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Rising to his feet, Cole looked his best friend in the eye, and with every ounce of sincerity in his body, said, “You’ve got my word.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
COLE
“Don’t forgetto drink your water!” Cole called out over the droning buzz of weed whackers while wiping a veritable river of sweat off his brow. “Don’t want to get dehydrated!”
As if in agreement, Murphy whined up at him before resuming his limp-tongued panting.
“Yes, Dad!” Thom called back, his grin wide and toothy.
Killing the motor on his weed whacker, Tex walked over to Cole and said, “You should probably take your own advice. You’re looking a little…red.”
Cole felt more than a little red. He felt like he’d spent the entire day with his face nestled in Satan’s armpit. “Thanks, Tex.”
“Maybe we should all take a break.” Sam’s not-so-subtle nod in Cole’s direction made it clear who he thought actually needed the breather.
“Yeah,” Kev said, taking his CUBS hat off to fluff his curly blond hair. Putting the hat back on, he tugged on the brim. “The shade’s looking awfully good right about now.”
“I know I could use a rest,” Stanley added, pointing up at the sun. “Sure is a scorcher today.”
If he wasn’t so busy trying to decide if the pulse pounding in his throat or the spots swirling in front of his eyes required a 911 call, Cole might have laughed at the guys doing everything they could to keep him from croaking on his first day.
“A break sounds great,” Cole said, following the guys toward a shady spot under a tall ponderosa. “I’m not used to all of this—”
“Altitude?” Sam asked.
“Sun?” Tex suggested.
“Socializing?” Thom offered.
“Work,” Cole admitted before one of the guys hurt themselves trying to avoid calling him out on his sad tolerance for manual labor. As carefully as possible, he lowered himself to sit on a blanket of pine needles. “It’ll probably take me a minute to adjust.”Or all the minutes.
“No kidding.” Tex fanned his face with his cowboy hat. “After the first couple days out here clearing trails, I could barely walk.”
Joining Cole on the ground, Kev said, “I got so sunburned, I looked like a lobster.”
“You should have seen the gnarly blister on my big toe.” Without warning, Thom plopped down between Kev and Sam and yanked off his shoe and his sock. His nose crinkled while he studied the toe in question. “You can still kind of see it.”
“Get your nasty as—your nasty foot away from me,” Sam snapped, holding back his swear word while he plucked a dandelion head off its stem and hurled it at Thom’s face. “We’re trying tokeepCole from passing out, not give him no other choice.”
Kev laughed softly to himself, his knee bouncing in its cross-legged position.
Thirstier than he’d ever been—maybe thirstier thananyonehad ever been—Cole threw back his head and guzzled nearly every drop of his water. One by one, the guys turned to look at him with varying levels of concern.
When Sam asked, “You okay there, Boss?” Cole choked so hard water erupted out of his mouth.
“P-please,” he spluttered while Tex slapped his back a little too hard, “do not call me that.”
“Call you what?” Kev asked, his mouth turned down. “Boss?”
Cole shuddered. “Yeah, no. No Boss.”
“What should we call you then?” asked a neck-craningly tall man with dark brown skin everyone called Ace even though his name was Frank. “Big C?”
“Sticks?” Tex suggested, explaining, “Because he’s a drummer,” when the other men frowned at him.
“Seattle Slim?” Sam chimed in, making Thom snort.
