Page 11 of Cowboy's Way

“No, but I moved his bed in there. Stop eating that until breakfast is ready,” I demand, indicating the pizza with my chin. Shooing him out of the way, I turn on the oven and grab a cookie sheet to heat it up.

“I’m good with cold pizza.”

“I’m not, so just wait.”

He looks more amused than anything as he continues looking around. “Where’s your coffee? I’ll get to work on that.”

“I don’t have any.”

“What? Did you run out of money after that Sub-Zero fridge? You have a coffee pot and no coffee, plus a massive fridge with no food in it?”

“Me, apparently. I had coffee, but I didn’t take into account how much the workmen would drink, so I’m out and haven’t been back to the store.”

Hearing that, he simply lets out a grunt instead of an apology.

“Do you want water or Diet Coke?” I ask, just as I’m pouring the eggs into the skillet. “They’re in theSub-Zerothat I got on sale, thank you.”

He crosses behind me and looks between the nearly empty shelves back to me.

“Before you say anything, smartass, it was installed yesterday afternoon,” I cut him off. “And I bought the eggs from that couple up the road.”

“The Davidsons. They would have loaned you coffee, if you had asked,” he tells me, reminding me of their name. “His brother was with the Saints, back in the day. Gary met Sabine at State and they’ve been together ever since.”

“That’s so sweet,” I say, feeling like that’s the appropriate response to stupid ass happily ever-after stories.

“Sounds good, doesn’t it? Actually, she was a nursing student and he was a janitor. When she turned up pregnant, her parents cut her off, but Gary just worked harder. He paid for the rest of her schooling, working whatever jobs he could get. They didn’t have it easy, then Gary went and won the lottery when their kids were young.”

“I bet all her relatives came knocking on their door, then, huh?”

“A tale as old as time. Money makes it easy to overlook a lot of things, right?” He chuckles, at least until he sees me piling the scrambled eggs on top of the reheated pizza. That gets a quizzical look.

I plate up a couple pieces for both of us and put those on the table before grabbing the salt and my favorite hot sauce from the cabinet.

Looking up at him as I’m taking my first bite, he shrugs and takes a bite of his own.

“Hmm,” he hums out, reaching for the salt. “Not bad. Weird, but not bad.”

“I saved some eggs for Bruno, if that’s alright with you.”

At the sound of his name, the large Bouvier rejoins us and sits beside me. “You’re such a good boy!”

“Beggar,” Logan counters my assessment.

“You just ignore him,” I tell Bruno, trying not to laugh when the large dog gives his owner the side eye. Taking another bite of my egg pizza before getting up, I put a healthy scoop of eggs in a bowl and place it next to the table for the dog.

“I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty tonight,” Logan tells me, and I raise an eyebrow at him as he takes the last bite of his breakfast. “I’ll bring you home whenever you’re ready.”

A short time later, when Logan’s halfway through the door with Bruno’s bed awkwardly folded in half and balanced on his shoulder, I remember he never finished telling me about the Davidsons. “Hey, did Sabine and her family make up?”

“No. She told them to fuck off,” Logan replies with a laugh. “You’d never know those two had any money, but they put their kids through college and take a nice long trip every year.”

Smiling at his back, I nod my head in satisfaction as I lock the door behind him. Now, that’s my kind of happily ever-after, I think, revising my earlier opinion about the older couple down the road.

*

I know I can easily back out of this pig roast thing, but it wouldn’t hurt for me to get to know some people from the surrounding area.

Bullshit.Pipes in an annoying voice in my brain.

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