A Grant County Collection Read Free Page A

told, giving him the slim file.
    He scanned her notes. 'Pretty straightforward.'
    'I've already talked to her kids,' Sara told him, though 'kids' hardly seemed appropriate considering that the woman's youngest child was nearly thirty years older than Sara. 'They know they were grasping at straws.'
    'Good,' he repeated, signing off on the last page. He tossed it onto the corner of the table and capped his pen. 'Is that all?'
    'Mama says hey.'
    He seemed reluctant when he asked, 'How's Tess?'
    Sara shrugged, because she wasn't exactly sure how to answer. Her relationship with her sister seemed to be deteriorating as rapidly as her one with Jeffrey. Instead, she asked, 'How long are you going to keep this up?'
    He purposefully misunderstood her, indicating the paperwork as he spoke. 'I've got to have it all done before we go to trial next month.'
    'That's not what I was talking about and you know it.'
    'I don't think you have a right to use that tone with me.' He sat back in the chair. She could see that he was tired, and his usual easy smile was nowhere to be seen.
    She asked, 'Are you sleeping okay?'
    'Big case,' he said, and she wondered if that was really what was keeping him up at night. 'What do you want?'
    'Can't we just talk?'
    'About what?' He rocked his chair back. When she did not answer, he prompted, 'Well?'
    'I just want to –'
    'What?' he interrupted, his jaw set. 'We've talked this through a hundred times. There's not a whole lot more to say.'
    'I want to see you.'
    'I told you I'm buried in this case.'
    'So, when it's over . . .?'
    'Sara.'
    'Jeffrey,' she countered. 'If you don't want to see me, just say it. Don't use a case as an excuse. We've both been buried deeper than this before and still managed to spend time with each other. As I recall, it's what makes this crap' – she indicated the mounds of paperwork – 'bearable.'
    He dropped his chair with a thud. 'I don't see the point.'
    She gave humor another stab. 'Well, the sex, for one.'
    'I can get that anywhere.'
    Sara raised an eyebrow, but suppressed the obvious comment. The fact that Jeffrey could and sometimes did get sex anywhere was the reason she had divorced him in the first place.
    He picked up his pen to resume writing, but Sara snatched it from his hand. She tried to keep the desperation out of her voice as she asked, 'Why do we have to get married again for this to work?'
    He looked off to the side, clearly annoyed.
    She reminded him, 'We were married before and it practically ruined us.'
    'Yeah,' he said. 'I remember.'
    She played her trump card. 'You could rent out your house to someone from the college.'
    He paused a second before asking, 'Why would I do that?'
    'So you could move in with me.'
    'And live in sin?'
    She laughed. 'Since when did you become religious?'
    'Since your father put the fear of God into me,' he shot back, his tone completely devoid of humor. 'I want a wife, Sara, not a fuckbuddy.'
    She felt the cut of his words. 'Is that what you think I am?'
    'I don't know,' he told her, his tone something of an apology. 'I'm tired of being tied to that string you just yank when you feel lonely.'
    She opened her mouth but could not speak.
    He shook his head, apologizing. 'I didn't mean that.'
    'You think I'm here making a fool of myself because I'm lonely?'
    'I don't know anything right now, except that I've got a lot of work to do.' He held out his hand. 'Can I have my pen back?'
    She gripped it tightly. 'I want to be with you.'
    'You're with me now,' he said, reaching over to retrieve his pen.
    She put her other hand around his, holding him there. 'I miss you,' she said. 'I miss being with you.'
    He gave a halfhearted shrug, but did not pull away.
    She pressed her lips to his fingers, smelling ink and the oatmeal lotion he used when he thought no one was looking. 'I miss your hands.'
    He kept staring.
    She brushed his thumb with her lips. 'Don't you miss me?'
    He tilted his head to the side, giving another indefinite shrug.
    'I want