Chapter 81
“How did your meeting go?” Montana asked when she returned that afternoon with Kira and Michael. Kira sprinted off upstairs to change, then over to play with Brady.
“Meh, same old shit,” Paul yawned. “Got a bunch of overseas stuff next month, the usual thing we go through every year.”
“But you are going this year, right?” she wondered.
“If I’m on the card, yeah.” He took Michael, who laughed and patted his face. “And how is our little Londonator here?”
Montana smiled. “Passed with flying colors. Actually, he’s progressing faster than most babies his age usually do.”
“Whoa, are you saying we may have a baby genius on our hands?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, Paul, but he does seem to be doing quite well. So how was the rest of your day?”
“Well, you know I couldn’t get through it without heckling Spanky about Jeff handing his ass to him last week.”
“Paul, that’s terrible,” Montana chided him.
“What? He’s bagged on me about jobbing all the time. I have to admit, though, that offense he put on Hunter was pretty impressive. What other one hundred and eighty four pound midget could knock Hunter down?” He began to laugh.
“Better be careful about heckling him or he may knock you down,” she teased.
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Paul replied. “Besides, Jeff isn’t the only one that can kick his ass.”
“Mmmm hmm. We’ll see about that one of these days when you tease him one time too many.”
Paul smiled. He knew Montana tolerated most of his friends because he worked with them and she liked to keep peace, but there was no question that she sincerely liked Brian and enjoyed having him around, even at times when the guy drove him nuts.
On top of that, the girls and the baby were crazy about him, and Montana was also close with Mariah and Shaun, who also thought well of him.
Hell, Mariah worshipped the ground the little fucker walked on, Paul thought.
“By the way, Mimi called,” he said. “There’s some Halloween thing going on down at the fire hall Saturday night and she wanted to know if we wanted to go and take the kids.”
“Let me guess,” Montana chuckled. “There’s a big blond kid that wants to go.”
“Damn, you’re good,” Paul nodded.
“And there’s free food,” she continued, “which means there’s also a big half-Mexican kid that wants to go.”
“Mami’s really good, Mikey,” he said to the baby. “So are we in?”
“I don’t see why not,” she smiled. “One thing about parties like that, they’re supervised and we don’t have to have the candy x-rayed.”
“Good point. And the kids will get to wear their costumes more than once.”
“Speaking of costumes, I can’t wait to see you guys tomorrow night.”
“Oh yes you can. Frankly, I’ll be glad when it’s over.”
“For heaven’s sake, Paul, it could have been worse; he could have gone with the Tarzan idea where you wore the loincloth.”
“Thank Christ I talked him out of that one. I was not about to go out like that with my daughters. What the hell was he thinking?”
“Well, you would have been the talk of the neighborhood, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, like some of these old hags don’t gossip enough about me already when I don’t have a shirt on to go get the mail. Jesus. They think you’re this nice girl that’s married to some savage.”
Montana batted her eyes playfully. “Well, am I a nice girl?”
Paul raised an eyebrow. “Depends on who you ask and when, baby.”
She went into the kitchen, peering into the cupboards and refrigerator. “So what does my savage feel like for dinner?”
“Mikey and I vote for steak.”
“Paul, he doesn’t even have teeth yet. But I guess we can do that.”
“Gracias. Do we have any Tabasco left?”
“Yes, and you’re putting it on your portion when it’s done.”
“Want me to go fire up the barbecue?”
“Sounds good, but think you can change Michael first? Just make sure you stand off to the side and…..”
“Right. So I don’t get rained on again. Thanks for the warning.”
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