The waitress came over to give us some coffee.
“I already got my number,” Big Tom announced. “You starting us off today, John?”
“I reckon so,” Mr. Flowers said. “Fifty-five.”
“Lower,” Big Tom replied.
Emma went next, then me, then Winston, Laraby, and back to Mr. Flowers again. We went around one more time before we were down to two numbers. It had come down to Emma and her daddy. She smiled at him, nodding to tell him to take his turn. I had a good idea of what was about to happen, considering I’d seen Big Tom communicate the number he’d chosen to Mr. Flowers using his fingers when Emma was talking to the waitress, who’d wandered over in the middle of the game to refill our mugs of coffee. I could tell by the high shine in his eyes that he was going to guess the right number so Emma wouldn’t get stuck with the bill.
“Seventeen,” he said, picking the number purposely so he would end up with the tab. The old timers cheered Emma, who smiled, that pretty color blooming in her cheeks the way it did whenever she was truly happy.
As soon as we’d finished a few waitresses came to deliver our breakfasts.
“I never tasted eggs as good as these,” Mr. Flowers said.
“Hey!” Emma said. “I make you eggs all the time.”
“Uh oh, John,” Tex said, grinning. “Looks like you just stepped in it.”
He chuckled low in his throat. “You never put cheese in your eggs, Em.”
“I can start.”
They laughed together. I was smiling just watching them. I’d never seen Mr. Flowers as talkative as he was around the old timers. But it made sense. I’d gotten Emma to open up by bringing her here all those months ago after she first started at the ranch.
“We’re gonna take a drive over to your daddy’s ranch after breakfast, young lady,” Big Tom said, talking right to Emma like he always did. If a pretty girl was around, he never stopped flirting. The few times I’d brought Lacey here, he’d focused right on her, completely forgetting my ass was even there.
“Oh yeah?” Emma turned to her daddy. “What’re y’all doing on the farm?”
“Tom’s got some ideas about what I can do with the land out back of the barn past the garden,” he replied, then took a big bite of his omelet.
“The rest of us are just going to have something to do,” Laraby said, and everyone laughed long and loud.
“Can y’all keep it down over there!” our waitress cried from the counter, then giggled herself when we craned our necks to look over at her.
“Careful, or you won’t get a tip!” Tex hollered, and the table broke up laughing again when she flipped him the bird.
“You ever been out to Pete’s place, John?” Big Tom asked.
“Matter of fact, I have,” he said. “Em showed me around once or twice, and we rode some of the horses.”
I hadn’t heard Mr. Flowers say this much in all the time I’d known him. I could plainly see how pleased Emma was to see him this way. He fit right in with the old timers, even if he was the youngest by nearly a decade. Being younger had never stopped me from fitting in with them, after all.
“We’re barbecuing this weekend, too,” Emma said, grinning first at her daddy before she looked around at each man at the table. “Y’all are welcome to join us.”
The guys had a good deal to say about that, thanking her and arguing over what they needed to bring until she put an end to the back and forth.
“Just bring your appetites,” she said.
“I bring that damned thing wherever I go anyway,” Mr. Flowers said, and the men around the table chuckled.
Emma and I finished our meals slowly, sharing the occasional glance and a smile as we listened to the older men talk. This was my favorite part of the day — or it had been before Emma started spending more nights at my place than she did her own — just soaking up everything these men had to say. Always had been. It made me miss my own daddy something fierce, but they kept him alive somehow. And, I liked that Mr. Flowers was part of this now, too.
“We’d better get back to the farm before those horses get to wondering where we are,” Emma piped up. She gave her daddy a kiss and stood. The men around the table got up when she did, which always made her giggle. I shook hands with every man there, same as I always did, telling them goodbye until the next time. They clapped me on the shoulder, all but Big Tom, who pulled me into a hug.
“You let go of th
at girl, and I’ll snatch her up myself,” he whispered to me before letting me go.