Grace Interrupted by Julie Hyzy

don’t you? Where’s Davey?”
    “It’s hard to know where to start.”
    I waited.
    Jack turned the root over a couple of times, allowing little crumbles of dirt to fall. “I needed to get away for a while. To get my head straight. Before I talked to you.”
    Little sparkles of fury danced in front of my eyes, a sure sign I was about to say something I’d regret later. Rage bubbled up, and I pulled Bootsie closer to my chest, making the little kitten squirm.
    “Sorry,” I said to her, loosening my grip to allow some wiggle room, but not enough to allow her to jump out of my arms. To Jack, I said, “You could have at least let me know you weren’t arrested.”
    He nodded. “You’re right.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I told you we needed to take a look at your daylilies.” He held up the root. “This one’s dead.”
    “We talked about that months ago. You needed to do this now?”
    He shrugged and looked away.
    Bootsie rested her chin in the crook of my elbow, one little paw draped over my arm. I tossed the box so that it landed near my back door and used my free fingers to stroke the cat’s fur. The movement calmed me enough to force me to even my breathing. Jack’s sudden appearance here was a slap in the face. I’d been worried for him, for heavens’ sake. Worried when all it was, was that he just “hadn’t felt like talking.” What kind of a fool was I?
    “Grace,” he said. From that one word I detected caution, nervousness, and reluctance.
    “I need to get the cat inside,” I said as the kitten settled more deeply into my arms. “She might squirm away.”
    “Yeah, I can see that,” he said, deadpan. Then, “I’m sorry I haven’t called you back.”
    I said nothing.
    “It’s been a bad weekend. A lot of . . . stuff . . . got dredged up again. Stuff I thought I’d put behind me.”
    My heart rammed inside my chest, even as I tried to argue it down. The fear of the unknown twisted inside me, and at the same time I wondered why I was getting so worked up. Whatever “stuff” Jack was hiding had happened years ago. Clearly, it didn’t concern me. I swallowed and tried to force a measure of calm. Or fake it, at least. “Did the police talk with you and Davey?” I asked. “How is your brother?”
    His face reddened. “Listen,” he said, “there’s something you need to know. About me. I . . .” He stopped.
    I closed my eyes ever so briefly. This was a make-or-break moment. Although my ego was still smarting from his admission that he’d been purposely ignoring my calls, I couldn’t find it in my heart to shut him down without at least hearing what he had to say. Annoyed as I was with him, Jack had become a friend. Friends cut each other slack when they needed it. I couldn’t turn my back now, not without giving him a chance to explain.
    The smart move might very well be to turn my back, but I couldn’t do it. The need to know was too great.
    I wasn’t sure whether it was loyalty or curiosity that made me answer, “Fair enough. Let’s talk.”
    He let out a breath, then lifted his chin toward my back door. “Can I come in?”
    Instead of quieting, my heart pounded harder. Faster. Fear for him. Fear for me. Although he and I hadn’t ever even had a first date, I’d assumed we would get there eventually. Maybe it was time to challenge that assumption. Better I face whatever it was straight on, no matter what the consequences. After all, Jack and I worked together. At the very least, we needed to continue to do so. We couldn’t do our jobs effectively if we were afraid to talk to one another. The last thing I wanted was another obstacle to communication in my life.
    “Sure,” I said, “we have to get past this, whatever it is.”
    “I’m not sure we can.”
    I swallowed around the fear that suddenly closed my throat.
    As we stepped into the house, I pulled little Bootsie’s face close to mine. “What are we in for?” I asked her.
    She sneezed. So did