“Take care.” Jack paused before he turned the corner. “Keely…will swallow her pride and come see you.”
“I’d like that.” Carson studied him. “So you are here on her behalf?”
“She’s my wife, she’s miserable and it’s killing me that I can’t fix it for her.” He raked his hand through his hair. “So yeah, I have to at least try.”
Yep, his baby girl had done very well in choosing the man to spend her life with.
As he watched Jack walk away, phone to his ear, he knew the man couldn’t fathom retiring.
Funny how the years had crept up on him. One day he was a young, married man wondering how he’d support his growing family, then in the blink of an eye he was wondering how he’d spend his days because he had all this free time…
Carson, Cal and Charlie were at the Golden Boot discussing retirement after they’d handed over the reins of McKay Ranches. Casper hadn’t been invited for a celebratory beer after the stink he’d raised about being forcibly retired. Carson was glad his boys got along well, for the most part, with each other and with their cousins.
“So it will sink in at some point, right?” Cal asked. “That we don’t have to oversee what they’re doin’ on a daily basis?”
“I guess. None of us have been doin’ as much as we used to. Seems like I’ve been semi-retired for a while anyway,” Carson said.
“I hear ya.” Charlie sipped his beer. “What did Dad do in retirement?”
“It wasn’t like he officially retired. He couldn’t do the daily work after the first heart attack. Mentally he was fine, but ain’t a whole lot of ranch work that’s mental. Menial?” Carson grinned. “Hell yes.”
“After that last heart attack, he kept up with what his grandkids were doin’ as long as he didn’t have to venture too far from our place.”
“I doubt Kimi kept him entertained,” Charlie said. “So my question remains the same. What did he do all day?”
“He watched TV in his room.”
“That’s it?”
Cal shrugged. “I dunno. While Dad didn’t have nothin’ to do I sure did. I worked that section pretty much by myself. Then at night, I spent time with Kimi and the boys. After the twins went to bed if Dad was still up we’d bullshit about stuff. I never heard him say he was bored.”
“I sure as fuck don’t want my retirement to be sittin’ around and watchin’ goddamned TV,” Carson said.
“I’m sure your kids would love to dump some of the two hundred grandkids you have off on you every day,” Cal said.
“Piss off, Cal.”
“Maybe you oughta tell Carolyn you’re worried about bein’ bored. She’ll have you in the kitchen learnin’ to cook in no time,” Charlie added.
“You can piss off too, Charlie.”
Cal and Charlie laughed and knocked their beer bottles together.
Carson’s gaze traveled around the Golden Boot. “Maybe we oughta start a bar. This place needs some competition.”
“It has competition: Ziggy’s, Twin Pines, the Rusty Spur. Though I’ll admit I liked that place better when it was the Silver Spur years ago,” Cal said.
“Place was a fire hazard, which is why it burned to the ground. After the owners rebuilt it and renamed it the Rusty Spur, Carolyn made me take her there for a drink. She figured since the old place and old name was gone, then her lifetime ban oughta be lifted too.”
“Was it?”
“Yep. I think the new manager was a little scared of her, to be honest.”
“Any of your kids ever hear the story of their Mama’s bar fight?” Charlie asked.
Carson shook his head. “I can’t be sure someone else didn’t tell them about it.” He leaned back in the booth. “Charlie, you seem all het up about retirement.”
“I am. I never had time for hobbies besides huntin’. Don’t think I’m the sort to take up golf. Don’t wanna be in Vi’s hair all damn day.”
Cal leaned forward. “I know what you can do. Start a senior citizens bull ridin’ circuit. As the father of PBR World Finals contender Chase McKay, I’ll bet you’d get lots of interest and sponsorships.”
“Piss off, Cal,” Charlie said. “I don’t see you offerin’ up any ideas on how you’ll be spendin’ your days.”
“I’ll be bangin’ my wife.”
“That’ll kill three minutes,” Carson said dryly, “then whatcha gonna do the rest of the day?”
“And you can piss off too,” Cal said to Carson.