Play It Safe(97)

“Okay,” I said softly.

“Okay,” he replied, still ticked off and I partially got it because I should have been sitting at that table with him for seven years and I felt that loss as acutely as he did.

But I didn’t get all of it.

So, tentatively, I started to ask, “So, uh…what you’re saying is I have a place here –”

Gray, still pissed, cut me off, “Yeah. That’s what I’m sayin’.”

“I wasn’t done, honey.”

He stared at me.

Something new, Gray could get grouchy after a day of working hard as a rancher cowboy.

I tried again. “What I was saying is that you obviously want me to feel comfortable here…with you, so why can’t I go there with your uncles?”

It was then I could tell that I had a point this time and Gray, too, found it annoying.

“They should help protect their legacy,” I told him.

“It’s no longer their legacy. They carry the Cody name but they are not part of this land. They made that point sittin’ on their hands watching me drown. They drew that line. I’m not drownin’ anymore; they still stay to their side.”

“Right, I get that but what about Mrs. Cody?”

His brows drew together. “What?”

“Your Gran, Gray. How long has she been in that home?”

“Four and a half years.”

“Then, say you take responsibility for your share, which obviously you’d want to do, at three quarters of her home fees for as long as she’s been in there, they owe you two hundred and seventy K which means each one of them owes you ninety.”

“No they don’t.”

“Gray, yes they do.”

“They don’t have anything to do with that either,” Gray stated.

“How’s that?”

“They made that choice too.”

“Gray, they don’t get a choice with that. She’s their mother.”

“Yeah, a mother when I asked him to kick in that Frank reminded me about half a dozen times in the last four and a half years was a mother who held a grudge and didn’t speak to him since that shit went down after Dad died. His Mom ignored him for years, he didn’t feel like ponying up to keep her in a clean place she likes that has good food and staff who like to work there and the residents get the benefit of that. The other two agreed.”

“My point is still valid, he doesn’t get that choice.”

“Funny since he took it.”

Now I was getting mad.

“Sorry but them trying to horn in on your inheritance, land they hadn’t worked since they were eighteen, and Mrs. Cody being justifiably pissed about that is not grounds for them to turn their back on their mother in her final years,” I snapped.

“Ivey, honey, they don’t see it that way.”

“Well then someone has to make them see it that way and if you aren’t going to do it, that someone is going to be me.”

“Ivey –”

“No,” I shook my head, leaning in, now definitely mad, “no, Gray no. All my life I wanted two things, just two, a home and a family. They were fortunate to be born in a good one of both and they’ve shit on both and that is not right. That shit does not play. And I’m going to The Alibi and explaining these things.”

His ticked off vibe disintegrated and his face was near to tender when he said softly, “I get you, dollface, but you aren’t gonna get anywhere and I don’t want you to get anywhere. We’re solid. Fuck them.”

“No, they aren’t going to get away with that shit.”

“You’re not going there, Ivey.”

“I am, Gray.”

“You aren’t, Ivey.”

“I am, Gray!” I snapped. “They sat back and watched you drown. That is not cool in and of itself, family legacy or not, you’re just plain family and they should look out for you. But the fact is, you were drowning because you were taking care of their mother and that is absolutely, one hundred percent not right. They owe you ninety grand each and I’m gonna get it.”

“You won’t go to The Alibi because it’s a waste of time. I won’t take their money,” he returned.

“That’s okay because I will.”

His ticked off vibe came back before he said, “You won’t, Ivey. Shit’s fine now. I’m taken care of and so is Gran, you’ve seen to that. You’ve done enough. I don’t need them.”

“It’ll be a lot more fine when you have two hundred and seventy K in the bank. So fine, I bet you can use that money to pay off the note in full and get out from under that weight. And, by the way,” I added, “if, God willing, Mrs. Cody lives past her tenure that I paid for at that home, they’re doing their part then too.”

“They’re out of it.”

“It’s impossible to be out of it!” I cried. “They’re family.”

“Ivey, you are not goin’ to The Alibi.”

“I most certainly am.”

“You definitely are not.”

“Gray –”

“Ivey.”

“Gray!”

“Ivey.”

And there we were.