King of Her Desire

44

I said, "I gotta take this—be right back."

And Mimi looked up from the two-pound porterhouse I'd bought her just to see what a two-pound porterhouse would look like, and said, "Tell 'em not be be callin' on your weekend off, whoever it is."

And then she winked at Sochi and said, "You're here to spend time with us."

The woman was wallowing in that meal. The sibs were killin' their gigantic beef ribs, too. When the waiter brought them out, Cody gaped and said, "Where'd they get those from? Some kinda brontosaurus?"

They were stunned by just being there, for that matter. It was only five miles away from the compound but we'd never had the money or the nerve to go. Nobody we knew had ever actually eaten there, though people had been driving clear across town and from out of town, for that matter, for decades to get at those big old hunks of meat.

It was located in this dude ranch that all kinds of celebrities hung out in. So we knew they weren't going to be too happy to see people like us drive up in some raggedy ass pickup, even though the part where the restaurant was wasn't gated.

It was a cabin built to look all country and rustic. But even though the wait staff wore jeans and cowboy boots, the tables had nice white cloths on them and the silverware and water glasses looked expensive.

And they could afford it for sure. I mean, that damned steak cost $40, right? All by itself, before you added any sides or anything to it.

For us, that was a tank of gas or a late utility bill finally paid—you couldn't spend that much money on a meal that would be gone and forgotten in a few minutes. That's why Mima had sort of stared at the menu trying to find something that she felt she could ask me for without feeling too guilty even though the whole family knew I could afford that kind of stuff now.

So I told her I'd always wanted to know what the hell a $40 steak would taste like and ordered it before she could stop me. And I loved the look on her face when that bad boy arrived at the table. Damned thing took up the whole platter they hauled it out there on.

She cut off the huge tenderloin and put it on my plate right away. Looking all nervous and excited at the same time. She'd be talking about that stupid steak for the rest of her life.

So I leaned down and kissed the top of her head on my way out to the little patio where some kind of cowboy band was starting to set up on the little stage in one corner by the fence. The smell of all kinds of meat on the huge outdoor grill made my mouth water even after I'd eaten enough beef for three or four people.

But I said, "What's up?" and tried to get my mind right for Matt.

Who gave me his charmer chuckle and said, "We've gotta get you used to that system, son. We missed a prime opportunity today. Entertainment Tonight had a sit down with the cast and wanted to beam you in, too."

"Well, you know there was a family emergency that kinda hadda be taken care of, so—"

"Aw, c'mon! You can do better than the old family emergency thing."

That kinda ticked me off, but I just said, "Not when there really is one, no."

And then he came with, "Anything I should know about?"

Ready to get his minions spinning the story on his signal.

So I said, "Probably not." The "probably" was meant to keep him on edge for a bit.