Read Online The Game of Denial by Brenda Adcock - Free Book Online

Evey said. "I'm really sorry about last night."
    Joan shrugged. "Forget it."
    "I can't! I didn't raise my children to be so small-minded. I don't know what Tully was thinking."
    "He'd had a few drinks. Maybe he thought I was hurting you."
    "No matter how angry you might get, I know you'd never harm anyone."
    "I hope I wouldn't," Joan said. "I confess to having a pretty bad temper though."
    Evey finished her coffee and rinsed out the cup. "You know, I was thinking on the way home that today would be a perfect day for a picnic. Would you be interested?"
    "That sounds like fun."
    "We usually take Sundays off except for feeding the horses anyway and lounge around."
    "What about lunch for everyone else?"
    "I have a ton of sandwich stuff in the refrigerator. They can fend for themselves."
    Evey's eyes sparkled in anticipation and Joan wanted to do something to take her mind off the events of the night before. Joan went upstairs to her room to change. When she returned to the kitchen, Evey was packing a lunch basket.
    "Anything I can do to help?" Joan asked.
    "If you could get a small bag of ice from the freezer we would be about ready."
    "You're planning to carry all this on horseback?"
    Evey shook her head. "I'm borrowing Ralph's pick-up."
    Joan lifted the basket and cooler into the bed of the old pick-up and climbed into the passenger seat. Evey readjusted the seat to reach the pedals and the old truck rumbled to life. She pulled it alongside the barn and called out to Ralph, telling him where they were going and about how long they would be gone.
    "I didn't know there was a lake on your property," Joan said as they bounced along.
    "More like a big pond," Evey said. "It was a pretty safe place to take the kids swimming when they were younger."
    "How's your mare doing? The pregnant one?"
    "I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll wait until after the wedding before she foals. She's miscarried three times already. This is the first one that should go to term. I'm a little worried that all the extra activity around the farm will stress her out, but we keep her as calm as we can. Her appetite has been good."
    "She's your favorite, isn't she?"
    "I shouldn't have a favorite, but I've had Sheba since she was born. I had to practically hand raise her because she was a little sickly. It's like taking care of a kid. She's a little small for competition riding. Ralph and Tully tried to convince me to sell her to another riding school, but I couldn't do it."
    "You have a soft heart," Joan said.
    Evey looked across the seat at Joan. "Yeah. I probably do. Just like with people, there are some that you're drawn to for some reason you can't explain."
    A few minutes later the truck climbed over the top of a hill. Joan could see the pond at the bottom as Evey pulled the truck into the shade of a stand of trees. A breeze blew up the hill and made the heat from the sun tolerable while keeping insects away. Joan stepped out of the truck and lifted the basket and cooler from the back. Evey pulled a blanket from behind the seat and carried it to an area that was half in the shade and half in the sun. Joan set everything down and helped Evey spread the blanket out. They found four medium-sized rocks to hold down the corners of the blanket and placed the basket and cooler in the shady half.
    Joan rooted around in the cooler and pulled out a bottle of water. She took a long drink and stretched out on the blanket. "This is a peaceful place," she said.
    "It's another good thinking spot and a lot more picturesque than over the sink," Evey chuckled.
    "If I stayed here very long, I'd probably fall asleep."
    "I've actually done that," Evey said. "When I woke up half of me looked like a lobster. Couldn't ride for a week."
    "Why?"
    "I was so sunburned I couldn't bend my knees. Walked around like a robot." Evey laughed. "The kids thought it was fun to press their fingers into my skin and then watch the white imprints slowly disappear."
    "Children can be sadistic.