No Perfect Hero(38)
Worse, I’d started to take a bite of pot roast just as Grandma dropped that a-bomb about kids.
I start choking on it a second later, the meat turning into a knot in my throat until I force it painfully down. Wiping at my mouth, I stare at her. “That was...about as subtle as a sledgehammer.”
She watches me cannily across the floral arrangement in the center of the lace-doilied table. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, dear. What’s the trouble with pondering young Haley’s future?”
“She’s a stranger, Grandma. Her future isn’t really our business.”
My grandmother smiles sheepishly. An award winning act if I ever saw one.
“No, I suppose it’s not,” she says, blotting the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “But it could be.”
“Ah, hell. That was less sledgehammer and more wrecking ball between the eyes.”
Grandma lets out a soft, ladylike laugh. “Really, Warren? Is it so awful of me to notice that the two of you do seem to have quite the spark?”
“Sparks start forest fires around these parts, Grandma. Lucky we’re in the dry season right now, so let’s not tempt fate.”
Flynn snorts a laugh – then my grandmother pins him with another of her flinty looks.
Suddenly, he’s diving into his plate, hunching over it and stuffing his face with mashed potatoes and peas swirled in gravy. But after a few bites, he mumbles, “Warren tried to run the poor thing off.”
Traitor-fuck.
Now Grandma's scorching gaze lands on me, and I feel like a little boy squirming as she says mildly, “Did you now? And why would you run off a paying customer with a little girl?”
I don’t have a good answer.
Not one that'd satisfy her without drawing her into my mess, and I damn sure can’t afford to do that.
This family's lost enough. Grandma couldn't breathe the day two men in uniform showed up at Charming, a 'ma'am, we regret to inform you...' on their lips.
I was overseas, still on a mission. I heard about it later from the same backstabbing drunk who's sitting next to me. He had to rush her to the ER just to keep her from joining Jenna with the Reaper.
Fuck.
I don’t say anything, just lower my eyes to my plate. After several long moments, Grandma continues, “You know, I can’t help wondering where she finds the energy, but then again...I’m low on that myself these days. I fear I may be slowing down, closer to retirement than I'd care to admit.”
I smile faintly. “C'mon. You’re not going to quit on us till you’ve goaded me into something, are you?”
She looks at me innocently. “Isn’t that a grandmother’s job?”
“Yeah. And it’s why I love you. But if you're thinking about passing the torch...do you really think you can trust me to manage this place and the pub and the half-dozen other properties you own and that I don’t even know about?”
“That’s why you need a good woman to ground you,” she replies promptly, and I groan.
I set myself up for that one.
She's not done. “And yet you seem set on ignoring common sense—and ignoring the obvious fact that there’s no ring on her finger.”
“Just because she’s single doesn’t mean...”
Shit. I can’t.
Not just because of Bress, but because of last night.
Because I can’t be another man who breaks Hay’s heart, and sometimes I think that’s all I know how to do.
Break hearts and lose people.
*
Thirteen Years Ago
“Damn it, War.” Jenna flops down next to me, leaning just a little too hard on my shoulder in that way she has, until she starts to subtly shove me over. I laugh and push her back.
“What're you complaining about now, sis?”
“We’re not being sent on this run together! I know, different units, but they want you on the border, damn near in Pakistan?” She pouts. It’s a strange thing to see, this woman in her desert fatigues with her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun, no makeup on, the perfect image of the soldier...pouting. “Why'd you have to go with the Rangers? They send you all the good places. I thought this was my break, not being stuck in a bunker somewhere crunching numbers on logistics sheets. Borrring.”
“Those numbers are the only reason people stay alive,” I tell her. “You’re keeping me safe, even when we’re not near each other.”
“Yeah?” Her pout turns into a smile, and she hooks her arm in mine, resting her head on my shoulder. “That’s some consolation. But it’s also my job to protect you.”
I lean into her. “That’s funny, I thought it was my job to protect you.”
“It can’t be both?” Eyes bright, she pulls back and offers me her pinky.
“You be careful,” I say more seriously. “The mine runs are pretty quiet, but shit happens when you least expect it in the field.”
“Yeah, yeah. I think I can walk with the guys to escort that big-ass lumbering thinga-ma-jiggie while it pulls up old mines. Easy work.”
More dangerous than it sounds, I think without telling her.
“C’mon, bro. Let’s promise we’ll come back together.”