Free Framed and Burning (Dreamslippers Book 2) by Lisa Brunette

die.”
    “I never knew that.”
    “God, it’s unfair. And it won’t get any fairer or make any more sense no matter how much time passes.”
    “I know how you feel.”  
    He looked up, about to lay into her because there was in fact no way this spit of a girl who’d only lived a fraction of his existence could know how he felt. But he bit his tongue. She was looking at him, as if she were really seeing who he was.
    “I thought you might’ve killed Donnie. At first. That dream you had…”
    “I wondered about that. But you haven’t turned me over to Alvarez.” He meant it as a joke, but neither of them laughed.
    “Well, I couldn’t. I mean, I keep blowing Lee’s head off in my own dreams.”
    He remained quiet.
    “Besides,” she continued. “You’re dreaming it all wrong. That can of gas in your dream? That wasn’t the accelerant. If you were guilty, I’d think you’d dream it the way it actually went down. So why can’t you give an alibi?”
    “It’s complicated,” he said, looking away. And then, both to change the subject and because he really wanted to know, he said, “Tell me about your Ranger.”
    Cat swallowed. “He believed in American freedom as something that needed to be protected. He came from a long line of military men, too, and he wanted to do them proud.”
    Mick gazed at his niece. Pris had said the loss was really hard for Cat to bear, that she’d loved the man, but it was submerged beneath a blanket of control. The girl seemed to be whitewashing her grief, convincing herself she hadn’t loved that boy, and yet here she was, practically canonizing him.
    “Really? I mean, what is he, like Captain America or something?”
    Cat looked up at him, surprised. “Yeah, he kind of was.”
    “Well, so were you going to marry him? I mean, superhero and all.”
    Cat stood up and sat back down on the couch, where she’d been sitting when he came in. Her movement caused a stack of papers to fall to the floor, but she ignored them.
    “Why do you ask me that?”
    “Because you’re talking about him like he’s a character in a movie.”
    Cat stared at Mick, her arms crossed over her chest.
    “You’d never have married that guy.”
    “I’ll never find out now, will I?” Cat said, her face getting red. “I don’t know!”
    “There we go,” said Mick, pointing a trigger finger at her. “Bingo.”
    “The possibility ended when he died. I don’t know what I would have done. But he had to be so goddamn brave , jumping out there in front of me to save my life—” Cat broke into tears. “Stupid bastard,” she whispered.
    “You’re angry,” Mick said, stating the obvious, which he felt needed to be stated. “But you didn’t kill that guy.”
    “It’s my fault he died!”
    Mick was silent for a few beats, letting that one reverberate around the room.
    “You no more killed Lee Stone than I killed Donnie Hines. You’re lucky that guy didn’t get mowed down in Iraq, sweetheart. Here’s the deal. There’s no guarantee. Life is kind of meaningful, in small moments, and then you can just up and die without warning. It’s cruel, but that’s how it goes.” He felt his words came from a place of wisdom inside himself that he rarely tapped into in a verbal way, usually reserving it for expression through color and shape.  
    “Yeah, well, I’m done with romance, Uncle Mick. That’s it for me. I can’t do it.”
    Mick laughed. “None of us can do romance, Cat. But you can’t be done with it. It’s one of the few things we’ve got down here to make sense of a world that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
    “Well, what about you? You’re alone.”
    The word hit Mick like a punch in the chest. He was alone. That’s exactly why his alibi was shit. And Donnie’s death made him feel much lonelier. “Eh, I’m old, sweetheart. Romance is for you young’uns.”
    “What a cop-out.”
    Mick felt rightfully called to the carpet. “It’s tough, when you’re old and busted.