“Cool, no driving,” he warned.
“All right,Dad, I get it. I promise if I have more than a couple, I’ll call Stephen to have him pick me up.”
“That’s my girl.” Cam just wanted her safe. “And God, don’t ever tell me about your love life again. I’ll have to scrub my brain with bleach.”
She giggled, looking happier than she had a few minutes ago, anyway.
She grabbed a chair and sat with them, handing out candy and admiring costumes. It was adorable.
Rachel came and checked in quite a bit, getting hugs and reassurance before finally crawling up into the Suburban and wrapping up in blankets with a couple of the other smaller kids. Soon the back end of that vehicle was filled with little people, but at least they were warm and safe.
Mitch seemed in his element, laughing and telling jokes with people admiring each and every costume, and the son of a bitch knew who every one of them were—every weird pop culture anything, Mitch got it.
Not only that, but he spoke Spanish to all the Spanish-speakers that were there, switching back and forth as easily as he took a pair of glasses out of his pocket.
“Por supuesto, Señora Pecina. Puedo aydarte.”
“Gracias, Señor Mitch.” Mrs. Pecina headed off, leaning hard on her cane, her great grandbabies in tow.
“I didn’t know you could speak Spanish.”
“I work with a lot of people who were born in Mexico. At first, I was just trying to keep up with conversation. Now, it’s good to be able to talk to folks. It’s beautiful language.”
“I probably understand a little bit more Brazilian Portuguese than I do Spanish, I’ll be honest.”
“Bull riders.” Mitch looked around, lowered his voice, and said, “I bet you and Brazilian bull riders get along just fine.”
“Listen to you.” That was true. They did go along pretty good. Some of those men were hotter than fireworks in July, but well, he reckoned he was taken now.
“So what were you agreeing to do?”
“Oh, she has a hole in the roof. I’ve got a couple of guys who owe me a favor and some extra shingles in the shed. I’ll just gohave them run up and patch it. They’ll do it for a twenty each, and that way she’s dry and warm.”
“Nice.” Cam liked that, how Mitch might just be getting back on his feet, but he was always happy to help. That was why people had wanted to help him so much, and Cam was starting to get this whole small-town thing now like he never had as a kid.
Sarah came drooping over with Teresa right about the time it really started to get dark. “Can we get in the backseat? We don’t want to wake up thelittlekids.”
Oh lord. She was so ironic and hand-staple-forehead.
Mitch’s lips curled a little. “Sure, baby girl. There’s more blankets. Once I know your sister is done unicorning and comes to get her bag, we’ll head out.”
“Okay, Daddy. You and Cam are cute handing out candy.” Yawning, she opened the back door and the girls crawled in on the floorboards, because the one seat still had a booster for Rachel, wrapping up and chatting, head-to-head.
Mitch gave him a look full of hilarity and mouthed, “Cute?”
“Right?” He held up his hands as he whispered it, then handed out candy to another bunch of kids, two of which he thought had already been around once. That was okay. There was plenty of candy left.
“Tamales, Cam? Or a hot dog?” One of his sisters-in-law’s sisters—was that what he should call them?—came around with plates of adult food in hand.
“I’ll take the dog.”
“And I’ll have the tamales and we can split both,” Mitch agreed.
“So cute.” Katia handed them the plates.
“‘Cute’. There’s that word again.”
She winked and sashayed off, and he glanced at Mitch. “Am I missing something?”
