Rock Chick Redemption (Rock Chick #3)(50)

“Didn’t think so,” Uncle Tex said.

“Get my car back, Uncle Tex. I’m leaving the minute I get home,” I demanded.

“No, darlin’. You gotta straighten things out with Hank.”

“Not a f**king chance.”

Tex was silent.

“You sure?” Uncle Tex final y asked.

“Very sure,” I replied.

More silence.

Then he said, “How’re you feelin’ about Vance?” Lord have mercy.

“Good-bye,” I said.

Before I could hang up, he said on a rush, “You stay the night, we’l cal your Mom.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“We?” I asked.

Mace sat down next to me, threw Vance a look and then started eating.

Uncle Tex said in my ear, “Yeah, you ‘n’ me.”

“You’l talk to her?” I said low.

He paused. Then he said, “Yeah.”

Instantly, I agreed. “I’l stay the night.” I felt like doing cartwheels but Uncle Tex had moved on.

“Have fun with the boys. You’re cookin’ dinner tonight.”

“Fine by me. We’l celebrate. I’l make something fancy.”

“Sounds good. I’m feelin’ like fat, juicy pork chops with that rice with the vermicel i stuff in it, like on TV. The San Francisco treat.”

I watched Vance eat a fry, stuck in a moment of stupefied silence.

Once I tugged myself out of my silence, I asked, “The San Francisco Treat?”

“Yeah,” Uncle Tex said, “I’l go to the store.”

“I was thinking something fancier, like, beef wel ington.

That’s everyday food, not food you eat after talking to the sister you haven’t spoken to in decades.”

“Fuck that. Next thing you’l want champagne instead of hooch. I’l go to the store, you get home in time to cook.

And, since you’re with Vance, give him a good look-over. If you don’t like what you see, have a look at Mace. I don’t know Mace al that wel but he seems a good sort.”

“You are joking, right?”

“Fuck no. Those boys are the shit. Hank would have been my choice but he f**ked it up. Matt and Bobby are taken, Ike’s on the road and he’s a scary motherf*cker. You don’t like Mace or Vance, I’l introduce you to Luke. Lee says Luke’s a serious badass but he’s been recoverin’

from a gunshot wound so I haven’t seen him in action. Stil , I heard Indy sayin’ she thinks he’s cute. You’l just have to go easy on him for a while.”

Good God.

Uncle Tex, the matchmaker.

“You’re nuts,” I said.

“That’s what they tel me.”

Then he disconnected.

I flipped my phone shut and stared at it for a second.

Then I curled my fist around it, threw my hands up in a

“Goal!” gesture and shouted, real y loud, “Woo hoo!” Everyone turned to stare, everyone including Lee, Eddie and Hank, who were now standing at the bar.

Whatever.

Nothing could pierce this piece of happiness. Not even Hank.

I grinned at Vance.

“Seems your luck just changed,” Vance commented.

“Dude, Uncle Tex is gonna talk to my Mom tonight. First time they’l have talked since he got back from Vietnam.” Vance’s eyes flashed, then they warmed. Then, he reached out and traced the curve of my ear.

“Good news,” he muttered.

“You better believe it.”

I heard the loud thud of a beer bottle hitting a counter. I turned in time to see Hank’s back as he left.

I looked to where Eddie and Lee stood at the bar.

Eddie was smiling at me.

Lee was glowering.

I turned my back on them, trying to pretend none of this affected me.

Which, it did, like, a lot.

But I’d decided, just then, with the happy news that Uncle Tex was going to cal my Mom, that I was going to live in a pretend world of bubble gum goodness.

At least until I drove over the Colorado border, then it was Joni Mitchel and Van Morrison al the way through Nebraska.

Chapter Twelve

Hank and My Wild Ride

“Hi Mom,” I said.

Uncle Tex was sitting across from me, at his dining room table, his leg bouncing, his hands running up and down his thighs, his eyes wild.

We’d had our pork chops and rice and Tex had had three shots of hooch and two beers. I thought he was primed but he looked like he was going to spontaneously combust.

“Hey there, honey. What’s up with you?” Mom said in my ear.

I smiled reassuringly at Tex.

“I have two pieces of real y good news,” I told her.

“Yeah? I can always use good news.”

“Wel …” I drew it out, “Bil y and I are done. He’s gone.

Real y gone this time.”

My Mom was silent.

Then she breathed, “Oh sweet Jesus.”

Then, she took the phone away from her mouth and I heard her shout, “Herb! Herb, come here! Roxie’s broken up with Bil y. Oh sweet Jesus. The sweet Lord Jesus heard my prayers.”

Mom carried on like this for a while.