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Just as Caleb took a step toward the raised counter, Bubba reappeared in the open s "Hey, Nick? You got a iven the weirdness of this night, he glanced at Caleb to see what he thought

"Ain’t nothing going to eat you while Bubba’s around," Caleb said with a laugh "They h You go on and see what he needs while I check out I’ll be there in a few"

Nick wasn’t sure he liked that idea, but he left in spite of his coet hurt, he picked his way through the glass fragments until he was outside on the sidewalk beside Bubba

Car alar out up and down the street and there was hardly a store left with its s intact At the sound of approaching police sirens, Mark ca down the street with the backpack portion of the flaht in his arht you don’t see every day

Unless you befriended lunatics

With lightning speed, Bubba took his flamethrower off and held it out with one arrabbed it as he ran past them, toward the Triple B The le step

Nick was impressed Horrified and amused, but really impressed "Should I ask?"

Bubba wiped his hands off on his jeans "The coo and told us that if another police officer caught either ain, they’d haul us in for arson and keep us there until we’re too old and feeble to lift a weapon"

"Ah … so what did you need?"

Bubba rubbed at his neck in a gesture that always signaled he was nervous about soh Nick It wasn’t often that anything rattled Bubba And when it did …

It was biblically bad

"Is so?" Nick asked

"Nah … I just…" His voice trailed off as various expressions played across his face

An awful feeling went through Nick Please let h He couldn’t stand for it to get worse "Please, God, Bubba, tell me you’re not about to ask me out, are you?"

Bubba made a rude sound at him "Hell, nah I’d date Mark first, provided he took a bath so I wouldn’t have to fuate my truck or store"

That was a relief

"But," Bubba continued, "now that you mention it … that is what I wanted to ask you about"

"Dating Mark? Really?"

’Cause the kid with a brand-new license was such an expert on going out with others

Bubba gave him a dry, irritated stare

Then after a few seconds, he inhaled a deep breath and rubbed his hand over his chin "Look, I’ to blurt this out, so bear without yourabout it for a while now and I didn’t want to go behind your back and do it If it bothers you at all, just tell ain But yourto dishonor her or upset you"

For a full, solid minute, Nick couldn’t breathe as that question hit hiroin Had he really heard that? Was it possible?

Bubba wants to date ht into shock

Bubba snapped his fingers in front of his face "Nick? You all right?"

No The world was suddenly upside down… Total pole reversal, and it wasn’t froet him

Bubba wanted to date his mother

Bubba …

His mom His blessed, sainted mother who never even looked at a ht and staunch about that, that Nick had half convinced himself she’d turn into a pillar of salt if she even conte to the opposite sex, neverone of them

But then, Bubba never looked at women either Not once since his wife died Mark had told him that Heck Bubba didn’t even talk about women It was as if his heart was so broken by the loss of Melissa that he couldn’t bear the thought of spending even a minute with another woman, other than his own mama

Yet once the initial shock of the question settled and Nick had so at it like an infant who thought he’d been born through immaculate conception

His mother was a sweet, beautiful woman as barely thirty years old

And Bubba, while a bit on the crazy side, was a great man asn’t thatto a father Nick had ever known

His , he went back in time to that afternoon he’d first met Bubba It’d been a particularly bad day his firstfirst period that his nose had still been stinging that afternoon, and his eyes hadn’t stopped tearing up