Cowboy Take Me Away(134)
“For the love of God, Cameron, did you really tell your terrified two-year-old sister, at two in the mornin’, that there are mon—them things in here?”
“I was trying to help her! She was cryin’ and sad…” Then Cam’s lower lip started to quiver.
Shit. He was such a big kid sometimes he forgot the boy was only eight.
“It’s okay, son. Thanks for ah…tryin’ to help. It’s late. Just go crawl back in bed.”
Cam came over and gave him a side hug before he raced off.
Cord shook his head and left without a word.
Carson brushed the curls out of Keely’s eyes. “You ready to go back to bed, darlin’ girl?”
She shook her head. “Hafta go potty.”
“All right. But then bed, okay?”
“’Kay.”
Of course it didn’t work out that way. It was after three a.m. by the time he’d finished rocking her to sleep and slipped her in bed.
Day two started out well enough. Except for Cam insisting he could make his own toast. Only after the kitchen filled up with smoke and he refused to eat the slice of blackened bread did Cam confess that he’d never used the toaster.
Everyone got cereal at that point.
Carson left Colby in charge while he and Cord did morning chores.
They returned two hours later and Keely was running around the yard in just her underwear and her pink cowgirl boots.
No sign of any of her brothers outside.
Carson scooped Keely up and stormed into the house. “Colby! Why in the hell is your sister half nekkid outside all by herself?”
“What? She was outside? Me’n Colt were just, ah…doin’ some stuff in here. I swear she snuck out on her own! She’s always, uh, runnin’ off on Ma.”
Bullshit. His eyes narrowed. “What kinda of stuff were you doin’?” His gaze swept the living room. “Because it looks like a goddamned tornado went through here.” That’s when he noticed the hammer and a few nails on the coffee table. “What do you need them tools for?”
Colt said, “We hung up a picture for Ma. As a surprise.”
“Where?”
He swore both boys looked at the ceiling and whistled.
Shit.
“Where?”
Colt pointed. “It’s the one Carter drew her for Mother’s Day and she put it in a frame and everything.”
Keely squirmed. “Daddy. Down.”
“Hang on.” He walked over to the framed picture of flowers. They’d done a nice job hanging it straight and he would’ve been proud if not for the fact he could see the plaster buckling behind the frame. He lifted the picture off the wall the same time Colt said, “Dad, we can explain.”
Sure enough. Behind the oh-so-thoughtfully hung picture was a fist-sized hole.
Keely said, “Uh-oh.”
“You better believe uh-oh.” He replaced the picture and counted to ten before he faced Colby and Colt. “What happened?”
“We stayed in the house like you told us,” Colby blurted out. “And Colt bragged that he could punch as hard as Rocky Balboa. So I was holdin’ a pillow—”
“And Colby thought it’d be funny if he pulled it away at the last second. My fist hit the wall and went clean through it,” Colt finished.
“Jesus.”
“Geezuz,” Keely repeated.
“Dad. You ain’t s’posed to swear,” Colt pointed out.
“Least he didn’t say the f-word. Though I think Ma hates takin’ the Lord’s name in vain swear words worse than the f-word or the c-word.”
How the fuck did these boys know the c-word?
“It rhymes with lock,” Cord said helpfully.
Okay, not that c-word.
“Ain’t no one asked how my hand is,” Colt grumbled.
“Or my stomach,” Cam said from over by the couch. Which was missing all the cushions. Cushions that Cam was sprawled out on, on the floor, holding his gut.
“What happened to your stomach? And the couch?”
“Colt punched me. It’s okay, Dad, don’t get mad at him. I asked him to. But then it hurt really bad ’cause I’m pretty sure Colt does punch as hard as Rocky and I kinda…threw up.”
“You threw up in the fuc—” don’t swear, don’t swear, “—in the livin’ room?” Was that why the cushions were scattered to hell and back? Was he tryin’ to cover it up? “On the couch?”
Cam rolled his head back and forth on the cushion. “No, I barfed in the bathroom. I got most of it cleaned up.”
“You will get all of it cleaned up because I ain’t on barf-mopping duty,” he warned.
“How come Keely’s still half-nekkid?” Cord asked.