Page 80 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight
rady didn’t remember fallingasleep on the couch, but he must’ve because the next thing he knew, Charmaine was shaking him awake. He was greeted by her frowning down at him, sighing, and then pushing Cole’s books aside so she could sit on the coffee table. Grady sat up.
“You want to tell me why your hand gave me an earful when I asked if he wanted breakfast?”
“He has a name,” Grady said and rubbed his eyes.
“That’s not really the point.”
Grady studied her in front of him. She was showered, dressed and made up, but she couldn’t hide the bags under her eyes or the bloodshot color to them.
“Ain’t it?”
“I used his name when I asked.” She rolled her eyes. “So, no, it’s not the point.”
Grady shrugged and stood. Charmaine sat back and looked up at him.
“You know I know about.” She waved her hand.
Grady felt his heart accelerating slowly. He wasn’t anxious to be talking about this—he knew she knew, everyone damn well knew, and everyone knew you were never supposed to talk about it—but he didn’t reckon he wanted to talk about Cole in relation to this.
“And Iget it,” she said with an odd emphasis. Grady looked at her, really looked; she was staring right back, on the level like a woman under oath.
And, oh.
He got it then. Of course she had someone in the city. More than one someone, probably. He wondered if he was supposed to feel more at hearing that.
“But you might want to be careful with that one.”
“Whaddya mean, careful?”
“Just”—she stood and moved past him—“make sure he gets it, is all.”
Grady followed her into the kitchen. He needed to let it go. This was something no one talked about for a damn good reason.
“Ain’t nothin’ to get.”
“Isn’t there?”
Grady went over, put the kettle on, got his mug out and tried to exit the conversation. But Charmaine wasn’t about to give him that.
“I mean. I know I’m your wife, you know I’m your wife. Does he?”
“He ain’t slow.”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t know if you’re being deliberately obtuse or if you’re actually this stupid.”
“Yeah, all right,” Grady turned to face her. “We all know I ain’t as smart as you, we all always known that.”
“Don’t start on that.” Charmaine pointed a finger at him. “This isn’t about that.”
“Then what’s it about?”
She flicked her eyes back and forth on his and he watched her back, face blank. She shook her head and headed for the back door.
“I’m going riding,” she said as she slammed the door behind her.
Grady almost told her she didn’t have a horse anymore, but managed to stop himself just in time. He made his coffee, took it to the front porch and stood in his socked feet and stared out at the horizon, at where the sun hadn’t yet fully risen, just the cool blue before it was about to, and thought it was a lot of drama for a day that hadn’t even started yet.
Then he heard Cole’s voice, getting louder and sounding alarmed. Grady was about to head for the barn when Chloe busted out of the barn doors, running at full tilt and streaking towards him where he was standing on the porch. She made a sharp turn and launched herself over the yard fence, belted past him, and then jumped the next fence and took off in the direction of the pasture on the opposite side of the one she shared with Red.
