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Chapter Nine
Slate watched Jill hurry away from the front yard and disappear into the garage. Ted was talking about something already, but Slate hadn’t heard a word yet.
“…and we just need to know if you want to do it,” he finished.
“I’m sorry.” Slate shook his head. “Do what?”
“I told you we should give him a few minutes,” Dallas said.
“We need an answer,” Ted said, a frown on his face. His beard was getting totally out of control, but Slate supposed the same argument could be made about his hair and facial hair.
“Tell me again,” Slate said. “I was thinking about something else.”
“Yeah, that blonde woman you ate lunch with,” Nate said.
“Exactly.” Slate pinned him with a look. “You guys gave me less than five seconds to switch over, so cut me some slack.”
“We needed an answer,” Ted repeated.
“Tell me the question again,” Slate said, annoyance starting to eat at him. Plus, it was too hot to be standing out here having this conversation. He started for the Annex, because he needed to wash his hands and put on sunscreen before he went back out to the construction site.
“There’s an opportunity to get season tickets for the Dallas Cowboys,” Ted said. “We could get a pair and split up who goes, or we can get a quad and do the same thing. Nate’s going to pay up front, because he has a ton of money—not sure if you knew that—and we can pay him back over time.”
“Or not at all,” Nate said. “Ward can buy us the tickets.”
“It’s through Ward that we’d get them anyway,” Ted said, and he seemed so excited about this prospect.
“I didn’t even know you liked the NFL,” Slate said.
“Well, we’re all different men out here,” Ted said. “But the window is closing, and we want you to be included if you want to be included.”
Slate’s thoughts went immediately to Luke.
“Before you ask,” Dallas said. “Luke said he was in. He wasn’t sure how much he’d use them, because he doesn’t know where he’s going to land, but he said he’d like to consider the option to stay here or at least come back and visit, even just to go to a game together.”
“Can we get five of them?” Slate asked. “Because if not, then we’ll never get to go to a game together.”
“They sell them in pairs,” Nate said. “We could get six.” He raised his eyebrows and looked at Ted, who strode along at his side.
“You’ve got kids,” Slate said. “You could take Connor or Thomas to a game. Missy or Remmy. Whoever.”
“So is that a yes?” Ted asked.
Slate took a deep breath and went up the steps to the front door of the Annex. Inside, the cool kiss of air conditioning met him. “Yeah,” he said. “I don’t know where I’m going to be either, but I don’t want to be left out.”
“That’s my man.” Ted whooped and turned to Nate. The two of them went into the kitchen, jabbering about making the call and getting the tickets paid for.
Slate turned to Dallas and shook his head. Dallas grinned and shrugged. “I leave for a week to go on a honeymoon, and you’re dating Jill Kyle?”
Slate couldn’t help smiling. “It wasonedate. Is that dating?”
“Yes,” Dallas said with a laugh. “Around here it is.”
“Good to know,” Slate muttered, and he followed the others into the kitchen to get washed up and ready to get back to work.
His thoughts ran around the texts Luke had sent just before he and Jill had gone into the restaurant. Luke loved working with his hands. It was why he’d gone into boxing—which had ultimately landed him in prison.
He’d taken every available class or workshop offered at River Bay, and he’d liked Dallas’s mechanic classes and his construction classes the best. Now that Ginger had put him to work on building cabins, it sure seemed like that was what Luke wanted to do with his life.
