The Magnolia Cafe(46)

Hunt glanced over at Katherine and saw that her arm was wrapped from wrist to elbow in white bandages. Keely’s mother hovered over Katherine. He could hear Mrs. Granger’s voice rise as she talked to Keely.

He finally couldn’t take it any longer and strode over to where Keely stood. He couldn’t dampen his urge to protect her.

“I told you this was all too much for Katherine. Look at the burn on her arm.” Mrs. Granger flung her arm and pointed her finger. “You were off lollygagging around with that Robichaux boy, and Katherine was here working herself to exhaustion.”

“Mother. None of this is Keely’s fault. It was an electrical fire. It could have happened when she was here,” Katherine intervened.

Hunt stood silently at Keely’s side, not wanting to enter into the family argument, but willing Keely to feel his strength.

“No, Mother is right. I should have never left you alone. It was too much. You do look exhausted.”

“That’s because I spent hours in the emergency room while they gave me this ridiculously large bandage for a minor burn. I’m really okay.”

“What if it had been worse? What if Katherine would have been trapped in here with the fire?” Mrs. Granger’s voice edged on hysteria now, laced with a burning anger. “I asked you not to leave.”

~ * ~

Keely wasn’t sure if her mother was talking about her leaving to go out of town with Hunt, or her leaving for class all those years ago when her father had his heart attack. Either way, her mother was right. She should have stayed.

“Mother, I’m sorry.” Her mother was never going to forgive her. Not for then. Not for now. A hurt, so deep in her soul that it felt like she was never going to recover, flowed through her.

“You should be sorry. It was so irresponsible and selfish of you.”

Keely blinked back tears, clinching her fists at her side. “It was. I’m sorry. I’ll get this all sorted out.”

“Hey, I’m sitting right here.” Katherine’s voice rang out strong and angry. “I was doing a fine job running the cafe. I’ve called the insurance company. A recovery company is due any minute to work on getting the smoke smell out. I’ve called the electrician and the county inspector. They’ve found the electrical problem. We’ll get it fixed and be back open in a few days, a week tops.”

Keely went from reeling from her mother’s attack—though it was justified—to looking at Kat in amazement. “You did all of that already?”

“You bet I did. I am capable, quit acting like I’m not. I know you took over everything after my accident and after Father died, but I’m here to help now. Let me.”

“I still say that this is too much for you Katherine, dear.” Her mother bent down and patted Katherine’s shoulder. Her sister stiffened and reached up to take her mother’s hand off her shoulder.

“No, Mother, it’s not. We’re going to reopen. We’re going to get the patio opened and ready for Summerfest, and with any luck we’ll have our most successful summer ever.”

Katherine took Keely’s hand. “Together. We’ll do that together.”

Just then the inspector came walking up, tapping his pen on his notebook. “I see you’re doing some construction out back.”

“We’re adding a patio area, yes.” Keely looked at the man.

“Mess with any electricity while building it?”

“No, sir.” Hunt stepped up. “I had all the utilities flagged before I started. The electrical work is already hired out to a certified electrician, but he hasn’t even started on it yet. He’s scheduled to start this week.”

“Well, a bit coincidental that the fire starting in the back wall with the construction going on.”

Keely’s heart plummeted. What if the insurance company didn’t cover the damage? How could they recover the costs to repair the damage? They’d have to postpone their plans for the patio. Then they would be right back where they were now. Without enough space. No waiting room. Locked in a downward spiral.

Kat rolled up to face the man. “I have the inspector’s report in a file in the office. He looked at the area before he gave us the building permit. You’ll see that he didn’t find anything wrong, and that the utilities were flagged.” Katherine looked up at the man defiantly.

“I just might need those records, little lady.”

“Excuse me?” Keely faced the insurance man, hands on her hips. “Little Lady? I think you meant Miss Granger.”

The man didn’t even have the decency to look sheepish. “Yeah, sure. The records?”