The Lonely Heart (10 page)

“Thanks, kiddo,” he said in a gruff voice. “You’re the only one besides my sister who knows. I don’t want it getting out, ya know? Wouldn’t do for people to know that a local business owner can’t read. They try to cheat me often enough as it is.”

Josh’s eyes narrowed. Why would people try to cheat Grady? People had generally been pretty nice to Josh.

Grady changed the subject. “I never meant to make you feel like I wasn’t listening. I can’t always follow along, though, you know?”

Josh rolled his eyes and smacked Grady lightly on the shoulder. Silly man. He should have told Josh earlier, then they could have worked something out already. Josh was good at hand signals, he’d had a lot of practice over the years. So, he’d need to remember to use them more around Grady. No big deal.

“Think you could do something for me?”

Josh nodded eagerly, wanting to erase some of the sadness from Grady’s eyes.

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“My father would never let me add any Shires to the ranch, but he’s not in charge anymore, is he? I was thinking the other day that there’s no reason why I can’t now. Would you be willing to do some research for me? Learn more about the breed, and maybe find out about some of the breeders in the area. You’re a whiz on that computer and I think, if I went in armed with information, it’d be easier to talk Isaiah into this.”

Josh cocked his head.

“He’s my business manager, kiddo,” Grady clarified. “I might own the place, but he approves most of the purchases. Heck, I really ought to make him a full partner, he already does the work. And with you here, I want to make sure he always has a place, huh?”

Wow, again. Josh had heard the guys, including Isaiah, talk about Grady sometimes.

They always called him things like aloof, a loner, hard to know. They said he kept to himself and was a gruff old bear. But that wasn’t what Josh saw, not at all. He didn’t see a loner, he saw someone lonely. Gruff, but he did it to keep himself from being hurt. Josh knew about that, he really did. He’d used his lack of speech on more than one occasion, to keep people at bay. New and short-term stepfathers. Well-meaning teachers. His mother.

Josh made sure Grady looked at him before picking up the magazine to let Grady know he would help in any way he could. Then he mouthed carefully, “
I love you
.”

Grady’s eyes went wide with shock and turned dark, shimmering a bit. Then a slow smile began to spread across his face until he favoured Josh with the happiest look he’d ever seen on the rancher.

“I love you, too,” Grady replied.

Abruptly, Grady stood, moving Josh out of the way so he didn’t get knocked over.

“Enough serious stuff,” he declared. “I think some cookies are in order. Want to help? If we start now, we’ll be able to eat some before Tommy gets his hands on them.”

Josh giggled, nodding. He took Grady’s hand and tugged him down the hall, both of them sharing a conspiring smile.

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Isaiah lunged for the phone, grabbing it just before the answering machine picked up.

His greeting was a bit breathless, but what could you expect from someone who’d done a mad dash across the house and leapt across the room? Grady really needed to put a phone in another room besides the kitchen and his bedroom. The living room would be nice. Like most normal people.

A long stretch of silence greeted his voice. Isaiah was about to hang up when he finally got an answer.

“Who the hell is this?”

The female voice was belligerent, sharp, and strangely familiar. Isaiah racked his brain for a connection even as he replied.

“This is Isaiah. What can I do for you?”

“Where’s Dillon?”

“Who?”

“Dillon. You know, the idiot who owns that hellhole.”

Okay, Isaiah was seconds away from hanging up. “We don’t have a Dillon here,” he said coldly. “Check your phone number.”

“Oh, please. As if I’d misdial this number. And I know Dillon is there. You’d have to pry him off that place with dynamite.”

A hand on his shoulder made Isaiah jump. Dang. He’d been so absorbed in the irritating conversation he hadn’t heard Grady come into the room.

Grady silently held his hand out for the phone and Isaiah passed it over without argument.

“Yeah?”

Isaiah turned and was nearly out of the room when Grady’s words made him freeze.

“What now, Tracy?”

Tracy? Wait, that…Dillon? Grady? Well, hell. Isaiah felt about as big as a lizard when he realised he hadn’t remembered Grady’s first name.

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“Tracy, I can’t…why don’t you just…” Grady gave a sad, resigned sigh. “All right, how much?”

Isaiah was eavesdropping shamelessly, but he didn’t care. He didn’t like how that girl had spoken to him on the phone, and he really didn’t like the sound of defeat in Grady’s voice.

“You’ll have the money in a couple of days. But why don’t you—”

Grady’s hand tightened around the handset until his knuckles went white. Then he replaced the receiver with exaggerated care.

“Anything I can do?”

Grady’s eyes widened as he whirled around on stocking feet, obviously unaware that Isaiah was still there. “Oh. It was just Tracy.”

“Who’s Tracy?” Isaiah felt guilty that he even had to ask. That feeling increased with Grady’s answer.

“My sister.”

“You never really talk about her,” Isaiah observed.

Grady shrugged. “We don’t get along so well. She pretty much only calls when she needs money.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.”

Grady shifted, clearly wanting to drop the subject. Isaiah wasn’t prepared to let him, though. He leaned against the doorjamb and blocked Grady from fleeing.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“I think you need to.”

“Don’t care.”

Isaiah couldn’t help but grin at the petulant tone that crept into Grady’s words.

“You sure?” he teased gently.

“Yep.”

Damn. He half expected the man to thrust out his lower lip and start pouting. This time Isaiah chuckled out loud.

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“All right. I’ll let it go. This time.” He kept his tone light, but the words were a warning.

Now that Isaiah realised how badly he’d behaved around Grady, he was damn well determined to fix it. Whether Grady liked it or not.

The expression on Grady’s face said ‘not’. But Isaiah wasn’t going to be put off by that prickly attitude. He’d spent far too much time being offended lately as it was.

“Come on,” he said, shoving upright. “The whole reason I came inside was to find you.

It’s about time to pick up Josh, and I thought you might want to tag along. We could grab some dinner, maybe catch a movie. Something fun to celebrate the end of Josh’s first week of school.”

Grady hesitated, though yearning was clear on his face. “I wouldn’t want to—”

“Shut up,” Isaiah said cheerfully. “It’ll be fun.”

Grady finally nodded. “Let me get cleaned up first,” he said in lieu of agreement.

Isaiah took in the stains on Grady’s jeans and the large hole in the big toe of his right sock and laughed. “Might not be a bad idea. You’ve got five minutes.”

As Grady disappeared up the stairs, Isaiah went to gather their coats. He was a man on a mission—Grady was going to have some fun for once. No matter how hard he fought it.

Surprisingly enough, there was a minimal amount of stubbornness to overcome. Grady came along almost peacefully and the drive was pleasant. He greeted Josh with a big smile and didn’t argue over the movie choice. He even seemed to enjoy it.

Josh, on the other hand, was clearly having a blast. He was still giggling incessantly as they exited the theatre. Isaiah looked over at Grady to see the barely contained mirth in the his eyes.

The movie had been an action flick, albeit a pretty tame one. Josh seemed to think it was a comedy, though. The kid had laughed hysterically through every—mostly non-violent—

death scene. Isaiah was just glad the theatre had been pretty empty, or they might have been kicked out. Josh’s laughter was like an infectious disease—it never failed to set off his companions.

Grady grabbed Josh’s hand as they prepared to cross the street. The little family-style restaurant they were aiming for was only half a block from the movie theatre. The weather was mild enough today that it wasn’t worth driving and trying to find somewhere else to park.

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“You know,” Grady teased, “I don’t think the director would appreciate your attitude towards running a train into the side of a building.”

Josh waved expansively with his free hand, fingers moving rapidly. Isaiah laughed.

“The train looked like the model set he has at home,” Isaiah translated. “Complete with manufacturer’s label.”

Grady snorted. “Yeah. Big budget it wasn’t.”

Enjoyable, though. In fact, Isaiah couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun, even if the movie had been crappy.

He paused to hold the glass door open for Grady and Josh. He gratefully welcomed the blast of heat in the entryway. Isaiah figured he’d probably have to retrieve the truck and pick up Josh on the way home instead of walking. Once the sun went down, the temperature went from not quite pleasant to downright uncomfortable.

They found seats at a booth in the back corner. Josh hesitated for a second. Isaiah almost questioned the strange look his little brother gave Grady. Before he could say anything, though, Josh slid in next to the big rancher.

“Gee, guess I’m not good enough anymore,” Isaiah teased.

He could have kicked himself when Grady actually looked concerned. “I could—”

Josh broke him off with a quick motion of his small fingers. Isaiah’s mouth dropped open.

“Josh! Where the hel—heck did you learn that one?”

Best not to cuss while berating Josh for doing the same.

Josh shrugged, but his lips curved up a bit. He pretended to study the menu with rapt attention. Isaiah groaned.

“Tommy,” Grady suggested.

“Probably the first thing he did,” Isaiah agreed. “Looked up naughty words in sign language.”

They shared a laugh, Isaiah not really able to be angry over it. The kid was growing up in ranching country. In the scheme of things, there were far worse habits he could pick up than a couple of dirty words.

He couldn’t quite shake the image of Grady’s earlier reaction, though. Didn’t the man know when he was being teased? Sure, Isaiah knew Grady tended to take things far too seriously, but maybe he needed to have a talk with the guys about trying to loosen up www.total-e-bound.com

THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 67

around the big boss. Isaiah knew he was as guilty as anyone. It only firmed up his resolve to lose some of his assumptions about Grady’s attitudes.

“What are you hungry for?” Isaiah asked.

Josh bounced a couple of times on the plastic bench cushion. He flipped the menu around, pointing. Isaiah had to lean over and squint to read the tiny print.

“That’s a lot of food for such a tiny body,” he commented.

Josh raised one eyebrow.

“Right. Burger platter it is.”

When Josh sat back in his seat, Isaiah noticed that Grady’s grip on his menu was a bit tight. Huh. He didn’t think burger platters were upsetting.

Isaiah glanced over his own menu. Across the small table, Josh leaned against Grady’s arm, tugging the menu until it nearly hid his small face. Josh busied himself pointing to different items. Grady made small humming noises of agreement, a smile replacing his earlier almost grim expression. Isaiah had noticed lately that the two of them had come up with their own communication methods. It wasn’t ASL, or even Josh’s preferred written conversation. But the two of them seemed to understand each other just fine. It pleased Isaiah. A lot. It was nice to see both of them so happy.

The waitress came and they placed their orders. Isaiah thought it was kind of cute, the way Grady ordered exactly the same thing as Josh. Although, knowing Josh, half of Grady’s food would probably go into the kid, too. And if it didn’t? Heck, Isaiah could always find room for more food.

While they waited, Isaiah and Grady exchanged casual conversation, Josh listening intently and adding his own opinion on occasion in his own special way.

Stares were boring into Isaiah’s back, though. He tried to ignore it. Not like he wasn’t used to the dirty looks and the disapproval. Of course, if they started anything with Josh around, his temper would probably snap.

Isaiah kept his thoughts to himself. No sense in borrowing trouble. Or looking for some.

It would probably find him eventually, anyway.

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Grady hit pause and tossed the remote onto the table. He leant forward, rubbing his eyes and feeling like an idiot. He’d been watching these stupid videos of Isaiah’s for nearly two weeks and he’d made absolutely zero progress. Grady would think he’d finally got a sign right, only to realise he was doing it backwards, or upside down. Hell, even his letters were generally wrong, and most of the boys had picked those up in mere days. The letters should have been pretty fool-proof. It wasn’t like they weren’t similar to the written alphabet.

Then again, Grady had never done well with that, either. He’d thought about giving up at least a dozen times. But then he’d see those green eyes in his mind, the ones that, on occasion, saw more than they should.

His hand hovered over the remote again before he pulled it back. Maybe he should call it quits for the night. He was tired and the instructor’s words weren’t making sense anymore.