“I don’t know. James’s grandparents knew I went into the Army, so I’m guessing it was never brought up around them or they might have corrected the lie.”
“How long have they known?”
“Since the day I left. Mr. Davis was leaving to go somewhere the morning I stood at the end of our driveway to meet the recruiter who was driving me to my first stop.”
“Damn. Think I’ll keep that one to myself. Not sure how he’ll feel when he finds out his grandparents had the key to his ex-wife’s lies and where you went all along.”
I shrugged my shoulders. It wasn’t my problem and not a past I needed to face. It was weird that they hadn’t shared anything about me being in the military with their grandson over all those years I was gone, especially since we wrote to one another regularly.
“Anyway, my point was that he would rather sit by that fire with you than go hang with me at a party or whatever we found to get into. He wanted to be there with you. And when I confronted him about everything after that night at the wake, he eventually admitted that he had a plan that involved waiting until he was good enough to ask you to be his.” Grunt shook his head and laughed. “The dumb bastard. I wish he had told me all this back then, could have saved everyone a lot of heartache.”
“You’re telling me that he was biding his time until he felt he was good enough to ask me out?” There was no hiding the disbelief in my tone.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. You were supposed to be the end goal.”
“Bullshit!” I damn near shouted at Grunt. “He slept with the girl who was supposed to be my best friend and got her pregnant. In what world does that sound like James Davis was waiting around to be good enough to ask me out?”
“They hooked up after he got drunk when you never showed up to some party at Quemado Lake. Probably Ashley’s deal, since that’s what spurred him to tell you about how disloyal your friend was for not taking you to parties.” We both sat on that information quietly for a minute before Grunt squeezed my hand again and then let go. “He was only with her that one time until a month later when you were no longer talking to either of them - though he thought you were still friends with her. She told him she was pregnant and James had to do what he thought was the right thing and stick by her for his kid. The stupid bastard didn’t even have proof it was his, but because of the way his father left his mother and wouldn’t acknowledge him until his grandparents forced the issue, he refused to do the same or even similar to his own child.”
“What did they have? In all of this, I think I forgot about the child they had together.”
Grunt shook his head. “She had a gnarly miscarriage at about seven months in. Nearly lost her life due to the blood loss. Even though Knuckles no longer had the baby to worry about, he stayed with her because it was so bad. The man is loyal to a fault. Would have remained miserable for life had she not messed up and he found out about her string of affairs.”
“I see. Well, that is sad for both of them.”
“He won’t tell you that he was basically in love with you back then, but I thought you should know.” Grunt said to bring me back around to the point of our conversation.
“It doesn’t matter if that is true, though I seriously doubt it. He didn’t treat me like someone he loved, or even liked unless we were alone. That’s not a kind of love I wish on anyone, least of all myself. I had enough of being cast in the shadows by people who were supposed to love me.”
My father’s face made an appearance in my mind and it made my heart ache remembering him the way I always did. I wish hehadn’t tainted my memories. As a child, when my mother was still alive, I remember my daddy being the best man in the world and I knew one day I would grow up to marry someone just like him. The way he loved me and my mom was something else. And once she was gone, he forgot me. Those are the memories that come to mind when people mention him because they shaped who I became as an adult more than the happier version of him from my early childhood did.
“I’m going to sign this and send it back with you. My partners need this. I have the ranch side of my family business to fall back on. It does well enough to keep the bills paid on its own, but they don’t have that. Finch is the only who gets a retirement from the Army. Collette and Amberlee depend on the split of the money we get from our catering business right now.”
“How in the hell are you making anything from catering around here?”
“We travel. If the place has a kitchen, we bring supplies and work from there. A few of our military friends have had some celebrations catered, and then word of mouth from there. We’re doing okay, but our location is less than ideal for business. It’s wonderful, though for low overhead costs since I own my home and land free and clear. We all live there without worry about having to pay for a roof over our heads. We have two wells on the property, which is almost unheard of out here, and enough solar power to keep the whole town of Violence plugged in, if the infrastructure to support doing that existed.”
“Damn, I don’t blame you for home basing here, then.” I slid the contract over to Grunt. “I’ll get you the details for Collette, Amberlee, and Finch. James said you needed to run checks on them before they can come to the clubhouse.”
“So, you’re going to send them instead of coming yourself?”
“No, we work together. Sometimes, there might be multiple jobs and depending on what’s needed, they will have to stay herewhile I go to different jobs. We can all cook, but they can’t do the baked goods that are sometimes the sole reason for a catering gig.”
Grunt stood to leave, but when he got to the door, I stopped him. “You should tell James - Knuckles,” I corrected, “that you told me about your theory. I don’t think he’d appreciate me knowing and him being in the dark if it was true.”
“It’s true.”
“It doesn’t really change anything.”
“We’ll see,” he said before he walked out the door.
“What are you going to do?” I turned to see Finch there watching as Grunt left.
“I’m going to do my job and not worry about any of those men. I don’t have room for their brand of love or chaos in my life right now. We’re trying to build a business.”
“People still need to get laid.”
“Go take your own advice, Finch, and leave my sheep alone.”
