“Hell, don’t get all emotional on me, Brock. It’s just a hat,” Ty said as he turned and climbed into the truck. “Hurry your ass up. We need to pick up the pain in the ass and her best friend, Lincoln.”
“Language, Ty Shaw!” my mother shouted.
Dirk and I both laughed before he stated, “Seems to me like that pain in the ass might have caught your brother’s attention.”
“That would be a first,” I replied as I shook Dirk’s hand. “I’ll see ya in Billings.”
Dirk smiled and pulled me in for a quick bro hug. Then, he said in a low voice, “I love you, brother.”
I slapped his back and replied, “I love you too.”
He stepped away and then, out of the blue, he threw his head back and laughed before turning and heading to his truck. “Both of the Shaw boys, smitten! I can’t believe it.”
When I opened the back door to get Blayze in his booster seat, Ty was watching Dirk get into his truck. “What did he say about us being smitten?”
“Nothing.” I winked at Blayze. “You ready to see your daddy ride on some bulls?”
A huge smile spread over my son’s face. “Yes, sir, I am! Can I ride a bull too?”
I pretended to frown. “You mean to tell me you’re ready to climb up on a bull?”
He chuckled. “Yep!”
“You hear that, Ty? Blayze here says he’s ready to climb up on a bull.”
Ty turned around and put his hand up for Blayze to slap it. “That’s what I’m talking about. My nephew, the world’s youngest bull-riding champion.”
I grinned as I got him buckled in.
“Daddy, Grandpa said both you and Uncle Ty won something really big while bull riding. What was it?”
“Your uncle Ty won the PBR World Finals, and two years later, so did I. Then I won another one the next year.”
His eyes went wide.
“And your daddy is on his way to winning his third championship, if he keeps his head on straight and doesn’t get distracted by a pretty girl named Lincoln.”
Blayze laughed. “Daddy! Do you like Miss Lincoln? She’s really pwetty, so I don’t blame you fer likin’ her.”
I kissed him on the forehead. “She is real pretty, son. Now, let’s get on the road and pick her and Miss Kaylee up.”
Ty groaned as Blayze let out a loud and very excited “Yes!” along with a fist pump.
When I got into the front seat, I looked at my brother, who was now pulling out of the driveway, our parents following behind us.
“Why don’t you like Kaylee anymore? She seems like a nice girl, and you guys seemed to hit it off at the Blue Moose.”
He rolled his eyes. “She’s everywhere. Everywhere. I go into town to grab a cup of coffee, and she’s there. Sitting in a booth with her stupid little laptop, just doing whatever it is she does everywhere she is. She’s always showing up wherever I am.”
“What’s a laptop?” Blayze asked.
“It’s a computer, buddy, like the kind you do your games on,” I said, glancing over my shoulder to Blayze, who was sitting in the middle of the back seat.
Focusing again on Ty, I said, “You know she needs it for work. Lincoln said Kaylee’s an editor.”
“Yeah, well, every time I turn around, she’s there. Yesterday, she walked out of our parents’ house with Mom. I swear, she has our mother wrapped around her finger. Did you know Mom is teaching her how to knit? What the heck does a young woman need to learn how to knit for unless she’s snooping around our mother, looking for information?”
I laughed. “Such as what? The size of your underwear? Your favorite food? You sound a lil’ paranoid, bro.”
“I don’t know. She’s not even supposed to be here. She’s supposed to be in Atlanta, and now she’s talking about moving here. She’s snarky too. Every time I say something to her, she smarts off back to me.”
“She smarts off to you? What happened that night you brought her home from the Blue Moose? I thought you were both getting along fine then.”
His head snapped over to look at me. “Nothing happened.”
By the look on my brother’s face, he was lying, but I decided to let it go. It wasn’t the time or place for this conversation.
“And we did get along at first. Then she got all . . . weird . . . and now, she freaks me out.”
“Why does she freak you out, Uncle Ty?” Blayze asked.
Facing my son, I replied, “Because he has a crush on her, and that freaks him out. But that’s a secret between just us men. Shh, don’t tell Uncle Ty, because it’ll freak him out even more that we know.”
Ty punched me in the arm. “Shut up. I do not like her!”
Blayze covered his mouth and widened his eyes before busting out into a song. “Uncle Ty has a crush on Miss Kaylee! Miss Kaylee! Uncle Ty as a crush on Miss Kaylee! Miss Kaylee! Uncle Ty and Miss Kaylee, sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s—oh, shoot, I don’t remember how to spell the rest.”