he could take them down easily when the time came. Hell, he knew almost
all their secrets, and there was never any need for torture at the end.
Besides, torture is messy, and Troy hates messes.
“It’s good for you Dad. You know, it regulates your
digestive system, and I’ve been reading that as you age your digestive tract is
not as healthy as it was before. Besides, a little yogurt and some fruits
aren’t going to kill you.” So she cares enough to worry about her father’s
health. That’s interesting. Perhaps the outburst earlier is not so much about
Troy personally, but about something that may have happened with a previous
program member that screwed up. Feeling a little lighter, Troy walks into the
kitchen as if he just came down and didn’t hear a word.
“Wouldn’t you agree that yogurt is healthy?” Cassidy’s blue
eyes bore into Troy’s dark ones as she puts her hand on her hip and cocks it,
that must be her signature move. He swallows once as he tries to come up with
something smart to say, but this new man is at a loss for words.
“Smart man,” Mr. Grant says as he sits down with a large plate
of what looks like leftover pot roast. Troy piles on a few spoonfuls to his own
plate, and watches Cassidy get yogurt from the fridge instead. She doesn’t sit
down with the men at the table but eats with her butt planted on the kitchen
counter.
“Why would you say that?” She sounds a little tart over the
compliment, and looks sour over the fact that Troy didn’t come to her rescue.
What did she expect? She insulted him.
“He knows when to remain silent when a woman is in a tiff.”
Troy is about to open his mouth and say that the old man is wrong, when he
realizes he was just given a compliment.
So he focuses on his meal while the young woman goes on
about how yogurt is good for the intestines and makes the stool soft so that
older people don’t have to deal with hemorrhoids. Mr. Grant looks more and more
irritated by the minute, but his voice remains calm and steady as he puts out
excuse after excuse as to why he doesn’t want to eat the yogurt. Something
tells Troy this is not the first thing they’ve argued about over the years.
“Cassidy Grant, if you mention my stool one more time, I’m
going to take all that yogurt and feed it to the horses.” Troy almost chokes on
his piece of roast as he thinks about horses with diarrhea, and Cassidy looks a
little put-out by the idea, as well. She’s probably thinking about shitty
horses while she’s trying to ride them.
“Fine, but I think you should just try it.” It seems she
likes to have the last word, but so does her father.
“Fine.” They finish up lunch, and Cassidy doesn’t mention
another word about yogurt as she gets a glass of water after the dishes are
started. Occasionally, Troy meets her eyes and stares until they’re both forced
to look away when her father catches them. He doesn’t need to worry, all Troy
has to do is think about the fact that she thinks he should be fried like
bacon.
“Are you going to attempt it today, or are you going to kill
that horse with patience?” Troy was lost in his own little world during the
first half of the conversation, and tries to pick up where it’s left off. Grant’s
daughter has a small frown on her face with her arms crossed over her chest.
She’s wearing a pair of socks that are black with little red hearts on them.
What kind of girl wears those?
Troy doesn’t remember most of the women he slept with over
the years wearing socks. They wore high heels, all of them. He’s staring at her
socks when Mr. Grant calls out his name. “Troy, hey Red, Troy Red!” Startled
out of his daydreaming about peeling off the socks, Troy tries to play it cool
while he looks up at Mr. Grant’s face.
Cassidy waltzes from the kitchen with a satisfied look on
her face and the door shuts quietly as she leaves the house. Mr. Grant has a funny
look on his face, like a cross between being