right away, Maryann said, “I mean, you and your wife are on the outs, right? That’s why you’re staying here?” She pulled out the inappropriate smile again. “What—did you cheat on her?”
Graham’s spoon fell onto his plate, and George’s face turned a shade of red that CJ remembered from his childhood as signifying an imminent spanking.
“Maryann!” George said, but she didn’t look his way. Instead she fixed CJ with that unsettling smile while her husband, a small, wiry man with a thin mustache, refilled his wineglass, seemingly oblivious to his wife’s antics.
Rather than allow her to goad him further, CJ said, “I would never cheat, Maryann. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t steal either. I wouldn’t think about supplementing my income by stealing from the company I work for.”
CJ watched Maryann’s face darken to much the same shade as their father’s. As a result of CJ’s veiled accusation, some of the extended family had begun low conversations, and there was little doubt as to the content of these discussions.
Maryann said nothing but instead reached for her husband’s wineglass and took an angry gulp.
This time when CJ looked in Julie’s direction, she was indeed looking back at him, but he found that he couldn’t read her. She held his gaze for what seemed a long time, and then looked away.
Edward leaned toward CJ and whispered, “Hey, can you ease up a bit? I don’t have that many war stories.”
“I’m not starting anything,” CJ said. “And you have more war stories than there are pictures in this house.”
As CJ was whispering to Edward, Meredith rose from her seat and walked down to the other end of the table where she placed a hand on Julie’s arm. The two of them headed into the kitchen.
CJ was stuffed. He set his fork down and pushed the plate away, then leaned back in his seat. Graham had come to the same conclusion, and both brothers relaxed, each regarding the other.
Graham said, “I finished The Buffalo Hunter last week.”
“What did you think?”
“It was good,” Graham said. “Different from your previous stuff, but good.”
The fact that Graham had just repeated Artie’s comment about the book almost word for word was not lost on CJ.
“I didn’t know you read my books,” CJ lied. All of them acted so worried about the family portrayal that they probably hired a cryptographer to read each of CJ’s novels just to make sure there were no secret codes embedded in the text.
“I’ve read all your books—as well as the short stories, the articles, even the reviews.”
CJ nodded an acknowledgment and also affected a wince. “Not all the reviews, I hope.”
“Are you working on anything new?” one of his cousins asked. CJ wished he could remember the man’s name.
“I’ve got something in the works. Still in the planning stages.”
“Care to give us a hint?” Graham asked.
CJ took a sip of water, then said, “To be honest, I don’t even know what it’s about yet.”
Julie and Meredith reentered the dining room, each holding a dessert. Meredith set a cherry pie in front of George while Julie deposited a chocolate cake at the other end of the table. Their arrival tugged at the attentions of those who’d been listening in on the brothers’ conversation, and the desserts won over most of them. So when Graham pressed CJ about the new book, their talk was close to being a private one.
“But surely you have a theme in mind,” Graham said.
Although he’d said it as if in passing, seventeen years was not sufficient time for CJ to have forgotten how to read his brother, regardless of the tricks he might have learned in the political arena. Graham was fishing.
“I’m working through a few possibilities,” CJ said. “Right now I think it’ll be about deceit.”
“Interesting.” Graham accepted a piece of pie from Meredith.
“Would you like some pie, CJ ?” the lovely brunette asked him next.
“No, thank you,” he answered. “I’m going to hold out for some of that chocolate cake.”
He couldn’t be sure from this distance, but a hint of color might have touched the edges of Julie’s ears.
“What specifically about deceit?” Graham asked.
CJ held off on giving his brother an answer. Instead he watched as Julie, without looking in his direction, cut a piece of cake—a large piece—set it on a plate and sent it down the table toward him.
“What about deceit indeed,” he finally said to Graham. “I thought I’d explore how a horrible secret can eat away at a family for years, and what