Cowboy Logic - B.A. Tortuga Page 0,61
offender and this, he was going to stroke out.
“Your boyfriend.” She blinked, then came right to him and patted his arm. “Has he not asked you to go with him yet? He will. I know he will. You could send him a text.”
“Go with him. Baby, do you even know what that means?”
“Sure.” She waved a blithe hand. “Kissing and going on dates and stuff.”
“Oh.” He felt like he’d been hit by a baseball bat. Had she seen something? Had someone said something? “Why do you think he’s my boyfriend?”
“Because he looks at you like Anna looks at Kristoff. Duh.”
“Oh.” He was repeating himself. “Well, I do like him, baby girl. A lot.” That was fair, right?
“Cool. He likes you too. What next?”
“Huh?” God, he’d lost his mind.
“What do you want me to do next?” She spoke slowly, like he had had a stroke or something. Lord have mercy.
“Watch it, missy.” He shook off his stupid. “See if Trav needs help. If not, go ahead and go get packed.”
“Yes, sir! Travis! Travis, do you need help?” She could yell like a pissed-off trucker at a rest stop.
“No!” Travis screamed it back, and Jericho winced. Hell, if they got done early, he would call Tammy, see if she could come sooner.
“Boy, you’re going to get stomped.”
“Am not!”
“Farley will eat you for dinner.” Farley was the donkey Ellie thought was so loud and stinky, and he could kick. Hard. “And your granny won’t appreciate it if I turn you over trampled.”
Travis started laughing, and he’d be damned if that fucker Farley didn’t start braying along.
He chuckled, putting his head down to work. He wasn’t going to think about what Ellie had said. No, sir.
Except.
He was.
God. He was crazy for Logic, and what had Ellie said? Logic looked at him.
He chewed on it all through chores. Through helping the kids with their homework so they could have the weekend off. Hell, he worried about it until Tammy showed up at six.
He had to admit it was the most comforting thing—she wore the same soft worn jeans, V-neck shirt, pendant with a diamond and a topaz for her grandbabies. She was eternal. She walked in and grabbed herself a Coke before she turned to look at him, little smile becoming a frown. “What is it?”
“Huh?” He tried to look innocent but knew he failed. “Do I look gayer today?”
She arched one dark eyebrow. “Let me see… brown T-shirt, wrists holding strong, no pussy shoes, distinct smell of cow shit. Nope. Not gayer.”
“Ellie asked me if I had a boyfriend.” He blurted it out, like he’d blurted out he was gay the day of Naomi’s funeral.
“No shit? She’s a smart little girl, my granddaughter.”
“It seems perfectly normal to her.”
“Well, that’s progress in the world. Why did she ask?”
Yeah, his mother-in-law was a smart cookie too. “I—I, um…”
She didn’t interrupt or anything. She watched him and waited.
“You remember Anderson Whitehead?” He had no idea if she would. Naomi had never even acknowledged that Anderson was alive, he thought.
“Is this that young man who’s helping Trav with his robots? Uh… Logos? Legos? Llama?”
He snort-laughed. “Logic. Yeah, that’s him.” He wanted to gush. He didn’t.
“Travis adores him, and Ellie says he’s nice.” Tammy patted his hand. “Is he good to you?”
“So far… We’re still at the getting-to-know stage. I mean, I know a lot about him now.” He surprised himself with that. He did know a lot. They’d talked about all sorts of shit.
“There doesn’t seem to be a thing wrong, then. You should enjoy him. I mean, if you’re happy.”
“It’s dangerous, Tammy.” Jericho spread his hands, meaning it in more than one way. “I mean, I could get us both killed.”
“We’re in the fucking—” She stopped, took a breath. “Fuck the red hats and the bigots. You can’t live your life like that.”
“Mom…” His heart was pounding. “Someone has already accused him of being a sexual predator. Conor Morrow.”
“Isn’t he the fuckmonkey that cut your fence? Who the hell cares what he thinks?” Tammy was wide-eyed, shocked.
“His daddy? The sheriff?”
“Dinosaurs,” Tammy said, waving her hand. “Honey, you deserve some happiness. I know you and Naomi weren’t happy. Your kids are old enough for the truth now.”
“Are you sure?”
“Did you tell Ellie you were gay?”
“What? No!”
Tammy smiled. “Then she’s ready.”
“What about Travis?”
“I imagine as long as you don’t ruin his robot building, he’ll be fine. You know how many superheroes in his comic books are gay or bi now?”
“I guess not.” He felt blindsided.
“Okay, then. You deserve a