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“I believe it.” She glanced at him. “Do you know any of the constellations?”
“Na.” He looked at the sky and suddenly knew what he was looking at. “Or.” He pointed at the sky. “That’s Orion. And Gemini.”
“And the one above Gemini is Pegasus.”
“Yeah. Shit.” He looked at her. “I guess I picked it up somewhere.” He looked at the sky again. “Son of a bitch.” He took a drink of beer. “I guess you know them, too.”
“Yeah. Another thing I learned recently.”
He nodded. “Seems you’ve had some time on your hands lately.”
“Sort of. I took some time off from work.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re back.”
“Thank you.”
He held up his bottle. “Can I get you another beer?”
“No. I’m pretty much a one beer kind of gal. Inoticed Sage didn’t drink one at dinner.”
“She hasn’t developed a taste for it. She and Genny will drink wine together, though.”
“It seems you’re close with Genny.”
“Yeah. We spar like Sage and Sawyer. Well, not nearly as much as they do. But we’ve got each other’s backs when the need arises. We were raised by our father with the help of Noko and Misho.”
“Who?”
“Our grandparents. It’s a child’s mispronunciation of the Chippewa words for grandmother and grandfather. It stuck.”
“How interesting. So, your mother?”
“She and Dad were married for three years. Gen and I came along the second year and she decided motherhood and being a wife weren’t for her. She left when we were one.”
“Oh my gosh, Jake. I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged. “Never knew her. No loss, really. Noko Esty more than made up for her absence.”
“I’m glad you had her.”
“We had her until we were thirteen. One morning she made us breakfast as always, and two hours later she was dead from an aneurysm.”
Ember reached for him and her touch sent a shock through his body, just like he’d felt in the kitchen when he handed her the stew. He took a couple of steps back from her and smiled.
“Sorry, I got a shock there or something. Mustbe the dry air.”
“Yeah. That’s probably it. In any case, I’m sorry about your grandmother. It must’ve been a terrible loss for you.”
“Genny and I navigated it together. Misho was devastated and never really came out of it, even though he lived another ten years. And Dad dealt with it by throwing himself into work. So, Gen and I consoled each other.” He smiled. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure why I’m filling you in on the O’Connell family history.”
“It’s very interesting. Thank you for sharing it.”
“History repeated itself when J.T. was thirteen and Sawyer and Sage were eleven. Their mother died.”
Ember looked at him, then stepped forward and hugged him. It should’ve felt strange being hugged by a woman he met a few hours ago. But it didn’t. It felt familiar somehow. When she let go and stepped back, she put a hand to her mouth.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
