Mail Order Meals - Kirsten Osbourne Page 0,29

wished she could please him more. He seemed more distant every day, and she didn’t know what was keeping him from talking to her.

When he got home, she was just taking the potatoes out of the oven and slipping the pie in. She took the steaks off the stove and put them on plates, added the potatoes, and then she served them both. “How was your day?” she asked. It was the same thing she asked every day, and the same thing he never really answered for her.

“It was hard,” he said quietly. “We lost three calves who got wrapped up in some fencing we were building and left out overnight.”

“I’m so sorry.” It was the most he’d told her about his work all week.

He nodded. “Me too. They were all heifers, and we would have kept them to breed next year. I hate that we lost them.” He bowed his head and said a prayer over the meal.

“Is it going to hurt us financially?” Trudie asked, thinking of the money she still had stashed away. She was happy to give it to him if he needed it, but for now, it was nice to know she had a nest egg.

“Not really, because we’ll make up for them, but I hate losing a heifer. They’re the foundation we build our entire herd on, and having even three die is always a blow.”

She nodded, wishing she had the right words to say to him, but the real problem between them was she never had the right words. Gone were the days when their light-hearted teasing filled the house. Now they were barely talking. They had to get past that.

Chapter 8

On their way to church the next day, Trudie kept up a light-hearted chatter about her week and how spending time with Marion had gone. “I think she’s going to be fine on her own after another week. I hate it though, because I really enjoy spending time with her.” Perhaps she could teach Marion to do spring cleaning, and then they could do both houses together. It would be much nicer than working alone.

When Doug didn’t really respond, she simply kept talking, growing uneasy with the constant silence between them.

“I made a pie for the potluck today. You know you need to choose my dish as the best there.”

“Uh huh.”

Finally, they arrived at the church, and Trudie was happy to be able to escape to go and talk with the other women. One after another, they came to her and introduced themselves. “I didn’t expect Doug to marry so soon,” one young woman who had introduced herself as Carolyn said.

“Why not?” Trudie asked. She genuinely didn’t understand the women of that town, all trying to outcook the other for Doug.

“He never talks,” Carolyn said. “It must have been awful on your wedding day, trying to get him to talk.”

Trudie shook her head. “Not at all. He talked nonstop for days.” And he had, but then he’d stopped.

“Really?” Carolyn asked. “Several of the young ladies in town cooked for him and tried to capture his attention, but he didn’t speak enough to any of them. No one felt like she’d ever be special to him.”

Trudie looked over at Doug, who was surrounded by a group of men. Everyone was again talking but him. Was it really possible that Doug just didn’t say much? It was hard to believe after their first few days together, but she supposed anything was a possibility. “How odd.”

“I think it’s odd if you can get him to speak more than one or two words at a time,” Carolyn said.

“Well, I can definitely do that,” Trudie said. She thought about the conversation she’d had with him that morning. She’d wanted him to say more, of course, but truly, he’d been down right eloquent compared to what the other women were saying. Maybe she needed to talk about things that interested him more. Food was at the top of the list. Since they’d quit talking about food all the time, he’d quit speaking. Perhaps she could get him to tell her about the orphanage where he’d grown up or about ranching. He obviously had a very deep interest in his ranch.

All during the service, Trudie thought about what Carolyn had said. Other women had cooked for him and shown an interest in him and he hadn’t been willing to speak to them? It was crazy.

As soon as the service was over and everyone divided up for the potluck, she