CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
GRAY
THE CELLline trills in my ear as I look out over the paddock outside the stables. The sun came out full-force this morning, and even though the temperature is still in the twenties, I can see a few patches of dirt from where the slush from yesterday is melting off.
“Feed store.” The deep voice on the other line practically barks. That would be Chuck, he owns the feed store closest to us, but he regards the phone as a necessary evil that’s always interrupting him.
“Hey Chuck, it’s Gray.”
“Oh, hey Gray, what can I do for you?”
“I was actually seeing if you would answer, and since you did, that means the roads were decent enough you made it into the store.”
“Oh yeah, man, the backroads are still shit, but the highway and most of the roads around town are clear.” A grunt and then what sounded like a sack of feed landing in the back of a truck comes over the line. “I can’t imagine any of the roads into your place are going to be driveable yet.”
“Do you know if they are sanding or plowing any of the back roads?” Cupping the back of my neck, part of me hopes they haven’t started yet. I know it’s only a matter of a day or more before the ice melts enough on the back roads to be driveable, but damn, I don’t want her to go.
He chuckles and I hear another grunt and a bag drop. “It’s the craziest thing, man, I’ve heard the news is talking about routes they’re sanding on TV, even though most people still don’t have electric to watch. They don’t make no sense.”
Chuck crossed into the twenty-first century kicking and screaming. His favorite memories are locked into a time when people sat on their front porch with no distractions to watch the evening melt away as the sun goes down while listening to the cicadas and the crickets fight to see who could sing the loudest.
“Well, it’s something anyway. I’ll see what I can find on my phone.” Since Chuck hates phones, that includes cell phones and the ease of having the internet at one’s fingertips. He refuses to get one, he says if he wants to use the computer, he’ll use the one in his office.
“Well, hey, good luck, man. How are you doing on feed?”
“We prepared for a week or two of being stranded, so we’re good right now.”
“Alright, well, I guess I’ll see you in about a week, then.”
“Yep, thanks Chuck.”
“Yep.” The line goes dead, and I slide my phone back in my pocket.
After I left Elly last night, I tossed and turned for hours, thinking about the feelings I have for her. Every time I tell myself I haven’t known her long enough to have feelings forher, my chest squeezes when I think about her leaving.
The last time I felt this way about a woman was when I was dating my wife. Sure, I’ve had lady friends since then, but none I felt a connection like this with.
In hindsight, a few of them were just looking for companionship. There were a couple I thought might go somewhere, but they ended feeling like I was trying to force something that wasn’t there. I try not to compare women to my wife, but what I had with her was real, I don’t want less than real.
Elly was the first thing on my mind when I woke up this morning, and I ended up quietly tapping on her door before everyone else woke up. She opened the door and pulled me in so fast I almost lost my balance when she threw herself on me. I can still smell her on me, and it’s making me crazy.
That delicate smell of peaches mixed with her sex has been tickling my nose all day, and all I can think about is going back to the house and sinking into her. I curse myself for feeling like I’m in high school again with nothing but fucking on my mind.
“What’d Chuck say?” I’m so distracted I didn’t hear dad walk up behind me, I usually can hear him from a mile away.
I glance over my shoulder, but look back out to the paddock. “Said the highways and main roads are clear, but power is still down in town.”
“Hmm.” I don’t hear him moving away, so I turn around. He’s leaning against one of the stalls watching me.
“Looks like you might be driving her back to her hotel tomorrow or the day after.” He slides his hands in his coat pockets.
“Yep.” I walk back into the stall and lean over to pick up the hose that’s unraveled on the floor and start winding it back over its holder on the wall.
“That’ll be good, some of thetension in the house’ll be gone.” He’s testing me, I know it and he knows it, so I keep my back to him and grab the broom to push some hay across the floor to the side.
“Yep.” I turn and look at him. “Has anyone heard from Mason today?”
He pulls in a deep sigh, knowing he’s not going to bait me. “Sloane heard from him this morning, should be here any time.”
