Controlled Burn Read Free

mind if I ask why you’re here? Is your visit related to the doctor calling Davey?”
    Davey? Not once in her entire life had Jessica heard her father referred to as anything but David.
    She took her time answering, assessing her options. On the one hand, it would be easy to dismiss him as a tenant who should feel free to mind his own business. But on the other, he knew hergrandparents well enough to call their son Davey and she didn’t know them at all. When it came to moving them into a better living situation and getting the house on the market, he could be her strongest ally.
    “The doctor refused to talk to me and my father is unavailable. If Joe and... If my grandparents add me to their paperwork, I can help them navigate their options.”
    After a longmoment spent staring at her as if trying to read her mind, he nodded. “I’ll introduce you.”
    When Jessica stepped down to let him go in front of her, she realized how tall he was. She wasn’t sure she had an actual type, other than a preference for men taller than she was, but circumstances had led to her last few relationships being with younger men. Judging by the hint of gray peppering hisshort, dark hair and scruff of a beard, Rick Gullotti definitely wasn’t younger. His blue eyes were framed by laugh lines, and she got the feeling he laughed a lot.
    Worn jeans hugged his bottom half, and a T-shirt did the same for the top. He’d thrown a hoodie on over it, but it wasn’t zipped—which meant he had to be crazy—so his body was well displayed. Very well.
    “How can it be thiscold already?” she asked, trying to divert her attention away from the view before she said something stupid, like asking him just how many hours per day he worked out to look that amazing.
    Rick shrugged. “It’s that time of year. It’s going to be warmer the next few days—maybe back up to fifty—and then there’s snow in the forecast. Welcome to Boston in December.”
    “Snow.” She’d gone ona ski trip once, during her college days. There had been a fireplace and alcohol and as little snow as possible.
    “I hope you brought boots.”
    “I won’t be here that long.”
    He gave her a hard look she couldn’t quite decipher and then opened the front door without knocking. She followed him in, trying to block out her father’s voice in her head.
    Crass. Alcoholic. Bad tempers. Whenshe was eleven, she’d had to do a genealogy project in school. They’re just not our kind of people, Jessica, and you’re upsetting me. I don’t want to hear about this nonsense again. That was the last time she asked about her grandparents. Her project was entirely fictional and earned her an A.
    “Rick, is that you?” she heard a woman call from the back of the house, and Jessica’s stomach twistedinto a knot. “Did you get the... Oh. You have company.”
    Jessica looked at her grandmother, emotions tangling together in her mind. Marie was tall and slim, with short white hair and blue eyes. And Jessica knew, many years from now, she would look like this woman.
    “Where’s Joe?” Rick asked, and Jessica was thankful he seemed to want them together because it bought her a few more secondsto gather herself.
    “He’s in the kitchen. Come on back.”
    When Marie turned and walked away, Jessica looked up at Rick. He nodded his head in that direction, so she followed. Other than a general sense of tidiness and a light citrus scent, she barely noticed her surroundings. Her focus was on her grandmother in front of her and an awareness that Rick Gullotti was behind her.
    Her grandfatherwas sitting at the kitchen table, working on some kind of puzzle book with reading glasses perched low on his nose. When he looked up, he frowned and then took the glasses off to stare at her.
    “I found Jessica outside,” Rick said. “She says she’s your granddaughter.”
    Marie gasped, and Jessica felt a pang of concern when she put her hand to her chest. “What? She can’t be.”
    “If