Page 21 of Raging Fires

“No, we’re talking about your life, and that’s a lot more important. You and that girl belong together; I saw—”

Jake groaned, “Gran... please don’t start in on how you have the Sight.”

“I don’t have the Sight. That’s my sister Lucy. She may be blind as a bat, but she can see what’s inside.” She tapped her temple. “And don’t try to pull me off the subject. What I was trying to say is, I saw you and Kelli together for five years. I’ve never seen any couple that belonged together more. And the only people who don’t recognize that are you two.”

He sighed. “Look, I know you and Pops love Kelli. You took her side in the divorce.”

“Her side?” Gran’s voice was indignant. “We didn’t take sides. David and I didn’t want the divorce to happen at all.”

“Yeah, okay. I understand that. You’re as Catholic as they come, but—”

“It’s got nothing to do with church,” Gran told him. “It’s because you two are in love and are miserable without each other, and you’ll be miserable and bitter the rest of your life if you don’t get back together.”

“Thanks for giving me that vision of my future.”

“Of course I believe Kelli’s your wife and will be until one of you dies, but I’d never ask you to stay with someone who made you unhappy. I’d just do like I do with your mother and pray for you.” She crossed her arms and stared him down.

“Okay. Okay.” Jake drew in a calming breath. “Whatever you’re doing this for, it’s not going to work. If Kelli and I have to live in the same house, we’ll argue all the time. I’ll say something that’ll make her get all snarky.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. I never know. It’s what we do. She hates me.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“Gran, she walked out on me. She just left.”

“And you didn’t do a thing to stop her.” Gran wagged her finger in his face.

“What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t force her to stay. I couldn’t make her feel what she didn’t feel—ah, hell, this conversation is pointless.” He shoved both hands back into his hair. “Is there any coffee? That and four ibuprofen might enable me to live.”

“Of course there’s coffee. And pancakes, too.”

“Did you tell Kelli about this?”

“No. I’ll leave that up to you.”

“Great,” Jake groaned. “Okay. Well, if you’ll leave and let me take a shower and get dressed, I’ll go see Kelli.”

So an hour later, his still painful eyes sheltered by the darkest shades he had, the nausea vanquished by a half-gallon of maple syrup, and his head no longer feeling like it might fall off, Jake drove over to the bar. He pulled into the back lot and parked. Kelly was standing outside, a ball cap on her head and her ponytail hanging out the gap in the back, watching four beefy guys and one slender one carry boxes into the little house across the parking lot from the Blue Shack.

The house had been on the lot when Pops bought it, and he and Gran had lived in it when the bar was first open and money was tight. They later moved to a bigger house and rented the place out to tenants, most of whom left when the lease was up, not enjoying the sound of car doors slamming and engines starting up as customers pulled out of the back lot every night at two o’clock.

As far as Jake knew, it had been used mostly for extra storage for the past few years. Gran had told him that Kelli was having it repaired, but he couldn’t see much sign of that from the outside except for obviously new posts holding up the small porch roof. It still looked weather-beaten and in need of a paint job.

A rental truck stood close to the house, and beside it were a cluster of Harleys and a shiny green and white Vespa. Jake walked across the lot to Kelli. He knew she had to have heard him, but she didn’t turn to look at him. He stopped beside her.

“Let me guess. The Vespa belongs to the skinny dude with the man-bun, right?”

Kelli’s mouth twitched, but she didn’t quite smile. “Yes. Tyler volunteered to help me move.”

“Tyler, huh?” Jake watched the man struggle to pull a box from the van and stagger with it up to the porch. He ran into a wide man coming out the door, and Tyler reeled back. The other person grabbed the box from him before he could drop it.

“Watch it, man. You’re going to break something.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine,” Tyler assured him.

“I meant the stuff you’re carrying.”