Free Nothing but Smoke (Fire and Rain) by Daisy Harris Page A

hadn’t existed in the ancient textile industry. The baby in her arms had curly hair.
    Nick wiped a hand across his eyes.
    “You’ve been better, though.” Nicky couldn’t drag his attention away from his mom’s menagerie on top of the TV set. When he was little, his grandma had visited and told him the name of every one of those saints. She’d passed when he was in high school, and Nicky wished so badly now that he’d paid attention enough to remember.
    “We both know that’s not true.” When his mother scooted forward on the couch, Father MacKenzie rushed to help her. His mom closed her hand around his, squeezing, though her grip wasn’t all that firm. “We’ve talked about this, Nicky. Back when I first got sick.”
    “What about Saundra? And Jessica, and Miguel. I’ll have to pay part of it out of pocket, but we can keep their rotation.” Even as he said it, Nicky knew he was being unreasonable. They’d been through all this before, crunched the numbers and looked at all the angles back when his mother’s end-of-life plan had still seemed far away.
    “You know that won’t work with your schedule.” His mother’s voice was quiet but firm with the kind of strength Nicky had heard so many times in childhood. Any time he misbehaved or his mom needed a quiet moment to herself, all she’d had to do was use that tone and Nicky knew she meant business.
    Nicky wanted to rail against her, shout at her to stay, beg her not to leave.
    “I get it.” He patted her hand, rubbing as hard as he dared on her crepe-paper skin. “It’s okay. We can start looking at places.”
    Maybe once he showed his mother what her options were, she’d realize she didn’t want to go. They’d figure out how to pay for an aide who could be at the house during Nicky’s twenty-four-hour shifts. There had to be a way Nicky could get more time off work, or take another leave of absence.
    “Actually, Father MacKenzie’s recommended something.” His mother smiled gently.
    “Good.” Nicky made his face as blank as possible. “That’s great.” He had to get out of there. Work out his anger in the pump of metal in his hands and the scream of his muscles.
    “Wonderful.” His mom relaxed onto the sofa. Her eyes drooped like the conversation had taken all her strength.
    Nicky felt like shit for making her worry. Of course he’d support her decision. “I love you, Mom.” Nicky bent over the couch to kiss her on the cheek.

Chapter Seven
    Michael still hadn’t heard back from Nicky’s mechanic about what was wrong with his engine. Stupid as it was, he kept worrying that it boded poorly for his car, and that was why he took it upon himself to clean under the espresso machine and behind the cabinets at Speedy Coffee. His nose was stuffy from the dust, but once he’d taken all the displays apart and hauled everything away from the walls, he was able to get behind the cabinets with a spray bottle of Windex and a Swiffer.
    His phone rang in his pocket, and Michael set his rag on the table to answer.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey. Um…it’s me. Nicky.”
    “Oh. Yeah.” Michael grinned. “Hi.”
    “Yeah.” Nicky cleared his throat, his voice dropping deeper. “I was just wondering if maybe… I don’t know if I could get away for as long as a movie. But maybe dinner?”
    “I’m not sure there was an invitation in there.” Michael used a paper clip to clean between keys on the cash register, cautious in his response. “And what do you mean you can’t get away?”
    “It’s a long story.”
    “I bet.” Michael had been looking forward to Nicky calling. More excited than he should have been. But he had to ask. “If you’re seeing someone, I don’t think—”
    “I’m not dating anyone else.” Nicky’s voice picked up strength. “I’ve just got a lot going on.”
    Maybe it was the annoyance in Nicky’s voice that set Michael off, but Michael had been through the ringer of I’ve been busy and there’s a lot going on