I thought about the date I owed Stevie. The man wasn’t really my type, but I assumed he’d be a good person to know in case he wanted to go clubbing together. I couldn’t very well ask West and Nico to leave their daughter every weekend, and I wasn’t quite so desperate to drive all the way to Dallas by myself.
When it was time to break for lunch, I walked out of the pub into the early-February sunshine and made the call. Stevie answered with the same dramatic enthusiasm he’d showed on Sunday.
“Hello, gorgeous! I hope like hell you’re calling to ask me out because, honey, I have plans for you.”
I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “I am calling to ask you out. I owe you an apology and would love to meet under less-upsetting circumstances.”
“Praise Jesus and pass the potatoes. Just tell me when and where, Sugar Britches.”
“Did you just call me Sugar Britches?” I asked with a laugh. Stevie’s Texas was showing, and I loved it.
His warm laughter tinkled through the phone. “No, but I may do so in the future. That’s the name of the shop, silly. I was greeting a customer. Haven’t you come in for coffee yet?”
I remembered everyone mentioning Nico’s bakery and coffee shop in town, but I hadn’t been there yet.
“No. Hudson always picks up the coffees after he drops me off at the pub. I’ll have to come in and try your muffins.”
Stevie’s gasp didn’t surprise me. “Well, aren’t you a fresh one? You might need to try some of my other things too if you catch my drift. So, when are we doing this, sweetheart?”
A night out with this character was going to be great fun. I decided to give as good as I got. “You free tonight, cutie pie?”
25
Hudson
Hudson’s Words To Live By:
Never assume. It makes an ass out of u and me.
Of course I overheard the end of Charlie’s phone call that afternoon where he was Flirty McFlirtson with whoever was on the other end of the phone. I assumed it was Stevie, who was known as the flirtiest gay man in Hobie. And considering how many gay men lived in Hobie these days, that was saying a lot.
I tried to put the image of the two of them together out of my head. If Charlie wanted to screw around with someone else, that was his decision. It wasn’t like I’d offered him an easy alternative, and Charlie wasn’t looking to screw around really. He was looking for a relationship, in which case maybe I should warn him about Stevie’s reputation for being big on the casual hookup.
No. It was none of my business. Plus, I had bigger things to worry about. I couldn’t very well sleep on the sofa forever, which meant I needed to help Darci find a new place to live.
She kept herself busy Monday and Tuesday with shifts at the hospital and came home each night to the cabin where we shared meals, researched apartments, or did our own thing. Wednesday night took me completely by surprise, however. I should have known with both of them living on the ranch, Darci and Charlie would eventually meet, but I didn’t spare a moment to consider what that would actually look like.
Doc texted to let me know he was making gumbo and cornbread for whoever wanted to show up. Bruce had put off our meeting in Dallas until later the following day, so I asked Darci if she wanted to join me over there for dinner. She happily agreed and raced off to touch up her makeup so she didn’t have to answer any questions about the bruise on her chin. I knew she’d appreciate a chance to see Doc and Grandpa, but it didn’t even register with me that Charlie might be there as well.
When we entered the kitchen, Charlie was singing a bawdy pub song at full volume into a wooden-spoon microphone and shaking his little round ass as much as he could in the tight red jeans he was wearing. The same tight red jeans I’d been trying my hardest to ignore all day at work.
The lyrics to the song didn’t help my libido stand down at all.
“As I went home on Sunday night as drunk as drunk could be, I saw a thing in her thing where my old thing should be, well, I called me wife and I said to her: Will you kindly tell to me, who owns that thing in your thing where my old thing should be!”
I froze on the spot and felt my face heat up right about the time I realized what the “thing” was.
Darci, on the other hand, joined in.
“I know this one! It’s called Seven Drunken Nights,” she exclaimed with a smile, joining Charlie when he got to the chorus of “You’re drunk, you’re drunk, you silly old fool.”