“Well, I do get free renovations on tap.” I set the samples aside and sink into the windowsill, folding my hands in my lap. “Why do you care if Julie-Mae goes out with Gage?”
“Because he’s fucking wild,” he says, frowning.
“And you’re not?”
His eyes narrow, and he crosses his arms over his chest. “Not like him. He’s Deacon Ryder levels of wild.”
“And yet, Deacon is one of your closest friends.”
“Yeah, but I ain’t married to him.”
I give him a firm look. “Is it possible you don’t want things to change?”
“How’s that?”
I shrug. “You gave your oldest daughter away last year, and now your baby is dating. Maybe you’re feeling just a little bit…out of control?”
The corner of his mouth turns up, and he points at me with his hat. “Don’t you therapize me, baby.”
I cock my head, and he comes close, lifting me to my feet with an arm around my waist. He smells like the outdoors, like the sun on golden hay and the wind off the mountains. I let him kiss me, responding as my body does. When he pulls away, he seems a little more relaxed.
“I’ll therapize you all I want,” I say. “Sometimes, you need it.”
“I’m gonna therapize that pussy,” he says, slapping my ass.
A shock of desire moves through my hips. He was gone late last night, but I wanted him enough that I reached for the second best thing in the dresser. It’s not the same, doesn’t work me over and work me out the way he does.
“I wish you would,” I say, ducking from his grip.
He comes after me, chasing me down the hall. I clatter down the steps and into the kitchen, stopping short. All my children are there, and there’s coffee bubbling on the stove. Julie-Mae is furiously baking muffins, her back to the door as she stirs.Landis is sprawled out in the chair, and Delia leans on the counter, holding her stomach.
“How did you get in here?” Jensen says.
“Uh…we just walked in like usual,” says Landis.
“We were just painting,” I say, smoothing back my hair. “Upstairs.”
“You were being a couple of sluts,” says Delia, ever her father’s daughter. “We heard you running around.”
“A couple of degenerates,” says Landis. “Appalling.”
Julie-Mae glances over her shoulder. “It’s embarrassing, honestly.”
Pretty early on in our marriage, I realized Jensen’s sass appears to be catching. I’ve never met three people who can tease more, argue louder, and fight harder than the Childresses. I should have known the minute I met him in the stockyards that he was never going to raise laid-back kids.
“Yeah, it is embarrassing,” says Jensen, ducking into the kitchen. “Mostly because it resulted in you.”
Julie-Mae gasps, but she’s smiling. Jensen flips off the coffee pot and starts pouring dark liquid into the mugs lined up on the counter.
“You got something you want to tell me, Julie?” he says.
I sink down beside Delia. “Jensen, maybe not now.”
Julie turns around and crosses her arms. My youngest daughter looks like a Cooley, willowy, with long dark hair and brown eyes. Out of all my children, she stands out the most. Delia is easy, very good natured. Landis is outgoing, charismatic, and thoughtful. Julie-Mae is a little menace. She wants everything all at once and she’s got no sense of danger.
“Why?” Julie-Mae says, tilting her chin.
“Because I don’t know how I feel about Gage,” Jensen says.
