Yes, I know. I’m fucked.
And I know what you’re thinking. This is a bad idea, admit it.
Yes. The answer should have been yes.
BARRON
I’ve been working at my dad’s repair shop turning wrenches long before I knew what I wanted to do for a living. And now that I am, every day is predictable. At least once a week, I’ll be called out to the Chandler Ranch because Earl has ignored the warning signs of his tractor he refuses to retire. Grandma Mel will forget where she put her keys, let alone her car, and I’ll drive out of my way to pick her up at the gas station.
And, whether I want to or not, I will have to pry my kids out of something they shouldn’t have squeezed their bodies into, or they will have let animals from one pen into the next without Morgan’s knowledge.
Ever chase a pigmy goat down a highway?
Morgan has, thanks to Camdyn. Let me tell you, they’re faster than they look.
I’ve already dealt with Earl; Grandma Mel is in Birmingham visiting her sister, and Monday, Camdyn left the gate open, and Lucy… Lemon… whatever the fuck that damn horse’s name is, took a stroll up to the feed store where she walked right into Wagner’s Feed Mart and helped herself to grain.
What’s next?
My current dilemma, other than Kacy, is Camdyn stuck in a bucket, ankles around her ears, and barely able to lift her head.
“Stop ya’s screamin’. I stir you up.”
I stop dead in my tracks to look for Sev. I wouldn’t have even known this was going down in the parts room had I not walked by and noticed Sev standing next to the bucket. Leaning my shoulder into the doorframe, I shake my head. “What are you doing?”
“Help me.” Camdyn grunts. “She’s trying to cook me.”
“How’d you get in there?”
“I just did. Get me out!” she screams, struggling and crying. “I don’t wanna be a bug.”
A bug? Must be what Sev’s trying to make. Last Tuesday she sprayed Jace with lighter fluid she found and told him if he caught on fire, it meant he was a prince. I know, scary shit, and I don’t even understand it. Was she deprived of oxygen in the womb? Fighting back laughter, I take the wrench from Sev. “Why’d you let this happen?”
Sev shrugs, her face strained in a forced smile. No answer.
I kneel next to the bucket and sweep Camdyn’s hair from her face. “Why are you guys even in here? I told you to stay in the office with Lillian.”
“We was bored,” Camdyn cries. “Daddy, my butt cheeks hurt.”
“Okay, okay.” I lift one of her arms and then the other. “Can you not do this anymore?”
It takes me fifteen minutes and the help of Jace, Granger, and Rhett to get Camdyn out of the bucket. The plastic took a chunk of skin out of her butt cheek. “Go see Lillian. Tell her to put a Band-Aid on your ass for not watching you.”
She sighs, glaring. “Fine.”
Sev takes her wrench back, but I take hold of it and her. “Stop tryin’ to make your sister into a frog, bug, snake, or whatever else you want.”
She blinks at me. No words. She can’t promise that, and there’s one thing this little nut case in my arms isn’t, and that’s a liar. Tickling her ribs, I set her down. “Go back in the office. I’m almost done here.”
Jace watches her disappear down the hall where Camdyn went. “I can’t imagine those two as teenagers.”
“You and me both,” I mumble, thinking it’s time I start taking them to a daycare instead of the shop.
Between repairing the side of the building, clearing a path in the snow to get in and out of the driveway leading to the shop, and getting kids out of buckets, the day goes by fairly quickly.
“You stopping by Tilly’s tonight?” Jace asks, smirking as he closes his lunch box and reaches for the repair orders on his toolbox.
Every Friday night, I take the girls out to my aunt’s bar. It’s hardly a place for kids, but we live in the middle of nowhere, and rules are seldom followed. To be fair, half the building is a restaurant, so it’s not unheard of to have kids there. “I don’t know,” I tell him, pushing the welder out of the way so I can make room for Kacy’s car in the corner of the shop.
“Bring the girl,” he notes, smiling at Granger, who’s shaking snow from his hair, his jeans wet from the knees down.
We cleared the entire drive, and there’s already three more inches on the ground. “I’m not going.”
Jace snorts, slipping his arms into his jacket. “Bullshit. You say that every Friday.”
“I’m not.”
“You will.”
Unfortunately, he’s probably right. Only because I’ll be kid-pressured into going, and what the fuck am I going to do with Kacy at my house all night besides wonder about what color her panties are and if they’re the cheeky kind? It’d be better to be out in public where I can’t act on it.
Right?
Making my way into the office, I find Kacy in there coloring with the girls. Kacy’s deep in thought, or lost, I’m not entirely sure. She looks to be enjoying herself though.
“Daddy, I draw’d dis for you.”
I look down at the drawing Sev gives me. All I see is a bunch of black and purple. “What is it?”
“Hers car and Sissy’s butt cheek.”
“Looks just like it,” I tease, ruffling her hair. I smile, but I don’t look at Kacy in fear I might start thinking about her naked again. Forget panty thoughts. I’ve moved on. Now I’m curious what the swell of her ass to her hips might look like with her bent over. “You girls about ready?”
Camdyn starts packing up her bag with crayons. “Are we going to the bar?”
“Yes, you are.” Jace opens the office door and hands work orders to Lillian. He smiles at her. “Tell Morgan he better detail my Jeep this weekend.”
Lillian doesn’t look at him, but her cheeks flush. “You tell him,” she snaps, ripping the papers from his hand.
Jace stops Lillian from turning around, his hands flat on her shoulders and holding her in place. “You better not have boned in my Jeep.”
“Don’t call it boning.” She gives him a disgusted face. “You’re such a child.”
“Am not,” he snaps, wrapping his arms around her shoulders now and trapping her from moving.
“Abbi agrees with me,” she mocks, trying to free herself.
As I’m getting the girls ready and listening to these two argue, I can’t help but sneak a peek at Kacy. She’s listening to Jace and Lillian argue about what did or didn’t happen in his Jeep the other night.
Kacy’s eyes drift to mine. “Are you sure it’s okay if I stay at your place? I mean, if you drove me into town, I could get a hotel room, right?” Her bright blue eyes lock on mine.
I could, but I won’t. “It’s no problem.” I work a nonchalant tone into my words, but I’m not sure how convincing I am.
Jace grins, bumping into me as I hand the girls their jackets. He has Lillian in a headlock now. “Yeah, he—”
Lillian jabs Jace in the stomach. “Shut up.”