Page 131 of The Only Seconds that Matter
“You grew up in the same house I did.I thought maybe you agreed with Daddy on some things.”
“You really thought I agreed with Daddy callin’ you a faggot when he got drunk?”
Johnny shrugged, ears red.“It wasn’t anythin’ we ever talked about, was it?”
“Cuz you weren’t around.You were out doin’ your rodeo thing, and every time I saw you had some woman on your arm.You never acted—I mean, it wasn’t anythin’ I would have thought on my own ‘less you told me.”She paused.“Was there anyone before Vic?”
“Flings and one-night stands, that’s all.Nothin’ serious.Men typically aren’t.”
“I guess when there’s no one willin’ to do their laundry or cook their meals, they aren’t.”She turned to Victor.“So what makes you different?”
It’d be funny if I came out as transgender right now, Victor thought but decided firmly against it.Best not to tempt fate.So he went with his usual, “I told you before: I like a project.”
Kayla laughed, something she didn’t commonly do.It was a way she and Johnny differed.After looking between them for a few second, she sighed and reached for her purse.“Alright, you know what?Maybe itwouldbe best for Taylor to have a few days at your place.It’d make my house more peaceful at least, and she never fuckin’ shuts up about the horses.Now that I know there’s at leastoneadult in charge, consider my mind changed.”
“I’m an adult,” Johnny said petulantly.
“Yeah, yeah, sure.”She extracted a package of cigarettes from her purse.“I’m gonna go smoke.We’ll talk specifics when I get back.”
CHAPTER 36
The next day, Johnny brought Taylor to the farm.They saddled up the horses—Victor on Saturn, Johnny on Blitz, and Taylor on Midnight—and rode around the edge of the property and then across the hundred acres of fields owned by the neighbor.Taylor was in an unusually sedate mood, and Victor wondered if she could sense something was up.Eventually Johnny pulled up Blitz and grabbed the water bottle hanging from the bag on the horn of his saddle.He took a swig, then passed it to Taylor.
“I’m not thirsty,” she said.
“You been out in this heat for two hours now.Drink.”
With a heavy, world weary sigh, Taylor took the bottle and sipped it.
“You in some kinda mood, huh?”Johnny asked.
Taylor shrugged as Midnight jerked her forward in an attempt to eat some grass.Taylor pulled her back, then circled her once to refocus her as Victor had taught.
“We brought you out here to give you some good news.”
Taylor gave him a skeptical look.“Like what?”
“I talked—we talked—to your mama about you.”
“Am I in trouble?”Taylor asked.“Cuz I’m already grounded for like two hundred years.”
“She said she’s willing to lower it to a hundred years if you behave yourself when you stay with me on the weekends.”
Taylor opened her mouth to complain, then stopped, reconsidering what Johnny had said.“What?”
Johnny’s attempt to hold back a smile failed.“I get you Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays now.Your mama cleared it.”
Taylor blinked at him in shock before a grin split her face wide open.“Really?I can come here?”
“If you behave yourself,” Johnny replied.
“I will!I promise!Is it every weekend?”
“Every weekend unless your mama says otherwise.”
Taylor tried to reach over to hug Johnny, but Midnight shied at the shift of weight and stepped away, putting too much space between them.Johnny laughed, then pushed Blitz over so he could rest a hand on the top of Taylor’s helmet.
“This is what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
