Chapter 33
Montana had joined Paul on Sunday; he had sounded so lonely the night before. Even with his colleagues and buddies around, he still seemed so empty without his little girls. As she would find out, he went through this at the beginning of each school year since Mac started kindergarten.
He had been shocked yet happy to see her.
“I thought you were shopping for wedding shit with your sister in law all weekend,” Paul said.
“I got my dress and so did Tash,” Montana nodded.
“Do I get a sneak peek of it or what‘s going underneath?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Paul, you know it’s bad luck to see that before the wedding. Come on, this is your second time.”
“Yeah, only this time we won’t have the bride barfing up a lung in the rose bushes. So you two really got stuff together? Shoes and all that shit?”
“Yes. And once we got done with all that, we picked out flowers for our bouquets, and you boys’ bouttouniers. All done.”
“Already? Jesus. I had to drag your brother and Spanky to three stores to find a decent suit. I think it took less time to get Spanky’s altered.”
“You guys have them bought and altered? Wow, I‘m impressed.”
“Yeah, thanks to your brother. I knew Sly should have come with me for some reason.”
“Well, if it’s anything Sly knows besides wise investing, it’s suits. He owns enough of them to open his own store.”
“By the way, Mami says the girls’ dresses should be ready in about a week or two.”
“That’s fine. There’s really no hurry for anything now; we’re pretty much ahead of schedule by the looks of things. Dotty called earlier and said Daddy and Logan got their things too.”
Montana then looked over at Paul, noticing the solemn look on his face. She didn’t even have to ask what was actually wrong.
“You know, it’s still early enough you could call those little girls of yours and tuck them in,” she suggested, handing him her phone.
“It isn’t the same,” he pouted.
“I know, but you really can’t expect them to get a decent education while in a different city practically every night either.”
“Which is why they get sent home during the school year. They need to be around other kids and have some kind of stability. Still, it’s lonely as hell without them. Even as a pain in the ass Spanky can be at times with his pissing and moaning and other weird shit, I miss the hell out of him too.”
“Of course you do. You guys had been joined at the hip for how long.”
“Yeah.” Paul sighed again.
Montana nudged him. “Call your daughters. I’m sure hearing from their papi will be the highlight of their night before they go to bed.”
The next town:
“So Sly, listen up,” Brian said over the phone as he sat alone in his hotel room. “I was thinking cash bar for the bachelor party because the last thing PL needs is a bunch of fucking drunks weaving all over the place and trying to drive home. Doesn’t need that bullshit on his conscience, you know?”
“Sounds good to me,” Sly agreed. “And I found a caterer that actually serves ‘man food’ Got the place from a guy at work.”
“You are so the man, Sly. Now for the rest of the festivities, I managed to look into this rent a stripper place that has a two for one special—”
“Brian, what the hell are you trying to do, get Paul’s nuts cut off, or worse, him killed? Jesus Christ, Tasha was about ready to chop me into ten thousand pieces when my best man hired one stripper, and you’ve seen what an itty bitty thing she is. I can almost imagine the damage my sister would do when and if she got wind there were two strippers at this party.”
“What, and you don’t think Tasha’s going to hire a guy one for Montana’s bachelorette party? Come on, Sly, get with the program.”
“All right, but remember, if your best friend gets murdered by my sister, you’re hiding the body or paying for the funeral.”
“Nah, it will be cool. What the chicks won’t know won’t hurt them. Besides, it’s going to be PL’s last night as a free man; he may as well as enjoy himself? I’ve even invited Ezekiel.”
“What? Oh God. Paul will shit razor blades for sure.”
“Hey, he isn’t as scary as he looks. Besides, Ezekiel only eats people on Tuesdays and that’s only when they piss him off. Or they piss me off. Take your pick.”
“Something tells me this is going to be one bachelor party that is out of the ordinary. Two strippers and Ezekiel.”
“You got that right, Sly. It’s going to be a fun night for all; I’ll make sure of that. Especially for PL.”
Back in Austin:
“This is a big hairy monster,” the voice said on the phone. “And I’m coming to eat two little girls.”
“Papi!” Mac and Kira cried excitedly.
“That’s right. Are you two behaving yourselves?”
“Uh huh,” Mac replied. “Abuelito took us out to eat tonight.”
“I guess that explains why you two are still up.”
“We got pajamas on and we’re in our bed,” Kira said.
“And we’re glad you called,” Mac added. “We miss you already.”
“Well, I miss you guys too, but you can thank some nice lady for nagging me to call you guys so soon.”
“Miss Montana! She’s back with you! Yay!”
“Mami,” Kira piped in.
“Pipe down, little one; she isn’t going to be your mami for another month yet.”
“Are you guys going to stay together since we aren’t there?” Mac asked.
“Looks that way. It gets lonely without you little sprouts otherwise. Are you ready for school next week?”
“Yeah, I guess so. It hasn’t even started and we got to do an essay already!”
“About what?” Paul wondered, thinking it was odd Mac would have something to do before the school year even began.
“What I did over the summer.”
“They’re still doing those things? I wrote that when I was a kid. Of course, yours might be a bit more interesting.”
“Yeah, especially the part about how you and Miss Montana got together and now you’re going to get married!”
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