Page 24

“It’s clean, dude. Mom always washes it,” Rawley says.

He turns, dragging his little feet as he huffs off. A second later, there’s a clattering in the kitchen, and somehow I know Archie will return with the bowl.

A moment later, a large mint green tupperware sits between me and Rawley.

“You’re gonna loosen the clip on the hose, but pro tip—don’t take it off. If you do, you’ll lose it under your body while you’re working, stand up to look for it, then step on it and break it. So loosen it to where you can get your hose just right, then tighten it up again at the end.”

“Spoken like a man who has broken brackets,” Rawley says.

From the living room comes Tanner’s voice. “He came here to see me! You guys are hogging him! Coach! ”

I glance at my watch as Rawley works on the metal clamps, twisting them until they slide down the length of the hose.

“Perfect,” I tell him. “Now hold the hose up until you’re over the bowl. If it’s clogged, it’s gonna be full, and it’s gonna?—”

Rawley drags the hose end to the bowl, and immediately the hose begins draining the inside of the machine, sludge oozing out.

“Oh no!” Archie gags, throwing his entire forearm over his face. “That smells like shit!”

“Archer Austin!” Rawley barks, using his brother’s full name the same way I’m sure Clara June would. Leaning on one elbow, lying on his side, Rawley sits up, holding the hose still but ignoring it as he focuses on his brother.

Archie tips my hat back on his head, looking at me. “Don’t tell my mama I said shit.”

“Archer—” Rawley gives him a stern look. “Get the basket off mom’s bed, and start putting all the clothes in it. Because after we fix this, we gotta wash clothes, alright?”

“If I do it, will you tell her what I said?”

Rawley outstretched a pinky. “Our secret, but you gotta get the clothes picked up. I told you when you dumped them out this afternoon that you had to, remember?”

He nods.

I can’t help but ask, because I’ve not spent a lot of time around young kids. “And… what made you want to toss all the laundry in the house all over?”

Archie’s blue eyes roll to heaven like he’s searching for patience. “I was playin’ tornado. Duh.”

Rawley looks at me. “Duh.”

West calls me as I’m walking out of Clara June’s, and asks if I want to join the guys for a beer. I’m all wired up, keyed, floating on adrenaline after an hour at the Colt house, and I don’t feel ready to go home just yet.

Lassoed and Loaded is pretty empty, what with it being a school night. Hudson is at his daughter Honey’s dance practice, so it’s just Jake, West and I sipping on cold ones.

I arch a brow at West, who called us here, but sits silently, thumbing through his phone.

“Are we here because you had a bad day?” I ask West, tipping the neck of my beer against his, then Jake’s before I take a long drink.

“Ah, no, nothing like that. I’m getting my house rekeyed, and didn’t feel like being there while it’s getting done,” West explains, drinking from his beer.

“It’s one of those things I know I should do myself, because it’s really just reading instructions and using a screwdriver, you know?

But fuck if I wanna come home after work and fix shit. ”

I can’t relate to that, and after fixing Clara June’s washing machine with Rawley today, I really can’t relate.

But I also think West has an entire storyline in his life that we don’t know about.

I get that vibe from how much he’s on that phone, and how private he is about anything not related to Bluebell.

Jake leans toward me, silent until now. “You smell weird.”

I pinch my shirt and inhale. “Do I? Like what?”

He sniffs me again. “Lavender… and… I don’t know. Grease.”

“I went to see Tanner today, to take him his new jersey and check up on his school work. Took him and his brothers some food, since I was headed that way.” I sip my beer.

“Tanner’s little brother clogged their washing machine with fancy lavender body wash and he was worried about upsetting his mom so I cleaned the hoses and fixed the machine.

There was a lot of lavender soap stuck in that hose, and you’re lucky I smell like that and not the crap that came out first.”

He clicks his tongue. “Fixing things at the Colt house? ”

Heat stalks up my neck, radiating around the collar of my shirt.

I adjust my hat, because that’s what I do when I don’t know what else to do.

“Just…” But I can’t even think of an excuse, a valid reason for me to be so generous with a student, quarterback or not.

I’m not a liar, and I’m not someone who blows smoke, so I take a drink of my beer and sigh. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

West places his phone upside down on the bar, and clasps his hand around his beer, facing me. Jake’s attention is set on me, too, and suddenly I feel like I’m the target of a pop up intervention.

“You got a thing for Tanner’s mom?” he asks.

“Clara June,” Jake corrects. “And she’s great. Man,” he says, whistling as he shakes his head. “She’s got her hands full. I used to think I was stressed with just Jo Jo, but she’s got three on her own.”

West’s head falls to the side, where he cups it with his palm, elbow to the bar. “You really interested in your player’s mom?” he asks, not with judgement but truly with curiosity. “You’re not worried about what people will say if it doesn’t work out?”

Doesn’t work out? His words somersault in my gut. Why would he think that if I did date Clara June, it wouldn’t work? “I’m not dating Clara June,” I retort, trying like hell to keep my words smooth despite the choppy cadence of my pulse. “I mean, I’m not even trying to date Clara June.”

“You just took her sons food while she was at work and fixed her washing machine,” West adds, and when he says it like that, I suppose it does look like I’m trying to win Clara June. But… I’m not. I mean, I am calling her tonight, which I did ask her if I could do.

“Dean, you’re a great guy,” Jake starts, and I snatch my hat from my head, pressing it to my heart as I give him my most devastated stare .

“Oh no, it’s not me, it’s you. We’re breaking up?” I tease, eager to bounce the focus anywhere but how I feel about Clara June. I haven’t exactly figured that out yet, but something tells me they have. Maybe I’m not ready to hear it.

“I know you’d never hurt Clara June. But being with someone who has kids means if you two break up, you’re breaking up with four people, not one.” He shrugs and takes a drink of his beer. “Something to consider before you get involved is all.”

“I hear you,” I say, because I do understand that. “But all of this is unnecessary talk because I don’t like Clara June. I’m just helping Tanner out and, just, I don’t know, being a nice guy.”

West smirks. Jake takes a drink of his beer. And while they talk about pressure treated lumber for West’s new garage expansion, my phone pings.

On the screen is a text from a number new to my phone.

Unknown

Thank you so much for what you did tonight

I’ll be up for another two hours or so, if you still wanted to call

Yawning, I feign exhaustion, leave bills on the bar, and head out, phone in my hand.