Chapter 30

30

" N o, leave it," Tex said to Franny at the end of September, his mood already foul. "Leave it." The dog finally left the wadded up hamburger wrapper she'd stolen from the garbage can, and Tex dared to reach down and pick it up. Last time, she'd very nearly bitten his arm off. The scratch from her teeth still stung on the back of his hand.

Bryce should be home from school soon, and Tex wanted to ask him how his invite to the homecoming dance had gone. The boy was instantly popular at the high school here in Coral Canyon, if the parade of teenagers Tex had endured since school had started was any indication.

He wasn't that surprised, because Bryce was a charismatic and talented boy. "He'll be a full-fledged adult soon," Tex reminded himself as he went to put the wrapper back in the trashcan. He'd fashioned a lid out of a cardboard box for now, and he'd ordered a new garbage can that came with a lid.

He glared at his dog, who put her head over her paws and looked up at him sorrowfully. As she should. He couldn't stay mad at Franny for long, because he hated being cooped up inside while it rained and rained too.

Refusing to look out the window to the recording studio—if a pile of cement and lumber could be called such a thing—he washed his hands so he could truly assess the wound on his hand. It turned out to be nothing, and he went to Franny and bent down to pat her.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. She wasn't, because she was a grazer and her food sat out all day long. "I wish we could go outside too." She leaned into his touch, and Tex gave her a hearty scrub.

His brothers had been at his house almost daily for the past month, and he didn't mind so much. They worked on memorization, music tweaks, and getting things perfect. They'd had some good times—a lot of laughs—some down times, like when Otis told them all that he thought his ex-wife was seriously ill, and some times when Tex would seriously be happy if he never saw any of them again.

In the end, however, his family meant a great deal to him, and he wasn't surprised in the least to hear the grumble of a truck engine pulling into his driveway. He'd bought Bryce a truck to drive to the high school, something that had happened as an after-thought, because Tex sure didn't want to drive him to school every morning, and neither of them had really thought about it that summer.

He straightened and looked out the window to find Trace's truck there, and a smile touched his face. Trace was his oldest and best friend, even if they didn't spend every waking moment together. Tex trusted Trace with anything and everything, and he wasn't surprised to see his brother get out of the truck, frown into the rain, and then open the back door.

A bright yellow umbrella emerged from the truck, and that meant Trace had brought Mama with him. She and Daddy came up the walk with Trace, and Tex had the front door open for them before they got to the porch.

"Howdy," he said, grinning. "What brings you guys out here?"

"Goin' crazy at our place," Daddy said, grinning at Tex. He embraced him on the stoop and then went inside.

"Mama." Tex hugged her too, giving her an extra tight squeeze as Trace shook out the umbrella and put it down.

"Do you have plans this afternoon?" she asked.

"Just questioning my son until he regrets coming to live with me," Tex said with a chuckle. Mama smiled like that was normal behavior and went in the house.

Trace quirked one eyebrow. "Why are you questioning Bryce?"

"He's supposed to be asking this girl he likes to the homecoming dance today. I want to find out how it went." He hugged Trace too and asked, "Why are you guys really here?"

"Daddy is going crazy," Trace said in a low voice. "But mostly because of Mama. So I suggested we come out here, then she'd have someone else to talk to, and maybe he could get a nap." He looked past Tex and into the house, apparently finding the coast clear, because he continued with, "I've never seen the man put his shoes on so fast."

Trace laughed, and Tex grinned with him. Trace's laughter didn't stick for long, and that meant something to Tex. "And what about you?" he asked, reaching to pull the door almost all the way closed. The porch had a roof, and it wasn't terribly cold that afternoon. Just drizzly and miserable.

September had brought brown with it, and the grasses and gardens had started to prepare for their winter slumber. Tex still thought it was beautiful, and he sat on the new bench he'd bought for the front porch, clearly indicating that Trace should join him.

Trace did, a massive sigh pulling through his chest. It sounded like it came from way down deep in his gut.

"Sounds like you have something on your mind," Tex said, keeping his eyes out on the front yard. Inside, his dog whined, and the door opened as Franny used her snout to get it to swing wider. "Come on," he said to her. "Come sit over here."

She did, the German shepherd slinking toward Trace. She put her face on his knee, because she always seemed to know who needed the most comfort.

Tex didn't prompt Trace again, because he'd already driven all the way out here. He'd talk when he got the words right. Right now, he stroked Franny, his smile only halfway formed, and when he looked up and out toward the road, Tex tensed.

"I don't know how to ask this."

"Mav says to just get it out, and then it's there, and we can talk about it," Tex said.

"Yeah, he's told me that too." Trace looked at Tex, and Tex met his eye with plenty of strength in his gaze.

"Whatever it is, I'm here."

"Val's moving to Europe," he said, referencing his ex-wife. She was a supermodel in every sense of the word. Tall, great body, wore the fashion sunglasses everywhere she went. She worked all over the world, and she returned to Wyoming less than Trace did.

Harry, their son, lived with her parents, and Trace took him as often as he could. For a couple of years, he'd even homeschooled his son while they worked on their albums in Nashville. With the tour, he'd gone back to his grandparents, but Trace had bought a place here in town and had his boy all the time now.

"She's gone to Europe before," Tex said.

"She's not going to Europe," Trace said without a hint of bitterness. "She's moving there, Tex. She said she's not coming back. Ever."

"Ever?" Tex searched Trace's face, finding the misery there.

"I don't know what to tell Harry. He loves his mother."

Tex nodded, because of course he did. "You just tell ‘im, Trace." His mind flew back to the hard conversations he'd had with Corrie about Bryce. "Once, I found out that Corrie was drinking too much at home. She'd go into these sobbing fits and end up screaming. She scared Bryce." He spoke barely above a whisper. "I had to call her and tell her she better knock that off right now. I mean, I said it nicer than that. I offered to get her into a rehab program. I told her I'd be there in the morning to get our son if she did it again. It was not a pleasant situation."

"I didn't know any of this."

Tex kept his face turned away from his brother. "Then I had to call my son and tell him that people weren't perfect. You know? I'm not. He's not. His mother isn't." He nodded, because he still believed that. "I did my best, for what I could do and what I knew at the time." He shook his head. "But I wish I'd realized what his situation was and gotten him out of there sooner."

He swallowed, his chest storming, and faced Trace. "So maybe this isn't a bad thing, Trace. She's barely here as it is. She makes promises to the boy she breaks constantly. Maybe this way, the two of you can just have the stability you need. You and him. You're not going anywhere for a while, and even if we get another contract, our lives will be different with the studio here."

"Yeah." Trace nodded, though his mind clearly kept working. He probably beat himself up in his quiet moments the way Tex did. In fact, Tex knew he did, because he knew Trace.

"You've got a house here now," he said. "Harry's happy there. He's got a paper route and everything." Tex put a smile on his face, but Trace didn't mirror it. "You'll bring him over here in the afternoons if you need help with him or even just need a break. He loves Franny, and I'll have work for him to do. We'll make sure the two of you are okay." He slung his arm around Trace's shoulders, and his brother hung his head, the slightest tremor shaking his strong frame.

"Thanks, Tex," he whispered.

"Of course," Tex said. "Now." He drew in a deep breath. "You're not still dating that princess, are you?"

"No," Trace said. "I broke up with her last week. I don't even think she cared." He looked up but not at Tex, and Tex saw the pain on his brother's face.

"Maybe someone more…normal," Tex said. "Maybe someone right here in Coral Canyon."

"Not all of us have high school girlfriends waiting in the wings," Trace said dryly, and Tex chuckled with him. At least he'd gotten a small laugh.

"You're still helping me with the proposal, right?" Tex asked. "Dog Valley, at the church on Fixture Street. She's there right at five."

"We'll be there at four," he said. "Don't worry."

Tex was worried, despite all the preparations he'd made. He couldn't help it. He worried; that's what he did, and he didn't see a reason why he should stop now.

He could worry and still pray that the proposal he'd planned down to the second would go off without a hitch.

Three more days , he told himself as Bryce's truck drove in front of the house and turned into the driveway. "All right," he said, getting to his feet. "Here we go."

"Tex," Trace said from the bench.

"Hmm?" He looked from his son to his brother.

"Sit back down and let the boy get out of the truck." Trace nodded to the spot Tex had just occupied. "Now."

Tex fell back to his seat, his voice mute.

"Give him two seconds to breathe," Trace said. "Isn't that what you're always tellin' me about Luke?"

"Luke needs a year to breathe," Tex quipped, and the two of them laughed.

Bryce came down the walk and saw them. "What are you two chuckling about?"

Tex looked at Trace, and Trace looked at Tex. "Nothing. How was school?" Tex asked his son.

"Great," Bryce said, just like he always did. He wore his backpack on one shoulder, and he tucked his hand through the other strap and hefted it up onto both. Right there in the pouring rain, he grinned at Tex and Trace. "I asked Melinda to the homecoming dance in front of our whole ASL class."

Tex's face split into a grin. "Oh, was that today? How'd it go?"

Bryce shrugged and came up onto the porch and out of the rain. "I got an A on the assignment." He bent and patted Franny and stepped into the house. "And she said yes."

Tex's anxiety settled back into a quiet hiss in his stomach. "Great about the A," he called after his son.

Bryce poked his head back outside. "And I know you've been stewing about this for at least an hour. ‘Oh, was that today?'" He scoffed and shook his head. "Nice try, Dad."

Trace burst out laughing, but Tex held onto his straight face. "Nana and Pops are in there. Go talk to Gramma so my dad can take a nap."

"Yes, sir," Bryce said with a grin, disappearing back into the house.

"You're not helping," Tex said.

"Are you kidding?" Trace stared at him incredulously. "If he'd seen you standing at the top of the steps like an over-eager mother hen, he wouldn't have even told you that he'd asked."

"I still didn't get any details."

"So come with me to get pizza and some of that chocolate chip cookie dough you bake at home, and then we'll bribe the whole story out of him with food." Trace lifted his eyebrows, his hopes high. "I've got to pick up Harry in forty-five minutes, and Mama and Daddy are fine here."

"There's at least more room for them to exist in separate rooms," Tex said.

"Yep." Trace stood, groaning as he did, and said, "I'll meet you in the truck."

Tex let his brother go down the sidewalk, and then he got up to go tell everyone they were going to get dinner. Before he went inside, he sent a quick text to Abby.

Having pizza and cookies at my house tonight. Bring everyone who wants to come.

Then he sent up a prayer for Trace and Harry, as well as anyone else in the Young family who needed one.

Saturday arrived, and Tex's nerves skyrocketed. He'd only been this nervous on the flight to Nashville earlier this year, and that had gone fine. "It went fine," he told himself as he leaned forward to see out the window better.

The rain had stopped. "Thank you, Lord," he breathed. His proposal wouldn't work in the rain, and he'd been obsessively checking the weather for days now. The sun wasn't exactly shining, but a few patches of gold lit the sky, and Tex held onto his high hopes for the day.

He wasn't sure what he did that day other than survive, and before he knew it, he and Bryce had everything loaded in the back of the truck, the tarp tied down, and their seatbelts on.

He had told the story of how he'd signed his invitation to the homecoming dance for Melinda, only spelling her name at the end. He'd laughed when he said only about six kids in the class even knew what he'd done, because the others couldn't follow along with the sign language.

Melinda could though, and her whole face had turned red. They couldn't speak in the ASL class, so the teacher had signed to her that she better answer the "poor boy" up front, and that was when the whole class started cluing in that something besides another boring memorized paragraph had been signed.

She'd made the sign for S, which was just a closed fist, and nodded it—the sign for yes. Bryce, ever Tex's son, said he'd whooped and gathered her into his arms, saying right out loud, "Great, Mel. We'll have so much fun."

He'd gotten in trouble for talking out loud, and the teacher had made him sign that part too. They'd all laughed over the pizza and cookies, even Trace.

His brother hadn't left Tex's thoughts for long, and he ran through ways he could help with Harry so Trace wasn't too overwhelmed. Otis needed help with Joey too, and Tex told himself he better check with Otis about his situation.

The church in Dog Valley arrived far sooner than Tex imagined it would, and everything sat in benign silence. No one had parked in the lot. The leafless tree branches drifted in the breeze.

"Not too windy," Bryce said, peering through the windshield.

"No." Tex looked at his son as he pulled into a spot way down on the end so Abby could park the Bookmobile where she usually did. "You'd tell me if you didn't want me to marry her, right?"

"Dad," Bryce said, plenty of disbelief in his voice. "Of course I would. But I wouldn't ever tell you that. She's perfect for you, and I'm glad you two found each other again." He grinned that winning Young smile, and Tex reached for him.

"I love you, bud," he said, curling his fingers along the back of Bryce's neck in a strange side-hug.

"I love you too, Dad."

"She loves you too, you know."

"I know," Bryce said.

"Did she tell you?" Tex dropped his hand and watched his son.

"No," Bryce said slowly, looking out the windshield. "It's just…I can feel it in how she treats me." He gave Tex another smile and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Come on, Dad. Uncle Luke just got here, and if we don't put him to work, we're gonna hear about it."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Tex muttered as he got out of the truck too. Getting Luke to come help erect a huge banner that spelled out Tex's proposal was a miracle in and of itself. He didn't believe in love, marriage, or any of it. He had a heart, but it had been badly beaten and scarred from his first marriage, and he'd told everyone he could get to listen how he was never doing that again.

"Hey," Tex said as Luke and Mav approached his truck. "The banner is fifty-two steps long."

"Steps?" Mav asked.

"Who measures a banner in steps?" Luke asked, already disgruntled.

"I do," Tex said. "It's about a hundred and fifty feet. Happy?" He handed Luke a post and a hammer. "Let's get started."