"Sears catalog arrived today." Jud tossed it on the kitchen table with a satisfying thwack.
"Oh, wonderful, there's a couple things I've been wantin' to buy." It had been years since she had looked at the catalog knowing she could actually order something from it.
"I'd, uh, I'd like to buy you somethin'. Maybe a couple things."
"You don't have to do that!" She beamed.
"I'd like to, though. Don't have nothin' else to spend money on, and I like seein' you happy."
"How much can I spend?" she asked, clutching the catalog to her chest.
"Well, let's see now" he tweaked the ends of her hair, emboldened enough to tease her after months of living in the same house. "It's been a good season. And you look real pretty in that dress. Let's say fifty dollars."
"Fifty?! Jud, that's…no, really?"
"Sure."
She squealed and threw herself into his arms. "I'm gonna start readin' right now." She flung herself onto the couch and opened the catalog, quickly absorbed in its contents. A few minutes later, he brought her a mug of tea steeped just how she liked it.
"Thank you" she took the mug from him and squeezed his hand. He could be really lovely when he wanted. In his own way, he was thoughtful and generous and sweet and…
"Bet you're glad he's dead."
She closed the catalog, marking her place with a pencil between the pages, delaying what she knew was about to happen. "I'm sorry…what did you just say?"
Heedless of the warning in her voice, he continued. "Your husband. Bet you're glad he's dead 'cause now you got a real man who's got enough money to buy you things and knows how to look after the farm and—"
"How dare you say that to me, Jud Fry?" she hurled her mug of tea against the wall, where it broke with a satisfying crash, spilling its dark contents on the ground and causing Thomas to race upstairs. Her blood was boiling at that point, boiling with a rage she hadn't felt in years. "I would trade all your money to have Curly back with me!" she shouted, tears in her eyes. "I wanted to marry him when he had nothin'. I loved him—I still love him more'n anything on earth. He was—he was a hundred times the man you are, Mr. Fry, I don't care how good a farmer you are or how many pretty things you buy me."
Jud stared at her, his face unreadable, then turned and walked out of the farmhouse. Laurey stared after him, then crumpled back onto the couch, weeping.
She knocked at the door of the smokehouse, her anger burned away with the tears she'd shed over the last few hours.
"Ain't locked"
"Hi" she whispered, slipping inside and closing the door behind her. "I was hopin' you'd be here. I was worried you'd…left. I guess."
"I wouldn't leave without tellin' you. What d'you want?"
"Can I sit down?"
Wordlessly, he moved over and she sat next to him on the bed. "Y'know, Curly and me, it was like we was supposed to be married right from the start, we got along so well. Hardly ever fought, we-we was always happy when we was together."
Jud rubbed his hands together, clearly listening, but uncomfortable with what he was hearing. She had to keep going, though, he had to know. "See, I–I spent so many years lovin' him, it was just…it was part of who I was. Me and Curly, always, since the first day I met him. So startin' to…startin' to feel like I loved someone else made me scared. Like I was forgettin' or like I was bein' disloyal."
Jud sat up straight and turned towards her. "Laurey, I—" he leaned forward, lips about to press into hers, but she put a hand on his chest, tears pricking the corners of her eyes again.
"Not right now, Jud. Please, not now. I'm just—I dunno how to feel. Does that make sense?"
He nodded and moved back.
"So maybe I shouldn't have yelled at you, but you gotta understand, I'm always gonna love Curly and he's always gonna be a part of me. Ain't like he's any kinda threat to you, but you gotta realize I can't pretend I didn't love him or that I shouldn't have married him."
"I understand. And I'm, uh, I'm sorry, too. I just got jealous. Feels like I'd never be able to be as good as him, since you loved him first. And he was so handsome; I can see that."
"You don't have to be jealous. I like rememberin' all the good times we had, but I remember that it wasn't always easy bein' with him. He was a person, wasn't always an angel. Now, c'mon." She stood up and held out her hand. "Gonna make us some dinner."
He took her hand and the two of them left the smokehouse.
