Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(11)

“I’m sorry for earlier,” she says quietly. “What happened upstairs...I didn’t expect anyone to be here in the house. You startled me.”

I wave a hand. “Forget it. You’re grieving, and I’m sure the last thing you expected here was my muddy ass upstairs.”

She stares at me. Blinks.

Shit. This is gonna be harder than I thought.

I clear my throat. “Just wanted to say, Jonah Reed was one hell of a man. Best boss I’ll ever have, hands down.”

Her smile returns as she leans back in her chair. “Yeah, he sure was. He told me about you a few times, but I guess I always assumed you were—” She tries not to, but her gaze goes from my boots to my still wet hair. “Older.”

I lift a brow. “An old Army buddy?”

“Yep.” She shakes her head. “That’s what he led me to believe. That you knew each other from the military.”

A grin spreads across my lips. No one was ever safe from that old man.

“Not a total lie. I was in the Army a few years before I came to work for your grandfather, but he had a fifty-year head start.” I go to the fridge and pull the door open. “You want a water?”

“Yes, please.”

“I’d offer you a beer, but...” I leave that for her to decide.

“Water will be fine.”

I pull out two bottles and walk to the table. I hand one to her while sitting down, then open mine. After taking a long drink, I say, “He didn’t want a big service.”

“Oh, I know.” She twists the cap off her bottle but doesn’t take a drink, her eyes lost somewhere in the distance. “You were with him when he died.”

It’s not a question. She already knows. Must’ve heard it from Sheridan or somebody.

“Yeah,” I tell her. Amazing how a single word can lead a hundred different places.

She closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them and licks her lips.

“Where...” She takes a deep breath. “Where exactly did...” She lets out the air. “He die?”

Fuck. I need a quick breath, too.

The memories are still raw. The events of that day dredged up more crap I thought I’d come to terms with, too, but clearly hadn’t because they boiled right to the surface again.

“He died at the hospital, technically. The heart attack hit while we were in the truck,” I say. “His GMC. I was driving. We were almost in town.”

Her eyes stay glued to me, two green gems stuck on every word.

“'Ah, hell!' That’s all he said before...fuck.” I plant my hands on my thighs, wishing I didn’t have to relive his last moments, but the girl deserves to know. “I did what I could. Pulled over, laid him out, felt for a pulse. He had a slight one, so I called 9-1-1 and floored it to the hospital. The doctor met us in the parking lot, but it was too late.” I shake my head. “Jonah had a second attack while he was unconscious. It took him then and there; he never even made it through the doors.”

Half of me wants to tell her about the last real conversation Jonah and I had before we’d left for town.

It’d been about her, after all, and the will.

Till that day, I’d never much believed in stories about people knowing it was their day to die. Now, I wonder...

Jonah made me promise again I’d fulfill every single part. Complete the mission.

I’d agreed, having gone through the same conversation before several times. That day, that morning, he’d been more adamant than ever. Almost like he could see us sitting here, having the most awkward conversation in the world, me unsure where the hell to go with any of this.

“What were you going to town for?” she asks quietly.

Aw, shit. I was hoping she wouldn’t ask that, but figured she would.

I need a moment to figure out what to say. In the end, I go with the truth. Jonah never said I couldn’t tell her after the fact. Just kept it a big secret before.

“A doctor’s appointment, ironically.” So ironic it’s sick.

Shock, the concerned kind, fills her face. “For what?”

“Well, the heart trouble that took him...it wasn’t the first time his ticker acted up. He’d had a slight heart attack a few months ago.”

She’s clearly taken aback. “What? Why didn’t he tell me? I even talked to him the day before...” She grabs a napkin from the holder in the center of the table and wipes her eyes. “The day before...”

“He didn’t want you to know, darlin’. Didn’t want anyone knowing. Dr. Ryan recommended surgery, but Jonah didn’t want to hear it, and to be honest, Ryan only seemed halfway sure his heart was strong enough to take it.”

“But..but why didn’t he tell me?” she repeats while wiping at her eyes again. “Why? I would’ve come home, you know. I’d have taken time off, been here, whatever he needed.”

I shake my head. “He didn’t want you here when it happened. Didn’t want you to come home just to watch him die. He was a real proud man.”

Right or wrong, I know why Jonah did it.

I’d lived that hell once. Went home just to watch someone wither away, slowly reduced to a shadow of their former selves.

She presses four fingers against her lips while shaking her head, a harsh sigh slipping out of her mouth. “Jesus. I want to say you’re lying, but I can’t. Because that’s exactly what Gramps would do.”