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“To tell her such nonsense—”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, “okay, you made your point” He frowned and shifted his backside on the cushion of the contraption Annie called a chair, where he’d spent the last hour being tortured. “What’s this damn chair stuffed with, anyway? Steel filings?”
“Horsehair, which should be just right, considering that you are, without question, the biggest horse’s patootie I ever did know!”
Chase gave a bark of incredulous laughter. “Patootie? Goodness gracious, land’s sakes alive, Miss Annie, what out and out vulgarity!”
“Dammit, Chase—”
“Oh my. Better watch yourself, babe. Your language is slipping.”
“Don’t ‘babe’ me. I don’t like it. Just tell me what we’re supposed to do now.”
Chase winced as he got to his feet He rubbed the small of his back, then massaged his neck, and walked slowly to the window.
The sun was a slash of lemon yellow as it rose in the deep woods behind the house. Dawn was almost here—and his Dawn was almost there, in Hawaii, beginning her honeymoon with Nick. He smiled and thought of sharing the play-on-words with Annie, but he suspected she might not see the humor in the situation.
“We wait until the kids come home,” he said, turning around and looking at Annie, “and then we tell—I tell them—that I should never have claimed we were going to give things another try.”
“The truth, you mean.”
“The whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes.”
Annie nodded. She stood up and walked toward the kitchen. Chase followed her.
“I suppose that will clear your conscience.”
Chase eased onto a stool at the counter.
“Look, I know it won’t be that easy, but—”
He winced as Annie slammed a cupboard door shut.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “it won’t do a thing for mine.”
“If you’re going to make another pot of coffee or tea—”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Not for me.” He put a hand against his flat belly. “The last dozen cups are still gurgling around in my stomach.”
“Maybe you’d rather have something else. Hot chocolate?”
Chase’s brows lifted. “Well, yeah, that might be—”
“Hemlock, perhaps. A nice, big cup.”
“There’s no need to behave like that, Annie.”
“No?”
“No.” He stood up, went to the refrigerator and opened it. “Isn’t there any beer?”
“There is not.” Annie slid under his arm and slammed the fridge door shut. “I,” she said self-righteously, “do not drink beer.”
Chase looked at her. “I’ll just bet the poetry pansy doesn’t drink it, either.”
“The...?” Annie flushed. “If you mean Milton—”
“How about some diet Coke? Or is that beneath you, too?”
Annie shot him an angry glare. Then she stalked to the pantry door and pulled it open.
“Here,” she said, jamming the can of soda at him. “Have a Coke, even though it’s only six in the morning. Maybe it’ll clear your head enough so you can come up with a plan that’ll work.”
“I already did.” Chase yanked the pull tab on the can and made a face as he downed a mouthful of warm soda. “I told you,” he said, as he took a tray of ice cubes from the freezer, dumped some into a glass and added the Coke. “When the kids come back from their honeymoon, I’ll tell them that we stretched the truth a little for their own good.”
“We?” Annie said, in an ominously soft voice.
“Okay. Me. I did it. I stretched the truth.”
“You’re stretching it now, Chase. Say it. You lied.”
Chase took a long drink, then put the cold glass against his forehead.
“I lied. All right? Does that make you feel better?”
“Yes.” Annie frowned. “No.” She looked at him for a long minute. Then she turned and stared at the coffee, dripping slowly from the filter basket into the carafe. “You lied, and what did I do?”
“Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish here, Annie, but we just went around with this, remember? I was the black-hearted horse’s whatever-you-called-me that started us on this path into the pits of hell.” He sighed, then laid the hand clutching the glass of Coke over his heart. “You want me to swear I’ll come clean? I will. You want my word I’ll make it crystal clear you didn’t do anything? I’ll do that, too.”
Annie folded her arms over her chest. “But I did.”
