"Beverly, this is Jack and Parker," Roy said, pointing to the cowboys in turn. "Two of my brothers."
"Ronald's around here somewhere, but I'm the handsome one," Jack joked.
"Is that right?" Beverly glanced at Roy, who groaned and ran a hand down his face.
"Come on now," Roy admonished. "Be professional. Or at least pretend to be. Beverly doesn't have any siblings, so she doesn't understand the whole teasing and tormenting thing as a form of love."
"You don't have any siblings?" Parker asked. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," Beverly said. "It's not like I had a choice in the matter. So there are four of you?"
"Yes," Roy said.
"And all boys. God bless your parents."
They all laughed, including Roy, but he gave her a very telling look.
He appreciated that she had mentioned God, and it hadn't been just a saying. She really hoped God did bless Roy's parents.
"All of you cowboys too," Beverly continued. "None of you thought about anything else?"
"It just sort of came to be," Parker said.
"When you find your way, you just have to take that path," Roy said softly.
She nodded and swallowed past a lump in her throat. "Yeah, I think I know all about that."
"But construction," Jack said, lifting his cowboy hat. "Props to you. The can't be an easy field."
She waited to see if he would add something aboutfor a woman, but when he didn't, she realized he truly meant that it wasn't easy for men or women. For anyone.
It was so refreshing to realize that not only did Roy not judge her based on her sex but neither did his siblings.
Their parents really had done an amazing job raising them all.
Just then, another cowboy came barreling around the corner. He looked so much like his brothers that she knew immediately this had to be Ronald. Like the other cowboys, this one was tall and broad, with a close crop goatee that seemed to fit him perfectly.Without having to ask, it was clearly evident that Ronald was the youngest.
"Hey, who's this?" he asked with a grin.
The others laughed good-naturedly and glanced toward Roy.
"Beverly, this is Ronald. Ronald, this is Beverly."
"Love the hat," Ronald said.
"He used to have one just like it when he was maybe eight," Jack cut in.
"He decided to be a construction worker for Halloween one year, and he wore that costume around the house for months," Parker added.
"He didn't even want Mom to wash it," Roy said, "so he started to smell."
"I didn't smell!" Ronald protested. "The costume might've but not me!"
"When you lived in that costume outside of school and the costume smelled... Smell is transferable," Jack pointed out with a laugh.
"If you liked construction so much, did you think about getting into it?" Beverly asked him.
Ronald shook his head. "Not seriously, no."