Page 33 of Guarding Over You
“I might have had that thought.”
There was a natural smile on her lips again, and he was glad he could bring it out.
“Clay’s a tough one. He’s been making hard cider and sneaking it since he was a kid.”
“That’s more like it. I read he was in the Navy.”
“He was. Do you want to talk about my brother or your bad day? I’m going to assume it was after lunch because you’re different now.”
“Different how?” she asked, draining her glass. “Do you want one?”
“I’m good. Go get another if you want.”
“Nah. One is good. Just enough to take the edge off. And you didn’t tell me what is different about me. I try really hard for people to not get too close of a read.”
Exactly what he thought. “You’re just like my sister, Gale. I told you she’s an attorney, right?”
“Yep.”
“Tough as nails and pretty as a picture. She wants to disarm you with her looks and charm, and when you don’t see it coming, bam, right between the eyes. She’s a bulldog in the courtroom and out for blood. More like justice. But those that are close to her, we know where her cracks are. She puts plaster on them fast, but her chips pick it away.”
“That’s kind of poetic.”
“Now you’re busting my ass.”
She laughed. “I am. You’re lightening my mental load at least. And yes, the afternoon wasn’t wonderful.”
“Tough cases? Carol and Tom. That’s rough for me. Tom is in every few months with some mishap, but I see him failing. He was my old history teacher. Should have retired long before I had him, but he held on because he said he loved it.”
Just another case that he struggled with.
Someone he couldn’t fix.
He knew better. Knew he had to stop carrying that load, but sometimes it was heavy.
“That has to be even harder now to see him failing.”
“It is. But it’s life. They want help when so many put their heads in the sand.”
“I hooked her up with some resources and told her to call me with questions. I’ll give her a few days and then reach out myself to see how she’s doing. I think that’s the biggest problem. People ask for help once and walk away and follow-ups are forgotten. I won’t forget.”
“She’d appreciate that. So it wasn’t that case?”
“No,” she said. “More personal.”
“Ah. The ex? Or you can tell me to mind my own business.”
“Surprisingly, I should talk about it and get it off my chest, but the last thing I need to do is burden someone else with my problems.”
“No burden.”
“How about this? You go shower and change and I’ll see if Gracie is sleeping like I think. I haven’t heard a giggle in at least twenty minutes. If you want to hear more, you can come back. If not, no hard feelings. You’ve had a hard day yourself.”
“I’ll be back,” he said.
“Then I’ll have food. You have to eat.”
“How about a plate of spaghetti?”
