Page 45 of Fight for Me
Jake:Can I come over?
Lexie:No.
He stared at her message for a full thirty seconds before letting out a deep sigh. He was already in his truck prepared to head to her place, but instead he started the engine and made the turn toward Copper Hill. When he finally made his way upthe winding driveway of Tanner Farm, the front yard and porch were quiet. Not even Gomer came out to greet him.
However, the house wasn’t completely vacant. TheGreen Acrestheme song drifted down the hall from Grandma Ruby’s apartment, and Jake followed it until he was standing in the open doorway. He arrived just in time to watch his great-grandmother drag a kitchen chair over to her small counter. She looked up, eyeing a cabinet over the fridge with obvious intent.
“Oh, no you don’t, young lady!” he said playfully, striding across the room to stand between her and her destination. “If you climb on this chair, my mother will hang us both from the rafters in the barn.”
“Now, don’t you go bossing me,” Grandma Ruby said, twisting her sweet face into a scowl. “I am not as feeble and frail-minded as you think I am.”
“It’s not your mind I’m worried about; it’s the rest of you,” he insisted as he pushed the chair back to the table. “Now, tell me what you need, and I’ll get it.”
He followed her directions to retrieve a large punch bowl and several etched crystal glasses, which apparently would make a special appearance at Sunday dinner that week. After setting them carefully on the counter, Jake turned to wrap his great-grandmother in a hug, knowing she wouldn’t be able to hold her scowl for long. When he stepped back, her face had softened, though it changed again when she caught sight of the hand that was still wrapped protectively around her upper arm.
“Tell me this was for a good cause,” she said, poking gently at his bruised knuckles with practiced skill.
Jake winced and pulled his hand away. “What are the chances you’ll believe I shut it in a door?”
Grandma Ruby raised one thin eyebrow. “You forget I raised four hot-headed American boys. I’ve seen it all, andthiswas not a door.”
Jake pursed his lips and looked down at his knuckles, closing his fingers into a tight fist before relaxing again. They didn’t throb the way they had the night before, but the bruises were still glaringly obvious. Grandma Ruby made a tsking noise with her mouth, shaking her head slightly.
“The boyfriend, huh?”
Jake grunted, still looking at his hand, and Grandma Ruby apparently took the noise as confirmation. She shuffled slowly to her armchair and lowered herself into it.
“I can’t help but notice you don’t have any other marks on you,” she said, missing nothing, as usual. “Is his aim that bad?”
Jake grimaced and sank onto the couch in his usual place.
“He shoved me over a chair and ran. Apparently getting caught making a scene was worse to him than hurting a woman,” he grumbled, still irritated. Part of him wished Colt had put up a better fight, if only so he’d have had an excuse to beat more of that smug face to a pulp.
“And you didn’t go after him?”
“No, I had to check on Lexie,” Jake said, suddenly unsure he’d made the right choice. But Grandma Ruby smiled, her wrinkled features brightening like a soft candle had been lit behind her eyes.
“You put her well-being above your pride,” she said, beaming. “It sounds like you did exactly right.”
“Well, Lexie doesn’t seem to see it that way. I think she wishes I hadn’t been there at all.”
“Of course she does.”
Jake furrowed his brow, trailing two mental steps behind his great-grandmother. She smiled softly and shook her head.
“You men never learn, do you? You all expect a woman to fall gratefully into your arms when really, sometimes, we just want to curl up and lick our wounds in private. Is this Lexie of yours a strong woman? Does she have a good head on her shoulders?”
“Yes. She’s brilliant.”
“Then do you think she might be embarrassed to have needed help at all? That she couldn’t handle it herself? Maybe not every reaction she has is about you.”
Jake stared down at where his fingers hung laced between his knees, feeling chastened. Hehadimagined Lexie’s reaction was all about him, but that may have been selfish.
“If she’s not upset with me, then why won’t she talk to me? Why won’t she let me fix it?”
“Because youcan’tfix it,” Grandma Ruby said. She used a remote to recline her chair back into a more comfortable position. “It seems to me this girl has a lot of soul-searching to do, and nobody else can do it for her. Does she know how you feel?”
Jake scrubbed the heels of his hands across his face, remembering the way Lexie had looked at him after she’d gone through his phone, the way she’d shivered when he touched her arm.
