Page 43 of Let It Breathe
“That’s horseshit,” Axl growled. “You married the wrong guy and you know it.”
“Maybe I was the wrong woman.”
“Of course you were. For Eric. Jesus Christ, girl—you didn’t really think that would work, did you?”
She didn’t answer right away. They were approaching the winery barn, and the sound of heavy equipment rumbling through the dirt was vibrating her brain.
“Eric and I had a great friendship,” Reese said. “Our love life was pretty good, and we got along well. Isn’t that what my parents would say is the basis of a great marriage?”
Axl hooted loudly, prompting Leon to echo the sound with a high-pitched tooting noise of his own. Reese looked at her pet, then at her grandfather, wondering who was more stoned.
“Friendship and pretty good sex are not enough to make a relationship last,” Axl barked.
“Is this going to be another one of those lectures about how relationships take work?”
Axl rolled his eyes. “Don’t be an idiot, girl. Work isn’t the secret. The key to any good relationship is keeping your expectations low.”
“I think I saw that on a Hallmark card.”
“I’m serious. You think your grandma and I lasted as long as we did because we sat around swapping roses and dining by candlelight every night?”
Reese frowned. “Grandma ran off with a plumber.”
Axl patted her lightly on the shoulder and nodded. “Good talk, girl. Now let’s get the damn camel off the doobie.”
Clay had spent his whole day trying his damnedest to stay focused on the job. He was working with a lot of heavy equipment and shouting orders left and right at the crew. Hardly the time to lose focus.
Even so, he couldn’t help but notice when Reese and Axl came hurrying down the hill toward the winery bar. Reese looked worried. Axl looked high. Leon the alpaca trotted right on their heels, his fuzzy ears twitching each time the backhoe went in reverse.
Clay watched from the corner of his eye as Axl banged through the door of the winery while Reese stood outside, her hand on Leon’s neck.
Clay shifted the shovel in his hands, determined to keep his distance.
Seconds later, Axl was back outside shouting something at Reese and waving a telephone around. When Reese started to cry, Clay dropped the shovel. Reese wasn’t a crier. If she was in tears, something was very wrong.
Screw distance.
“I’ve got the vet on the line,” Axl yelled to Reese as Clay approached. “Is he experiencing ataxia, bradycardia, or conjunctival hyperemia?”
“I don’t know what any of that means!” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Find out what’s on the list of things that are poisonous to alpacas. Don’t you remember the one that died over at the Beezlers’ place last year when it ate foxglove?”
Clay moved into place beside her, hesitating only a moment before placing a hand on her arm.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Can I help?”
“Leon ate pot,” Reese sniffed. “It was only a little, but I don’t know if it’s toxic to him and?—”
“The vet wants to know if he’s experiencing urinary incontinence,” Axl demanded, holding the phone away from his ear.
Reese looked at Leon. Leon made a funny humming noise. Axl shrugged and knelt down to peer at the shaggy animal’s underbelly. “Wow, he’s pretty well hung. You seen this thing?”
“Stop sexually harassing my alpaca!” Reese snapped. “You’re not going to be able to tell if he’s incontinent from staring at his—his?—”
“My vet friend can’t get here until Sunday,” Axl said, straightening up and gesturing with the phone. “He’s at a motorcycle rally in Nevada, but he says it shouldn’t be toxic, as long as Leon didn’t eat too much. You should keep him calm and feed him something to get things moving through his system.”
Clay cleared his throat. “Is there something I can do?”
Reese looked at him. “Do you know anything about stoned livestock?”
