Page 41 of Rootbound
WONDERFUL!
NO YELLING ON THE BUS!
I quickly dress in some shorts and a tank top after brushing my teeth, swipe on a bit of mascara, and throw my hair in a ponytail, before I head down for breakfast.
There are no extra trucks out front when I get to the big house, though, so I call out when I get inside, “Hello?”
“Hey, Tait, in here!” Grace says.
When I round the corner she continues, “Hey there—I saved you a plate.”
“Oh, shoot, did I miss breakfast?”
“Yes, but we figured you needed the rest, so don’t worry.” She smiles and I look at the clock as I realize that I left my watch and phone back at the cabin in my haste. It’s already past eleven.
“Holy shit,” I exclaim, and then immediately say, “sorry, I just can’t remember the last time I slept in this late.”
“A day with Em and Grady takes a lot out of anyone, let alone all of us and all of… this. Really, you didn’t miss much, I promise. Henry grumbled, Grady annoyed—it’ll be the same way tomorrow.” She grabs a plate of biscuits and gravy from the microwave and slides it across the island to me. “There you go.”
No need to tell her that the portion of my day with Grady and Grandma was the least of it. “Thank you, my favorite.”
“Your dad said as much.” She turns before I can meet her eyes, surprised, then hands me a coffee as well.
“I have to go take care of a few errands, though, sweetie. You ok if I head out?”
“Of course. Not much I can do today anyways except wander around,” I say with a full mouth of food.
“Oh, speaking of that—Em brought you this.” She grabs the camera off the counter behind her and slides me a piece of paper along with it. “Charlie will be up at Duane’s today if you want to go find them. They need to go for a run to try to steer that herd of horses away before they tear up the place and push any of the elk off. He left you these directions. If you can get there before one you should join them. Just, you know, for work.” She awkwardly shrugs and smiles before turning to head out.
“Grace,” I say before she gets to the door.
“Hmm?”
“Thank you…” And I hope she knows that I mean for more than breakfast. For being gracious, kind, and welcoming, without an ounce of pushiness.
She looks at me, sucks in a breath as if to say something, but decides against it; instead, she smiles and nods before heading out the door.
May as well check the uncles off the list, today, too. Baptism by fire and all that. I inhale the rest of the biscuits and take off, some of my pep gone and replaced with a returning surge of worry, eclipsed with the hope that this won’t be so bad,either.
Henry
“Cast and crew start arriving in two weeks, which is why I wanted to meet on this and finalize it two weeks ago. You can’t expect shit to run smoothly if you can’t show up to meetings when you say you will,” Duane fires at us, and by “us,” I mean me.
“The meeting is a formality, Duane. We approved each other’s schedules over a month ago. Pending some extreme weather, nothing will change,” Charlie replies.
“I’m just saying…”
“What? What exactly are you saying Duane? I told you, something came up,” I snap.
“Then you should’ve given a couple hours’ notice, Marcum. I have other stuff to do besides waiting around on you. Besides that,youwere the only one who couldn’t be bothered to show up yesterday,” he replies, and I look at Charlie to try and ask permission with my eyes to backhand Duane.
“Duane, relax,” James says. “It is all covered. Charlie’s right, this meeting is a formality to double verify something we have already verified. What we need to worry about is getting the herd out of here before they tear up the valley for your show’s pretty shots.”
“Fine,” Duane sighs irritably. “Let’s go.”
“Um, let’s wait until one if you don’t mind?” Charlie says.
“What? Why?” Duane asks, and we all look at Charlie, confused. He’s usually the one anxious to get back out and on the ground.