Jesse by C H Admirand Page B

body that’s hurt.”
    From the break in his cousin’s voice, Jesse knew that whatever fire the youngest Garahan had been fighting had taken a toll on his cousin. “You’ll let me know if you need us to do anything.” It wasn’t a question.
    â€œCount on it, Cuz.”
    â€œWhen’s your flight?”
    â€œMike and I are flying out in two weeks. We both had some vacation time, so we decided to take it out at the Circle G.” Tom paused, then asked, “Is that OK with you?”
    â€œAre you kidding? It’ll be like when we were kids and Mom—”
    Tom waited a few minutes and then finished what Jesse hadn’t been able to. “Used to threaten to pull her hair out, riding herd on all us kids.”
    â€œYeah,” Jesse said, relieved that his cousin understood. “Have you heard from Sean?”
    â€œHe and his brothers can’t get away, but I heard from Ben and Matt.”
    Before he could answer, he had to wait for the race car coming around the bend to pass by. “Yeah?”
    â€œAre you out at Devil’s Bowl?”
    He grinned. Leave it to his cousin to pick up on the background noise. “Yep, but if I tell you anymore, I’ll have to kill you.”
    His cousin hesitated as if he was actually considering taking that chance. He finally laughed and said, “They’ll be coming in the day after Mike and me.”
    â€œSo the Murphy side of the clan can’t make it, but the New York City Garahans and Colorado Justiss cousins will be here?”
    His cousin laughed. “I, uh, had to pull some strings to convince the lawmen they needed to be in on the event.”
    â€œDid you tell them that we aren’t doing anything indecent? We’re just gonna be up on stage wearing, jeans, boots, hats, and vests?”
    â€œThat was the problem, seems our Colorado cousins don’t usually go around in public with their shirts unbuttoned, let alone not wearing them at all.”
    Jesse tried to cough to cover his laughter, but in the end, just let it loose. “It’s for a great cause.”
    Tom hesitated, then asked, “So how many single women do you figure are in town?”
    It wasn’t what he asked, but the tone of his cousin’s voice that had Jesse pausing to consider his answer. “Hell, a bunch. Do I need to get the details?”
    â€œYep, or else Matt and Ben won’t fly down.”
    â€œAre you kidding me?” Jesse couldn’t believe his stubborn Colorado cousins wouldn’t just come when he called for help.
    â€œYeah, Ben said something about the last time they came down, a bar fight, and redheaded twins visiting from out of town.”
    Jesse whistled low and sighed. “That was one hellacious long weekend. Tell Ben not to worry. There are more than enough single females in Pleasure.”
    It was Tom’s turn to laugh. “Matt said they only want to hear about the single ladies over twenty-five.”
    â€œThat a fact?”
    â€œYep, I’m guessing they’re pressed for time and don’t really care about the important stuff, like what the women look like and their hair color…”
    When Tom let his comment fade out, Jesse started thinking; maybe all of his cousins really needed this break for more reasons than just to help their Texas cousins out. “Don’t worry, there are enough single women in town to attract and distract.”
    â€œAll right. Talk to you later.”
    â€œThanks, Tom.”
    â€œNo problem, but you’ll owe us.”
    Jesse sat staring at his phone. He didn’t mind owing any of his cousins. They were family and families stick together through good and bad, thick and thin.
    â€œHey, you ready to race or not?” Slim sounded ready to roll.
    Jesse’s blood was pumping so hard, he wondered if his friend didn’t hear it. “Why don’t I just show you how ready I am?”
    Slim grinned.