Page 26 of An Unfinished Memory

His growl reached me before he did. He grabbed my ass and massaged the globes of my ass cheeks. His forehead touched mine. “How many times did you get yourself off thinking about last weekend?”

“None.” I ran my finger down his chest. “I wanted to save them up.” To be extra naughty and give myself another heaping of common sense, I continued. “If you couldn’t make it tonight, I would’ve done it all myself.”

I thought he’d stiffen, but he only paused for half a second. Then he kissed the corner of my jaw. “I’m here now. All your orgasms are mine.”

“Once a week. They’re all yours, cowboy, starting now.” I unzipped his jeans.

Six

Sutton

Wilder stayed the night last weekend, and he was coming for his night again tonight. I sat on the couch, phone to my ear, my legs folded with Berry in my lap. I bonded with Berry more while my mom and dad were on the phone. We were two girls who’d been skipped over for the more athletic sibling.

Mom had me on speaker with my dad for my once-a-month call. Dad joked that he set a reminder. Mom always giggled. They didn’t realize it sounded like they would forget about me.

“Can you imagine? She refused to help her granddaughter stay in lessons?” Mom asked, and yes, I could. I could imagine my parents’ neighbors didn’t want to bankrupt the household for skating lessons. I could also imagine that my parents didn’t understand that a kid could enjoy a sport without wanting to dominate the industry. John and Kelly Grant would do what it took fortheir kid to succeed. Just not both kids. “Anyway. How are things with you?”

I was used to not being asked how I was doing until after I got the rundown on my sister Honey’s accomplishments, then Petra’s achievements, and then their own lives. And now their neighbors came first.

“It’s been busy.” I wouldn’t tell my parents who was keeping me busy one night a week. They’d only get their hopes up about reconciliation. To them, I wouldn’t be a failure because my marriage had ended if I got back together with Wilder. “Lots of kittens and puppies this time of year.”

“Oh, that’s sweet. So business is good?”

My parents took an inordinate amount of interest in Sutton’s Animal Care. My growing upstart was a sign of my success, a symbol that I did more than deworm cats or stick my arm up cow rectums. Sutton’s Animal Care was a safe topic.

Really, they were worried I’d crumple and a sports pep talk wouldn’t do the trick.

Mom and Dad had helped propel my sister to the Olympic finals with positive thinking, visualization, good vibes, and every spare penny we had. They couldn’t wrap their heads around why I divorced Wilder. To them, divorce was throwing in the towel. Divorce was the culmination of missed practices, of not spending hours on the ice, of not bringing my best to the competition. Divorce was proof of a lack of effort.Mydivorce was a failure, and they didn’t know how to raise a failure.

I never told them how I felt. I never assured them that I knew they liked Wilder, everyone did, and that was part of the problem. He was a helpful guy. He gave toeveryone but his spouse. I didn’t tell them anything other than we were in different places in life.

I’ll take “How to Avoid Conflict” for two hundred!

“Yes, things are good,” I said. “I’m getting more clients, and a local rancher cold-called me for an emergency last week.”

“More cows, huh?” Mom said in a tone that put my nerves on edge. The hazards of growing up with a competitive older sister.

The feeling that we were pitted against each other hadn’t faded as much as it should have. “I like working with cows.”

“Oh, I’m not saying you don’t. But didn’t you complain about them when you were working for Barnaby?”

My father-in-law had offered to let me get experience. The promise of doing large animal veterinary work for Knight’s Arabians and Cattle Company, and how good it’d look on my résumé, won me over. Too soon, I’d learned there was nothing else in Buffalo Gully for me. The local vet clinic was family-owned, and Barnaby had scorched those bridges. By then, I was too in love with Wilder to consider leaving.

Barns had eventually put me permanently on the books, and I’d gone along with it so I could be with my husband. I was stuck until Barns died. Once Barnaby Knight was gone, I had assumed Wilder would cut the tether. That he’d listen to me when I said nothing would be different if and when his boss ever retired. Nothing had changed, and I was growing to hate the work I did. I’d left Eliot a little high and dry, but I had to take care of myself.

“I didn’t like working withonlycattle.” Wilder andEliot had helped me stealthily treat their dogs and cats, and Cody had figured out how to compensate me for their treatment. Barns hadn’t liked to waste resources on working animals he couldn’t get a return from. “I also disliked the lack of flexibility and freedom.”

“Oh, Mutton.” I cringed at Dad’s nickname for me. “It’s the hard stuff that gets you the gains.”

“I’m not going for gold in the Olympics of veterinary medicine, Dad.”

“Did we tell you Melon took first in her master’s competition?”

Melon was my sister, Honey. And yes, they’d told me as soon as I answered. “I heard.”

“Oh,” Mom said. “Did she call you?”

“No.” Honey and I weren’t close. Too many evenings and weekends apart on top of having little in common beyond our last name. I thought things would change after she got married. I babysat my niece while Honey was competing and her husband, Rolf, was supporting her. I couldn’t babysit in veterinary school, but by then, Petra hit the ice, and they became one happy, figure skating family. Once they no longer needed a sitter, they also had no use for me.

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