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“Yeah, I got that.” I stuffed my feet into my boots before storming to the table where my keys waited.
As I passed him, he gave his last ditch, the coup de grâce. “Do it, and you’re fired.”
I stopped, my hand on the screen door, my pulse loud in my ears.
“Then I guess I’m fired,” I said, and walked out the door.
26
The Last To Know
JO
“I just don’t understand what the big deal is,” Mama huffed, pouring another cup of coffee. “How come Jo can spend the night over at Grant’s, but I’m not allowed to see Merrick after midnight?”
“Because,” I started, pulling my hair into a ponytail, “Merrick doesn’t really care about you.”
She gave me a look. “I know I’m old, but I’d like to think I still have my looks and a little personality to go with them.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it. All he wants is the shale under the farm.”
“And how do you know that isn’t what Grant wants?”
“It’s different, Mama. He … it’s just different.”
“How come?”
“Because he’s staying,” I blurted, my face flushed. “He’s staying here. To be with me.”
All three of them opened their mouths and eyeballs at the same time.
I kept going before they could speak, provided they had any words in their brains. “So I can’t see how it’s the same. I mean, Merrick looks like an apex predator who hasn’t had a meal in a week.”
“You realize Grant looks just like him, right?” Poppy noted.
“Except Grant proved himself. Look—I even got him in Wranglers and boots, for God’s sake. You think you could get Merrick in jeans, Mama?”
She wrinkled her nose and eyed her coffee again. What she didn’t do was answer.
Daisy frowned. “I don’t understand how blue jeans are the deciding factor on trust here.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “I don’t have time to explain. Grant will be here any second for a run, so y’all better be quiet. We can talk about it later.”
The rumble of Grant’s car sounded, and instantly, I was smiling. But as I trotted to the back door, I saw another car behind his, sleek and black and expensive.
Instantly, my smile flipped upside down. “Who’s that?”
“Oh, it’s Merrick!” Mama said, hurrying to put her coffee down so she could fix her hair in the dim reflection on the microwave door.
I opened the back door, smiling but a little confused. When Grant’s car door opened, I called, “Hey!”
And then he climbed out, dark and thunderous as a hurricane, and not in running attire.
He stalked toward me and up the steps, reaching for my hand as Merrick hurried behind.
“What’s going on?” I asked before I was nudged out of the way to make room for Mama.
“What a nice surprise,” she said. “You boys want some coffee?”
“No, thank you, Mrs. Blum,” Grant answered. “Could we … could we talk?”
“Sure,” I said, “We can go—”
“No. All of you. Including you,” he said to Mama.
Her smile had begun to fade as she took in Merrick, then Grant, then Merrick again. “Yes, of course,” she answered absently. “Come on in.”
Poppy and Daisy moved out of the way so we could enter, Mama and Merrick last. He’d done little more than cast her a tight smile, his focus entirely on Grant.
Grant held my hand so tight, my fingers pinched. “What’s the matter?” I whispered.
But he only shook his head.
When Poppy and Daisy were sitting at the island and Mama fussed about a pot of coffee, Grant looked down at me with sorrow and regret written in every line of his face.
Merrick folded his arms across his chest and glared at Grant. “Go ahead.”
When Grant let go of my hand, my pulse doubled. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
I backed toward the island with my eyes on him.
“I …” His Adam’s apple bobbed. But he still hadn’t found the words—he raked his hand through his hair. I’d never seen him nervous or unafraid, not of anything.
The thought terrified me.
“Dottie,” he finally started, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry to do this to you, but I can’t stand by and let him use you like he is. He doesn’t want you, doesn’t care for you or what’s best for you—what he wants is your shale deposit. He came here with a plan to get it done because I didn’t.”
Mama had a strange smile on her face, her gaze bouncing between Grant and Merrick. “Wh … what?”
“He was courting you to get you to sign the contract. He wasn’t here to manage me, or not entirely, at least. He had one goal—acquire this farm’s rights. And you were collateral damage.”
“That … that can’t be right.” Mama looked for confirmation from Merrick, but he was boring holes into Grant’s skull with his eyes.
“I have no reason to lie, nothing to gain. But please, don’t sign your rights over to him. Because every word out of his mouth has been a lie since he got here.”
