Kissin' Tell (Rough Riders #13)(111)

So call Tell.


No. Dalton had asked her not to. Which left her with one choice.


She parked his rig at the curb in front of her house because she feared she’d take out the neighbor’s bushes if she attempted to park in the driveway.


Dalton staggered out of his pickup and into her house on his own. She directed him to the living room couch.


He yanked off his boots out of habit and flopped on the sofa with a weary sigh. He draped his arm over his eyes. “I’m gonna be payin’ for my damn pity party the rest of the night and most of tomorrow. Christ. My head is spinning like a f*ckin’ tornado.”


“Do you want coffee?”


“Nah. Thanks. I’m just gonna sleep it off.”


She brought him a pillow and a blanket. “The bathroom is down the hall, across from the kitchen.”


“I ain’t gonna puke, if that’s what you’re worried about. I can hold my liquor.”


“Well, I’d prefer you didn’t pee on my sofa either. So you know where the toilet is in case you need to use it.”


He snorted. “You’re funny. And sweet. Not at all what I thought you’d be.”


Georgia perched on the edge of the coffee table. “I’m afraid to ask what Tell has told you about me.”


“Nothin’, really. That says a lot.”


“Why?”


“If my brother ain’t talkin’ about you, it means there’s something there to talk about.”


That made no sense.


“You ain’t playin’ him, are you?” Dalton said softly. “He deserves better.”


“Tell deserves the best because he’s the best man I’ve ever known.”


“Have you told him that?”


“Not yet. But I intend to.”


Dalton groaned. “Good. But f*ck. I’m really gonna be the last single McKay standing, ain’t I?”


Yes, if Georgia had anything to say about it.


“Night, Dalton.”


“Night, John-Boy.”


She froze. “What did you say?”


“Nothin’. Drunk talk. Me’n Tell and Brandt and Luke always pretended it was stupid the way the Waltons said goodnight to everyone at the end of the show. But we really thought it was kinda cool ’cause we never did that in our family. So we started doin’ it as a joke.”


“You know what’s weird? RJ and I did the same thing. ’Cept he always wanted to be John-Boy.”


“So did Tell. Bastard made me be Mary Ellen.”


Georgia laughed. “Night, Mary Ellen.”


“You and Tell are two peas in a pod.”


By the time she asked, “What do you mean?” she saw Dalton’s breathing had slowed and he’d passed out.


Chapter Twenty-Eight


Sunday morning, Tell feigned sickness and skipped helping with chores.


He’d spent Saturday night after the rodeo dozing off between shitty reality shows on the Discovery Channel. Point for him that he hadn’t drunk until he passed out. His mind had just shut down on its own and his body followed. He wondered if this was how his days and nights would be if Georgia was out of his life for good.


He couldn’t live like this. He couldn’t go back to the way he’d been. Well, he could, but his heart wouldn’t be in it, not since Georgia took ownership of that motherf*cker before she’d stomped the piss out of it.


This brokenhearted shit sucked.


Being without Georgia sucked.


The rest of the day and all of the night sucked too.


Monday morning, Tell and Dalton started and finished chores without talking, which wasn’t unusual. Sometimes they’d go as long as a week without discussing anything besides ranch work. Working with the same people every day, and knowing that would continue for the rest of his life, made it easy to shove things aside, figuring they’d have lots of time to talk.


But that didn’t hold true with Luke, did it?


“So you didn’t get to help out with the bonfire yesterday,” Dalton said.


Tell’s gaze snapped to him. “What are you talkin’ about?”


“Colt, Kane, Ben and Brandt torched the bunkhouse yesterday morning. “


That floored him. “What? When was that decided?”


Dalton shrugged. “Spur of the moment. Colt showed up to do his check of the place and found a dozen kids passed out in there. Was the same kids everyone’s been seein’. Guess they got mouthy. Colby found trees they’d cut down and a fire pit out in the middle of the damn field. Appears everyone’s had enough. Kane and everyone else are kicking themselves because we shoulda listened to you sooner. They were gonna let you do the honors, but Brandt said you were sick and he’d take care of it.”


“Huh. Well, I‘m glad to hear they don’t think I’m always jokin’ around and they take my suggestions seriously sometimes.”


“None of ’em think you’re a clown. It was just an extreme solution to the problem. So points for you, bro, in the McKay hierarchy.”