AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“When you decide to stop lying to me, call me. Otherwise, I don’t want to talk to you.”
More silence. I looked at the screen. He’d hung up.
I pounded the wall and pressed my forehead to the window. Muriella had been right that keeping the trouble with the ranch a secret would come back to bite me in the ass.
I’d pissed off my brother, worried my sister-in-law and nieces, and was a half a breath away from Mama and Daddy hearing a spliced conversation I didn’t want them to. I put a hand to my face. It was only a matter of time before someone in town told them about it. Maybe it was better to keep that paparazzi barrier between them and town so nobody could get out to the ranch.
Hell, we weren’t in the olden days. I’m surprised that old rotary phone in my mama’s kitchen wasn’t ringing off the hook. Wasn’t often I made headlines like this; more fodder for the folks in Burdett who didn’t have shit else to do but gossip.
I twirled my phone in my hand. Better call Granddaddy to warn him Mitch was onto us, and that meant everybody else was sure to follow.
* * *
“Mitch called.”
Muriella set her purse and a pizza box down on the kitchen island where I was parked on a barstool waiting for her to return from mass.
“Did he find out about the trip?” She slid the box toward me and grabbed some drinks and napkins.
“If only.” I opened the lid and my stomach grumbled. “This looks good.”
“It’s from Dino’s. Best in the city.” She hopped up on the stool beside me and picked up a slice. “So what happened?”
“He heard the tape.” I tore off a bite and chewed harder than necessary.
“You had to tell him the truth.”
She shifted so her knees were toward me, but I couldn’t look at her.
“Not exactly.”
“Then what exactly?”
I dropped the slice back into the box and wiped my fingers, unable to look at her.
“You lied.” The disappointment in her voice was worse than what my brother had said to me.
“No, but I didn’t come clean either.”
A short blast of air puffed from her nose. “Why won’t you let him help you and your grandfather? He knows something is going on, so I don’t understand.”
I bounced my knee up and down. “He said my nieces are scared. I picture them listening to that recording a million times, dissecting every word.” I flicked at the pizza box. “Hedley may have spliced it, but there’s enough truth there to read between the lines.”
“You aren’t protecting them if you hide the truth.”
I jerked my gaze to her. “They’re kids. They don’t need to worry with this. And everybody else? They’re trying to operate a ranch. We’ve got animals and crops to tend to. It ain’t easy work. If I can take this burden, then that’s what I intend to do.”
“But now they know something’s going on, and you’re keeping them in the dark.”
“They’re better off there,” I said stubbornly.
“No one is ever better off in darkness.”
I squeezed my eyes shut at the quiet strength behind her words. Damn it, we weren’t talking about the same thing here. Yet I couldn’t shake the image of a young girl locked in a shipping container with only a small peephole for light.
I sucked in a breath, grappled to center my thoughts.
“I can’t tell them,” I finally said, my eyes meeting hers.
