“Yes. Why?”
“The owner, Maria? Her men, you know John and Mattie right? Well, her men belong to the Texas Kings. You’re already one of them, sweetheart - you just didn’t even know it yet.”
“One of them?”
“One of the family. That’s how my people do things.”
“Your people?”
“Yeah. Now you’re my people.” I glanced up and noticed that the waitress was turning the sign from open to closed, “Are you ready to get out of this place? I think they’re ready to lock up.”
“Where will we go?”
“Well, we’ve still got some things to iron out. Do I pick you up early tomorrow and we talk then or do you want to head back to my house for a while and then I’ll take you home?”
“Your place, I think.”
I had already paid the ticket, so she and I waved at our waitress and headed outside. We were only a few steps away from the door when I heard the lock turn behind us.
“It’s already 10. Are you sure you want to come to my place? We’ve got to be at Marcus and Reagan’s by nine.”
“Yeah. I won’t sleep a wink with this stuff hanging over my head, what about you?”
“Probably not.”
“Then your house it is.”
7.
SIERRA
The drive back to Rowdy’s house was quiet, both of us getting our thoughts in order before ‘the big talk’. I knew a few things that I wanted to discuss with him and get out on the table before we took this leap.
Marriage? To a stranger? What was I thinking?
I decided to take him up on his offer of references and I would give him a list of people he could ask about me, too. Not that there were many people, just a few of the girls I had become friends with at the apartments..
It seemed so uneven that I was coming into this relationship with so much baggage and only a few positive things and attaching myself to Rowdy’s already full life.
But if something happened and he lost his daughter, even only part of the time, that life would change and it wouldn’t be for the better.
We drove up in front of Rowdy and Leia’s house and what I could see of it from the outside was promising. Even though there wasn’t a fenced-in ‘yard’ per se, there was a nicely cut square of grass in front of the house. It was soft, green grass like a normal yard in town would have rather than the wild grass that grew around the rest of the property.
To the right of the modest porch, there was a small flower bed and it was weeded and moist, showing dedicated care. A little gnome dressed as a biker held a sign that said, “Get off my lawn!” and when I read it, I giggled.
“Leia bought me that for Father’s Day a few years ago. I worked really hard to get the grass to take and I was probably a little more militant than necessary in the process.”
“I think it’s pretty. It’s already green, even though it’s not quite spring yet.”
“Yeah, like I said, I’m a little odd about the yard.” Rowdy laughed softly as he unlocked the front door. He pushed it open and waited for me to go in and I was happily surprised when I got my first look at his house.
“It looks so, well, it looks like it’s not a single man that lives here!”
“That’s a compliment, right?”
“Yes!” The room was cozy - the couches big and fluffy and covered in a denim material. There was a patterned throw draped over one arm of the couch and it coordinated with the solid one that hung on the back of a big recliner.
Pictures of Leia through the years dotted the walls, mixed in with pictures of men and some women that I recognized through Kari and my new boss, Maria. One picture caught my attention and I quickly walked across the room toward it.
A man, I guessed that it was Rowdy’s father, was standing next to Rowdy beside a big truck. Rowdy had Leia in his arms and she was just a few months old. She was wearing a frilly little dress and a flowered headband on her bald head. The man looked stunned and Rowdy looked terrified, but the way he held the little girl showed that he was already taking parenting very seriously. She was clutched close to his chest with one hand under her bottom and the other supporting her head.
“That was the day we picked her up from her foster parents. They took the picture for us and sent it in the mail once it was developed.”
“That’s sweet.”
“They’re good people.” Rowdy reached out and touched the glass of the frame over the flower on Leia’s headband. “We’ve stayed in touch over the years. They’re the closest thing to grandparents she’s got.”
“What about your dad?”
“He’s a good Papa, don’t get me wrong, but he’s more inclined to teach her to burp the alphabet than take her to service on Sunday morning.”
I laughed at the image of Leia burping next to the man in the picture.
“Yeah, you think it’s funny now, but the girl can make fart noises in her armpit that will clear an entire grocery store.” Rowdy shook his head. “And don’t get me started on her belching. Good God.”
I couldn’t help myself and laughed even harder. Lexi was nothing like that and I guessed it was because I raised her alone and she didn’t have the opportunity to hang out with ‘the guys’ and learn stuff like that.
“Does she get to visit with them?”
“Yeah, they head this way once a year and we make it down there every so often. They write letters
