Two of a Kind

by BA Tortuga

  Ap snorted. “She’s adorable.”

  “Cole’s mad for her.”

  “I’m tickled for him.” Ap visibly counted kids. “I need to go get Braden, huh?”

  “Yep. Court’s going to turn into a pumpkin soon.” In fact he held his arms open for her. She moved into them, yawning, while Bella and Amelia chattered about the game and nibbled bits of Subway sandwiches.

  “Be right back.” Ap loped down the stairs, heading off to grab the younger son.

  “Y’all ready for the weekend?” he asked, and Bella nodded and grinned.

  “I’m going to ride with Uncle Ap.”

  “You sure he knows how to ride anything but broncs?” he teased.

  “He has to ride around in a circle when he gets his check, Uncle Daddy.”

  “Uh-huh. We’ll see how he does with Dandy.”

  “Okay.”

  “Daddy, I want to make pancakes tomorrow. Can we?”

  “Sure, Ames. That sounds like fun.”

  “Cool!”

  When he lifted Courtney and shifted her to one arm, Amelia took his other hand. They made their way down to meet Ap and Braden. Bella skipped alongside, singing something random.

  “Hey, guys.” Ap beamed at them all. “Home, huh?”

  “Home!” Bella cheered. “We won the game!”

  “We did. Cole rocked it.” Braden fist-pumped the air.

  “He did.” He’d email the coach all the video he took. Everyone liked to review what had gone right as well as wrong.

  “Trey! Trey, you and Cole want to come move wood for us? There’s a fifty-dollar bill in it for you. A hundred if you do it tomorrow morning.” Tomas Luchero was all bent and broken, the old cowboy’s hand shaking on his cane.

  “I can do it if Cole won’t, Uncle Daddy!” Braden offered.

  “Sure, Tom. What time you want us?”

  “Alba will make you tortillas and beans if you come in the morning.”

  “We’ll be there at eight.” It made him happy to see Braden willing to work on a Saturday. He’d give the boy all the money—half to spend, half to save in the bank, just like Cole.

  There was only three years to save for his car.

  “See you then.” The old guy meandered off, whistling.

  They were almost to the truck when Ap turned to him. “What the hell was that?”

  “What the hell was what?” Did someone do something he’d missed?

  “You’ve booked what? Four jobs tonight? It’s bad enough you’re wearing yourself out and not using any of the money I send home, but you pimp out the damn kids too?” Ap was scowling hard.

  Trey sucked in a deep breath, and then he carefully set Courtney down and unlocked the van. “Go get the girls in the car, son.”

  “Uncle—”

  “Now.” He didn’t yell it, but he didn’t have to. As soon as the kids were moving, he turned on Ap, grabbed his arm, and moved them to the other side of Ap’s truck. “What the fuck did you say to me, asshole?”

  “You heard me! Cole I can even see, but Braden is just a kid!”

  He snatched Ap up at the collar and punched the son of a bitch right in the nose. “One, you don’t question me in front of my motherfucking kids.”

  Then he shook Ap, good and hard. “Two, you don’t ever accuse me of wrongdoing in front of my motherfucking kids.”

  The shove he gave Ap was harsh, sending the rodeo cowboy skittering across the asphalt. “Three, I ain’t never had to pimp anyone out. My kids know how to work for what they get. You watch your filthy goddamn mouth, you fuck.”

  Trey kicked gravel over, staring down at Ap. “You might can take a two-thousand-pound bull, but you ain’t got shit on a daddy.”

  It felt good to spin on his heel and get in his van, not even waiting for Ap to get up before he took off, the kids staring at him in the rearview.

  “Uncle Daddy?” Braden whispered.

  “Yes, son?” Don’t ask, boy. It ain’t none of yours. I’ve heard all I need about how Ap is the hero. I’m the one that’s been here for every fucking meltdown, every goddamn parent-teacher conference, every scraped knee and runny nose.

  “Your hand is all bleeding.”

  “Grab me a tissue from the glove box, would you?”

  “Yessir.” Braden handed him a couple of Kleenex, silent as a mouse.

  “Thank you. Y’all want to stop over to the Sonic, have a drink before we get home? I could have a corny dog.”

  “Yes, please!” Bella was his bounce-back girl, her disposition never down for long.

  “Can I have ice cream?” Braden asked.

  “Y’all can each have one of anything you want.” He’d learned early on with Cole that he had to make the qualifier; otherwise he’d be paying for the whole menu.

  “Yay!” Amelia would get mozzarella sticks, Courtney would get a shake she wouldn’t finish, and Miss Bella would want tater tots.

  No one could say he didn’t know his babies.

  No one had the right to say it, especially not a rodeo cowboy who never came home.

  Especially not him.

  Chapter Nine

  AP peered in the mirror, sighing at the big old bruise he saw there.

  He’d tried to catch Trey all damn day, but he and Cole and Braden had gone to move wood or put in floors somewhere or God knew what.

  The girls were busy as bees, running here and there, driving him out of his mind with questions and curiosity. He had to laugh at them, but Ap was a single-minded cowboy. He wanted to talk to Trey. He owed the guy, well, if not an apology a concession that he should never have done that in front of the kids.

  He headed out to the main house, hoping to snag a girl child. “Bella? I need to ask you something.”

  “Yessir?” Bella had icing from one end of her to the other.

  Cupcakes. Huh.

  “What’s Uncle Daddy’s favorite dinner?”

  “Like ever ever?”

  Amelia looked up from where she was adding an alarming amount of sprinkles on the “decorated” cupcakes. “I know! Chicken and trees and noodles!”

  Bella nodded, and Courtney’s eyes lit up. “Are we going to Joe’s?”

  “Um.” Ap hated to disappoint them, but the effort was what was gonna count here. “I was going to cook.”

  Bella stared at him. “You can cook that? Here?”

  “I can. If you mean chicken and broccoli Alfredo.” That was actually way easier than what he’d worried it would be.

  “Can we help?” Amelia asked. “We made the boys cupcakes. We followed the ingredients.”

  “The instructions,” Bella corrected.

  “You can so help me. We have to go shop as soon as the cupcakes are done, though.”

  “Oh, I like grocery shopping. I like the fruits all stacked up.” Courtney bounced and ran to hug him with sticky fingers.

  “Good deal.” He resisted the urge to lick her. That would be too frickin’ weird. He would get a cupcake instead.

  “We have to save three for the boys and Uncle Daddy, but we can have the rest.” Bella stuck a spoonful of icing in her mouth.

  “We’d better pace ourselves.” There had to be two dozen cupcakes. That was a hell of a lot of sugar, and he was trying to make up, not get murdered.

  “Are you in trouble, or are you just being nice?” God, Amelia was smart.

  “I’m in trouble, but I want to be nice too.” He grinned at them all. “The cupcakes look fab.”

  “That’s important to him, huh?” Bella said. “That the being nice is bigger than the wanting to get out of trouble.”

  “Is it?” Who better to get Trey’s feelings about good and evil from than the kids? “Well, I want to be nice. I feel like I hurt his feelings.” Which had, in turn, hurt his face.

  “Yeah. That’s bad. But saying sorry is good, and not doing the bad thing again proves you mean it.” Courtney nodded at him, so serious. “Sometimes I wish you could just say sorry.”

  “I know, but m
y momma always said that wasn’t enough. You had to mean it.” He started scraping icing off the counter.

  “She died with my momma and Uncle Daddy’s momma, right?” Bella asked.

  “She did.” He didn’t think on it too much, to be truthful. He and Trey had lost everything in that crash. Everything but these amazing kids.

  “I’m sorry. Were you a little boy or were you old like Uncle Daddy?”

  “I was old, baby girl. A little older than him. Almost two whole years.”

  “Oh. I don’t remember you, much. From before. I guess you were rodeoing then too?”

  “I was. I’ve been on the road since I was Cole’s age.” He grinned, so happy to share with them finally. It felt good.

  The girls were paying attention too, soaking him up.

  Amelia frowned. “Cole is not old enough to go away. He has to finish high school and go to a college. It’s important.”

  “Of course it is, honey.” He wasn’t gonna argue that. Trey had taught them that stuff for a reason, he reckoned, and he would present a united front. “I wasn’t as smart as Cole.”

  “I’m going to be a cowboy like you. I told Uncle Daddy. I just want to be with the horses.”

  Now what did he say to Bella about that? There was nothing wrong with being a cowboy like him, right?

  “I love being a cowboy, but I know a lot of guys on the circuit who went to college to study how to take care of animals before they joined the circuit.” That? That was inspired.

  Her little head tilted, and damn, that was her daddy shining out of her eyes. “Really?”

  “Yep. My buddy Rand has a master’s degree in animal husbandry. He’s a stock contractor now.”

  Courtney stared at him in horror, then began to cry.

  “What’s wrong, Court?” He was baffled by her crumpled face.

  “Sister can’t marry a cow, Uncle Ap! She can’t! That’s not nice!”

  “What?” He thought back over the last few sentences. “Oh, honey, animal husbandry is just a fancy way of saying learning how to take care of animals and find the best land and food and stuff for them. No marrying cows.”

  All three girls relaxed as one, and then Courtney threw herself into Bella’s arms. “Oh. Oh, good. Sister. I love you.”

  Bella blinked hard for a second before wrapping her arms around her baby sister and hugging. “I love you, dork. Like I’d marry a cow. I’m never getting married. I’m going to be a cowboy on the range, a hero.”

  “I am. I want to have babies. Lots of babies.” Amelia came to him, leaned in. “Love you. Let’s go to the store.”

  “Let’s put these in a thing so they stay nice.” He’d seen a cake cover somewhere. It had to have come from Trey’s side of the family. Ah, there. He swept all the cupcakes under the thing. “Everyone got shoes?”

  “Yep! Can we get a surprise?” Court grabbed his hand.

  “What kind?” He didn’t lock up because Trey didn’t, but it felt weird. Living on the road, you had to tie everything down.

  “A… Coke?”

  “Is that a surprise?” He swung her hand, and Amelia giggled behind him. Trey had taken Ap’s truck to the job, so he piled the girls in the van.

  “It’ll be a surprise to Uncle Daddy,” Bella muttered. “We don’t let the baby have Coke.”

  “Then we’ll pick something else.” He shot Bella a grateful look as he buckled Court into the car.

  “I’m not a baby no more. I’m a big girl! I’m a first grader!”

  “The youngest is always the baby. I always was.” He got them all in, then headed out to the store.

  “You were? Like me?” God, he loved that, how everyone needed to be part of something.

  “I was. Your daddy was the oldest. Bella is the oldest girl, and Cole is the oldest overall.” He pulled out on the main road, humming along with the radio.

  “What about me? I’m not anything like anybody.” Poor Ames.

  “Oh, honey, you’re so much like your momma. She wanted to take care of everyone, and she loved so hard.”

  “Yeah? You promise?”

  “I do.” He wanted to hug her, but he was driving. “All y’all are so special. Your Uncle Trey tells me all about how amazing you are, and I’ve been getting to see, huh?”

  “Uncle Daddy loves us even when we’re not amazing, even when we make a mess,” Courtney said.

  “Or fail a spelling test,” added Bella.

  “Or lose our backpack again.”

  “Even when you throw up in the car?” he teased.

  “Yeah, even then, but man, it makes him grumpy.”

  “I bet it does. I get mad when cowboys throw up in my truck too. Even if it’s because they hit their head.”

  “Are you going to leave again soon?” Court sounded worried.

  “I don’t know, baby girl. I’ll have to get back to work, but I’m loving being home.” Hedging. He was hedging.

  “You can work here. Uncle Daddy always has work to do.”

  “I bet he does.” And that brought him back around to what he’d done wrong in the first place. He got why a man needed to work, but how could Trey grind himself to dust when he could live pretty comfortably on half of what Ap sent home?

  There was so much he didn’t understand about how Trey did things. There was so much about Trey he didn’t get, full stop.

  He took a deep breath, reminding himself of the conclusion he’d come to last night while his face was throbbing and he couldn’t sleep: he needed to get to know Trey. That was his new goal.

  This man was going to be his family until the end of time. Goddamn it, they had five babies to raise. They were going to figure this out.

  He pulled into the lot at the Albertson’s. “Okay, ladies. Y’all know where stuff is. We need to start with trees.”

  How happy-making was it that they knew that. That had been Daniel, asking for trees and cheese for his birthday. Their mom had laughed and laughed and made that broccoli and cheese every year.

  He shook off the sadness that always came with his family, counting girls instead. Three. Go him.

  Somehow he had to make sure these little ones managed to learn all about the McIntoshes. Cole remembered. These girls, though, they needed stories.

  “Broccoli with cheese was your dad’s favorite thing.”

  “More than chocolate chip cookies?” Bella sounded shocked.

  “Yep. More than pie and ice cream.” Daniel could go through boxes of the cheap frozen stuff after practice.

  “I like Doritos a lot,” Bella pointed out. “But I like pie too.”

  “Mmm. I love cherry pie.” Maybe he would see if they had a good-looking pie at the bakery.

  “Me too.” Ames beamed at him.

  “What pie do you like, Bella?”

  Bella took the cart, and he ended up holding hands with Court and Amelia.

  “Chocolate. Always. Uncle Daddy says that means I’m going to start my period soon.”

  Ap blinked so hard he heard his eyelids click. “Uh. Okay.”

  Oh man. Three of them. They were going to have to walk three girls through…. Had Trey had the wet-dream talk with the boys?

  Surely he had with Cole. Braden was maybe just getting there, but surely by now. Yeah.

  Damn.

  Damn.

  He’d always had respect for Trey, but now? Whoa. His mind was reeling.

  “This way to the trees, Uncle Ap.”

  “Coming, girls.” Time to get the stuff to make his best suck-up meal. He grinned. Trey had to be like every other man on earth, right?

  His stomach would lead to his heart eventually.

  “I’M going to take a shower. I got to pick my girl up at five.”

  “Where are y’all going for supper?” Trey washed his hands at the laundry room sink.

  “Chili’s.”

  “Cool. Thanks for all your help today.”

  “I like having spending money. It makes me look good.” Cole winked at him before he
ading in to wash.

  “It so does.” He winked right back, knowing Cole didn’t need to see him be all awww.

  He pulled out fifty dollars and went to find Braden. He was fixin’ to bust with pride. His youngest boy was a hard worker, just like his big brother, and it spoke well on all of them.

  “We all done, Uncle Daddy?” Braden was drinking water, flushed but smiling.

  “We are. Thank you for all your help, son.” He handed over the cash. “You earned it.”

  “Thanks!” Braden beamed. “I’ll put half in savings, okay?”

  “You can, but you earned out a hundred, so I put fifty in.”

  The look on his boy’s face was shocked. “I can buy that game. Oh man. Oh, this is so cool!”

  “It’s nice to see something for all that work, isn’t it?” He clapped Braden on the back. “Cole left already. Let’s head home, huh?”

  “Yeah. What are we going to do for supper? I’m starving.”

  “I’ll call and see what the girls want and pick something up. You have anything in mind?” He was pretty good at talking so that everyone was happy. They headed out to the truck and climbed in, both of them groaning a little bit.

  “Mmm. Maybe we could call in to Abuelita’s?”

  “Sure. Let me see what everyone else wants.” He hit his hands-free and waited for someone to answer the landline.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Courtney. What do you heathens want for supper?”

  “Uncle Ap! Uncle Daddy wants to know about supper! What do I say?”

  “Tell him I got it!” He heard Ap’s voice, raised just enough to carry.

  “Uncle Ap is doing supper. Come home. We made cupcakes!”

  “Well, okay, then. Ask your uncle if he needs me to pick anything up.”

  “Do you need anything, Uncle Ap?”

  “Just tell him to get his you know what home!”

  “I heard him. We’ll be home in a few. Cole should be pulling up any second.”

  “Okay, Uncle Daddy. I have to go. The white stuff is bubbling.” The phone clicked off.

  “They’re cooking,” he told Braden.

  “Should I be all scared?”

  “Possibly. If it’s gross, I’ll go get Federico’s later.”

  “Okay. I can live with that. Do we still have granola bars in the truck?”