Ranch Manny - B.A. Tortuga Page 0,1

when Taneshia had lost hers, and it had slowly become a promise between him and Susannah. A little something to hold on to when her momma had turned into a hurting, crying stranger.

He hated to cut them off, but what if it was that simple? Hide his weird again. Get back on his feet.

It was an obvious answer to a shit problem. He couldn’t borrow another dime from his folks. Taneshia’s parents in New York had cut off their daughter twenty years ago when she came out, and they sure as shit wanted nothing to do with their granddaughter now. Nate would be able to put them up for a week or two so he could get a paycheck. It would be okay.

Taking a deep breath, Trace reached for his suitcase. No way was he about to leave his kit bag in that bathroom, so he dug it out, then pulled the scissors from it.

Sighing, he removed his labret and his nose piercing and stowed them away. Then he grabbed one dread—this one bright red—and reached up to saw it off, but a sharp, panicked scream made him jerk, slicing deep into his ear.

“Dad-O! No! No, no, no, no, no!” Susannah grabbed for the scissors, getting blood on her little hands, which sent the screams wailing higher. “Dad-O! No! No die!”

“Hey. Hey, no. I’m okay.” He dropped the scissors on the bed, grabbing her in one arm while he used the other hand to snatch up one of the shitty hotel towels to hold to his ear. “I’m fine, baby.”

“No die. No die. Dad-O! No!” She reached up and grabbed his hair, holding on so tight that she was going to pluck him bald as she howled. “Dad-O. Love you.”

“I love you too, baby.” He wanted to scream. His ear throbbed, his head ached, and his little girl was hysterical. Why couldn’t he do anything right?

“No die like Mommy. ’Kay? No.”

“Baby, I’m not going to die. I’m not. I was going to cut my—”

“No!”

“Okay. Okay. I won’t. I promise.”

She patted his cheeks with her little hands. “Promise-promise?”

“Promise-promise. I… I have to get a job.” He was a good teacher. He was. He was unfortunately a shitty employee.

“Job?”

“Uh-huh. Go to work? You remember when Mommy went to work?” Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t. Half the time he thought Taneshia was already a myth for Susannah, her Santa Claus.

“Uh-huh. You teached.” She nodded, her tears already drying.

“I did. I taught at a school.” And he’d loved it.

“Now you teach me.”

Trace chuckled. He supposed so. He wasn’t sure what he was teaching her, but he was definitely the idiot in charge.

She hummed some silly little tune, cuddling up against his chest, so he left the bathroom to take her back to bed. Poor baby needed to rest while he decided what to do. And maybe looked to see of he’d cut his earlobe off and put his piercings back in. Why not?

He held her, watching the watery light of the TV. Rest, and then he’d find something to do with his life.

God hated him.

That was the only answer.

“Dad-O? The car is hiccupping.”

Trace pursed his lips, holding back the bile that wanted to spew from him as the hatchback bucked and spit. “It sure is.”

Because he fucking needed this right now. He knew trouble called to trouble, but fucking hell! They were in the middle of nowhere, it was freezing, and it was too early in the morning to do, well, anything.

“What do we do?” she asked, and he was so glad she was in the back in her car seat so she couldn’t see the tear that slid down his cheek. He had a thousand dollars in a savings account at the credit union, a POS car, and everything they owned in said piece of shit.

God, he was so fucked.

“We, uh, we pull into this diner, sweetie pie, and let the old thing cool down while we have breakfast.”

“Yay! Brea’fast!”

“You know it, angel baby. Breakfast ho.” Trace turned in and sighed, telling himself that once they ate, he’d call his folks in Denver and admit defeat. He couldn’t do this. He just couldn’t figure out how to be a functional adult without a little help.

He parked the Focus, reminding himself that Susannah’s big pink-and-rainbow unicorn took up the whole back window and backing out would be a bitch.

He unfastened the car seat, and then Susannah matched him step for step as they got out of the car, skipping a little to keep