“I ordered plenty of food, and we have enough paper plates to feed an army.” He sliced a club sandwich in half and laid the two halves on a plate. “And I had you pick up enough trash bags to clean up after that army.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “We haven’t had this big an event here since…well, since I can’t remember.”
JoJo stuck her head through the swinging door. “Got some hungry guys out here. Are you gonna bring those plates out, or do you need me to take them? And I need you back behind the bar, RJ. Got an order for two bottles of Guinness, a double whiskey on the rocks and ginger ale for the designated driver.”
“Got it. I’ll be right out. Wait, JoJo. Did you know that we’re having a big public barbecue on Friday, and that we’re hosting a politician and his campaign staff for the rest of the week?”
JoJo nodded. “Yeah, and you and I are taking the campaign staff on an ATV tour on Saturday.”
“What?” RJ said.
“Here, let me get that tray.” JoJo crossed the kitchen floor, scooped up the tray, balanced it on her shoulder and pushed through the swinging door out into the dining room.
RJ planted a fist on her hips. “Why is it I’m the last one to know?”
Gunny grinned. “Sometimes, you just get a little bit too wound up with planning, girl. Besides, you operate better under pressure.”
Max had to clamp down hard on his teeth to keep from smiling at the look of disgust on RJ’s face.
“What would you do if I walked out of here right now and quit?” she demanded.
Gunny grinned. “You won’t. You love me too much.”
She glared at her father for another second, and then the frown slipped, and her forehead smoothed. “It’s a damn good thing I do love you. I also know why you haven’t remarried since Mama died. No other woman would put up with this.”
Gunny wadded up a dish towel and threw it at RJ. “Go back to work, girl.”
RJ gave her father a stern look. “We’re talking later.”
“I’d planned on it. I thought we’d talk through the event at dinner and lay out plans.”
RJ pointed a finger at her father. “I’m taking away your phone privileges.”
“Ha,” he said.
RJ spun and left the room.
Max chuckled. “You two have a special relationship.”
Gunny’s grin faded. “Yes, we do. I love my daughter more than life itself, but there are days when she looks so much like her mother that it hurts. After her mother died, I didn’t think I could love anyone as much as RJ. Then JoJo came along. She’s like a second daughter to me. I love that little spitfire and would hate to see anyone hurt her.”
“The two of them are very capable young women. I know they make you proud.”
Gunny nodded, and then pinned Max with a hard stare. “You two seemed to have hit it off at the Sadie Hawkins dance the other night.”
Max’s brow dipped. “I don’t know about hit it off. I might have stepped on her toes a couple times during the dance. She doesn’t seem too interested. In fact, I’d said she’s a little skittish around men.” Max rubbed the back of his head where a knot was forming from his altercation with the feisty JoJo.
“That JoJo. Something bad happened to her while she was on active duty.” Gunny’s lips pressed together. “She won’t talk about it. While she was deployed, she used to call often, whenever she could get internet access. Then she went a couple weeks without contact. I was getting worried. I was about to call the Red Cross to see if they could get in touch with her unit and find out what was going on. I tried text messaging her. I tried e-mailing her, even RJ tried both and nothing. And then we got a call from a doctor at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. He said that one of his patients wanted to talk to me and RJ. She had been in the hospital, and we didn’t even know it. Because we weren’t family, they wouldn’t release any of the details to us. All we were told was that she had sustained a head injury, and she might have some troubles with her memory, but that she’d remembered enough to call us when she came to.”
Max’s chest tightened.
“They medically discharged her from the Army with TBI, traumatic brain injury. When they shipped her home, we picked her up from the airport. We’re pretty much the only family she has. Her father deserted her family when she was just a baby. Her mother died before she graduated from high school.” Gunny shook his head. “Why she entered the Army, I don’t know. She should have gone into the Marines.”
Max scowled. “Hey.”
He held up his hands. “No offense.”
“None taken.”
“You damn Army pukes are too sensitive.” Gunny grinned. “But you make one hell of a sandwich. Why don’t you take those two plates out to JoJo and let her serve her customers? Maybe if you talk to her enough, she’ll open up about what happened to her. She sure hasn’t opened up to me or to RJ, but she’s seeing a friend of ours at the VA Hospital. A therapist. I really hope it helps. In the meantime, go easy on her. She must have gone through hell.”
Max scooped up the plates of sandwiches and carried them out to the dining room, almost bumping into JoJo who was heading into the kitchen.
“Oh good,” she said. “I was looking for those.” When she took the sandwiches from his hands, their fingers touched.
A jolt of electricity shot up his arms and spread warmth throughout his chest.
JoJo’s eyes widened, and her pupils flared. If Max hadn’t still been holding onto the plates, she would’ve dropped them. Her hands fell to her sides.
“Are you okay?” Max asked.
She looked down at her hands, and then back up at him.
