What had she ever seen in him? Was it possible that hed always been like this and her six-month absence had opened her eyes, or had he gone to seed after shed left Kentucky? Worse still, was she comparing him to someone else, someone whose days were filled with the kind of labor that discouraged excess, someone without a whiskey and rye belly, a loose neck and broken veins spidering up his nose, someone whose voice wasnt the grating rasp of metal on sandpaper and whose breath didnt smell like kerosene. There was no sugar-coating it. Sam Claiborne was an alcoholic and it showed.Im taking the colt back to Kentucky, he said, cutting to the chase.Annie and Ben are well. So nice of you to inquire, she said sweetly.Damn it, Caitlin. Dont twist this into something its not. Were going to settle this once and for all.Is that what were doing, settling it?What else?Slowly, methodically, she picked up a dust cloth and moved it in even circles on top of the wooden bar. Settling implies something that both parties agree to, she said carefully, a bit of a compromise for each of us.
