“Cleaning the bathroom at The Bum Steer,” said Kneecap with his mouth full. “Unclogging toilets.”
“It’s not that bad, dumbass,” said Knoxie from his ladder’s perch. I had the feeling Knoxie had it out for Kneecap, for some reason. He turned to me. “You have to bartend at the Steer along with Sock Monkey, that sort of thing. Look after everyone’s scoots when they’re having a sit-down with someone.”
“And clean the bathroom,” Kneecap said again. “Good luck on that after Wolf Glaser stuffs himself with barbecue.”
“Pfft,” said Knoxie.
I clung to Ford’s ladder. “But Ford, are the rumors true? Is Fox being invited to patch in?”
“He hasn’t given us an answer yet,” was all Ford would say.
Good gracious, Ignatius! Fox was on his way to becoming a tried and true blue Bare Boner! I had to absorb that tidbit of information, but Ford was now asking me,
“Is he on his way up? I wonder if he could stop by the Citadel and come up with a fuel truck. Some of our paving equipment out front is low on gas.”
“The roller is completely out,” said Knoxie. “We could send Wolf Glaser down to get the fuel truck.”
“Let me check,” I said, pulling my phone from my apron pocket. “Oops, he says he’s on his way up as of fifteen minutes ago. Should I ask Wolf?”
“Yeah, ask Wolf,” said Ford.
So I went out front where all the paving equipment stood silently. Wolf was supposed to be directing the overlay of the parking lot, but I guess he couldn’t, not without gas. I went around back to the lake side of the motel and sure enough, there was Wolf, shooting arrows at the hay bales we’d set up to amuse ourselves during breaks.
I picked up one of the stick bows hanging from a bow rack and joined Wolf. Stick bows were harder to be accurate with, and I hit the outer ring of the target twenty yards away. “Shit. Wolf, they want you to go to the Citadel and bring back the fuel truck.”
“Ten-four. I’m on it.” Wolf’s tongue stuck out when he aimed with one eye shut. He got a bullseye and hung up his bow. “You know, I’m moving into the Leaves of Grass house with Tracy.”
I sent my last arrow flying into the bale and hung up my bow, too. “What the fuck? Doesn’t Tobias live there too?”
“That’s the problem. But I’ve been living at the Citadel in one of their crappy little rooms that used to be the War Room when the army was there. I’ve got a view of a decrepit runway and a bunch of construction guys peeing in port-a-potties.”
“And some beautiful red rocks,” I reminded him.
“True. I think Tobias might move into Lytton’s, if you guys ever move out.”
He said that very pointedly, and I couldn’t say as I blamed him. Fox and I were just waiting for the other shoe to drop before we made a move. I’d given notice on my little apartment after it was ransacked. I was homeless. “Oh, here’s Fox. We’ll come up with something, Wolf. I promise.”
“I know you will,” Wolf said warmly. “Fox is madly in love with you.”
“What?”
But Wolf only grinned that wide grin at me, so I went to greet Fox as he got off his scoot and removed his lid.
“Hi, darling,” I said, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my cheek to his chest. I called him “darling” in a half-joking way sometimes, and sometimes he called me “pussycat.”
He did that now, caressing the back of my head. “Hey, pussycat. Painting your office?” For it would be my office once the motel was open. Randy Blankenship had approved of my new job, maybe mainly because I hadn’t told him it was a cannabusiness.
“I’m done with my part,” I said, taking off my apron and folding it up. “Maddie and Tracy are almost done with the walls. How do you think it went at the bird place?”
Putting his hands on his hips, Fox looked at the distant dry lake bed. “Well, I’d have to say…” Oh boy, he was going to draw this one out. “That I got the job.”
“Oh my God!” I jumped so high Fox was able to catch me, holding me to him with my ass in his hands. I twined my ankles round the back of his knees, hitching my heels in the top of his boots. “Seriously? You’re going to get to work with birds all day long?”
Wolf said, “When he’s not cleaning bathrooms at the Bum Steer.”
Seriously? Was that the only thing people could think about—cleaning bathrooms? But it did remind me of that other matter, and I slid down Fox’s body, serious now. “Yes. What’s going on with that? Everyone except me seems to know that you’re patching into the Bare Bones.”