Page 146 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“This is crazy,” Christian said. He stood up. “I’m not sticking around for this. You’re going to hear from my attorney and I’m going to sue your crazy ass along with Kyle’s. You can’t fire me over speculation.”

“Why aren’t you going after him?” Kelsey asked when Christian stormed past her.

She looked out the front door and saw Jarrett get out of the State Police car and go right toward Christian.

“No reason to,” he said. “And I didn’t need your help.”

“But you got it,” she said, shrugging with a forced grin. “Admit it, we make a great team. Me and Frankie.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. Tighter than normal. “You put yourself at risk. Don’t do that shit again. Frankie almost blew it.”

“Because he recognized Christian?”

“Yeah,” he said. “And then you wouldn’t leave when I told you to. But I couldn’t call this whole thing off now that it was set up.”

“Sorry,” she said, wincing. “Maybe if you’d told me what was going on I would have stayed away.”

“No, you wouldn’t have,” he said.

He loosened his grip on her.

“Were you nervous about me being here?” she asked. “I wasn’t. I knew you’d take care of me.”

“I will always take care of you,” he said. “But things happen and it’s not always possible.”

“Like you wanted to take care of your mother?” she asked softly.

“Yes,” he said. “Next time I tell you to do something, please listen.”

“If you ask me nicely,” she said, “I will...maybe.”

“I guess that is better than nothing,” he said and kissed her on the forehead.

The barking got through to her and she rushed out of his arms and went to Van’s room to open the door.

Frankie came running in and jumped on Van’s legs.

Van picked the dog up. “I’ve got you too,” he said, running his hand over the puppy’s head.

“Softy,” she said. “You’re lucky I didn’t call you Jell-O.”

“Never change, Kelsey.”

EPILOGUE

Four Months Later

“It’s time to do it,” Van heard before he woke up. It was his grandfather standing next to his mother.

He hadn’t dreamed of them in months. He wasn’t surprised they’d shown up today of all days.

“I’m so proud of you, Van,” his mother said. “I always knew you’d step up and do the right thing. Be the person I should have been.”

His mother looked at his grandfather and they hugged, then started to fade away.

In his mind, it might have been the best ending he needed from the past year.

And what a year it’d been.

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