Page 24 of For the Love of the Lawyer

"When I said your dads deserved a date night, I meant me clearin' out as well. I'm gonna go to town and get dinner then maybe go to Pete's tonight and watch some baseball. Don't y'all worry ‘bout ol' Mick. I got lots of friends. Now, you ready?" Matt walked down the stairs, his hair still wet from the shower.

"Whoa! Where you goin', Mick? I know the boys are goin' to Momma's, but I didn't know you was goin' out," Matt taunted with a wicked smile.

Mickey laughed. "You're full of it, Matt. I get when I'm not wanted. I won't be home ‘fore last call, so I'd appreciate it if y'all wouldn't moan, groan, and scream.”

"Why would they scream?" Rocky asked Ryan.

"Oh, they like watchin' scary movies. Well, Daddy does but Tim doesn't, that's why he screams sometimes. You'd think they'd quit watchin’ ‘em, but they don't.” Ryan shook his head in disbelief, nearly bringing Mickey to his knees in laughter.

He saw Matthew Collins blush for the first time ever, and it made his heart happy for his best friend. They were so damn in love it was sickening, and apparently, they had a pretty damn good sex life.

"We better get goin', boys. Tell your dad ‘night. I'll take your stuff out to the truck.” Mickey took out their backpacks with their names on them that had been gifts from Miss Katie for Easter. They'd been their baskets, and the boys loved them. Hell, they'd even given Mickey a basket with some candy and a gift card to Applebee's, a place he loved to eat.

As he thought about it, Mickey decided he might use it that night because it was near I-81, and that wasn't really out of his way. It was only five o'clock, and he had nothing going on the rest of the evening. Why not?

He hurried to his room and grabbed the gift card and his dress Stetson hat before he returned to the truck where Tim was standing with the boys, giving them orders which they'd never break. Mickey smiled as Tim opened the door and settled them into the backseat. "Behave and have fun. Love you both.”

Tim then opened the front passenger door and handed Mickey a plastic bag. "You behave and have fun as well. Be safe. We love you, too."

When the door closed, Mickey backed up until he could turn around and drive down the paved driveway. After he had the boys settled with Jeri and Marty, he got back in the truck andopened the bag Tim had given him. Inside was a bottle of lube and a box of condoms with a sticky note attached.

Be safe. You're a part of the family, too.

Love,

Tim & Matt

He laughed all the way through town. As he took the exit onto the interstate to drive the few miles to where the restaurant was situated among the many motels and other eateries, he picked up the cowboy hat because it gave him confidence.

Mickey placed the khaki felt hat on his head and checked himself in the mirror. He looked good, even if he did say so, and he was really fucking horny, so if he had a little love by the dashboard light, he wasn't going to beat himself up about it.

Chapter Ten

Jon was sitting at the bar at Tobacco Company Restaurant waiting for his friends, Aaron and Rick. They were meeting for dinner for the first time since the wedding and honeymoon, and Jon was certain he was going to be lambasted with stories he'd find utterly boring. He'd humor them for a while and then, they'd all move on to regular topics, like business or baseball,both of which were topics upon which he could offer informed insights.

He ordered another vodka tonic as his phone chimed. If this is them canceling, I'm going to kill them, Jon thought.

They'd been trying to get together since Aaron and Rick had returned from St. Kitts in January after their Christmas Eve wedding, but Rick had been busy teaching and working on a new consulting job he'd taken with a business journal in Richmond. Aaron was a lawyer with a busy schedule, much like Jon, so even though they worked at the same firm, they were in different disciplines which didn’t often cross paths.

Their three-on-three basketball league ended late last year, and the new season didn't start until the middle of summer, so the three of them had been very busy doing their own things. Jon was hoping to catch up with his friends and maybe get himself on solid ground again. He wanted to get back to the clubs Aaron and Rick loved to frequent and reignite his sex life.

He finally pulled out his phone to find it was a text from his mother, which surprised him. There was a video attached, but he looked at the message first, not really interested in another kitten/monkeyYouTubeclip.

Jonathon, come to the farm this weekend. This isn't a request. I can't believe you've been keeping this from me. Love you. Mom xoxo

Just as he was about to click on the attachment to figure out what the hell she was referencing, he felt an arm around his neck and a kiss on his cheek. He turned to see Rick's warm smile. "Hello, darling. How are you?" Rick sat down next to Jon on the stool and knocked on the bar.

"Where's Aaron? I walked by his office on my way out, but it was dark." Jon watched Rick pull out hand sanitizer from thepocket of his sport coat. He'd forgotten germs were one of Rick's peeves.

For some odd reason, watching Aaron reminded him of seeing Mickey during that visit to the Circle C when he worked with two newborn calves. It seemed they were twins, and their mother was a small cow who had struggled through the birth, as happened sometimes in nature.

Jon remembered standing at the corner of a tiled stall as he watched Mickey cleaning them up, his hands dirty from removing the remnants of the birthing process because the cow was too weak to do her job.

"While this ain’t as bad as watchin' Matt castrate calves, I'm pretty sure this ain’t exactly your cup of tea either, but if you could grab some towels from the cabinet for me, I'll get ‘em goin' so we can move ‘em to another stall. After Matt moves her, I'll clean this mess and then put ‘em back in here. Ryan'll love feedin' ‘em," Mickey told him as he rubbed the calves down with old towels while the cow breathed heavily.

"What about her?" Jon asked, knowing nothing about cattle. He moved to do as Mickey asked and again, stood back to stay out of the way.

Mickey looked at the cow as she lay resting on her side, barely breathing. "She'd a been fine with one of these little beauties, but two was too much. It happens, sometimes. Mother Nature gives more than some of us can handle. It was her first season, poor thing." Mickey picked up first one calf then the other, moving them to the other tiled stall where there was clean bedding.

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