Can swung his hammer and knocked two boards apart. Tossed them toward a pile. “You have to give a woman something to believe in, Sam.”
“Damn it, Can. Stay out of this.” He gave two boards a vicious smack with his hammer, prying them apart.
“Why haven’t you told her how you’re going to manage?”
Like it or not, he was going to get advice. “I have my reasons.”
“They aren’t good enough. She’s worried and frightened.” Can tossed two more boards onto the pile. “Most important, she’s on your side. You’re a blind fool if you can’t see that.”
Despite himself, Sam remembered Angie suggesting that they sell the house and live in a tent. Remembered her willingness to do whatever she could to earn money for the Daisy jar. And he remembered her blaming him for not sending for her. No matter what the subject, it connected somehow to the past.
He swung the hammer hard. “She knew where I was, I always made sure she had my address. She could have contacted me. She could have joined me at any point during those ten years.”
“So you were too proud to beg for her to come, and she was too proud to beg you to send for her.” Can straightened and wiped a hand across his brow.
“You don’t understand all of it.”
“I understand that neither of you are going to win a fight that’s ten years old. And I understand that you think she doesn’t believe in you because she isn’t willing to blindly trust that you have a plan to keep your girls. Well, she’s right. Angie’s like Molly. They’re both too smart to believe in a man just because he says Trust me. You and I didn’t marry stupid women, Sam. If you want to keep Angie on your side, you’re going to have to start trusting her.”
“Damn it, Can. I trust her with my daughters, I trust her with my money, I trust her with my secrets.”
“Then trust her with your pride. She wants to believe in you, son. Give her a chance.”
“There’s something about his plan that’s bothering him, something he’s not sure of. That’s why he isn’t telling you.”
“He’s testing me,” Angie said wearily. “I finally figured it out. He wants blind faith, absolute unquestioning belief.” It made her angry to think about. “I couldn’t give him blind faith ten years ago, and I can’t give it today.”
Molly took a sip of coffee. “Every man ever born wants his woman to gaze at him with adoring eyes and gush, Whatever you say, honeyman.” She smiled.
“Well, I can’t do that. It was the same thing ten years ago. He wanted me to pick up and go west. He didn’t tell me where in the west or what he’d be doing out here. Didn’t tell me how we’d put a roof over our heads or food in our mouths. He probably had a plan then, too!”
“He probably did.” Molly patted her hand. “Tell me something. Do you believe in Sam?”
“Of course I do.” That had never been the problem, although Sam thought it was. “But how can I believe in a plan when I don’t know what it is? That’s the part that makes me crazy.”
Molly shook her head and sighed. “Well then, all you can do is believe in the man.” She studied Angie’s expression. “Can you do that?”
Angie dropped her head in her hands. “What choice is there?”
The past used to be so clear-cut. Sam was to blame for their failed marriage. Period. Now she could see his side and could admit that she hadn’t done right either. They were both at fault. Maybe it was the same now. Sam wasn’t telling her his plan, and she couldn’t muster blind faith. So they were stuck.
“There are always choices. You can believe in Sam and stand by him even if he’s too damned stubborn to do right and tell you his plan. Or you can remain at odds with him, keeping both of you angry. Then for sure he won’t tell you his plan.”
“Maybe he doesn’t think it’s any of my business.”
“Now you know that’s not true.”
“Then what is?”
“You may have been married for ten years, but you two are still working out living together.” Molly smiled. “Each time you bump into a difference of opinion, you learn how to handle it better the next time. I imagine Sam is getting the picture that demanding blind faith isn’t a good idea. And maybe you’re getting the idea that you have to trust him to do right.”
“At the moment,” Angie said through gritted teeth, “I’d like to take that skillet off the stove and bang him on the head, drive him into the floor like a nail.”