Page 56 of Boston
Coming home to Coral Canyon, dealing with health problems, meeting and marrying Faith, and settling down with his kids had changed Blaze in immeasurable ways. But something had undone all of that, and no wonder Jem had texted during church to see if they could come over this afternoon.
“Hey, guys,” Mav said, stepping out from the trees. “I think we can probably make frozen raspberry lemonade in just a bit. Dani was just doing leftovers for lunch today.”
“Yeah, she said we could have some,” Jem said.
“I ain’t hungry,” Blaze grumbled.
“He’s not in a good mood either,” Jem said, and Blaze pierced him with a sharp glare. “I thought he might tell you why.” Jem gazed coolly back at Blaze, seemingly unfazed by his attitude.
He wasn’t, Mav knew that. But Jem had always put on a good front.
“Daddy,” Lars called, and Mav sighed as he rolled his neck and faced the house again.
“What?” he asked.
“Momma said she’s making frozen lemonade, if you want some.”
“All right,” Daddy said. “I’ll be in in a minute.”
Lars went back inside and slid the door closed again.
“How’s Boston doing?” Jem asked, and whether he knew or not that he was going straight for the jugular, Mav wasn’t sure.
Another sigh slipped out of his mouth. “Oh, you know,” he said. “I think he’s hiding something from me.” He chuckled, though he wasn’t kidding. “So about the usual.”
“What could he possibly be hiding?” Jem asked.
“I don’t know,” Mav said. “I try not to speculate too much, but I know he’s not telling me something, because he doesn’t answer my calls and he texts that he’ll call me later, but then he doesn’t.”
Jem chuckled. “Oh, I can’t wait for that. I just want to get my kid out of the house.”
“Still no job yet?” Mav asked, and he gestured to one of the hammocks. Blaze moved over to it, and Mav would be shocked if he got a word out of the man today.
“No job yet,” Jem said. “And it’s almost July. Who’s gonna give that child a job?”
“He said he was working on it,” Blaze said.
“Yeah, he says a lot of things.” Jem blew out his breath and collapsed into the hammock just a few feet away from Mav’s. That got Blaze to sink into the third hammock as well.
“He’s a good boy,” Mav said. “Someone will see that and give him a job.”
“He’s just so picky,” Jem said. “I told him he can’t afford to be picky when he has no experience.”
“Is he still set on working in the rodeo?” Mav asked.
“Yes,” Jem said. “He doesn’t want to ride, mind you. He wants all the things that people who have ridden do behind the scenes, but he has no experience.”
“He’s good with horses,” Blaze said.
“Yeah, well, it takes a lot more than being good with horses,” Jem said. “To get the kind of job that he needs to pay his bills. If he’s so good with horses, he can go work for Bryce.”
Mav smiled to himself. This idea of setting up hammocks so that he and his brothers could talk—pure genius. This way they didn’t have to look at one another, and Mav had learned from raising teenagers that having to look someone in the eye and have a conversation with them was actually really difficult. Most people didn’t want to do it, even his grown brothers.
“Anyway, I guess he’s got a job interview tomorrow,” Jem said. “I don’t know.”
“Where’s it at?” Mav asked.
“He refuses to get anyone’s help in the family, though we all know people.”
