Toby shook his head and punched the letters.
Toby:You got it wrong. She’s the researcher running the dig at panther shaman. We hit it off. Her mom’s in a bad spot south of the border. House has been robbed, and she’s been sent to the hospital. My girl don’t know I’m asking you anything, but I wondered if you knew some legal aid or resources that might help her mom emigrate.
That was probably the longest message he’d ever typed. He hated when someone sent a novel-length text, and usually didn’t read them. But he knew the lawyer in Tyler would read every word, digest the message, then ask for a phone call so he could pick Toby’s brain for every detail. When there was no immediate response, Toby shut off the screen and cranked Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan on the stereo, putting the truck in gear. Cruising down the country highway toward Alpine, he tapped his thumb on the steering wheel to the harsh edge of the vocals mixed with the mellow rhythm.
He was halfway to the store when his phone buzzed once more. He glanced at the illuminated screen as he pulled up to the stoplight on the edge of town.
Tyler:Is her mom American?
The light had just turned red. He had a minute.
Toby:No.
Tyler:Has her mom requested asylum?
Toby:Her mom was deported when she was a kid. Lives in Acuña to stay close to her and her dad.
Tyler:Damn. What for?
Toby:They don’t know. Said nothing was wrong.
Tyler:Don’t know if there’s anything that can be done.
Toby:There’s gotta be something. Her mom’s in the hospital after her house was burglarized. Rose had to leave the jobsite to pick up her son so her dad can go stay with her mom for a couple weeks. They can’t live like that.
Tyler:Rose?
Toby:Her name.
Tyler:You got a girlfriend?
Toby smirked.
Toby:Yeah.
Tyler:And your girl’s got a kid? Is this the same Toby as my little bro?
Thatwas news to stop the presses? The fact that he had a girlfriend and the woman had a kid, not that her mom had been robbed? Man, his brothers had a low opinion of him.
Toby:Yup. Little boy. Def has trust issues about a guy like me.
Tyler:I don’t blame her.
The comment, spoken in fraternal jest, made him shake his head. Nothing he’d ever done had been nonconsensual, but he’d been such a frivolous bastard until now. He didn’t deserve someone like Rose Morales.
Toby:Yeah, I wanna prove her wrong. Gave her the Beast to go grab her boy, so I’m gonna meet the kid soon. Kinda nervous.
Only after he’d written that last message out did he realize how whipped he sounded.
Tyler:GAVE HER THE BEAST?
Toby laughed outright. The light turned green, and Toby tossed aside the phone again, driving into the town and flipping on his blinker. After admitting to being nervous about meeting Rose’s son, giving his Bronco to someone had been the more shocking tidbit, though to be fair, it was unheard of for anyone to touch his truck keys. Sacrilegious.
That Bronco had been Toby’s baby and only his, since high school when he’d bought the carcass off a scrap yard and fixed it up. No one had ever been allowed behind the wheel except for, on one occasion, Travis, when his truck had been in the shop. Even then, as a high school sophomore, Toby had pitched a fit and threatened all sorts of fraternal retaliation if Travis didn’t take care of it, to which Trav had replied the Beast was such a beater he could probably total it and no one would notice.
He pulled into the parking lot and roared into a spot, throwing the vehicle into Park.
Toby:Yeah.