She heard him walk to the front door, open it, and go out without slamming it, which was somehow worse than if he'd slammed it. EMTT's voice said quietly. He's not wrong that the rotation's going to be a problem, Dad. I know he's not, Warren said. Work it out with Tessa.
The two of you figure out a rotation that doesn't disrupt the herd. That's what I'm asking. There was a pause. And then EMTT said something that surprised her. All right.
Not enthusiastic, not warm, but not resistant either. Just all right. The way a person says it when they've decided to stop wasting energy on a fight they're not sure is worth having. She put the clean pan on the shelf and started on the next one. The following morning, EMTT found her at the barn.
He was not a verbose person. He operated in the same register as Calder economy of words. Maximum information density, but without the hard edge that made Calder silences feel like walls. EMTT's silences were more like pauses, like he was thinking and hadn't finished yet. The South Pasture Group, he said without preamble.
If we pull the six auction steers to the smaller east pen for conditioning, we can run the rest of the south herd through the regular rotation without breaking it. It adds about 40 minutes of moving time every other day. She looked at him. That works. I know it works.
I figured it out last night. He paused. Calder would have figured it out, too, if he wasn't spending all his energy being angry. She didn't say anything to that. She waited.
He's not angry at you, Emtt said. I want you to know that it looks like he is, but it's not about you. I know, she said. Do you? Your mother's been gone 4 years, she said.
And this is still her house. I walked in here 6 weeks ago and rearranged the kitchen shelves so the flower was easier to reach, and three of you looked at me like I'd done something criminal. I'm not offended by that. I understand what it means. EMTT looked at her for a longer moment than he usually allowed himself.