“Delilah,” I answered. “How are you?”
“Cash, it’s so good to hear your voice,” my mother-in-law said. Her voice had that slight echo that told me I was on speaker.
“How are you, son?” my father-in-law asked before I could say anything else.
“Richard’s here,” Delilah informed me.
“What’s the weather like there, son? It’s hotter than a billy goat’s ass in a pepper patch here,” he said.
“Richard,” Delilah scolded him.
“What?” he asked. “It’s the truth.”
I laughed as I listened to them bicker for a moment. My chest tightened when I realized how much I missed them. It had been a little over six months since I’d been able to visit, and in that moment, I felt every single day.
“Anyway, as you can see, some things never change.” Delilah chuckled. “But how are you, dear?”
“I’m good,” I replied. “Work has been busy, but it always is. Even with Midnight in Dallas off the road, there’s always plenty to do. One of my artists is on tour over in England right now.”
“It’s that Sam fellow, isn’t it?” she asked.
“That’s the one,” I said.
“Ah, yes. Didn’t that lovely young girl who works with you go? Grace?” I could practically hear Delilah’s smile through the phone.
“She did,” I answered. “How did you know?”
“Grace told me. Anytime I call you at the office, I always talk to Grace. She’s just the sweetest thing. I can tell she really loves working for you.”
I cleared my throat. “I love having her. The office is too quiet without her.”
“I know you must miss her,” Delilah said. “But enough about work, how areyou? Are you doing okay?”
“I always tell Delilah that if you weren’t doing well that you’d call us, but she doesn’t listen to me,” Richard piped in.
“Let him answer the question, Richard,” Delilah hissed.
I coughed to stifle a laugh. “Actually… I’m doing really well.”
“You sound better than you have in months,” Delilah said. “Happy, even.”
Richard’s voice sounded farther away this time. “I’ve told you, he’s a good egg, that Cash. Always got his shit together. Isn’t that what I always say, Delilah?”
“Richard,” Delilah fussed. “Anyway, Cash, you’ve been on our minds. You always are. You know we love you like a son.”
“He knows that, Delilah.” Richard’s voice was muffled by a repetitiousthock, thock, thocksound.
“Richard, must you do that right now?” Delilah asked incredulously.
“The Millers will be here for dinner in half an hour,” Richard replied. “This salad isn’t going to put itself together, woman.”
I covered the mouthpiece of the phone and snickered. “You two go get ready for your dinner. We can catch up later.”
“I told you we should have called tomorrow when we had more time,” Richard said.
“I know what you said, Richard.” Delilah sounded both amused and exasperated. “But something just told me I needed to talk to him today.”
“Delilah got one of herfeelingsagain today.” Richard’s voice had come back close again. “I need to go fire up the grill, so I’m going to leave you to Delilah. You take care now, son. We’ll talk soon. Come see us when you can.”
