Chapter 6: Feed and Seed

On Saturday, day four, I went to the feed store for two cases of dewormer and a bag of mineral salt.

Joss waited in his truck outside with the window down, because his boss had texted him about a delivery.

I had slept three nights in his arms by then.

The loose porch step had been fixed on Thursday, with new screws and a bubble level.

I walked into Orrell Feed and Seed feeling like a woman who has been properly fucked for three days running and has no complaints.

Keeley Orrell stood behind the counter.

Her blonde ponytail was high and glossy, and her western shirt was ironed so crisply it could have cut paper.

She smiled at me, and it went all the way to her teeth.

"Dr. Dunnaway," she said. "Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"I really mean it. Joss is such a sweet man."

Two ranchers at the end of the counter stopped talking.

A woman by the seed rack stopped pretending to read a label.

"He is," I said. "I'm picking up an order."

"Of course."

She rang up the dewormer slowly, and she kept looking at my throat.

"He's very handy," she said. "I'm sure you've noticed. He can fix almost anything."

"I noticed."

"Almost."

I waited.

She handed me my receipt across the counter and held on to it a moment longer than she needed to.

"I'm only telling you because nobody told me," Keeley said gently.

"He did the Thirty with me five years ago."

"He was wonderful for twenty-five days."

My stomach dropped through the floor.

"And on day twenty-six, he packed his bag and walked out. In front of the Keeper."

She let go of the receipt.

"Mark your calendar, honey. Day twenty-six."

Someone behind me inhaled sharply.

I picked up the dewormer.

I took the mineral salt on my shoulder.

"Thanks for the receipt," I said, and I walked out with my face perfectly calm.

I put the dewormer in the bed of his truck and the salt in after it.

Then I got in the passenger seat and shut the door.

Joss looked at my face.

He didn't ask what had happened.

His hands came off the steering wheel, and he went still.

"Keeley," he said.

"Yes."

"What did she say?"

"Is it true?"

He closed his eyes for one second.

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