Page 76 of Grady

“Alright.” Maggie walked her to the door. They hugged, then Savannah walked down the stairs, got into her car, and drove home.

****

The next morning, Grady entered the barn to muck out the stalls. It was his day for it, and he was glad to be inside the barn because the glare of the sun was making his head pound. He drank way too much last night.

“Morning, Grady,” John said as he walked past him.

“You don’t have to shout,” Grady said in a low voice.

“Was I shouting?” John stared at him with raised eyebrows.

Grady shook his head, then groaned when it hurt. He sat down on a haybale, removed his hat and clasped his head in his hands. He heard John leave the barn, but he had to sit still for a minute because if he didn’t, he was going to throw up.

“Grady?”

He raised his hand to stop Maverick from saying anythingmore. He felt his friend sit beside him on the bale.

“Are you alright?” Maverick asked quietly.

“I have the hangover from hell,” he whispered.

“Shit. That means you and Savannah still aren’t talking.”

Grady slowly turned his head to look at him.

“What am I supposed to do, Maverick? I fucked up. Not once, but twice and she is so pissed that I doubt she’ll ever see me again.”

“Is this about her ex answering her phone?”

“Yeah, she’s pissed that I believed him without even talking to her.” He looked at Maverick. “What was I supposed to think when he answered her phone? And he acted like he asked her if she wanted to talk to me. Her phone that he stole from her.”

“Man, you are not making sense. Why don’t you just go home and sleep it off? I’ll take care of the stalls.”

Grady took a deep breath and slowly blew it out, then told Maverick about what happened yesterday.

“Well, I can see where she’s coming from. You should have talked to her. Even though you didn’t know he had taken her phone, you should have called back and if that asshole answered again, you should have gotten your ass back here to talk to her.”

Grady glared at him.“Ya think?”

Maverick bit his lip and Grady knew he was biting back a grin.

“Grady, go home.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. We’re not doing anything with the cattle today. You need to rest. Take some aspirin and go to bed.”

Grady sighed. “Alright.” He got to his feet and groaned as the pain pounded inside his head.

“Can you drive?”

“Yeah, I’ll make it. I’ll talk to you later. Thanks.”

“Hey, I’ve been there. The best thing you can do is sleep it off.”

“Yeah.” He walked out of the barn and into the bright sunshine and his head felt like it was going to explode, but he climbed into his truck, closed the door, and groaned again at the sound, then drove home.

He entered the house and sighed at the cooler interior then slowly made his way to his bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed, took off his boots, and laid down. He hoped the room would stop spinning soon.

---