Stepping onto the front porch, I wipe my feet. The woman looks me over, and I feel insecure about my black jeans and tee. Inside though, a mustached older fellow wears only boxers, a red robe, and cowboy boots. Yeah, maybe I'm actually overdressed.
"You the boy Johansson sent to take the filly back home?" the man asks, stopping in front of me.
"Yes."
"JJ McLaughlin," he says, shoving out his hand and giving mine a hard shake. "Pink is a good color on you."
My hand goes reflexively to the stained hair. "There was a little confusion last night."
"Oh, I'm sure there was," he says, gesturing for me to follow him down a hallway. "Sawyer has made her feelings pretty clear about remaining in Texas. Now, I'd like to help out Cooper. I respected Kirk a hell of a lot, but I can't blame Sawyer for wanting to stay. I mean, we are talking about Texas here."
We enter a large room with windows reaching up towards the sky. I try to hide my awe. I think my expression remains cold, as I've trained it to be over the years. JJ isn't looking at me though. He's still on the move towards what I realize is a kitchen leading to a back porch.
"I'm leaving this dilemma to you younglings. Good luck, Jace Todds."
JJ disappears down another hall while I peer outside at the pool area. Based on how Sawyer's pacing around, she won't be willing to talk. I catch sight of a guy hiding his face under a ball cap. He might be listening to Sawyer rant, but I doubt it. His face is too relaxed, and he seems more focused on the Pug sitting in his lap.
"Here's the deal," a woman says from behind me.
Turning around, I find the twins wearing bikini tops and denim shorts. I don't know which one spoke, and I suspect it doesn't matter.
"Sawyer is a little cray-cray since you tried to bitch-nap her last night," the redhead on the right says.
The other one walks to the door and peers out at a pacing Sawyer. "You dumped her, huh?"
"I'm not here to throw salt in that old wound. Her brother wants her back in Ellsberg."
"Bitch-napping isn't the way to make that happen," the redhead next to me says. "With Sawyer, you need finesse."
An older black woman enters. Startled, she looks me up and down before her gaze focuses on the pink in my hair. "Ready to eat lunch?" she asks in an accent I can't place.
"Yes, ma'am," the first twin says.
"What kind of finesse?" I ask the second one who seems more interested in helping me.
"First, you need to accept she doesn't want to leave yet. She's talking about living here, in fact. If you force her back to Ellsberg, she'll run again. Once you realize how futile these bitch-napping attempts are, you can move onto the finesse part."
"Okay, so she stays here...for now."
"Tell her brother you'll stay too and play bodyguard. You can tell Sawyer the same thing. She'll say she doesn't need your help, and she really doesn't. No one will mess with our guest, but you tell her you're just doing your job. She'll call you a pussy and threaten your crotch."
"Sounds about right."
"Then you wait. Sawyer likes it here, but she's on vacation. Vacations don't last forever."
Her sound advice makes my unease disappear. "What's your name?"
"Bodie. That's Colbie. Don't worry if you can't keep us straight. Oh, and she's Mama May Dee."
"Which one of you shot me last night?"
The twins share a glance before laughing. Mama May Dee laughs too. Growing up with two older sisters, I'm accustomed to being outnumbered by mocking women.
"What if I had shot back?" I ask while Bodie knocks on the glass door.
"We knew who you were," Bodie says, "and that you wouldn't get into a gunfight in our territory. If you'd been some perv grabbing Sawyer, we'd be laughing over your grave today."
Sitting at the long kitchen table, Colbie smiles at me. "We love to laugh. Life, death, good or bad, we find a reason to laugh."
"It's good for the heart," I say, and Colbie's smile widens.
Sawyer enters the house behind the ball cap guy. Clearly ready to tear me a new one, she catches Colbie smiling in my direction.
"He's the devil," she hisses. "Trust nothing he says."
"I met the devil once," Mama May Dee says while frying bacon. "He was a smooth talker with green eyes like emeralds. Told me he could make all the pain go away. Promised he knew all the answers."
Sawyer frowns at the woman, but ball cap guy pats Mama May Dee on the back. "What did you do?"
"Told him to kiss my ass. Jesus was my only master. Once he knew I was no fool, he threw his beer and stormed away. Stupid devil."
Sawyer isn't sure how to continue after the story. I suspect this is why Mama May Dee told it.
"I'm not going home," she says, staring up at me.
"I know."
"I'm moving here."
"I know that too. Bodie told me you plan to stay."
"Why did you listen to her, but not me?"
"She wasn't screaming at me at the time."
Sawyer gives me her Billy Idol snarl, but I just smile remembering when she perfected that move.
"Well, now that we're all friends," Colbie announces, "let's sit down for lunch and reminisce about the time I shot Jace in the ass with a pink paint pellet."
"You didn't make that shot," Bodie mutters.
"I'm fairly certain I did, desert flower."
"You're fairly wrong, jungle skunk."
"Hey, I was being nice."