Page 15 of Leading the Blind
“True that. He’s working with a broke foot and he’s grumpy.”
“Oh, man.” Really, Coop probably needed to retire, but that wasn’t his circus or his monkey. He had enough shit to worry on—whether a bullfighter retired wasn’t none of his.
Coke and Dillon both called to them, and Bax took his elbow to guide him over to sit.
“Hey, y’all. How goes? Your rooms good?” Coke sounded happy, settled in his bones today.
“Yeah, it’s real nice,” Bax said. “What’s up, Gramps?”
“Ace is going to come down for this one. Kynan’s riding too. Just so you know.”
“Ace Porter? What’s the boss doing coming down?” Jason wasn’t ready for that shit, was he?
“Who the fuck knows? I just wanted you to know.”
“Dillon?” Bax sounded a little panicky. Dillon was really the brains of this operation.
“Never fear, mis amigos.” Dillon’s voice held laughter. “I have a plan.”
“Does it involve me wearing makeup? Because if it involves me wearing makeup, I’m out.”
They all cracked up, to a man.
“Hey, guys.” That was AJ Gardner pulling up a chair. “What did I miss?”
“Jason in drag,” Bax deadpanned.
“Huh. Nah, man. You’d look way better in a dress than Jase.”
“What?” Dillon leaned forward. Jason felt the air shift. “How did I miss this?”
“Like Jason Scott would wear a dress, even as a joke.” Coke’s laughter boomed out. “I’m not sure he wears anything other than Wranglers and button-downs.”
“True. But Bax did once. He lost a bet. That was back in our tiny tour days, right, Jase?”
“Fuck yes. He was pissed, but he didn’t welch, not one bit. He came strutting out from behind the chutes, and the clown—I don’t even remember his name no more—damn near swallowed his tongue.” Jason felt the laughter just trying to bubble over.
Bax snorted. “At least I didn’t have to wear high heels. I woulda killed myself.”
“Missy puts them things on for church. One day she’s gonna go ass over teakettle.”
Coke’s chuckled sounded fond to him. “Oh, Aje, girls are good at that shit.”
“Spoken like a man.” That voice was female, and not Missy at all. Did he know that voice?
“Oh, my best girl!” Dillon sounded over the moon, damn near tripping over his boots.
“Hey, clown.” There was a great scraping of chairs, so Jason stood, figuring that was what cowboys did for a lady.
“Emmy!” Even Coke was tickled. “Hey, girl. Have you met Jason Scott and Andy Baxter?”
“I haven’t. I know all about y’all, of course. I’m tickled shitless to meet you.” Emmy took his hand, the motion easy as anything. “Mr. Scott. Emmy Sayer.”
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”
“Jase, this is Cotton’s wife. She’s the lady in charge of communications for Ace.”
“Oh, you’re the new webmaster, huh?” Bax liked the new website.
