Read Online Family Affair by Saxon Bennett - Free Book Online

girlfriends in a jealous rage. She was the completely out-of-con-trol wild child.
     
    "She got caught cow tipping."
     
    "What the hell is that?" Chase's only notion of tipping involved waiters.
     
    "Cows sleep upright. You sneak up on them and give them a shove and they fall over in such a way that they can't get up. The farmers don't care for this. She and some friends came up from the city to Moriarty and got caught by one of the ranch hands who called the police. Graciela needs bail or she'll have to stay until her court date."
     
    "When's that?"
     
    "Whenever the judge sees fit."
     
    "So she could rot in jail until then. Just think of it, a life-sentence for cow tipping." Chase laughed.
     
    Gitana frowned.
     
    "It would keep her out of trouble."
     
    "We can set bail, but Mama won't do it. She says it serves the heathen right."
     
    Gitana's mother, Jacinda, always referred to Graciela as the heathen if she was only slightly peeved and devil's spawn if she was furious. She lit a prayer candle for Graciela every day at morning mass and another at Evensong. Gitana figured her mother could have sent them both to graduate school with the money she spent on candles.
     
    "So you want to set bail?"
     
    "Chase, the Moriarty County Jail is full of rednecks. I don't think it's the safest place for a sassy lesbian."
     
    "Gotcha. We'll set bail and then hide her up here for the weekend. That means she goes nowhere. Your mother has spies all over town. She'll know what we did and we'll be on the same shit list as Graciela."
     
    "I love you," Gitana said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
     
    "Call one of those bail bondsmen land of people and they can tell us how to do it. I've never gotten someone out of jail." She smiled at Gitana and went back inside.
     
    "You can put your tongue back in your mouth now," Bo told Delia. She scowled at him.
     
    Chase eyed her suspiciously.
     
    "I totally understand why you don't take me up on my offer. Your wife is hot," Delia said.
     
    "That's enough out of you, young lady. In case you've forgotten, you're talking about Chase's life partner, not some slick chick at the gay bar," Alma said.
     
    Chase smirked. It always seemed so out of character whenever Alma used slang.
     
    "What offer?" Bo asked. He looked from Delia to Chase.
     
    Jasmine was still studying her manuscript and didn't look up, but she said, "Delia wants to sleep with Chase, but Chase declined the offer. That's a good decision, if you ask me." She continued to be engrossed in her work.
     
    Chase threw her mechanical pencil at her, narrowly missing her head. "Big mouth." This time Jasmine did look up.
     
    "How come she knew and we didn't?" Bo asked.
     
    Gay men were the worst gossips, worse than women, worse than women who lived in tiny European villages, Chase thought. "Because she happened to be standing in the hallway when the aforementioned proposition occurred."
     
    Chase had immediately told Gitana lest she be guilty by omission.
     
    Alma picked up the Writer's Digest from the coffee table, rolled it up and swatted Delia with it. "Have you no shame."
     
    Delia shrugged. "Never hurts to try."
     
    Alma swatted her again.
     
    "All right, I was out of line," Delia admitted.
     
    "That's better. Now, let's get back to the business at hand," Alma said, picking up her copy of Jasmine's manuscript.
     
    Chase smiled. For as much as they irritated her, she liked the writers group. Writing was a solitary pursuit and it was nice to have fellow travelers from time to time.
     
    Chapter Eight
     
    "How's my favorite un-in-law?" Graciela said. She was dancing with the dogs, one set of front paws of each dog on her forearms and singing, "It's raining dogs, hallelujah," instead of men, her homage to a much played song in the gay bars during the Nineties. "It's raining dogs, hallelujah," she continued much to Chase's chagrin as she entered the sunroom. The writers had left and their new houseguest had