Roping the Wind Read Free

career.
    Grayson’s terse replies on the phone got louder. Jay wondered if he was talking to their father. Beau Turner was on his fifth wife now, having gotten rid of the rest when they failed to meet his exacting standards. That is, when they reached 25 or had a kid.
    Jay gazed longingly over at his beer. Asking Grayson for help was hard enough; crawling back to his daddy and asking for a job was too horrific to contemplate. Grayson might be earning a fortune as their father’s right-hand man but he looked stressed and unhappy. Jay couldn’t see himself in a suit or working in an office. He’d have to find something to do that allowed him to be outside or he’d shoot himself.
    Grayson returned, his expression grim. ‘That was dear old Beau. He’s wondering why I’m not in the office.’
    ‘Did you tell him you were doing charity work? He’d probably like that. Good for the company image.’
    Grayson swung around and pointed his finger straight at Jay. ‘Don’t you start. Sometimes . . .’ He let the sentence hang in the air as he walked across to stare out the window.
    Jay watched him carefully. He’d never seen his confident brother so rattled. ‘What?’
    The buzzer sounded and Grayson replaced his phone in his pocket and took out his wallet. ‘Great, here’s our lunch. Stay there. I’ll get it.’
    Jay breathed in the heavenly scent of fried onions and ketchup and realized how hungry he was. Grayson sat opposite him on a matching leather recliner and passed him the hamburger. Silence fell as they both dug in.
    Eventually, even though he knew his brother was waiting, Jay had to look up. Grayson set down his glass of soda on the coffee table with a decisive thump.
    ‘Look, Jay,’ he said abruptly, ‘the apartment is yours for as long as you need it. If I’m in town, I’ll call and see if you want me to visit. Otherwise I’ll stay away.’
    Jay didn’t bother to correct him. He knew he should tell his brother he was welcome anytime but it wasn’t true. There was too much rivalry, too much history between them for their relationship to ever run smoothly.
    ‘And don’t worry about money either. I’ve arranged for an allowance to be deposited in your bank for as long as you want it.’
    ‘You don’t have to do that. I’ll be OK.’
    Grayson shook his head. ‘I don’t want you to be just OK. I want you to use the time and the money to decide what you want to do with your life. If you decide to go to college, do it. If you want to spend a year traveling the world, do it.’
    Jay fixed his gaze on Grayson. ‘More to the point, why are you doing this?’
    ‘Maybe because I never got the chance.’
    Jay frowned. There it was again, that crack in the perfect veneer of Grayson’s life. The sense that everything wasn’t going as well as it seemed. It was so much easier to hate his brother when he was in full-fledged successful businessman mode rather than when he was like this. For a second he was tempted to ask what was wrong.
    ‘Whatever you do, make sure you keep up with the physical therapy and your hospital appointments,’ Grayson added. ‘You’re still seeing Helen Kinsale, aren’t you?’
    Ah, that was better. Jay relaxed. Grayson was back into his usual big brother lecturing style.
    ‘I’m not stupid, Grayson. I’m not going to blow it.’
    He’d even brave the chilly smiles of Dr Kinsale if it meant he’d recover more quickly. To give the woman her due, she had performed the surgery that had saved his kneecap so he should be grateful.
    She was easy on the eye as well. Tall and slim. Just the type of woman he loved, except she’d treated him like dirt since the first time they’d met. He was never exactly sure what he’d done to annoy her but she definitely wasn’t his biggest fan.
    As Grayson gathered the dirty plates, his cell rang again. This time he ignored it.
    ‘Just concentrate on getting better, Jay. The rest of it will fall into place.’ He dumped the dishes in