Page 88 of Make Me Blush (Oil Barrons 3)

Twenty

Holden

It was Halloween, and, like Afton, I had been excited about it all last week.

I even dressed in a costume of sorts.

Emery opened the door and stopped, her eyes wide. She broke into laughter, and her mom appeared behind her.

“Oh my,” Lynnie said. “You look quite the part, Holden.”

I held my arms out. “Huh? I didn’t have to buy anything extra.”

When I worked, I usually wore a ball cap and a hoodie. When it got cold, I’d throw on a stocking hat and a coat. Yeah, I wore cowboy boots, but not flashy ones. I wore a pair that protected my feet and were easy to clean off mud and cow shit. I didn’t look like a stereotypical cowboy.

But tonight I did.

I’d dug out my black Resistol cowboy hat from high school. I had found a red plaid button-up shirt and an old western-style sports coat that one of Mom’s boyfriends had left at her house. My jeans were Wranglers, and I put on the boots with the wide calves so the bottoms of my pants pooled inside them. The cherry on top was a red handkerchief tied around my neck.

I had dug out my tan leather gloves since tonight would get chilly. But for the end of October in Coal Haven, we couldn’t ask for better trick-or-treating weather.

Emery pushed the screen door open. “Come on in, hoss.” She was still in her purple scrubs, her hair tied back in a bun. “I’m going to change. Mom’s got hot dogs cooking for a quick supper before they really load up on junk food.”

Landon bounced out of his bedroom, still in his school clothes. “Yeah. Trey said there’s a house on the next block that gives out full-size cans of pop every year.” He disappeared inside his room.

I heard buzzing, but my phone was quiet in the big pocket on my shirt. Emery patted herself down before pulling her phone from a cargo pocket of her scrub pants.

“It’s Henry. Sorry.” She answered and turned to walk to her room.

By the time she reached the doorway, she was shaking her head. She disappeared inside, her voice low. The kids were supposed to go to his place for the weekend tomorrow night. Was he backing out?

I wandered into the kitchen. Lynnie was at the stove. Riley was already at the table, helping herself to peas.

“Can I help with anything?” I asked.

Lynnie turned the burner off and lifted the pan. “Having another adult to monitor the chaos is enough. Did you eat yet?”

“I grabbed a bite.” I hadn’t, but I didn’t want Lynnie to worry about me. She had more important mouths to feed.

Setting the table was one of the kids’ rotating chores, but since it was an off night, I put out plates and cups. I cut up the hot dog for Riley as Lynnie called the other kids to eat.

By the time the kids circled the table, Emery still wasn’t out yet. Talking to Henry and changing clothes didn’t usually take her that long. I waited until Lynnie sat to eat before I said, “I’m going to check on Em.”

Emery’s bedroom door was only partially closed. She sat on the edge of the bed still in her scrubs, staring at the floor.

Worried, I knocked lightly, and she jumped.

Relief crossed her face when she saw it was me. “Can you come in and shut the door?”

I did as she asked and stayed standing as she rose and rushed to her dresser.

She tossed jeans onto the bed and started digging through a drawer. “Henry wanted to pick up the kids for some private school Halloween party.” She yanked out a long-sleeved red shirt and threw it on top of her pants. Then she ripped her scrub top over her head. My gaze stuck on her creamy tits jiggling in her plain white bra as she spoke. “And I said that we had plans, and he was a dick about it. Like, what am I supposed to do? It’s the last minute, and we have plans.”

“Did he think they’d miss school tomorrow?” I watched her shrug into her shirt until every last inch of skin disappeared.

“Oh, the school.” Her tone grew more incensed. “Then he started quizzing me about the programs that Coal Haven’s school has. Do they have advanced math? Do they have AP English? What about their science programs?” She stepped out of her pants and chucked them toward the laundry with a sneer. “And he goes on about how we shouldn’t have left the precious private school all his doctor friends send their kids to. As if he gave much thought to the kids and their schooling before I pissed him off by telling him no.” She rammed her feet into her jeans.

“And this is the school that’s having the party.”

---