“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “Uh, I’m a townie.”
Wonderful. Joa offered her a warm smile, trying to remember how Balta did it. “He’s a legend. Very important.”
“Poor guy.” Now she actually looked sympathetic, and he could hear it the moment Sam’s teeth stopped grinding. “Well, I hope he gets better real fast.”
“We all do.” He put the cookies and sandwiches on the counter. “Is there water? There are a lot of men waiting.”
“Yeah. Back here.” She showed him the coolers with bottled water and sodas.
“How many, Bell?”
Sam shrugged. “Get a dozen. I’ll put in for half.”
He grabbed a dozen waters and a handful of Cokes.
Sam handed over some cash. “I’m gonna make some calls, okay? Tell Beau I’ll be outside?”
“Sure. Sure I will.” He carried the food and drinks back, making sure Nate got the first pick. “Any word?”
“I don’t know, man. I wanna be here when Hoss wakes up.”
“Well, then we need to find you a place with a bed, not just a pull out chair or a cot. Someone can go get you clean clothes.”
It was Sam that stepped up. “Nattie. Go to the hotel. Me and Beau’ll take it today. If anything happens, I’ll call you.”
“Yeah? It don’t matter what time, huh?”
“I know, man. You go, call your woman back, sleep.”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay. I’ll…” Nate rubbed the back of his neck. “Don’t let him do nothin’ stupid, he wakes up before I’m here.”
“Shit, I’ll send Boug here to sit on him. The man’s got leverage.” Sam winked.
“That’s a good idea.” Balta moved close to Joa, hip bumping his slightly. “Thank you for getting food.”
He smiled, nodded. “It’s been a long day.”
“It has.” Balta didn’t say it, but Joa knew. It could have been one of them. It was always that way. You worried about your friends, but you thanked God it wasn’t you.
“Let’s take Nate to the hotel. Get some rest.” No one knew what tomorrow would bring.
“Sim. Sim. Beau and Sam, they’ll stay.” Balta went to Sam, whispering something before steering Nate toward him, making the man drink some water.
It took some doing, but they got Nate in the truck, started the roundabout drive to the hotel. Balta kept up a steady stream of chatter, letting him drive. Nate’s head bobbed, the man exhausted, dozing.
He pulled into the driveway and parked, the sudden silence shocking.
Nate snapped upright. “Sorry. Sorry. Where’s my room?”
“You’re on the first floor. Two doors down from us. Come on.”
“Thanks.” Nate seemed completely done, gray and staggering.
Balta glanced at him, raising a brow. “Come on, Nate. We’ll get you set, huh? Help call the wife.”
God, Joa felt like all he did was nod and follow. His own tie up with the bull in the chute, plus the rides were starting to catch up to him, too, leaving him aching, sore.
They got Nate to his room, boots off and on a bed, before Balta dug out Nate’s cell phone and found Nate’s wife’s number. They left him mumbling over the phone, already half-asleep.
