Page 19 of Grissom
“Yup,” Grissom said from her other side. “None of these horses are alike. The cattle in the back forty, either. Animals are the same as people. Snowflakes, each unique. Each special.”
And there Tuesday was again, trying desperately not to be enamored with the indifferent man riding beside her, the reins loose in one hand, cradling his three-year-old in the other, and singing the praises of animals, as if they were people.
“And sons,” she added quietly. “Your boys are as different as night and day.”
“That they are.”
“Can we gallop ’em, Dad?” Tanner interrupted, standing up tall in his much shorter stirrups to see around Tuesday. “Can we race, huh? I’ll be real careful.”
Grissom shook his head. “Not today. Lunch next, then chores are waiting at home. It’s Saturday, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. Darn it.” Tanner leaned back in his saddle. “I gotta clean the cat box every Saturday, and it’s real stinky. Why do I always have to clean it?”
“Who owns Pixie?”
“Me…” Tanner sighed. “I know. I paid for her with my allowance, and I love her, so I’m the one who takes care of her because that’s what good cat owners do.”
Tuesday smiled. That last line sounded like something he’d heard a few times before.
“Besides,” Grissom continued, “Luke has to pick up his toys and dust furniture in the family room. Company’s coming over tonight. Walker and Persia.”
“Oh, yeah!” Tanner exclaimed. “I forgot.”
That cinched it. Grissom kept making it clear he had plans and those plans didn’t include her. Tuesday got the point.
“Mind if I race Tanner back to the barn?” she asked Grissom, desperate to get away from this guy and the arrows he kept shooting into her heart. “Might even have the saddles off thesebig‘kids’before you and Luke get there.” It sounded like a good idea, as slow as Joker was ambling. Would’ve sounded better if her attempt at sarcasm hadn’t sounded pitiful.
Tuesday was intent on leaving as soon as she could get this horse back to the barn and unsaddled. She had no business falling in love with these boys. They weren’t hers, and who cared if their father looked like he’d just stepped off the pages of some high-powered cowboy magazine. Was there even such a thing as Cowboys GQ? Sheesh!
Grissom pulled back on the reins and Joker stopped walking. “You sure?” he asked, as if he was astonished that she had plans. She didn’t. Not precisely. Didn’t even know where she was sleeping tonight; only knew she had to get out of Virginia before dark.
The only thing Tuesday was sure about was how much it would hurt to tell these boys goodbye again. Last time had been hard enough. But now? She looked Grissom in the eye, intending this to be the last time. Some men simply weren’t worth the trouble. “Yes,” she whispered. Straightening her shoulders, she reinforced her plan with a loud and firm, “Might be a good idea to turn back now. I hate driving at night and the sun goes down early these days.”
“You do?” Grissom asked. “Umm, hate driving at night?”
“You don’t wanna go to Cakes and Honey with me no more?” Tanner asked, childish concern in his six-year-old voice.
Instead of answering his dad, she turned to the boy she loved with a lump in her throat. Tanner had that worried‘what’d I do wrong?’look all over his face.
“I do, Tanner but… but…” She choked on the lie about to come out of her mouth. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got deadlines to keep, and schedules I’ve got to—”
“Bullshit,” Grissom growled softly. “None of this is your fault. It’s…it’s mine. Please—”
“No.” She put her head down, determined he not see the tears welling in her silly eyes. Wrong move. They fell anyway, like salty drops of rain out of a broken sky, straight from her foolish, shattered heart, to the tightly knotted fingers clutching the saddle horn.
She’d be okay. What choice did she have? Yet one more time, she’d pick up where everything went wrong and bury herself in the career she’d once loved. Maybe Robert still needed her. Calling him wouldn’t be her first choice, but he’d keep her too busy to think about this sweet piece of heaven she’d found.
Some people were lucky. They met their true loves early in life, got married, and raised perfect families. They lived in peace and tranquility, went to PTA and Cub Scout meetings, took their sons and daughters to pediatricians, and they never, ever, knew despair, loneliness, or fear. Not her. Chaos was her life. Death her closest companion. She might as well get used to it.
“It’s okay,” she told the finely-tooled leather saddle. “Duty calls. Let’s go back so I can leave. Then—”
She had no idea how Grissom made it happen. But one moment she was upright in her saddle, trying to get a grip on her messed-up life. The next, she was off the horse and in his arm, pressed under his chin beside a sleepy-eyed Luke. Unable to face one of the most perfect boys in the world, Tuesday closed her eyes. The gentleness of Grissom’s hug meant nothing. He felt guilty, that was all. It was time to leave.
Chapter Ten
“I’m so damned sorry,” Grissom whispered into the top of Tuesday’s head, breathing in the lovely fragrance of roses wafting up the warm space between them.
“You squishin’ me,” Luke grumbled sleepily, shoving away from Tuesday. But then he must’ve opened his eyes, as quickly as he burrowed back into her and said, “Tuesday’s cryin’, Daddy. Why’s she sad?” Damned if the tenderhearted little guy didn’t start bawling along with her.
