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“Mom…it’ll be winter. Bears hibernate, and I’ve been here all summer and haven’t seen one yet!” That reminded me to ask about it, being people would be camping in the woods. “And snakes aren’t out in the winter.”
“They’ll come out for me.”
Damon walked over to me, and I pointed to the phone and mouthed, “Mom.”
He snatched the phone from me. “Mom! How are you? It’s Damon!”
My mother loved Damon. He called her once a week, unlike her ungrateful son . “Yeah, yeah, he is the worst son ever. Aren’t you glad you have me?” He winked over at me, and I wanted to throttle him.
“Oh, he told you? Yeah, Joel.” Damon turned to me as he asked her, “He didn’t tell you his name?”
Fuck.
“He’s very sorry, Mom. And of course, we’ll take a trip up there soon to introduce you.”
I took the phone back from him, and said, “Sorry, Mom. I should have told you.”
With an overly exaggerated sigh, she said, “But you didn’t. Call your father.”
“Yes, ma’am. Bye, Mom.”
“Give Damon a kiss for me.”
“Sure,” I said, sneering at my beloved partner. “A big kiss.”
Damon made kissy lips at me when I got off the phone and I pushed him playfully. “You’re an ass, you know that?”
“No, I’m mother’s good son. You are the shits.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I was kissed and groped, making me push him away. “Hands off the goods.”
“Excuse me? Those are my goods too.”
They were. My entire being now belonged to Damon and Joel. “Fine, but not now, and not here! We have four more days until everyone gets here. Is Joel back with the food?”
“No. Did you see that list? He stopped so Eli could go with to help him.”
“Good. Eli will make sure he doesn’t get lost in the candy section.” Devlin had shown me empty candy wrappers by the dozens in the trashcan in the attic. He laughed, but I worried about Joel’s teeth. “Where does he put all that sugar?”
“He’s hyper as fuck, Burke. He needs the fuel to keep us on our toes.”
“Right. Okay, let’s get the freezers ready.”
We’d purchased two huge chest freezers, and if we dipped anymore into our savings, we’d be working longer than my father was at seventy. Everything was ready, however, and as soon as the food was there, the last part of my own list would be checked.
We toured the tents and tiny homes after cleaning the freezers and making sure they were running correctly, and the stale smell was finally gone from the tents. After the inspector came to check on the new construction, we’d admitted we were going to use them for the first weekend, so we had more permits to fill out and pay for. Our remote jobs and the memberships were helping, though. I just hoped that would last.
It rode a lot on the opening weekend.
Joel got back with the food, and helped us with putting everything away, then he handed me back my credit card. “Don’t worry ‘bout checkin’ it. I used my bull ridin’ winnin’s.”
At first, I got angry, but Eli was with him and wouldn’t let me. He saw my face and pulled me away from Joel as Joel’s chin rose in defiance. “What the fuck, Eli?”
“Is he a part of this or not? Or is he some fucking trophy boy for the club, the face and the ass, but not a real owner?”
Eli had issues with anyone being held onto for their looks alone, so his eyes stared into mine and I saw his determination. Not that it was needed. I’d never treat Joel like Harvey had treated Eli. “You know better than to ask me that, Eli. Don’t get in the middle of things. I’d never do that to him!”
