Even Cowboys Get the Blues

by Stuart, Amie

  Tim and Zack laughed softly at each other. “Like I’d make her share a room.”

  “Like anyone could make her share room,” Zack said and then they both laughed softly again.

  He’d let Toni sleep in, and had lunch with his dad so they could spend part of the afternoon discussing their plans for the spring. Apparently, he should’ve gone home for lunch, or extra coffee, or something. He’d deal with Toni—and Kellie—later. But it would definitely have to be dealt with. He wasn’t running a home for wayward waitresses. Hopefully it was just temporary.

  It wasn’t temporary.

  Or at least, as temporary as he’d hoped. Toni had cornered him the minute he’d stepped into the bar, dragging him back to the breakroom. Judging by the serious expression on her face, she wasn’t looking for a make-out session. She closed the door and took a seat on the rickety breakroom table. “I want Kellie to stay with us for a while.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, unsure of what to say. Finally he said, “I’m not running a halfway house.”

  “Nobody asked you to,” she snapped back. “But Kellie’s my friend. Matter of fact, she’s the only friend I have here in Bluebonnet, and she needs help. So she’s going to stay with us, and you’re going to have a little chat with her brother.”

  His eyebrows rose as she spoke, then pulled together in a frown. “And why would I do that?”

  “Because her brother is an asshole and a bully, and he won’t leave her alone until he gets whatever the fuck he wants. So you can go speak to him…or I will.” Her voice was low and firm; only her tightly pursed lips and the stubborn set of her jaw gave away how truly upset she was.

  The last thing he needed was her throwing down with an asshole like Johnny Baker. Sighing, he took a seat on the ratty couch. “Tell me everything.”

  It wasn’t until Toni mentioned that Kellie was adopted that everything clicked into place. No wonder she’d gotten so attached to the waitress and made such a point of looking out for her. No, Kellie was nowhere near the same age as Toni’s daughter, but that obviously didn’t matter.

  “She can stay as long as she needs, but keep her away from Rene. She’s had enough changes lately.”

  Toni grimaced and nodded, swallowing hard. She slid off the table and wiped her hands on her jeans. “So you’ll talk to Johnny What’s-His-Name?”

  “You let me handle Johnny. You just handle Kellie.”

  “I’ll take care of Kellie.” She made to step past him, but Tim was faster.

  He gently tugged her arm until she was standing right in front of him and he couldn’t miss the panic and fear in her eyes. “I promise I’ll take care of Johnny. You don’t have anything to worry about. And neither does Kellie,” he added. He gently cupped her face with his hands and pressed his lips to her forehead.

  She exhaled heavily, her head dipping so her eyes were on their feet. “He scared me,” she finally choked out.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” He frowned and pulled her little closer.

  “It was so late when we got home…”

  He tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. “You can always wake me up,” he said gently. “Anytime, for any reason.” Tim smiled at his inappropriate word choice, while Toni rolled her eyes and snorted. “You can always talk to me,” he added. “I mean it.”

  Her eyes clouded over again, then flitted away as she nodded. “I need to get back to work.”

  “And I need to go find Johnny.”

  “Right now?” Toni pulled open the break room door.

  “Right now,” he echoed.

  HAVING TONI MOVE in with us was bad enough, but her waitress friend from the dancehall moving in, too, was the last fucking straw.

  This was not what I’d signed up for. And I spent the weekend making sure anybody and everybody involved knew it.

  Yeah, sure, Kellie was quiet, but that was beside the point. I will admit that when I glared across the kitchen table at her on Saturday and she flinched, I felt a little bad. But not that bad.

  By Saturday night I decided I’d had enough, and took my grievances across the road to Aunt Dee, who kept saying, “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

  “You sound like a broken record.”

  “So do you,” she shot back.

  I flinched and frowned at her almost as angry at her words as I was over my burning cheeks—evidence of my embarrassment. She’d scored a direct hit.

  “What do you want here, Rene? I can’t throw her out for you—” she threw up her hands and then let them fall to her lap,“—and I’m not going to help you get rid of her. I know I keep asking you this, but how much effort have you put into getting to know Toni?”

  I exhaled, gritting my teeth against the urge for everything to go back to the way it had been before the Wicked Witch of the West has returned.

  “I’m guessing not enough.” She shrugged, her face solemn. “I mean, how could you? Have you even sat down and had a conversation with her?”

  I swallowed the lump of embarrassment in my throat, but was saved from replying when Gram pushed open the door and announced that there were brownies in the kitchen.

  “I’ll grab some on my way out.” I rolled off the corner of Aunt Dee’s bed, grabbed my boots, and followed Gram out and down the stairs.

  “Everything okay?” she asked as she wrapped up some brownies for me.

  “Yeah. Yes, ma’am,” I corrected myself. “I’m just tired. Think I’ll hit the hay early.”

  She kissed and hugged me good night, then walked me to the door. When I reached my own front porch I turned back and gave a little wave because I knew she was watching.

  Inside, I took the brownies upstairs, because I wasn’t sharing them with anybody, and tossed the foil-wrapped package on my bed before kicking off my boots. As mad as I was at Aunt Dee, she was right. Not even two weeks in, and I knew almost nothing about Toni.

  It was time to change that.

  Luckily, Kellie, Toni, and Dad were at the dancehall, and the only one I really had to worry about catching me with it was Dad. It was still early—barely nine. I had plenty of time.

  I headed for Dad’s room and his large walk-in closet. If she had clothes, then she had to have suitcases and shit. And I figured if I didn’t find anything there, I’d try his office. But a trip to Dad’s office wasn’t necessary.

  Toni’s personal affects amounted to an old suitcase, a box that’d seen better days, and an even older backpack which was empty. I picked up the suitcase and gave it a shake. It sounded empty, too, but I threw it on the bed and unzipped it anyway. Nothing. And there wasn’t much useful in the box. A miniature coffee pot and some girly stuff like extra hairbrushes. A beaten-up Bible, which surprised me. I hadn’t taken Toni for the religious kind. Setting the Bible aside, I focused on the box. I pawed through it all, but my first impression was correct. There was nothing useful to be found. The Bible, however, was another matter. That netted me her full name: Antoinette duBois. I took a picture with my cell phone, so I could Google later, then thumbed through the bible. That’s when I struck gold. A photo fell out of the back. A faded photo of a girl holding a baby. I guessed it was her, since it was a Polaroid and pretty faded. Who used Polaroids anymore? On the bottom, scribbled in ink, was the word Nichole. I took a picture of that, too, then put everything back and headed upstairs to my laptop.

  I had work to do.

  Toni had no Facebook page. Or Twitter. Or any social media. Color me not surprised. She barely even had a cell phone. Fishing a brownie from my care package, I rolled my eyes and then got back to it. I never expected finding stuff on Toni to be easy. After ninety minutes, my head had started to ache and my shoulders were stiff. I gave up and ran downstairs to get a Coke.

  I had to get back to work, I had to find something, anything, before Dad did something stupid like marry Toni or rent a room to her friend Kellie. I shoved half a brownie in my mouth, and then typed in ‘Nichole duBois’ and scanned the results while
I chewed. There were a lot of them so I added, ‘Las Vegas’, which netted me nothing useful. So I tried again with the word ‘Louisiana’.

  Paydirt.

  I narrowed my eyes at the screen, at the Facebook page that had come up first in my search, my finger hovering over the “Add Friend” button. I wasn’t completely off my rocker, so I bookmarked her page instead. Nichole’s profile photo showed her with a tall, thin, blond-haired older man. Not like super-old; more like Uncle Rowdy old. Although Blondie didn’t really look like Nichole, her Dad was my guess. There were more photos of her with and without the same man on her Instagram account. Tons of them.

  Speaking of dads, did my dad know? Had Toni told him that she’d run off and left her kid? My first instinct was to wait until he got home and show them what I’d found. But I thought better of it. I had to be smart. I had to figure out the best way to use what I’d found to get rid of her once and for all.

  I pored over those pictures until only the thought of Dad coming home and catching me had me powering down my laptop. Besides, the brownies were gone. By the time I shut off the light and crawled under the covers, I could barely keep my eyes open—despite the two Cokes I’d drunk.

  My last conscious thought was to wonder if Toni had run out on her kid, or her kid and her husband.

  SUNDAY WASN’T EXACTLY a day that came with a lot of chores, but I managed to stay busy, and not fall out of the back of the trailer during early-morning cow feeding. Which I barely woke up in time to help with.

  I would’ve done anything to avoid going home, but I didn’t want Poppy to know that something was up, so I kissed him goodbye and trudged down to Aunt Jessa’s for breakfast.

  “Y’all got food?” I yelled as I pushed the door open. Laughter greeted my question and so did the smell of waffles—or pancakes. It didn’t really matter, as long as I got to eat.

  “Yes, brat,” Uncle Zack said as Travis hurtled himself across the room at me. I stumbled backward a few steps from the impact and then bent over and picked him up. Pretty soon he’d be too big for me to haul around on my hip. A thought that made me sad.

  “Did you get Delaney’s email?” Aunt Jessa asked as she set an extra place at the table for me. “And wash your hands.”

  I set Travis on his chair and washed my hands in the kitchen sink while he begged me to take him for a ride later and I tried to answer Aunt Jessa’s question.

  “Travis, sit down and eat,” Zack finally said, “or Rene won’t take you for a ride, and neither will I.”

  He slid down in his chair, his face puckered up in a pouty frown as he picked up his fork.

  “I got you, squirt.” I ruffled his hair as I walked past him and claimed the empty seat. I forked up a couple waffles for each of us, and then let Uncle Zack fix Travis’s plate. I’d just finished slathering butter on my breakfast when I realized I hadn’t answered Aunt Jessa. “What email?”

  “She’s invited all the ladies to the first official Toenail Night. She didn’t tell you?”

  “No,” I said as I accepted the bottle of syrup from Uncle Zack. “I haven’t checked my email this morning. Been a little busy.” But I had a pretty good idea of what Toenail Night would entail.

  “Did you help Poppy feed the cows?” Travis asked between bites.

  “I did, and he said you were going to help him this evening.”

  His face brightened, and he got back into his breakfast.

  “So who’s coming to this Toenail Night, and when is it?” Uncle Zack asked while trying to smother a laugh.

  “I don’t know,” Aunt Jessa shot back, “but they can’t be any worse at giving foot rubs than you are.”

  “Ouch,” I said, laughing softly as I looked at each of them in turn. Mostly they didn’t fight. But they were pretty much still newlyweds. “And it’s pedicures.”

  “How do you know?” Uncle Zack asked.

  I glanced from him to Aunt Jessa and back. There wasn’t really any getting out of a confession. “Because Delaney and I have been giving each other pedicures since last summer.” And she might have fooled Gram and the aunts, but Aunt Delaney wasn’t fooling me. I was wise to her. This was all about bonding and crap. This was how she planned for me to get to know Toni better, like pedicures and chick movies were going to make me and Toni best girl buddies. “So when is it?”

  “Tuesday night.”

  I nodded and said, “Fine. I’ll be ready.”

  TURNS OUT AUNT Delaney had even invited Kellie, and given all the women snack assignments and shit, while she and Gram planned to hit up the beauty supply store for everything we need. At least, that’s what Gram said when I showed up after school. I could tell by the way Aunt Delaney’s jaw kept twitching that she was waiting for me to start yelling about why this was a bad idea. She could wait till her toes fell off. I was smarter than that. I’d take her Toenail Night and I’d own it. “Gram, how are you gonna get all of us in your living room?”

  “Rene,” Delaney said softly.

  “I’m just sayin’, with people in chairs and people on the floor, working on people’s feet.” I clamped my lips shut and shrugged, worried about overdoing it. “We should just do it at my house. We have the second-biggest living room, and I’m sure Dad won’t mind. He can just go drink beer with Uncle Ty or whatever.” When she pursed her lips, I added, “And it’s clean now. Like you could eat off the carpet clean.”

  “Are you sure your daddy won’t mind?” Gram asked.

  “Or Toni?” Delaney added with a pointed look.

  I served her pointed look right back at her, and said, “I’ll ask at dinner, and if they do, we can just have your Toenail Night over here.”

  I asked, and of course, Daddy said yes, while Toni looked pained, and Kellie looked excited. Like, clapped her hands at the dinner table and said, “Goody,” excited. I glanced from her to Toni to my dad again, wondering when the hell she was going back to her own apartment, but I didn’t ask. The deal was done and after dinner I emailed Aunt Delaney and told her the good news.

  Her reply? You better behave.

  So the following night after a quick supper, Daddy took off for Uncle Ty’s while Toni, Kellie, and I got ready for our guests. We just finished rearranging the couch and chairs when Gram and Delaney showed up with all the stuff for the pedicures. Toni was quiet while Kelly was…bubbly. I couldn’t think of a better word to describe her. I’d never seen her so excited. You’d think it was freaking Christmas the way she bounced around helping Delaney fill the footbaths and lay out extra towels. By the time Aunt Betti, Aunt Susie, and Aunt Jessa showed up with snacks and wine, everybody was ready to go. Delaney clutched my arm much harder than necessary when she stood in the middle of the living room and loudly announced that everybody needed to pick a partner. I knew what her grabbing my arm meant, and it wasn’t just about us being Toenail Buddies.

  Fine, I let her think she’d won—for now.

  Besides, she’d probably make me go first, and I didn’t want her to be jabbing at my feet in protest when I started laying down some truths. So I let Aunt Dee have her way and picked at some snacks while she did my pedicure, a limp smile pasted on my face. Of course, Kellie and Toni were partners; they sat across the room on one end of the couch, while Gram and Aunt Susie worked at the other end.

  Apparently I wasn’t the only one who decided we needed to know more about Toni. Aunt Susie silently worked on Gram’s pedicure while Gram gently questioned Toni. But it was all pretty basic stuff. And Toni made it a point to answer with as few words as possible, so it sounded something like this:

  “So, Toni…Susie says you used to live in Las Vegas. Did you like it?”

  “It was okay.”

  “Is this your first time in Texas?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” was followed by long pause.

  If Gram had expected more, she’d be sadly disappointed. Even I had figured out that Toni wasn’t much of a talker.

  And so it went.

  I was so bored that I alm
ost dozed off while waiting for my chance. Much as I’d wanted to dive in, I couldn’t, thanks to Aunt Delaney holding my feet hostage. I’d just have to wait a little bit longer.

  “Where are you from again?”

  “Louisiana.”

  “Do you still have family there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you visit often?”

  “No.”

  Obviously. Luckily for me, by this point I was just waiting on my toenails to dry while Aunt Dee filled the footbath with fresh water. Now that the moment of truth had come, my head was blank. Where to start? The kid? The husband? The maybe husband? I’d been lulled into a carb coma with too much soda and two pieces of Gram’s Apple Dump Bundt cake.

  Shit!

  “Why don’t you visit?” I blurted out just as Aunt Dee appeared in the kitchen doorway. She narrowed her eyes at me. I gave her three seconds, giving as good as I got, then turned my eyes and attention to Toni.

  It took her a few long seconds to realize I’d asked a question, and then form a response. “What?”

  I stood as if to trade places with and Delaney and repeated the question. “Why don’t you visit your family?”

  “Rene,” Gram admonished.

  Yes, I was being nosy. I was being rude. I was asking what my English teacher called open-ended questions, and waiting to see just how badly Toni would hang herself. She froze. Like, damn near literally froze. I had her; we both knew I had her. She just didn’t know what I had.

  I forced myself to take slow deep breaths. When she didn’t answer, I fisted my hands at my sides and tried again, “Why. Don’t you. Visit. Your family?”

  “It’s difficult,” she finally said, then exhaled heavily, her shoulders sagging.

  “I’m sure it is.”

  Around us, nobody moved, and the only sound in the room was the buzz from everyone’s footbaths.

  “Rene,” Delaney spoke up from behind me, “are you going to start my pedicure or not?”

  “In a minute.”

  Aunt Susie stood up, gave me a pointed look that basically said chill the fuck out, and then asked if anybody wanted more wine.