Behind the Bonehouse Read Free Page A

was getting hard to ignore.
    â€œI don’t want to worry you, with you being pregnant, but if there’s a lack of trust, or some opposition from Bob, it doesn’t bode well for my stay at Equine. I can put up with resistance from the rest, but I can’t stay if Bob joins the others.”
    â€œSomebody’s been gossiping behind your back. You know what I mean. Telling him something about you that’s got him questioning what you’re doing, and maybe what kind of person you are.”
    â€œThat’s nothing but speculation.”
    â€œYeah, but I bet I’m right. Carl wouldn’t hesitate, that’s for sure. And yet why would Bob believe him? He oughtta know you better than that.”
    â€œBob’s very good with people in certain ways. He can talk about the principles that are important to him, and the medicine he’s excited about, and where he sees the company going, and when he’s done everybody who’s heard him would crawl across cut glass for him.
    â€œBut there’s something naïve about him too, and I’ve seen him get fooled. He’s so straightforward himself he expects everybody else to be. So he doesn’t catch the two faced, or the manipulative, and he can’t see the boot kissing that goes on with some of the people there. ’Member how Spencer’s mom helped Spencer’s dad with all of that? That’s what Bob needs. But his wife knows nothing about the business. All she seems to think about is getting their son promoted.”
    â€œThat sounds ominous.”
    â€œIt’s definitely not a help.”
    â€œSo how does Bob react when he sees somebody’s dishonest, or trying to take advantage of him?”
    â€œI think he tends to overreact. He’s so surprised and appalled he can’t see it as an everyday facet of human nature and try to be dispassionate.”
    â€œSo if he thinks you’ve been undermining him, he won’t respond well. Right? So what’re you going to do?”
    â€œYou know how friendly he’s been? How he’s supported me, even when Brad’s acted threatened by me?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWell, yesterday, when I asked to talk to him about the Sigma blade options we need to research, he wouldn’t even look in my direction.”
    â€œYou’re going to have to do something. You can’t just let it go on.”
    They walked out into a blue-black night sprinkled with crystal stars, and stood by the curb in front of the steakhouse and looked up and smiled.
    A man’s voice said, “Hey,” off on their left, and they turned and saw Butch Morgan and his wife walking toward them from a barbecue place that was one of Lexington’s favorites.
    Alan said, “Hi, Butch. Hey, Frannie. How are your girls doing?”
    â€œEnjoying their summer vacation.” She answered before Butch, adjusting the belt of her dress, her heart-shaped sun-burned face looking slightly ill at ease.
    Jo asked if she was still working at the insurance company, as she slipped her hand in Alan’s.
    â€œThe branch in Louisville most days. I moved up there this winter. Daddy comes in and helps three days a week here, but it’s primarily up to me now. At the Louisville branch, and in Lexington.”
    Butch looked irritated before she’d finished, but then he slipped his arm around Frannie’s waist, and looked directly at Alan. “Her dad’s not much older than Bob Harrison, but he’s real close to retired.”
    Alan said, “I can’t imagine Bob retiring. He’s only in his fifties, and work’s the center of his life.”
    Butch was watching Alan now with a kind of wavering intent as though he might’ve had too much to drink. “You ever seen Bob lose his temper?”
    â€œNo. Not what I’d call losing it. Why?”
    â€œI reckon he didn’t like being told he’s too old to do good