Playing Dirty (27 page)

Mattie chuckled. “I thought you quit the antique business.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m talking about.” Griffen turned back to face her. “Why are you frowning? You really like this thing?”
 

Mattie let out a breath. “I did, until you called it cheap and common.”

“I’m sorry,” Griffen said, not looking the least contrite. “I didn’t mean to ruin it for you.”
 

“You didn’t. Not really.” Mattie said. “I was just thinking that maybe I should ask Ford for his opinion before I buy anything.”

Griffen urged her away from the cheap reproduction and led her down another short hallway into the billiard room. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing. It’s just Ford’s opinion was an afterthought,” Mattie explained. “When I first saw the cabinet, my only thought was the low price, not if Ford would like it.”

Griffen led her across the dark paneled room to where a tall cabinet stood. “Now this is a true antique,” she said. “It’s a Louis XV marquetry inlaid corner cabinet. This would work nicely in Jed’s office.”

“It’s beautiful. A little small, though.”

“Not too spendy. The price is set at fifteen hundred dollars. It could easily bring twice that, if not more.” Griffen bent down to open the inlaid door on the bottom of the cabinet. “It’s in good shape, too. Someone took care of this old girl.”
 

Mattie adjusted her purse on her shoulder. “Would you buy it without talking to Jed first?”

Griffen shrugged. “Hard to say. To be honest, I haven’t so far, but Jed hasn’t said much about the pieces I bought for the new house. If it were crazy expensive, yeah, I probably would.”

Mattie nodded and bit her lip. To her, fifteen hundred dollars for an accent piece would always be crazy expensive. They’d had too many lean times during the early years of their marriage for her to think otherwise. But, Ford made good money as a Naval officer. Nothing like the millions Jed Maitland had acquired as a professional quarterback, but they were far from starving, or destitute. The problem was, she’d become used to making decisions on her own, and it bothered her that she hadn’t even thought about consulting Ford.
 

“It’s only a cheap curio,” Griffen said. “Are you overthinking this, because I don’t understand your hesitation?”

“I know,” she said. “And I know it’s not a big deal. But I had Ford’s childhood home completely renovated. I ripped out walls, changed some of the layout, all without his input.”

“Sure, but he wasn’t around.” Griffen smoothed her hand over the traditional dark-green felt of a pool table. “It’s not like you intentionally updated the house without his approval. He was...well, you know.”
 

“Dead, Griff. I was told my husband was dead. And I went a little nuts.”

Griffen looked at her, compassion lining her gaze. If it hadn’t been for her sister, Mattie wasn’t sure she would’ve survived losing Ford.
 

“The house did need upgrading,” Griffen rationalized. “It was trapped in the eighties and needed to be freed.”

“Yes, it did,” she said, remembering all the pastels and shiny brass fixtures, all of which were dated and had started to look cheap. “He hasn’t complained, for which I’m grateful. But how do I tell him I changed everything because I couldn’t stand living with the memories?”

“You don’t,” Griffen said as she examined a wall tapestry.
 

A trio of women walked into the room. Mattie moved closer to her sister. “Before, I never would’ve purchased so much as a stick of furniture without telling him about it first,” she said in a hushed tone. “It’s not like I ever needed his permission to spend money or anything. Ford was never like that. But we always abided by the twenty dollar rule.”

Griffen shot a quick glance in her direction. “You lost me,” she said, running her fingers over the frayed edge of the tapestry.

“When we were first married, and were broke most of the time, we came up with the twenty dollar rule. We couldn’t spend more than twenty bucks on any one item that wasn’t a necessity without discussing it first. We did it because it kept us on budget, but after a while, it became more about respect.”

“Jed has ‘people,’” Griffen said using air quotes, “who watch over his money.”

“What’s that like?”

“Different. Did I tell you I have an AmEx card I’m supposed to use?”

“Nice.”

Griffen shrugged, then smiled. “It’s an adjustment. I’m not crazy about someone else watching Jed’s money, so I’ve been keeping tabs on the money watchers.”
 

She understood her sister’s monetary paranoia. “You can never be too careful.”

“Exactly,” Griffen said. “I keep telling Jed, if he’d be more diligent, then I wouldn’t have to play financial watchdog.” She grabbed Mattie’s hand and dragged her toward another doorway, this one leading to a staircase. Instead of climbing the stairs to the upper floor, Griffen opened an oddly-angled door built into the staircase that led to a library with floor to ceiling bookcases that stretched two stories high.

“There’s an Italian writing desk on the list that I’ve been trying to find for the past thirty minutes,” Griffen said. “Maybe it’s in here.”

The room smelled of books. Mattie sighed. She could easily lose herself in a room like this and never come out again. She loved to read, from the classics to romance novels. She didn’t care what the genre, so long as the story was good and the characters relatable. “I’m never leaving here.”

Griffen consulted the list. “There are some leather-bound Nathanial Hawthorne first editions for sale.” She looked at her and smiled. “They’re
way
over your twenty dollar limit.”

Mattie grinned. “Smart ass.” She walked to the bookcase. “For the record, by the time Ford had left on his last mission, our twenty dollar limit was closer to five-hundred dollars.”

“You’ll need more than that for old Nate,” Griffen said.
 

Mattie perused the titles. “It’s not about the money.”
 

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I don’t know what the limit is now.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, if you find something you really like, take a picture of it and text it to him.”

Mattie frowned. “Like I’m asking permission?”

“No, more like, ‘I’m thinking of buying, what do you think?’ You’re not asking for permission, you’re asking for his opinion. Big difference.” She started across the room to the far corner, where a desk and large leather chair were tucked. “Ahhh, there you are, beautiful. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Mattie followed Griffen. “This was never an issue before.”

“Then don’t make it one now.” Griffen sat in the chair behind the desk for an up close and personal inspection. “You’re going to have a period of adjustment,” she said as she opened the center drawer and reached inside. “I would think that’s a given.”

“That’s true, but it’s still kind of weird,” Mattie said. “In some ways, everything is the same, yet it’s completely different.”

“How so?”

“There’s an edge that wasn’t there before. Then there are days when I get the feeling he’s holding something back.”

“He’s been through a lot.”

“True,” Mattie said. She slid a leather bound copy of
Jane Eyre
from a nearby shelf, flipped the book open and read the first paragraph.

“Still no sex?”

Mattie snapped the cover of the Charlotte Brontë novel closed. “Oooh, any chance there are any Jane Austin novels for sale?”

Griffen checked the list and shook her head. “Sorry,” she said. “You’re dodging the question, Stinkerbell.”

Mattie couldn’t help herself—she blushed.
 

Griffen stopped snooping through the desk. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked, her gaze filled with concern.

A trio of women walked into the library. “I’ll tell you later,” Mattie said.
 

Griffen rolled her eyes. “Ignore them,” she said in a hushed tone. “What’s going on? Did he have a problem?”

“Oh my God. No. Nothing like that.”

“Because they have pills for that now, you know.”

“If you continue to be crude, I’m going to pinch you,” Mattie said, her eyes narrowed. “Hard.” She slipped the copy of
Jane Eyre
back on the shelf. “We’re just not connecting the way we should.”
 

“Stinkerbell, you’re going to have to be more specific. I have pregnancy brain. Subtly is lost on me for the next five months.”

Mattie waited until the other women moved to the far end of the library, then briefly gave Griffen the broad strokes version of what had occurred Sunday night. “Then he apologized, which pissed me off to no end. We both got angry and it all went downhill,” she finished. “We both apologized two days ago, but he’s still not sleeping in my bed.”

“Did you ask him about it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, Griff. Maybe because that’s a whole other level of intimacy that I don’t know that I’m ready for.”

“That’s such crap, Mattie.” Griffen rolled her eyes. “It’s not about the future, it’s the history.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t share the same history any longer. There are five unaccounted years between you, and you’ve both done things, Matt. He’s not the only one with demons, you know.”

Mattie nodded. “I know. And I blew him shit about not being honest with me. Maybe I should be grateful he can’t see past the time I’d spent with Trenton.”

Twice, Griffen opened her mouth to say something, but she snapped it shut and remained silent. She leaned back in the burgundy, tufted-leather chair. “Haven’t you told him?”

“Nope.” How could she tell Ford her darkest secret? In comparison, what she’d suffered was nothing compared to what he’d endured.
 

“Wow.”

“Thanks, Griff. That’s so helpful.”

“Sorry,” her sister said. “It’s just...Wow.”

“Still not helping. Whose side are you on, anyway?”

“Yours. That’s why you have to tell him,” Griffen said. “Otherwise, you’re being hypocritical.”

“Again. Not helping.”

“I know what would be helpful,” Griffen said. “Jed’s out of town until Tuesday. Austin leaves in the morning for a week of football camp. How about I keep Phoebe for the weekend? She can have some girl time with Auntie Griff.”
 

“I don’t know,” Mattie said. “She was with Dad and Lily in Galveston last weekend.”

“And she was with you and Ford all week,” Griffen countered. “Look, I really think you and Ford need the time
together
. Alone. It’ll give you the time to work through whatever it is you need to work through.”
 

“Wouldn’t you rather enjoy spending some time alone? Your ‘me time’ will be at a premium.”
Griffen stood and waved away the objection. “Better yet, why don’t you and Ford go to the lake house for the weekend.” Her sister’s grin turned wicked. “It’s perfect. You can talk, eat carbs, and finally put the past to rest. And then you can...you know.”

“You know?” Mattie laughed. “Seriously, Griff. What are you? Twelve?”

“I was being discreet.”

“I’m sure these walls have been subjected to F-bombs a time or two.”

“No doubt,” Griffen said and looked dubiously at the desk. She shrugged and faced Mattie. “I’m serious. The pre-season is in full swing. Jed’s busy recording interviews for some network special on the season’s hottest rookies. Who knows when we’ll get back up there again. The lake house is sitting empty. Someone might as well enjoy it.”

Mattie and Trenton had spent a weekend at Jed’s home on Possum Kingdom Lake before the wedding. The place was beautiful, and the five thousand square foot McMansion was a far cry from a little cottage on the lake. “That lake view
is
spectacular.”

“It’s even better at night.”

The more she thought about it, the more she thought accepting Griffen’s generous offer was a good idea. Cooking in that gourmet kitchen alone was worth the drive.

The sound of voices drifted into the library from the corridor. “Give me your cell phone,” Griffen ordered, holding out her hand, her fingers flicking impatiently.

Mattie handed over her iPhone, and Griffen started tapping the screen. A minute later, she heard the tone signaling she’d received a text message from Ford. Griff looked at the screen and laughed.

“What did you do?” Mattie asked, taking back her phone.
 

“Nothing too scandalous,” Griffen said with a laugh. “Just made a date with your husband.”

Mattie read the text Griffen had sent to Ford with the address to the lake house.
you. me. no interruptions. clothing optional. you in?

She scrolled down to Ford’s response and erupted with a burst of laughter. His reply consisted of a cartoon character with its tongue hanging out, eyes bugging out of its head and its heart bursting from its chest. The caption beneath read,
did you say sex?

Fifteen