Ranch Manny - B.A. Tortuga Page 0,18
it, Brent could hear that, and Jesus, he was grateful. He needed help, and he’d prayed for relief. He hadn’t known it would come in the form of a wild child from Austin and his baby girl.
“Yeah.” He drained his beer, but he wasn’t ready to head inside yet. “Well, you let me know what works and what doesn’t. Like I said before, we have more rooms in the house we can clean out and make yours if it’s easier. You only need to say once you settle some.”
“It might be easier, so I don’t have to stress Susannah on the stairs. She’s a little stupidly independent.”
“Sure. Hell, you can crash on the couch if she wants to sleep with Caro, and we can do it tomorrow. There’s two rooms with a bath connecting them on the other side of the house. Like a mother-in-law. They need airing, and one has a bunch of boxes I can move to the garage.” His mom had left all manner of stuff for him to sell. He spared her a thought, but not more. Some memories were private agonies.
“Do you mind? I… God, I worry about her taking a header down the stairs. This way I can be a help with the baby too, in the small hours.”
Was this guy for real? Pretty as hell, with his ink and crazy hair and hazel eyes, kind, and incredibly capable. Brent sure hoped Trace was real. “I don’t mind a bit. That’s why it’s empty up there. No one does stairs real well here.” He winked. “We’ll move stuff around tomorrow.” He made notes in his head. Call Lisa. Get a small bed for Susannah.
“Cool. I have a blow-up bed for Susannah right now, but I’ll start garage saleing.”
“There’s a good thrift store in town too. Only open on weekends, but Clare is a heck of a picker.”
“Oh cool. Yeah.” Trace met his eyes, the look serious, straightforward. “Thank you for this. I appreciate it. I was panicking a little.”
“Me too.” Brent waved a hand. “I figure it was serendipitous.” Look at him, using one of Curly’s favorite crossword puzzle words. “But seriously back atcha, you have a spot here.”
“You won’t regret it. I promise.”
“No. I bet I won’t. You, uh, you gonna hang out a few more minutes? I was thinking of sneaking one more bite of Hal’s breakfast cobbler.” He hadn’t gotten much.
“If it’s okay with you, totally. It feels good to just sit and visit.”
“It does.” No one had made time, or had time, of late. Brent missed it. They used to sit after supper all the time, him and the guys. No one had felt like it, maybe.
Maybe he hadn’t felt like it. When tragedy struck, people hunkered down and sometimes they forgot to do anything but survive from day to day. Shit, for the first month, he spent what he called the “sitting hours,” holding two scared kids in his big bed.
Lightning cracked, the lights chasing each other across the sky, and Trace jumped and tensed.
“Is your girl scared of thunderstorms?”
“Her. No.” The thunder rolled, just like the good Lord was bowling a strike. “I used to be terrified of them, but I won’t share my fears with her, you know?”
“That…” Damn, he’d never thought about anything like that. Was that a thing? How could that be a thing? How was he supposed to learn all this shit? His heartrate sped, and his chest clenched. “I couldn’t believe the kids came down with poison ivy on your first day here,” he admitted.
“Yeah. I’m fairly sure half of my barbecue sauce was calamine lotion.”
He hooted. “Let me get a Sprite and some cobbler. You want anything?” He hoisted up.
“I’ll take a cornbread muffin, if there are any left, please.”
“You got it.” He grabbed drinks and snacks before going back out. Adult time was probably nice for Trace too.
Trace had cleaned and closed the grill and gathered the random odds and ends to take back inside. The man just didn’t sit. That would serve him well on the ranch.
“Was there a muffin left?”
“There was. Here you go. In fact, I hid a couple for you in the breadbox.” Harold would eat anything not nailed down, and the hands often hit up the house for leftovers at lunch, if they were working close enough.
“At least the food went down well. That brisket was damn good.”
“It was. Harold is magic with the smoker and the grill. The hands will probably come in tomorrow for