Chapter Thirty-Three
Pete
Friday
I couldn’t sit still that morning. I went out to the porch and paced, walking up one side and down the other while Riley slept on, unaware. Emma hadn’t been to the farm all week, hadn’t answered my calls, and hadn’t been anywhere around town. I didn’t know what to do. She had to be pissed at me something fierce, but I didn’t know why. Had I said or done something stupid at her daddy’s house? She’d said things had gone well when she drove me home. I didn’t understand it.
I had to get the fuck off the farm. I jumped in my truck and drove out to the Texan, just wanting to put my mind on something else. The old timers called me over to their table, and I went gratefully.
“Hey, Petey,” Big Tom said. “Where’s that sweet girl of yours?”
I waited for the waitress to set my mug down, fill it with coffee, and be on her way before I answered.
“I haven’t seen much of Emma lately,” I said, looking around at all of them, just feeling so goddamned lost. “I don’t know what happened. She just stopped turning up at work and stopped taking my calls.”
“What did you do?” Laraby asked, smiling a little as the other men chuckled.
“I don’t think I did anything,” I replied. “Things were going great between us and then she just stopped showing up at the ranch.” I shook my head as I rubbed the back of my neck. I felt better getting some of this off my chest, even if it really wasn’t helping me figure out how to solve this Emma problem.
“You love her though, right?” Tex asked.
I nodded, sighing as I answered. “Yeah, I do. I just don’t know what happened.”
“Relationships aren’t all sunshine and roses,” Big Tom said, leaning over onto his elbows on the table and staring hard at me. “You have to work at them to make them successful.”
I took a sip of my coffee, not really wanting it, but just needing the time to think through this. When the waitress wandered over to take breakfast orders, I asked for toast and nothing else. I hadn’t been very hungry lately. Emma not being around had twisted most of the desire to do much of anything right out of me.
“Women aren’t easy to figure out,” Laraby said. “I’m still trying with my wife, and it’s been close to fifty years.”
The table erupted with laughter, a few of the men pounding on the table with their open hands and making our mugs of coffee jump. I couldn’t help but smile.
“The important thing is to try,” Big Tom said. “Emma seems like a straight shooter. If she’s upset, it’s probably because you did some dumbass thing that you might not have even realized you were doing at the time.”
I nodded, even though I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I might have done. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out I’d done something terrible without realizing it. I just wished Emma would tell me.
“If you love this girl, don’t let her go without a fight,” Winston piped up, and I lifted my eyebrows. He didn’t often weigh in on most matters, choosing to hold his tongue while the other men talked. When he did speak, everyone else fell quiet, even Big Tom.
“Winston’s right,” Laraby said. “You have to find a way to talk to her.”
“I tried calling, but she won’t answer the phone,” I said. “And, she hasn’t been to work all week.”
“She’s got to live somewhere, son.” Big Tom stared hard at me. “Go find her and get this figured out now before it’s too late. She might tell you to leave her the hell alone, but at least you’ll know. If you don’t find out what happened, you’ll be kicking yourself for the rest of your life.”
I knew that much was true.
I drove back to the farm after breakfast, thinking of what I’d say when I pulled up and saw Emma’s little blue car in the driveway. But she wasn’t there. Lacey wasn’t due in, either, but at least I knew what was going on with her and that she’d be back on Monday. It was going to be another long, lonely day on the ranch. It just didn’t feel right around here without Emma.
Instead of getting right to work, I went to the porch and sat down next to Riley.
“I don’t know what to do, old boy,” I said. “I must have done something wrong, and now Emma won’t come to work or speak to me. What would you do in my place, Riley? Would you go after your girl even if she didn’t seem to want a damned thing to do with you anymore?”
I looked down at the curled up shape of my scruffy old mutt, but he hadn’t even lifted his head at the sound of my voice. Sighing, I sat back in my seat to puzzle this out.