“You’re right, young Flynn. I don’t like the man much,” Clancy began once they were inside the cab of the truck. “Can’t put my finger on why not, but there’s somethin’ about him.”
“See? So why’d you say I shoulda’ hid my feelings?”
“Listen to me now.” Clancy looked over at him. “Are ya listenin’?”
“Yes, sir,” Bill muttered.
“Your mama is fixin’ to tell you that she and Mr. Snyder are gonna get married. That’s the important news.”
Bill put his head down. He didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t be planning to marry him. She just couldn’t.
“I don’t know yet what their timin’ is. Could be next week, could be next year. Although, considerin’ she wanted me to get you down here right away, I’m thinkin’ next week is more like it.”
A terrible thought crossed Bill’s mind. “She don’t want me to stay here, does she?”
“I don’t have a read on that yet. Seems if she wanted you to, she woulda asked me to bring your gear down with us. And she didn’t ask me to do that. She just asked me to bring you.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want her son around. Maybe that’s the bad feelin’ I get from him, that he doesn’t want me.”
Clancy rubbed his chin. “Possibly, but I think it’s more than that.”
“Yeah, me too.”
7
“Got a minute, Billy?”
“Ya know, I’ve been meaning to ask you somethin’. Is Bullet a nickname?”
“Uh, no. It’s my name.” Bullet couldn’t always follow Billy’s line of thinking. Sometimes the guy came out of left field.
“Pretty cool name. How’d you get it?”
“Uh, my parents. How’d you get yours?”
“Smart ass. I’m a junior. So, come on, tell me. Your parents really named you Bullet?”
“Yep.” Billy was working on his last nerve.
“You ever ask if there was a story behind it?”
“It’s always been my name. Never seemed unusual to me.”
“I mean, Lyric, that makes sense. Your dad bein’ a rock star and all.”
“Number one with a bullet.”
The expression on Billy’s face changed in an instant. “You couldn’t have told me that ten questions ago?”
“Nope.”
Billy laughed and grabbed Bullet’s shoulder. “You fit in right perfect, ol’ Bullet. Damn smart ass, ornery bastard. So what did you wanna talk to me about?”
“Bull ridin’.”
“That’s what I figured. Been waitin’ for you to bring it up. Everybody has. We got a deal all worked out for when you finally did.”
“Oh, yeah? What kinda deal?”