The Right Thing Easy

by Laina Villeneuve

  “I was sent to spy.”

  “I figured,” I said, smacking his head of thick dark hair. “Still no privacy around here.”

  “Don’t sound surprised. Dad’s been grousing about how if only Ennis was a doctor instead of a lawyer, we would’ve had a stethoscope.”

  “What about you? You couldn’t be the doctor?”

  We’d descended the wide staircase, so my dad heard the question. “C’mon. You know we never expected anything out of the runt of the litter.”

  Chip rolled his dark brown eyes. Everyone in the family adored him, and I knew that both of my parents were immensely proud of his joining them in the banking industry. “She knew I was listening. I didn’t get anything juicy at all.”

  “Spill,” Ennis said. “It’s getting late.”

  “Since when?” I asked. It wasn’t even eleven.

  “Since he got himself a girlfriend,” Chip said.

  “Who didn’t join us?” Mama asked.

  “Maybe he doesn’t want to scare her off just yet,” I suggested.

  “Which is why you didn’t bring your girl home?” Ennis fished. He wore his hair so short, you could just tell it was thick. I always thought it was too bad since he’d gotten the nicest curl of any of us.

  I dropped on to the love seat next to him, feeling my mother cringe. She hated the way I threw myself into furniture, always had. “I can’t even call her my girlfriend yet.”

  “But there’s a someone?” my mama said, her voice tinged with excitement. She let down her hair from the bun she typically wore, working her fingers through it as she allowed herself to relax.

  “Yes, there’s a someone.” I told them how I’d met Hope and how we’d crept toward dating. I told them about how she ran the family’s diner and how she’d set me up with my great little house. I shared how her sister was one of the most promising students I had in my first semester. Mentioning Halley reminded me of the pain in Hope’s voice. My mind flashed back to the prayer I sent out to the universe after I moved to the Owens’s ranch, how I wanted someone who valued her family. Hope certainly fit that description.

  I told them about our dancing, about how funny it was to watch her and Gabe struggle through the steps and how well she did once I took over. As my parents bickered good-naturedly about who had given me my rhythm, I thought about how Gabe had had to drag her out on to the dance floor. This got me to thinking about the number of nights I wanted to curl up on the couch with Candy and watch TV or read and her insisting that we get out. The way she hurled “homebody” made it sound like an insult, one of the reasons I prioritized finding someone who enjoyed staying in. So far, Hope seemed happy with the amount of time we spent at my house. She hadn’t argued at all when I said I’d rather cook for her than take her out. Candy would have insisted on a fancy restaurant. I couldn’t remember Candy ever reading a book no matter how often I said she’d love the story I just finished, yet had lost count of the number of hours Hope and I had talked about the books she’d lent me.

  I told them about the werewolf series I was reading on her recommendation, knowing they would get a kick out of debating whether it was a step up or down from what I typically read. While they did, I pictured Hope tearing into my collection of lesbian fiction as I had with her urban fantasy. I saw a lot of days stretched out on the couch with both of us caught up in books. And Gabe had told me how well she did with her garden. That meant she had to like being outside.

  There was only one other thing on my list. Did she want a baby? She’d held me and comforted me when I admitted to her how sad it made me feel to know Kristine and Gloria were moving ahead on a dream that I’d been forced to shelve, but she hadn’t said anything. Well, she hadn’t taken a step back, either. So it might be possible. I could see Hope holding a baby and mothering with me and realized for the first time that I had never really been able to envision Candy in that capacity.

  “I really like her,” I confessed, discovering how invested I had become.

  “Then you definitely don’t want to bring her home,” Ennis said, standing to go.

  My father threw a pillow at him on his way out. He was going a little bald in the back and the hair he did have was graying at the temples. His mustache had gone all gray in the last year. “Good riddance. I never did care for that one.”

  “Guess that makes me your favorite,” I said.

  “In your dreams,” he said, rising to pull my mother out of the room. “This one is the only reason any of y’all exist, and she’s always been my favorite.”

  Mama rolled her eyes and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek before she followed. “I hope your girl knows what she’s caught.”

  “Me too,” I said, hoping that she’d be holding on like hell.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Hope sensed her sister at the doorway though she’d been quiet on her approach and hadn’t yet spoken. She set down her pen and swung around in her chair.

  Halley smiled weakly. “Have a minute?”

  “You don’t have to ask, Halley.”

  “Morning rush is over. We won’t see anyone until lunchtime, and Cook said he’d keep an eye on the door.”

  Hope smiled at her sister. Her heart ached seeing Halley’s somber look.

  Her voice low, Halley said, “The house isn’t the same without you. It’s not like when you went away to school. This is different.”

  “Yes, it is,” Hope said, glad that her sister didn’t assume that Hope was just in an unreasonable phase that would pass. Her instinct was to say that she was sorry, but she held back the words of consolation knowing she wasn’t. Being at Pauline’s gave her more freedom than she’d expected. She came and went without question, and had no curfew, not that her father had ever said she had to be home at a certain time. It had always been an unspoken rule. Out from under his roof, the expectations she’d felt so heavily fell away.

  “You’re not coming back?”

  “I can’t be there anymore.”

  “But we’re talking about forever.” A tear slipped down her cheek, quickly followed by another.

  Hope’s chest constricted, and her lip quivered, but she was finished crying about it. She’d shed enough tears when she saw the devastation her announcement caused her family. Though no one had said the words out loud, she knew they were all worrying about what lay beyond this life. She didn’t want to think about forever, the thing that scared her most about leaving the church. Obsessing about how the eternities weren’t going to work out so well for her if she followed her heart had eaten up way too much of her life already. She got angry when she thought about it like that, which evaporated her tears. She sat up taller in her chair. “Our faith rejected me.”

  “Rejected you? You don’t even go to church. I don’t get what changed.” Halley’s voice was tinged with anger too.

  Hope knew her sister had her there. Her choice did seem to have come out of the blue. “I can’t reconcile who I am with the gospel,” she said lamely.

  “Because you haven’t met anyone?”

  “No,” Hope snapped too harshly, hating how status in the church was so hugely set on the marital issue. “I love you, Halley, and I always will. I don’t want what I can’t believe anymore to sever the bond I have with you, with anyone in our family. You’re all still important to me. We’re taught to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ That means I have to love myself. Can you understand that?”

  “Why wouldn’t you love yourself?”

  The sisters’ eyes locked, and Hope reminded herself that she already had the Queen of Spades. No, she realized. The Queen of Spades was never the woman she was dating. She herself was the Queen of Spades. Girlfriend or not, she had never been able to reveal who she truly was to her family because she feared their rejection. She was going to have to go for it now, play the most dangerous card and see what Halley would throw down. “Because I’m gay.”

  “Since when?” Halley quickly shot back like the word was a hot potato she didn’t
want to burn her.

  “What do you mean since when? Since long enough.”

  “How do you know?”

  “You’re asking for proof?”

  She threw up her arms, exasperated. “You’ve never once said anything about digging girls, and now all of a sudden you’re gay? Maybe…”

  “Do not say that I might just be confused or angry that I haven’t met a nice Mormon boy.”

  “I wasn’t going to say that.” She sat there holding back, and Hope pictured the conversations she’d had with their brothers and father. She had no idea whether what Halley held in her mind would take down her attempt to shoot the moon.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t talked about my girlfriends.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “Plural! As in many?”

  “Three. No, four,” Hope corrected herself. She’d become used to only considering her past and not the present.

  Halley’s eyes narrowed, and she leaned back. “Who are you dating?”

  Hope’s heart thudded in her ears, and she felt a little sick. Answering Halley affected Dani as well. “Dani.”

  “My professor? Get out. You’re freaking dating my professor? You can’t be serious. She’s gay? Who else is gay?”

  Hope couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. “There’s not a list.” Not like the rolls of the church. She closed her eyes. She hadn’t even considered talking to the bishop about removing her name. That could wait, she decided, reminding herself that she herself had only just accepted the direction of her life. As long as she and Dani were discreet, she could avoid stirring up gossip from church members. No need to get ahead of herself. She would face this next step in due time.

  “How long? Since the night Dad said you were spending too much time with her?”

  Hope nodded. “A little before then.”

  Halley crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. “Dani?”

  “Why do you say it like that, like you don’t believe me?”

  “Have you seen her? She’s gorgeous, and half the men in town have been trying to nab her. And now I find out my sister caught the hottie.”

  Hope threw a pen at her. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

  “Is she a good kisser?”

  “I am so not answering that.” Hope spun her chair around, blushing deeply.

  “That means she’s a really good kisser. She’s always giving dating advice to the training class. I thought when she talked about picking up chicks, she was just telling the guys what she’d want. I had no idea she had experience.”

  “She talks about it in class?” Hope knew Dani was comfortable in her skin, but she couldn’t imagine her telling her students so casually.

  Halley shrugged. “Like I said, I thought she was talking about what she’d like. I’m sure the knuckleheads in the class didn’t pick up on it, either.” She sat for a minute with a far-off look, like she was reviewing her classes. “Wow.”

  “Wow, what?” Hope asked, thinking that falling for the woman Halley worshipped had its benefits.

  “She’s always talking about reading the signals a horse gives out to know what it’s thinking. If she used that to scope you out, she’s even better than I thought. I’ve lived with you my whole life and had no clue.”

  They heard the bell on the door chime, and Halley rose reluctantly. Her eyes unexpectedly filled with tears again. “It still hurts when I think about how I’m not going to spend forever with you.”

  Hope wrapped her arms around her sister. “Then we’d better make all our days count.”

  “I do want you to be happy.”

  “Dani makes me happy. Happier than I’ve ever been.” She leaned into Halley, holding her so hard she could feel her heartbeat.

  Halley nodded and pulled away, blinking back tears. “Gotta get to work before the boss lady gets mad.”

  She disappeared through the door, and Hope sank back into her chair and sat gazing at all the family pictures on the wall, something her mother had started when she opened the diner, and Hope had continued when she took over managing it. Her mother had taped up several of her horse. She wished her mother was alive to meet Dani and imagined them riding together. She could see them mucking stalls, chatting easily. What she couldn’t imagine was what Dani and her father would have to talk about. She’d find out soon enough, she thought. Now that Halley knew, she’d have to spill the rest of her news to her father.

  Chapter Thirty

  My belly fluttered when I looked toward the office in the diner even though the door was shut. Not wanting to be so obvious, I forced myself to find Halley and keep up what I normally did, not wanting to arouse suspicion by using the I forgot something technique of Hope’s.

  “Hey, Dani,” Halley said. Something was off with her. She looked away too fast where she’d always kept eye contact and lit up when she saw me. “Just your coffee?” she asked, her eyes on the corner behind me.

  Could be she was nervous about the start of the semester, or could it be that she was picking up on my interest in her sister. I decided to investigate. “No, thanks. How about lunch today, a BLT?” I slid into a seat at the counter noting that the change in routine, both my order and my sitting right in her space instead of taking a booth or my order to go, made her more uncomfortable.

  Still avoiding eye contact, she attempted to tuck back the hair that had strayed from her ponytail. “Soda?”

  “Water’s good,” I said just to mess with her a little more. Her sister only ever drank water.

  She paused like I’d ordered a whiskey with cereal. Slipping the rubber band from her ponytail, she swept all the errant strands back in place before binding her hair up again. Something was definitely up. The comfortable repartee we usually shared off campus was noticeably gone. “Looking forward to the semester?” I asked, testing out my first theory, not wanting to be paranoid.

  “Yeah. I still feel like I’m over my head taking Intro to Training,” she said, her posture relaxing.

  Rats. It wasn’t school. “You’ll be fine,” I assured her. “The Western Riding class didn’t challenge you at all last semester.”

  “Still. I watched a lot of the training class when we were waiting. No one even got on Eights.”

  “Which is as much to do with putting those clowns in their place as it is her being ready. For Intermediate Training, they’ll start working with their own colts and, and we’ll keep Eights for Intro. My guess is we’ll get someone from your class on her soon.”

  Halley rested her arms on the counter. “Really?”

  “Gabe’s been helping me in the round corral. I’ve been on her a few times a week during winter break. You won’t even recognize her, she’s so relaxed.”

  “Are you working her with a bridle yet? She’ll start on a snaffle, right?”

  I smiled at her sharp question. Even though she hadn’t been part of the class, she’d already absorbed many of the lessons. It was going to be fun to have her participate. “We’re almost there.” Now that I’d distracted her, I switched topics. “Hey, remember how you helped me out so much when I was looking for a place?”

  “Of course. Well, it was really Hope, but I remember. Why?”

  “I need some more help,” I said, lowering my voice and leaning forward.

  She followed my cue and leaned in conspiratorially. “With what?”

  “I’ve started seeing someone and could use some good date ideas.”

  She glanced quickly at the office door confirming theory number two. Suddenly, she stood and scurried away, mumbling something about checking on my sandwich even though I knew I hadn’t heard the bell bing. I turned to the office. Hope leaned on the doorframe, challenge in her eyes. My body flushed in recognition, and I flashed her a smile. Her eyes fixed on me, she crossed the space between us agonizingly slowly. That she wasn’t doing it to be sexy made it all the more so.

  “Are you razzing my staff?” Hope chastised, hesitatingly slipping her hand over mine. I turned my hand under hers, so our
palms rested together.

  Halley pushed through the kitchen door, plate in hand, saw our hands and swung right back around, returning to the kitchen.

  Hope laughed out loud.

  “She already knows,” I said, shocked. I hadn’t anticipated just how far things had progressed in the Fielding household. “You told her?”

  Worry crept into Hope’s eyes. “Please don’t be mad.”

  “Mad! Why in the world would I be mad?”

  “Because I outed you to your student.”

  “You told your sister that we’re together. That’s huge.” I sat there, stunned. In less than a month, she’d come out to her best friend, left her church and moved out of her family’s house. That she was now taking the step into sharing more of that decision with Halley seemed rushed to me. I worried that she was taking things too fast, risking too much. We were still in the fresh new parts of the relationship. We hadn’t even talked about love yet, and she was telling her family things she wouldn’t be able to take back. “How’d she take it?” it occurred to me to ask.

  “As in where’s your sandwich?” She turned toward the kitchen. “Halley!”

  Halley peeked through the swinging doors, from her sister to me and then to our unclasped hands. Seeing her stand there processing her feelings was like reliving the day I’d seen Hope surrounded by Gabe’s mules. I understood so much more about the fear I’d seen in her eyes, knowing what feelings she had been trying to reconcile. I couldn’t blame Halley for being hesitant with the revelation of both her sister and professor before her.

  Hope’s hand found mine again. “It looked like you two were hatching some plan when I first came out.”

  Emboldened, Halley strode to the counter to deliver my sandwich. “Your girlfriend was asking me for advice on where the locals like to go on dates.” She rested one hand on the counter and the other on her hip. I assessed in her quick turnaround that the family strength ran closer to the surface with Halley and admired her ability to roll with what both of us had thrown at her.