Riverbend Reunion(36)

He reached up and covered her hand with his. “Thanks for listening. He only had one more year, and then we were going to get serious about putting in our bar.”

“Well, I think when the lawyer has to have a definite name for this bar, we should call it Danny’s Place.” She removed her arm, but she didn’t go back to her original seat.

“He’d like that.” Wade knew a moment of peace because he had finally told someone what happened to Danny, yet felt empty because he had liked having Jessica so close that her arm was around him.

“Danny did die in the line of duty,” Jessica assured him. “You know that down deep in your heart, Wade. In the field we depend on technology. Without it, we’d fail in our missions.”

“Thanks, but I already know that.” Wade managed a smile, but it was only on his face, not from the heart.

“No thanks necessary.” She nudged his shoulder with hers. “That’s a fact. Whether our technology is during a full-fledged battle or in a training exercise, it’s important, and Danny was doing a good thing. He died a hero, Wade. Don’t ever forget that.”

He laid a hand on her shoulder and tried to stop his chin from quivering. “I won’t, but I also can’t forgive myself for talking him into enlisting. I’m glad you came home and that we are partners, Jessica. You’ll never know how much talking to you means to me.”

“I think I do, because talking to you means that much to me. No one understands unless they’ve been there.” She laid her hand on his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“You got that right.”



Jessica had teased about having to kill someone if she discussed her job with them. In reality, what she did really was classified, but by joking about it, she didn’t have to answer any more questions.

“I never realized it until now, but I guess I do change the subject to avoid difficult conversations,” she said after a moment.

“So do I,” Wade said with a nod. “I don’t want to remember how many people’s lives I was responsible for ending when I pulled the trigger, so I switch to talking about something else to avoid the questions. How did it affect you the first time you shot a person?”

“I went out that night and cried until there were no more tears,” she answered. “The next morning, I told myself I deserved the pain. I’d passed all my psych evals, so I thought I was prepared for the aftershock, but nothing gets us ready for that first time, does it? Or, for that matter, any time after that. I still have nightmares.”

Wade nodded and then changed direction and shook his head. “I did the same thing and felt the same way. The only person I ever talked about this with before tonight was Danny. I think that’s why I have missed him so much. We could share things that I couldn’t talk about with anyone else, even though we had such different jobs.” He chuckled. “Kind of a role reversal from the way we were in high school, isn’t it? I was the brainy kid, and he was the football player.”

Jessica was stunned at the different paths the two Granger brothers had taken. If she’d guessed which one would be a techie and which one would be a sniper, she wouldn’t have put Danny in the former role.

Wade finished off the last bite of his cake and washed it down with coffee. “He was going to run the business end of our bar for us. We were both going to share the bartending work so we could spend time together.”

“Danny’s Place sounds better every time I think about it,” Jessica said.

“Like Oscar said, it’s going to be referred to as the old church no matter what’s on the sign out front. Which reminds me, do you think we should have a neon sign or just a wooden one?” Wade asked.

Jessica was glad to get away from the memories of what she had done when she was following orders. “Maybe we should set the steeple up where the old church sign is and put the sign on top of it.” She made a sweeping motion up in the air. “Danny’s Place.”

“Or Cheers, for cheerleaders.” Wade chuckled.

“We might get into copyright problems with that,” Jessica said with a smile, “and besides, you weren’t a cheerleader, and you are a partner in this business.”

“I’d forgotten about that old television sitcom.” He flashed a brilliant smile toward her. “We should think about advertising in the nearby newspapers about our grand opening and say that it’s a place where the beer is always cold and the food is always hot.”

“And a place where everybody might not know your name, but you can get hymns sung to you in the parking lot, and maybe even a preacher to absolve you of your sins before you even leave the premises.” Jessica’s heart felt lighter than it had in years.

“What?” Wade asked.

“Didn’t Oscar tell you that we had a little altercation with Stella in the lumberyard?” she asked.

“No, but I’m all ears now. Why on earth was Stella in the lumberyard?” Wade leaned forward in his chair and propped both elbows on the table.

“She had a petition she was trying to get everyone in the place to sign,” Jessica answered and went on to tell him what Stella had said. “So, when we open, we may have a choir and a preacher out in the parking lot either singing hymns or passing out church literature.”

“Seems only fitting since this started out as a church, doesn’t it? Maybe we should consider naming it the Preacher’s Place in honor of Elijah. Then the protesters could fuss at us for that, too. We are located at the end of Preacher’s Road, so it would make sense.” Wade’s grin got even wider.