Done (Harmony Haven #1)

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

SUNDAY DINNER

EASTON

“She even used air quotes,” I moaned, laying my head down on the table in the kitchen while I spilled my guts to my grandparents. “Rory probably told her that’s who I was, and she believed her because why wouldn’t she?”

“Did you talk to Rory?”

“No, she left the station before Jesse and I haven’t seen her since.”

“Why did you let Jesse leave without explaining things?” Grams shook her head as she stirred dinner on the stove. I had gotten there early, wanting to get some advice from my Gramps, but his nose was behind the Sunday paper across the table from me and had only offered small huffs and grunts as I told them about Jesse and Max.

“I had to,” I lifted my head and raised my arms in the air in defense. “She knowingly answered every question I had before I could ask it and then politely put me in my place. She wasn’t wrong, Grams. I have a history of…well…” How did I find the right way to tell Grams that I was basically one big walking one night stand? “I just don’t get attached, and she’s right, it's not fair to make things harder on her just because I feel the need to know everything about her. And it's not because I saw her naked.”

“Who did you see naked?” West asked, coming in from the kitchen door at precisely the wrong time.

“The woman who lives in your house.”

“Please don’t bother my tenant,” he groaned, as if he actually cared. He started loosening his tie and taking off his jacket. Unlike Miles and me, West was always in a suit. It was his uniform , and also unlike Miles and me being on and off duty, West was always ready to work.

Even on a Sunday.

“I didn’t hear your helicopter, Rich Boy. Did you actually drive here?”

“Yeah,” West sighed, “I needed the time alone. It's been one hell of a week.”

“Let’s talk about your problems then,” I suggested.

“Let’s not. Is Miles coming today, or is he on duty? Maybe he has some problems we can talk about.”

“Nope and nope,” Miles popped in, just like West had. “I’m not on duty and I have no problems to talk about.”

“Good,” Gramps grumbled, finally acknowledging my presence with more than a grunt. “I need you three to grab those buckets of butter beans from the porch and start shelling until dinner’s ready.”

We never had to be told twice to do something. If Gramps and Grams needed it done, we did it, and without complaint. So for the next hour, the three of us shelled enough beans to last them a whole winter while talking about the daily grind of our jobs. Except for West, he just shrugged and said work was work since we insisted the daily ins and outs of his job bored us.

By the time we were finishing up, Grams called us in for dinner and our conversations shifted. We discussed the playoff odds of the Atlanta Kings, and how we needed to get back to a game soon. Gramps used to drive us into the city for games when we were younger, and all three of us had become obsessed with baseball. They were our favorite thing to talk about when everything else got tough, and for a while, I let thoughts about Jesse fade away.

But they returned the second dinner was over, making my goodbyes quiet and detached. All I could think about was coming up with another reason to see Jesse, secretly hoping Max called for a fire truck during my shift Monday night.

After my brothers left, and I said goodnight to Grams, I went to hug Gramps and he spoke quietly into my ear as we embraced. “Not done yet, are ya?”

It was my first instinct to turn to those damn beans and point to them on the porch, letting him know we were done. They could freeze them, can them, or boil them up, but they were done.

Then it hit me.

Gramps wasn’t talking about chores, much less beans. While I was talking about Jesse, he may have been acting like he didn’t hear a word I had said, or even cared. But I knew he could see the wheels turning through my eyes. He knew as I spoke that Jesse roused something in me that he had never seen before.

Something I had never felt before.

And he was right. When it came to Jesse, I wasn’t done yet.