Jenner, page 6
She winced at that. “I don’t know. As much as I don’t agree with shooting an animal, there are times when personal safety does have to come into play.”
“Absolutely,” Jenner agreed. “It wasn’t the War Dog in particular that I’m looking for, but I’m thinking it might have been those meaner ones with the squatter.”
“I won’t lose any sleep over it,” she noted, “although the owner should take responsibility for those poor animals.”
Jenner didn’t say a whole lot, headed to his room, and came back down with his laptop. “Do you mind if I use the dining room table?”
She waved a hand. “Go ahead. It’s all yours.”
“And when do you have somebody coming in?”
“Not for a couple days yet,” she replied. “Today’s Monday. They’ll be coming on Friday afternoon, as far as the last update goes.”
“Have you heard from Laura?”
“Yeah.” She looked over at him, surprised, and then slowly, as if not sure what to say, she shook her head.
He nodded. “You tell her whatever you feel comfortable telling her. You certainly don’t have to hide my presence or run and tell her.”
She gave him a one-arm shrug. “She’s not that good a friend. She probably sees me as a vendor. I’ve been in town a lot longer, where I understand the nuances of those who have money and those who don’t have any.”
“She’s now one with money, I presume.”
“She always was,” she replied, looking at him.
He shook his head. “Not when we were married. We didn’t have any money.”
“Interesting,” she murmured. “I always assumed that she was part of that wealthy belt.”
“Her family had money, but she didn’t. I didn’t.”
“Well, she has it now,” Kellie noted cheerfully, “and, as long as some of it comes my way in the form of good business, I’ll do what I can to keep the peace.”
“Absolutely.” He turned back toward his laptop. Yet he was wondering what the hell kind of money Laura had actually married into. And then told himself to knock it off. It didn’t matter. It was old history, and he was better off not knowing. He started updating Badger.
Chapter 4
Kellie watched as Jenner worked for a few minutes, wondering how absolutely strange it must be to be in the same town as Laura, but Kellie also didn’t know if he had any leftover feelings for his ex-wife. He had told Kellie that he didn’t, and that it was all good, but she also knew that sometimes … those feelings played differently.
Kellie’s parents had had some marital troubles at one point in time; she knew that her mother had stepped out on her father. It caused all kinds of hell, but they’d worked their way through it, and now they were over in England, together, doing whatever they did there. Two peas in a pod.
She shrugged. It didn’t really matter to her, but, at the same time, those things never quite left you. She hated to think of her mother cheating on her father; surely her mother could have found some other way to deal with strife in her life other than to turn around and stick it to her father as hard as she could.
Kellie turned toward Jenner and said, “I’ll be making some lunch. Do you want a bite?”
He looked up and frowned. “No, I know it’s not included, but thank you for the offer.”
“A sandwich won’t kill me,” she argued. “Besides, you’re trying to find a dog. I’ll never have a hard time helping somebody do that.”
He gave her a bright smile that actually made her stop and stare.
“Wow, when you turn that smile on people, it’s a dangerous weapon.”
He looked at her, startled, his smile falling away.
She laughed. “That’s more normal.”
“Do I always look grumpy?” he asked gently.
“No, but that was a real smile, and I realized that it packed quite a punch.”
“Anybody who loves animals,” he noted, “is somebody I can get along with.”
“Right. Too bad not enough people in this world do it all the time,” she said. “It breaks my heart to even think of an animal suffering.”
“Yours and mine both,” he agreed.
“So I’ll say, Thank you very much now and will go put lunch together. It’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
“Okay, just let me know.” And he dropped his head back down to his work.
She wondered what he was supposed to do when he did find the dog. It’s not like he was a local anymore. Where was he from? And would he go back there?
It took a special person to ensure the animal was set up properly. She had room for a dog, but that didn’t mean that she was in any way willing to take on what sounded like a horrific responsibility when taking care of a War Dog. But then what did she know? She was all alone, and sometimes being all alone got damn lonely. Maybe the right dog would help her in that regard. Plus a War Dog would be a wonderful protector, she figured. Yet she had to consider her B&B guests. What if they were afraid of dogs or allergic or had small children and didn’t want them hurt by bigger dogs?
She could do other things in life that would have the same impact in terms of not being lonely all the time—like joining a hiking club or a knitting or quilting group or a weekly card game or something, but she didn’t really want to push it by getting a pet that was a huge commitment like that.
In the kitchen, she quickly pulled out the sandwich fixings and made herself one and two for him. She really didn’t mind feeding him; lunch wasn’t included, dinner was. Yet Jenner had booked in advance and would be here maybe as long as a week. So, as long as she offered, and he accepted, it just made sense to feed him. “A happy guest,” she muttered to herself.
“Did you say something?” he asked, from behind her.
She spun around and stared. “How can you be so quiet when you’re not even on two legs?”
“I am on two legs,” he corrected her, with a happy grin. “Just one of them is not made of flesh and blood.”
She nodded. “The fact that you can even walk as silently as you do just blows me away.”
“I spent a lot of years learning how to move quietly through the bush.” He laughed. “It’s not necessarily the easiest thing now that I have one prosthetic and one leg, but it’s not the hardest.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” She handed him a plate with the two sandwiches and said, “Come sit with me.”
He looked down at his plate with two double-decker sandwiches. “Wow.”
She shrugged. “I saw how much you ate last night. I’m not sure if you’re still healing from all your injuries or if you’re just one of those guys who eats large,” she noted, “but I’ll never let anybody in my life starve.”
“You are good people.”
“I try to be,” she replied cheerfully. “I went through a bad patch, where I was the butt of a lot of jokes for a long time. It makes me very aware of how cruel the world can be.”
He looked over at her and raised his eyebrows. “I’d love to hear more, but I can guess that it’s personal. So I understand if you don’t want to share.”
She nodded. “Very personal but, when Laura comes around, she’s just as likely to mention something. So it might be easier—especially if you’ll be around for a few days and getting to know the locals—if you do know.” She stopped, then frowned. “Or not.”
“You do what you need to do. I’m not here to judge.”
“Well, that would be nice for a change,” she muttered, as she looked at him and sighed. “I got pregnant at the end of high school and was the butt of all the jokes for that. I kept the baby, which ended up causing me some more trouble, as my son was born with a hole in his heart. He went through multiple surgeries to try to fix the issue and ended up not …” Her voice halted at the painful reminders. “He passed away at three months.”
He stared at her, and she swallowed hard. Then she realized he had reached across the table and was actually holding her hand. She looked down at her fingers entwined with his. “I didn’t even see when you did that.”
“And I didn’t mean to, in any way, bring up something so painful,” he said, his voice solemn.
“Yet sometimes it’s good to talk about those who have gone before us. It helps to keep the memory alive.” She brushed back the tear in her eye and pointed at his remaining sandwich.
“Now that we’ve dealt with it, you can eat.” She picked up her sandwich and took a bite, deliberately taking a little bit larger bite than necessary, so she had to chew and focus on that.
“Sometimes the hardest things in life,” he murmured, as he ate, “are the things that mean the most.”
Startled, she stared at him and then asked, “Are you talking about your accident or my son?”
“Both, because your life was enriched by having him, but that didn’t make the journey any easier.”
“No, it definitely didn’t,” she agreed.
“And why would Laura mention any of it?”
“Every once in a while she brings up comments like that. … Remember what it was like when you were pregnant in high school? or Good thing you don’t still have a baby to support.”
“That’s very insensitive of her,” he replied in shock.
She looked at him sideways. “Yeah, like you don’t really know what she’s like?”
He just continued to stare.
“Are you serious? You don’t know what she’s like?”
“No,” he stated. “I don’t think the woman I knew would have ever said that.”
“She certainly went through some changes these last few years, as she became more of a person of means in this town,” Kellie explained.
“And yet you’re friends.”
“We’re more acquaintances. Not sure I would ever be welcomed over at her house.”
At that, he shook his head, frowning. “Obviously she’s changed because the person I knew,” he murmured, “would have never stood on ceremony, and she never would have made a friend not feel welcome.”
“How long ago was this?”
He shrugged. “We got married about ten years ago, and she basically walked out of my life about … eight years ago.”
“Wow, the marriage wasn’t very long.”
“No, it was kind of a whirlwind romance. We spent a lot of time together back then. We thought we knew exactly what we wanted, dug into marriage—because I had to leave for an overseas navy tour—and thought we were doing okay, thought we would be one of the lucky ones, and we could do this. I thought we could pass through all these hardships and become something much stronger, and then, out of the blue, I found out—while I was overseas—that she was filing for divorce.” He stared down at the sandwich in his hand and swallowed hard.
“I’m sorry,” Kellie said. “I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories on your side.”
He looked at her, then shook his head and snorted. “You know what? I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody about that.”
“It seems to be our day for sharing secrets with strangers.”
“Hey, now that you know my secrets,” he stated, “you can’t be a stranger.”
She chuckled. “I think that’s a ditto for me too, although I’m not sure what it is about you that makes you so easy to talk to.”
“And I guess that goes both ways as well,” he confirmed. “I really hadn’t seen that kind of behavior out of Laura before.”
“So tell me honestly”—she looked at Jenner sideways—“are you still carrying a torch for her?”
At that, he put down his sandwich, twisted ever-so-slightly so he could face Kellie, and replied, “The woman walked out of my life without any warning, telling me that she was marrying my best friend, and sent me the divorce paperwork overseas. She didn’t think that I even deserved a personal phone call. I tried hard to call her when I was over there to find out what the hell was going on, and basically she refused to accept my phone calls. Then I heard later how she was still single, so I wasn’t sure what was going on. A friend of mine suggested, while I was here, that I clear the air, so I could at least move on myself.”
“And that’s all you’re trying to do with Laura?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “I don’t think I knew her very well, given some of the stories you’re telling me, or she’s changed too much for me to even recognize her now.”
“She’s changed,” Kellie noted instantly. “Or maybe she was always like this, and you just didn’t know the real Laura. When I knew her in high school, she was older than me and …” Kellie stopped. “It really feels like we’re talking about her, doesn’t it?”
“That’s because we are,” he stated. “And maybe we shouldn’t be, but it would certainly help me to understand what’s going on with her before I meet her.”
“You really think you’ll meet up with her?”
“I asked to meet with her. Whether she does or not, I don’t know.”
“Interesting that you’d still want to,” she remarked, staring at her sandwich on her plate, her gut twisting.
“And yet why not?” he asked. “Particularly if it’s something that various people seem to think that I should.”
“Sometimes I wonder if all these various people are actually on our side or not.”
He burst out laughing at that. “Oh my, I hear you there. I had to see all kinds of therapists after my accident. Sometimes I wondered whose side they were on. Some of the things that they wanted me to do made me swear pretty heavily.”
“I’m sure.” She chuckled. “I went to counseling after … to grief counseling, you know?” she added.
“And did it help?”
“I think it did,” she murmured. “It didn’t help knowing that my friends and family had turned their backs on me. My parents were there, while Quincy was alive and struggling to live, but my parents hadn’t been supportive through my entire pregnancy. However, I do think Quincy’s life and death helped my parents to get over my mother’s infidelity. Quincy’s death devastated me though,” she muttered. “I felt even more deserted and bereft than I had before.”
“I’m sure parents aren’t supposed to bury their children. Parents are supposed to die first.”
“No, we should never go through that.” She gave him an odd smile. “So now that we’ve got all that personal stuff out of the way, what’s your plan for the afternoon?”
“I’ll go see Jim at the hospital. I did check in this morning, and he had surgery yesterday on his leg. I can go talk to him”—he checked his watch—“after one.”
“I think that’s pretty standard here,” she noted.
“And you’ve never met him?”
“Sure, as a kid, but I haven’t seen him in years. The last time was, maybe a few years back. I didn’t recognize this squatter guy as not being Jim. Honestly, the squatter didn’t look like he was Jim, but he didn’t not look like Jim. And … I guess that just sounds stupid.”
“Not at all, especially if you’ve been through a lot yourself.”
“Well, Jim has been too,” she noted. “I know he went into the service. His parents weren’t very happy about it, but, at the same time, I think they were also proud that he was doing something for his country.”
“Of course. You get mixed reactions with family all the time. Basically they just hope that you come home alive and well. I imagine that’ll always be their first and foremost thought.”
She got up, collected his plate, and just then the doorbell rang.
He looked at her and asked, “Are you expecting anyone?”
She shook her head. “No, but it’s a bed-and-breakfast, so, hey, I get a lot of calls, door knocks all the time.” She reached for his empty plate. “Are you done?”
“I’m done.” He stood, as she left to put his plate in the sink. “I don’t need anything else.”
He walked with her to the front door. She hated to say it, but it was nice to have somebody here, almost as if he were keeping an eye on her. Of course he wasn’t; there was no need for him to, but she opened the door to find the sheriff standing there.
He tilted his hat at her. “Kellie, I need to ask you a few questions.”
“Right.” She’d have to deal with this now, having successfully put this whole mess out of her mind for the last little while. She turned and watched as Jenner greeted the sheriff.
Jenner put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll head out to the hospital now. You’re fine here?”
She nodded immediately. “I’m fine. Say hi to Jim for me.”
“Will do.” Jenner nodded at the sheriff and walked out.
An odd strain filled the air as Jenner walked outside. He cast another look back at the sheriff, who stood awkwardly at the doorway. She hadn’t invited him in. It being a bed-and-breakfast, he could have just walked right in anyway, without bothering to ring the bell. The front door was propped open, but the sheriff stood there on the porch, as if knowing he wouldn’t be welcomed inside.
Had he had anything to do with the group who had hurt Kellie or her son, Quincy? Sometimes people cringed at the littlest shit people did. Kellie was a nice lady, and, if her story were true, and she’d gotten pregnant in high school, where the hell was the father? Jenner should have asked her.
He never understood why it was always the moms who got into trouble. It took two to tango, and, at that age, well, it was pretty damn easy to make those kinds of mistakes.
But those questions were at the back of Jenner’s mind. And her conversations about Laura didn’t seem to fit either. But then he hadn’t seen his ex-wife in a very long time. She’d always wanted to be somebody. Obviously she’d found a way to become somebody’s somebody. And, for her, that was probably as much ladder climbing that she could do. Never had she worked 9-to-5, and yet she always expected Jenner to come home and to look after her. Not to keep getting deployed. Of course he did. It was his job with the navy. She knew that before she married him. Still, she had walked out on him.
She’d had aspirations of him going into politics at one point in time. As he thought about it, he realized that she really hadn’t known who Jenner was. If ever he did not belong somewhere, it was in politics.
