Chapter Thirty-Nine
Pete
Six Months Later
I’d just stepped out of the house onto the porch when Emma came tooling up the country road and turned into the driveway. It wasn’t even six yet.
“What’s gotten into our girl, Riley?” I asked, but the dog just went on sleeping, completely ignoring me, as usual. I set my cup of lukewarm coffee on the porch railing and walked down to the driveway to greet her. She just rolled her window down and ordered me to get in.
“We have to get to the Texan,” she said. “Get in and let’s go!”
“You’re damned bossy this morning,” I replied, smiling as I got into her tiny little car, my legs cramped nearly up to my chest. “We’ve got to get you into a pickup, Em.”
“I like my car,” she said. “It gets good gas mileage.”
We drove over to the Texan, getting one of the good spots up front. There were a few more cars out here than usual. When we went inside, I was surprised to see Mr. Flowers sitting at the table with the old timers. He was probably a good ten solid years younger than they were, but he seemed to be getting along with them just fine.
“When did your daddy start coming to the Texan?” I asked as we moseyed over.
She grinned at me, her emerald eyes shining in that pretty way they had. “I talked him into coming a few weeks ago just to meet the guys. Now he comes damned near every morning, whether I’m here or not.”
I pulled up a chair next to the only empty one at the table, letting Emma sit down next to her daddy before I got in on the other side of her. “Morning,” I said to everyone.
Emma leaned to kiss her daddy on the cheek. I looked over at him and nodded.
“Morning, Mr. Flowers.”
He nodded back at me, not really smiling, but not frowning either. I’d take it. I liked the quiet way he carried himself. The better I got to know this man, the more I understood why Emma was as amazing as she was.
The waitress came over to give us some coffee.
“I already got my number,” Big Tom announced. “You starting us off today, John?”
“I reckon so,” Mr. Flowers said. “Fifty-five.”
“Lower,” Big Tom replied.
Emma went next, then me, then Winston, Laraby, and back to Mr. Flowers again. We went around one more time before we were down to two numbers. It had come down to Emma and her daddy. She smiled at him, nodding to tell him to take his turn. I had a good idea of what was about to happen, considering I’d seen Big Tom communicate the number he’d chosen to Mr. Flowers using his fingers when Emma was talking to the waitress, who’d wandered over in the middle of the game to refill our mugs of coffee. I could tell by the high shine in his eyes that he was going to guess the right number so Emma wouldn’t get stuck with the bill.
“Seventeen,” he said, picking the number purposely so he would end up with the tab. The old timers cheered Emma, who smiled, that pretty color blooming in her cheeks the way it did whenever she was truly happy.
As soon as we’d finished a few waitresses came to deliver our breakfasts.
“I never tasted eggs as good as these,” Mr. Flowers said.
“Hey!” Emma said. “I make you eggs all the time.”
“Uh oh, John,” Tex said, grinning. “Looks like you just stepped in it.”
He chuckled low in his throat. “You never put cheese in your eggs, Em.”
“I can start.”
They laughed together. I was smiling just watching them. I’d never seen Mr. Flowers as talkative as he was around the old timers. But it made sense. I’d gotten Emma to open up by bringing her here all those months ago after she first started at the ranch.
“We’re gonna take a drive over to your daddy’s ranch after breakfast, young lady,” Big Tom said, talking right to Emma like he always did. If a pretty girl was around, he never stopped flirting. The few times I’d brought Lacey here, he’d focused right on her, completely forgetting my ass was even there.
“Oh yeah?” Emma turned to her daddy. “What’re y’all doing on the farm?”
“Tom’s got some ideas about what I can do with the land out back of the barn past the garden,” he replied, then took a big bite of his omelet.
“The rest of us are just going to have something to do,” Laraby said, and everyone laughed long and loud.
“Can y’all keep it down over there!” our waitress cried from the counter, then giggled herself when we craned our necks to look over at her.
“Careful, or you won’t get a tip!” Tex hollered, and the table broke up laughing again when she flipped him the bird.
“You ever been out to Pete’s place, John?” Big Tom asked.
“Matter of fact, I have,” he said. “Em showed me around once or twice, and we rode some of the horses.”
I hadn’t heard Mr. Flowers say this much in all the time I’d known him. I could plainly see how pleased Emma was to see him this way. He fit right in with the old timers, even if he was the youngest by nearly a decade. Being younger had never stopped me from fitting in with them, after all.
“We’re barbecuing this weekend, too,” Emma said, grinning first at her daddy before she looked around at each man at the table. “Y’all are welcome to join us.”
The guys had a good deal to say about that, thanking her and arguing over what they needed to bring until she put an end to the back and forth.
“Just bring your appetites,” she said.
“I bring that damned thing wherever I go anyway,” Mr. Flowers said, and the men around the table chuckled.
Emma and I finished our meals slowly, sharing the occasional glance and a smile as we listened to the older men talk. This was my favorite part of the day — or it had been before Emma started spending more nights at my place than she did her own — just soaking up everything these men had to say. Always had been. It made me miss my own daddy something fierce, but they kept him alive somehow. And, I liked that Mr. Flowers was part of this now, too.
“We’d better get back to the farm before those horses get to wondering where we are,” Emma piped up. She gave her daddy a kiss and stood. The men around the table got up when she did, which always made her giggle. I shook hands with every man there, same as I always did, telling them goodbye until the next time. They clapped me on the shoulder, all but Big Tom, who pulled me into a hug.
“You let go of that girl, and I’ll snatch her up myself,” he whispered to me before letting me go.
I smiled at him and moved on to Mr. Flowers. Emma had drifted to the other side of the table, giving each man a hug and a smile.
Mr. Flowers took my hand and shook it firmly, the way he always did, but, this time, he held our shake for a few seconds longer.
“Thank you, Pete,” he said.
I pulled my eyebrows together some, confused, but he looked past me at Emma, who was laughing at something Big Tom had said, that healthy color high in her cheeks. I turned back to Mr. Flowers, smiling myself. I couldn’t help it after seeing her.
He nodded at me, not saying another word, and I nodded, too. The words passed through us, unspoken, just like they had the first night we met. We let go of each other and turned to watch the girl who’d wrapped us both around her little finger without really even trying.