“With your man and his people?”
“No. They think we’s nasty and low.” He could feel it, the way Adam was ashamed of him, of being with someone like him. It burned at him, the fire getting brighter and hotter with every passing minute. He hadn’t thought he was low before.
Maybe he was too stupid to think of it. Lord.
“Then fuck ’em. We don’t need them. I’ll curse that motherfucker ‘til he plumb glows in the dark and draws the devil.”
“Sister!” Her sharp words made him hoot, though, Laurel always having his back.
“What? What, you done been here for me our whole lives. You make us money, you fix the house, you kept the state from taking us away after Maw-Maw went to the Lord. You did that. How’s that low? You tell me that.”
“These folks, Sister, they got big old houses, they got money. Shit, all them boys went to college, all the way through.” Adam was the first man he’d ever really known that had done that.
“Well, la-dee-da.” She snorted. “Don’t you let that make you feel like less.”
“’Course not.” How could he feel any less than right now? “I won the event, did I tell you? Pay two years’ worth of taxes.”
“Did you? Oh, that’s fine. Real fine.” He could hear it in her voice, the need to heal him, to make him all better. “Come home. I’ll make you beignets.”
“I’m coming. I’ll be there when you wake up in the morning and I’m reckoning to stick a while.” Maybe a long while. Maybe he wouldn’t ride bulls much no more. Roping was where his heart was, anyway. One day, he’d find someone like Sam Bell to rope with, since Mr. Beau said Sam wouldn’t be doing it no more, either. Someone who could be proud of him, a little.
“You take care of you, huh? I need you.”
“Toujours et toujours, oui? For always.” His head was starting to hurt and he welcomed it. He reckoned the soreness in the center of his soul would be bothering him some longer.
