Kerrigan looks put out, so I suggest a treat from the soda fountain. Grandma perks up at the idea.
"Nothing better than eating your feelings," she announces, jostling Kerrigan with her elbow.
Grandma orders a sarsaparilla float and swears it tastes just like the one she used to get at the ice cream shop in Olive Township when she was a teenager. "That was where I met your grandfather," she tells us, dipping the long-handled spoon deep into the tall glass.
"What did he look like?" Dom asks, taking the spoonful of chocolate ice cream and caramel sauce I scooped. Just when I think he's going to place it in his mouth, he feeds me instead. The sweet sting of sugar, the burst of cold from the spoon, and Dom's warm eyes on mine. Heady combination. Surrounded by my family, but still my toes curl in my sandals.
He slowly drags the spoon from my mouth, scoops up a bite for himself, and places it upside down on his tongue. I look away. I cannot watch that spoon slide from his mouth. Combustion will most certainly occur.
"Your grandpa worked there," Grandma says, launching into her story with that fuzzy look of nostalgia. "Wore a pageboy cap and vest. It was their uniform, but it looked better on him than it did on the other employees. I went in when I knew he'd beworking, but Tessa Bredesen was already there. She liked him, too."
"What did you do, Grandma?" Kerrigan asks around the extra-wide straw of her chocolate malt.
"What any self-respecting young lady of that era would've done. I yanked that bitch back by the scruff of her neck and tossed her out." Grandma jerks her chin and thumbs sideways. "Louis was mine, and that was that."
"Grandma, are you telling the truth?" Kerrigan asks, wide-eyed.
Grandma winks. "Anything can be true, as long as you tell the story with your chest."
"So it's not true?"
Grandma shrugs. "I didn't say that."
We're laughing when Kerrigan turns to Rainbow and says, "Sorry about my brother. He doesn't mean to be so rude."
"Sure he does," Grandma argues. "He could really use a woman. Someone to put him in his place once in a while, and provide him with an outlet, if you know what I mean."
"He had Daisy," Kerrigan points out.
"Daisy was Duke's fiancée," I explain to Dom. "They broke up at the wedding. It was super dramatic."
Dom blinks. "That's terrible."
"Objectively, yes," Kerrigan says. She wipes at the corner of her mouth. "But there was someone else for Daisy, and it would've been a mess if they didn't realize it first."
Rainbow nods sagely. "Duke's bad energy is making more sense now. He had his heart broken."
"I don't think so." Kerrigan shakes her head. "Daisy was a good match for Duke on paper, but they were more like friends than lovers. The Hamptons and Daisy's family go back a long way. Like,generations."
"Don't get me started on my father-in-law's—God rest his soul—childish feud with Byron St. James." Grandma rolls her eyes. "Those two families were always going at it. It was entertaining."
Dom's phone rings, and he looks around with an apology. "It's one of my authors. I need to take this."
He steps onto the old-timey Tombstone street, phone against his cheek.
"He's a doll, Cecily," Grandma says, watching him through the large front window. "It's obvious he loves you."
"Oh yes," Rainbow chimes in. "You can feel it in his energy."
"Sort of how you felt Duke's broken heart in his energy?" Kerrigan teases.
"Say what you want, but that man has a sadness about him," Rainbow defends. "If it's not from a broken engagement, it's from something else."
She and Grandma share a look, one that says they've discussed this before. What else do they discuss? Is Rainbow my grandma's confidante? Does she know her secrets? Her fears?
Big Nose Kate's Saloon is where Grandma chose to end our day in Tombstone.
The floor is a warm-colored parquet, with a bar running the length of one wall. Colorful strands of Christmas lights shine off bottles of booze. An old man wearing a red bandanna around his neck plays the harmonica in the corner. His setup is simple, just a chair and microphone.
