Page 18 of Promises on the Mountain

She grabs one of the vintage soda bottle vases off the nearest table and hurls it at the floor. It shatters into pieces, leaving the stem of silk flowers that was in it lying in the wreckage.

She lunges for the vase on the next nearest table. I'm so stunned that I just watch while she slams another bottle onto the ground, still calling me names and screaming about how I don't deserve any of this but my temporary paralysis lets go when she spins around and heads for the espresso machine.

"You are such a fucking bitch." She spits at me. "You were supposed to be Mia's friend and you're up here in the mountains, making lattes and fucking lumberjacks like nothing ever happened. Who was that guy you were humping in the back room, anyway? Is he the reason you picked this piece of shit little town in the middle of fucking nowhere? Is he your sugar daddy? Is the rent due?"

I manage to get between her and the Pavoni. I'm doing my best to force her back, yelling at her to calm the fuck down, when the sound of heavy footsteps running up the boardwalk have us both looking toward the open door instead.

Raine

"What the hell is going on down there?" Gran demands as the sounds of yelling and breaking glass interrupt us.

Another loud crash and the sound of breaking glass has me heading out the museum door.

"Go help her, Raine." My grandmother waves her hand at me, ushering me out the door without expecting me to wait for her.

There are only two empty suites between Gran's museum and April's cafe and at a dead run, it doesn't take but a few seconds to get to the door that's still standing open just in time to hear Kay questioning April's relationship with me.

"I'm her fiancé," I bark as I fly through the door. Assessing the situation inside in an instant, I jump the counter, putting myself between the girls and April's fancy coffee machine.

I know that thing cost her more than a lot of people pay for their cars and it's pretty clear this Kay chick has been busting the place up.

"Let go of April, now," I order.

Kay's clutching at April, one hand in her hair, and another twisted in her clothes while April tries to pry the younger woman's hands off of her.

"Fuck you," she screeches at me. "She's the reason my sister is dead."

April manages to get herself free and without hesitation, I pull her behind me.

"I think you know that's not true; from what I hear, your sister made a big mistake, but April had nothing to do with it. It's time to stop making April responsible for filling in the empty space where your sister should be."

Kay lets go of April and steps back, glaring at me like she hates me.

"What the fuck do you know about it?"

Pulling my girl into my arms, so that April's back is to my chest, I wrap her up and hold her tight. Making sure she's safe and taking some strength in the feel of her against me again.

"I know something about death," I answer the seething girl facing us. "I've seen the way grief can make people rewrite the facts so they're left with memories that they can live with. I've seen the way it can tear people apart when they should be coming together to support one another through hard times.

"I know you didn't come all this way to visit your sister's friend, or to support her success. You came up to my mountain to start a fight because you don't want to accept that your sister's the only one to blame for not being with you anymore and you're mad at April for moving on with her life when you haven't. But that's not fair to your sister, or to you, and I'll be damned if I'm going to allow you to keep making April feel like she has to be responsible for your grief as well as her own."

The girl stands there, working her mouth like a guppy while she decides if it's worth continuing to fight with either of us.

"You don't know anything," she tells me, but her voice is sullen, lacking the rage she was venting when I came in.

"I know that April is part of this community now and there's not a damn person in town that's going to let a stranger come in and destroy the business she's worked so hard for."

"Not to mention that the closest thing we've had to coffee on this mountain before she got here was that swill coming out of McAllister's tavern there," Gran adds.

I hadn't noticed Gran standing in the doorway and now she jabs her thumb in the general direction of the tavern on the other side of the road, her voice sounding more emotional than I'm used to.

"It wouldn't be wise to get between mountain folk and good coffee." Gran levels a warning tone at the girl who's suddenly become aware of the crowd that's gathered outside the door.

Behind Gran, Current Jones stands beside his pregnant wife, Ginger, with more than a few others standing with them.

All the yelling must have brought them over from the pizza and brewpub next door.

At the bottom of the steps, I make out Ash and Hyacinth McAllister standing behind Ash's grandmother, Alice, who's alternating scowls between my grandmother and Kay.

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