His jaw set. His lips tightened. He’d already decided he knew everything he needed to know about the situation and was digging his heels in as we spoke. “Putting this kid in the system could be the worst thing for him.”
I sat back and took a long pull of my beer to buy some time not to lash out, reminding myself he’d been very sweet to my Nan. “Do you fight me just to be obstinate?”
“Not everything is roses and glitter, Kennedy.” His gaze gave me frostbite.
“And sometimes things have a happy ending, Joe.”
“What if you say something and the kid ends up in a worse situation? What if he spends the rest of his life wondering? What if there’s more to the story? What if...” He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “You just don't know, Kennedy. You'll never know.”
There had to be a reason the story bothered him so much. I wanted to ask what he wasn’t telling me. I also lacked the energy to fight it out of him, so I swallowed back the desire with another swig of beer.
Nan sipped her gin and tonic. “Joe does have a point. You don’t have enough information to know what’s really going on, yet.”
I bobbed my head in agreement.
“And,” Nan continued, focusing on Joe, “Kennedy has a point, too. If this child continues to show signs of neglect, she has an obligation to get him the care he deserves.”
“I know.” Joe threw back the rest of his beer. “I do. It’s just, people want to see perfect solutions that don’t exist.” He stared at the sky as he took in a long breath and let it out slowly.
Nan nodded. “Well, I’m late for book club. You kids enjoy the evening.” She stood and offered us both a hug, then hummed her way back into the house, leaving me with a very quiet Joe.
The fire cracked and a shower of sparks leapt toward the sky as he stood. My heart let out a definite whomp whomp, assuming he intended to call it a night and leave me alone with my thoughts.
“I’m gonna grab another beer.” He jerked his thumb toward the guesthouse. “You want one, or you good?”
“I’m typically a one and done kind of gal, but what the heck.” I threw back the rest of my drink, handed him my empty, then watched him swagger away. When he came back a few seconds later with two beers in hand, I took mine and clinked my bottle with his. “Thank you for taking such good care of my grandma. You’ve been wonderful to her.”
“She’s a wonderful lady.”
“I’m sorry I’ve made things so difficult for you. I’m not sure you deserved it.”
Joe’s eyebrows lifted as a laugh shot out his mouth. “You’re still just ‘not sure,’ huh? And here I thought I was on the way to winning you over.”
“You keep throwing beers at me and we’ll see where the night ends.” As the words unfurled, I wished I could roll them right back in and swallow them whole.
I heard the innuendo. No doubt in my mind, Joe did, too.
His eyes lit up like I’d handed him his favorite toy. “You just realized what you said, didn’t you? And you’re wondering how I’m taking it and if I’ll let you live it down.”
“Close. I definitely wish I’d phrased that differently, so, one point for you. But I know you won’t let me live it down, so no points on that last one.”
“Fifty percent isn’t bad.”
“It’s not good either.”
“You got me there.” His eyes met mine, the heat of the fire reflecting in his gaze. “Do you work tomorrow?”
“The better question is when don’t I work.” I shifted. “I have a full day of patients crammed in so close I won’t have enough time to give them the care they need followed by an hour or two at the clinic to make up for it. I thought medicine would be about helping people. Turns out it’s just a business, after all.” Even I heard the frustration in my voice. “Sorry. Don’t mean to let my bitterness show.”
“Life has a way of disappointing us all. I mean this fire pit?” He indicated the thing with the neck of his beer. “It’s extremely disappointing.”
I sucked in a deep breath, ready to fight him to the death over the fire pit’s honor, but the gleam in his eyes alerted me to the presence of a joke.