Read Online Just One Day by Sharla Lovelace - Free Book Online Page B

something I talk about,” he said under his breath.
    I leaned forward in the seat. “Well, today’s a new day.”
    He opened his eyes and looked hard into mine. In that moment, I was in awe. He was about to dump his most private painful shit out on that table to me. All because I’d crossed his path again mere hours earlier. How did we affect each other like that? Brad was never a friend like that. It took me two months to admit how much I was missing Lanie when she first left. And he never asked.
    “Her name was Beth,” he said finally. So much silence followed that statement, I thought he was done. But then he sat back and then forward again, and I could see the inner struggle. “She was working in a little diner in Corpus, and me and the guys from the shrimp boat would go there a couple times a week.”
    “And you won her over with your smile?” I said, lightening the mood.
    A laugh rumbled from his throat. “Huh. No, not quite. I was pretty cocky back then and my methods fell flat.” He smiled at the memory. “I said something smart-ass to her one night and she dumped a whole tray of food in my lap and walked away.”
    “Wow,” I said. “Interesting play.”
    He chuckled. “Yeah, I was hooked.” He toyed with a coaster on the table. “We got married four months later.” He locked eyes with me. “I just knew.”
    I nodded, knowing what he was getting at. Lots of things seemed to be getting at that. But then his eyes went darker than dark, and he shut them again.
    “Four years ago, I was out fishing late by myself. Jamie didn’t feel like going, so I went alone. No big deal, did that all the time.” He gripped the coaster tighter. “Fish were hitting after dark so I stayed out a little longer. Didn’t realize my phone had died.”
    He stopped and slid out of the booth, striding around the bar to the big fridge. He grabbed two beers and came back.
    He twisted the top off his bottle and took down half of it before he continued. “When I got home—” He stopped. “No—before I got home, I smelled it. It permeated the inside of my truck before I even knew it was my house.”
    Goose bumps covered my body, and tears sprang to my eyes as the haunted look on his face gave me the images.
    “Lights were flashing everywhere,” he said, his voice going on autopilot as he recited the memories into his beer bottle. “The heat, the noise, the air was acrid. Flames were still—” His voice faltered, and he blinked hard to keep control. “It was so hot, it hurt to breathe. Everything—everything crackled. They had some of it out, but parts were still burning. Trees were on fire. The home I built with my own hands was nothing but sticks.”
    I felt the hot tears travel down my cheeks, but I didn’t move to wipe them away.
    “It was like a bad dream. I only remember running in slow motion, yelling at people who couldn’t seem to hear me,” he whispered. “There were so many uniforms and men running back and forth to get where they needed to be and all I wanted was to find my family.” He nodded. “And I did.”
    Jesse’s whole face tightened, and I feared he’d crush that bottle with his bare hand.
    “Jamie came at me out of nowhere, hitting me like a bulldozer, hoarse and screaming at me,” he said. “He was nearly my height already, even at fifteen, and strong. He nearly took me down. At first, I was just so relieved to see him. He was covered in ash and his hair was singed, and I just grabbed him and held on. But he fought me like a man, and I couldn’t understand what he was yelling about.” Jesse slugged down the remainder of his beer and dug his palms into his eyes.
    “I asked him where his mother was, and he just started pounding me with his fists, screaming and gagging on smoke.” He took a deep breath. “I finally got a grip on him and heard him cuss me. He screamed at me, “Damn you, Dad! I couldn’t get her out, where were you?”
    “Oh my God,” I whispered.
    “I remember