“Yes, it’s on my list.”
Hud reached for his radio and put in a request for a few helping hands. He’d just put the radio back on his hip when it went off, something job related. He listened for a beat and then began barking orders. He’d no sooner slid the radio back into place than his cell phone rang. He grimaced and answered that too. He said something about how they needed at least three staff members in each of the outposts today and yes, he knew the fencing on the backside of the mountain needed to be replaced stat and that he was on it as soon as he checked the staff rosters to make sure everyone was able to take their required breaks.
There was more, a lot more. And it all boggled Bailey. His life boggled her. The reality of his job and the responsibilities of his day-to-day life here on the mountain were dizzying. “Do you ever get a day off?” she asked.
“No.”
“That’s… awful.”
He reacted by not reacting. Shock.
His phone buzzed again and he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. It’s my mom and I have no idea why she’s FaceTiming me.” He hit ANSWER and then there came a lot of white noise.
Hud blinked and held his phone farther away as if he couldn’t quite process what he was seeing. “Mom.”
Bailey peeked at the phone. It looked as if Carrie was holding it to show off her plain white ceiling.
“Mom,” Hud said again.
“Well if that isn’t the silliest thing,” came Carrie’s voice. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to speak into.”
Hud rubbed a hand over his eyes, like maybe he was getting a headache. “Mom, just hold the phone up in front of you.”
There was a lot of movement and then there was a man. Older, bald, a little round. He wore wire-rimmed glasses, a button-down shirt, and… no pants. Just bright red boxers.
“Who the hell are you?” Hud stared at the phone. “What’s going on?”
“Oh,” Carrie said, and then the view of the man went upside down. They caught a quick flash of the ceiling again and then saw Carrie’s smiling face. “There you are, baby. How are you?”
Hud was clearly not feeling friendly. “Why is there a man with no pants in your room?” he asked in a quiet but scary, badass voice.
Carrie laughed. “That’s Terrance. I’m teaching him how to play cards.”
Hud’s jaw worked a moment. “Tell me you’re not teaching him how to play strip poker.”
“Well, of course not! Good Lord, Hud. I wouldn’t do that.”
Hud relaxed marginally.
“I mean, it’s not even dark yet,” Carrie said. “You can’t play strip poker before dark.”
Hud appeared to grind his back teeth together for a moment. “Then explain why he’s not wearing pants.”
“Well, baby, you’re still a young one, but when a man gets older, he…” She tilted her head. “How should I put this?”
Terrance stuck his face next to Carrie’s. “I don’t like to crowd my bits,” he said.
Carrie smiled at him. “Yes,” she said. “That’s a good way to put it.”
Hud closed his eyes briefly. “I’m at work, Mom. I’ll check in with you later.”
“Okay, baby.”
Hud looked Terrance in the eye. “Air out your bits in your own room, soldier, you hear me?”
Terrance sighed. “I hear you.”
Hud disconnected and stared at the phone for a long beat. “Jesus,” he finally muttered, looking tired.
“Your mom’s quite a character,” Bailey said.
“She’s sure something,” he agreed.
Bailey looked him over, wishing she could take a load off for him. “Hud?”
“Yeah?”
“When do you get to have any fun?”
He laughed humorlessly. “Let’s put it this way, I don’t have a list. I don’t have time for a list.”
“Fine, but what would be on it if you did?”
He shrugged.
She stared at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means I don’t know.”
“How could you not know?” she asked, stunned. “You don’t have any hopes and dreams?”
“I already have my dream job,” he said, which she couldn’t help noticing didn’t really answer her question.
“You have to have a list,” she said.
A whisper of a smile curved his lips. “Who says?”
“Me.” She pulled her little notepad from her saddlebag and thrust it at him. “Here, you can write it down as it occurs to you. It’s small enough to fit into one of your cargo pockets.”
He just kept looking at her, like maybe she was a species he’d never come across before.
She shook the notepad a little, and with a wry twist of his mouth he took the thing and stuck it into one of his myriad of pockets.
When his phone rang again, he looked at the screen and took the call with a terse “Kincaid.”
She could hear a male voice, low and pissed off, barking something about a delivery of… obnoxious undies?
Hud listened for a few beats and then disconnected, all without a word.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Aidan.”
She stared at him. “And?”
“Nosy much?” he asked.