Cottonmouths: A Novel by Kelly J. Ford

Author:Kelly J. Ford [Ford, Kelly J.]
Language: eng
Format: azw, mobi, epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-06-06T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

BY THE TIME EMILY EMERGED from her bedroom the next morning, head pounding from the tequila and the torment of the aborted tryst by the fire, Jody had already fed herself and Ricky, and she’d cleaned up the general disarray that they had left in their wake the night before. Jody didn’t look at Emily once.

Ricky tottered over to Jody, mumbling, “Momma,” over and over—his legs still learning how to function—and wrapped his arms around her knees.

“Go on,” she said and eased Ricky off her.

His smile faded and his legs gave out. He crashed onto the floor and crawled backward until he hit the top of his head on one of the chair joints. He looked back as if to see if the culprit was a person or a thing.

Jody pulled out the coffee pot, poured cold coffee into a mug, and nuked it, leaving the microwave door open as she plodded into the living room and curled up in the recliner. She blamed the hot coffee when it burned her lips. Ricky followed her and sat against the coffee table, looking at her. A glimmer of sadness grew in Emily when she looked at his little eyes.

Like a kaleidoscope, Jody mesmerized. But just as quickly, a word or a look could shift and scatter the brilliance. And like Ricky, Emily couldn’t stand the silence. Silence filled up by an awful feeling. All night long, she’d replayed the way Jody had sounded, how she’d felt under her hands, on her lips. The reminders were maddening.

Emily breathed deeply. “Look,” she said. “Last night was no big deal. Let’s forget about it.”

Jody responded by blowing on her coffee. She sipped and continued to look at some spot ahead of her, away from Emily.

Through lunch and the afternoon, she waited for Jody’s mood to brighten, or for some sign, anything to indicate that Jody wasn’t freaked out by what had happened. Anything other than silence would have been fine.

After Ricky’s snack, Emily had to get out of the house. The tension had wound itself so tight she found it hard to breathe.

“Come on, Ricky.” Emily held out her hand. He hesitated and glanced back at Jody to see if she was coming, too. “Let’s go outside and play, yeah?” She nudged him on the arm and pulled him up to his feet. Remembering the chill of the previous night, she grabbed a jacket for each of them, opened the door, and shut Jody and that still-raw ache behind them for a while.

In the front yard, Ricky pushed a toy dump truck around in the dirt for a while.

Soon, the underbelly of a rickety kitchen chair she’d pulled off the porch to sit in became a playground where Ricky bashed rocks together. She felt a bump under her seat. She swung her head down between her legs and stared into the baby-sized, upside-down eyes that Ricky had inherited from Jody. Giggles exploded into the air.

“Stop being cute,” she said.

He responded by grabbing the long, brown strands of her hair in a Rapunzellian effort to rise from his seated position.

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