.
How many songs were there about that anyway? At least three or four by Garth Brooks alone.
Now he was working himself up to being pity party Mitch, wasn’t he? So he nipped that right in the bud and headed out from his bedroom to the front room. He might not be able to lift and haul a lot, but he could straighten up and then maybe he could put some meatballs out from the freezer for dinner.
It had been long enough that nobody should cry, and that would be one thing Cam didn’t have to do today.
He figured that was doing something nice for Campbell in return, right? Just like Mark had said. Might not be much, but it would make him feel like a better dad and a better friend-slash-love interest for Cam. Anything that gave him more confidence these days couldn’t be bad.
One way or the other, he was gonna figure out how to pay everybody back from Cam to Cam’s momma to Mark. At least he felt like he could maybe do that now if he had a little breathing room.
Cam walked into the house,and it smelled damn good in there. He was kind of surprised because he didn't think Bekka could do anything besides burn toast. And the last he'd known Mitch was in his room taking a nap or something. Feeding had gone poorly today with Rosie chasing around after a couple of the smaller animals, and his Fire in a shit mood, trying to kick the hell out of him.
