Healed

by Tess Thompson

  “What would normal be for you?”

  Pepper walked to the chair but didn’t sit. What would it be? “Light. Free. With a man who loves me. Not one of the guys I usually choose. Someone good. Someone who would be good to me. But I can’t seem to pick the right one.” An image of Stone Hickman flashed before her eyes. “There’s this guy. The type I’m talking about. One of the good guys, like Maggie and Lisa have.”

  “Tell me about him.”

  Pepper shoved her hands in her boyfriend jeans to keep them from flailing about. As she talked, she circled the room. “His name’s Stone Hickman. He’s Rafael’s best friend. A former Marine. For so long now I haven’t been able to look at a man in a military uniform without thinking about that night.”

  “Understandable.”

  “Stone likes me. Even though I’m mean to him, he’s always nice to me.” No matter how cold she was to him, the man was unrelenting in his optimism and sunny disposition. Frankly, it was baffling. He thought she couldn’t stand him, yet he never ceased to be polite and often flirtatious.

  “And you like him?” Cora asked.

  “Before I knew he was a Marine, I was instantly attracted to him. We met at a party and there was this huge spark between us. I felt drawn to him.”

  “But now?”

  Pepper rested her elbows on the back of the chair. “Now I just feel confused and conflicted when I see him.” He often looked as if he was on the verge of laughing. For some reason, this annoyed her. Often, she wondered if he was laughing at her. She suspected he found her silly. Not that she could blame him. She acted silly when she was around him. He made her edgy, nervous. She fidgeted and snarled like a trapped animal whenever he was near.

  “His military background triggers you.”

  “Exactly. I know intellectually that one has nothing to do with the other. It’s like this switch turns on, and I feel this rage. This misplaced rage. But something weird happened today.” She told the story of the SUV almost hitting Stone. “I pulled him out of danger, or he would have been killed. I saved him. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

  “I’m not sure I follow.”

  She flushed, embarrassed. “Surely it isn’t a coincidence that it was me who happened to be there? Like God has a plan or something. Maybe I’m supposed to give him a chance?”

  Cora’s gazed flickered to the small clock on the table. “I’m afraid our time is up.”

  Chapter 3

  Stone

  * * *

  Stone spent the rest of Saturday contemplating what he was going to do about his mother’s sudden appearance. After a run on the beach and a serious workout at the gym, he’d texted both his siblings to see if they wanted to meet for dinner. Kyle texted back that he was out of town for just one night. He’d taken Violet for an overnight in the city and left their four kids with the nanny. Autumn said she had plans for that evening as well. They agreed to meet Monday at Kyle’s house. Although he was anxious to speak with his brother and sister, he was relieved to let it ride for a few more days. He needed time to decide how in the hell to tell his siblings their mother had reappeared. In addition, he wanted more time to think about what he wanted to do about it.

  Instead of stewing about it, he decided to instigate a night out at The Oar with the other Wolves. Winning Sara Ness’s project was reason for celebration. They’d all agreed with much enthusiasm.

  After a shower, he wandered into the kitchen to wait for the rest of the Wolves to arrive. He’d just popped the cap off a beer when Trey entered the kitchen dressed in nice jeans and a checkered button-down shirt that hugged his trim physique.

  Stone looked down at his faded jeans. Maybe if he dressed better, he’d have more of a chance with Pepper. Nice clothes cost cash—money he didn’t have to spend on frivolity. He needed to keep his attention where it belonged. The business and saving for his own home.

  “Hey, where’ve you been all day?” Stone asked as he got up to fetch another beer for his roommate and friend.

  “I took Autumn into the city. She wanted to look for a little patio set for her deck. Everything’s on sale right now.”

  “That’s cool.”

  After working together to decorate her cottage, Trey and Autumn started spending time together perusing antiques and furniture shops in the city or cooking meals together. They acted like best girlfriends, dashing Stone’s hope that they would fall madly in love. Maybe it was just as well. Trey was bitter after his contentious divorce and claimed he would never get married again and had no interest in having children. His sister was the opposite. Although she didn’t talk about it much, he knew her greatest desire was to get married and have a family.

  Any guy would be lucky to have his gentle, smart, and pretty sister. She needed to put herself out there, but her physical scars made her shy and insecure. One of her legs was disfigured from the car accident. She never went anywhere without makeup to hide the scar on her right cheek and dressed in pants or skirts with long boots. Her former boyfriend hadn’t helped her self-confidence. She wouldn’t tell Stone exactly what went down, other than he hurt her. Stone wanted to punch the guy just thinking about him.

  Again, he wished she and Trey would become more than just friends. Trey was nice. Like the nicest guy ever. But if there was no attraction between them it wasn’t as if it would develop just because Stone wanted it to. The heart loved who it loved. Take him, for example.

  Pepper. What was she doing tonight? Maybe he’d run into her at The Oar. Damn, his thoughts were like a stupid circle that always came back to her.

  Trey took the opened beer from him and jumped on top of the counter. “You look funny. Something happen?”

  Stone sat at their table. “Very perceptive of you. I had a weird day.” Over the course of a few minutes, Stone told him about the woman and then his subsequent saving by Pepper Griffin. “She jumped on my back and pulled me out of the way. I landed on top of her.”

  “That must have been fun for you.”

  “It would have been had I not been so totally freaked out.” Stone shared his fears about the fast vehicle being connected to the woman claiming to be his mother.

  “Whoa. You think?”

  “I have no idea, really.”

  “Do you think it’s really her?”

  “I haven’t seen her since I was six, so I can’t be certain. She looks like an old lady. It’s not a stretch to think she’s probably had a tough time of it. She sounds like a smoker.”

  “Did your mom smoke?”

  “Not that I remember.” He searched the recesses of his brain, but no memory of either of his parents smoking came to mind. “Just when things were starting to gel for Autumn and me here, now this. And Kyle seems like he’s got it all together, but there’s deep pain under all that bravado. He took her leaving the hardest of all of us.”

  “Autumn told me how he basically raised you guys,” Trey said.

  “She shared that with you, huh?” Interesting.

  “Sure. We talk about everything. You wouldn’t think so, but we have a lot in common.”

  “How so?” Trey had grown up wealthy in San Diego. The Hickman kids had grown up in a trailer on the edge of someone else’s pig farm in Nowhere, Oregon.

  “We both almost died when we were in high school.” Trey said it casually, as if this were common knowledge.

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah, I got this weird blood infection. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I was months in the hospital. They told my parents to get ready to say goodbye.” He grinned. “But I guess I was too ornery.”

  Trey didn’t look ornery. He was a “boy band” type of pretty. Everywhere they went, women swooned over his light blue eyes and perfectly symmetrical face and wished he would father their children. And that nose. It was like a nose in a catalog at a Hollywood plastic surgeon’s office.

  “Like your sister, I had a long recovery,” Trey said.

  “I’d never have
guessed.” Trey was in great physical condition now, lean and fit.

  “It’s been twenty years and my mom still calls every day to check up on me. I’m thirty-four, and she still asks if I’m taking my vitamins.”

  He wished he had a mother like that.

  They were interrupted by a knock on their front door and then David Perry’s voice. “Anyone home?”

  “In here. Come on in,” Stone said as Trey jumped from the counter.

  Stone followed Trey out to the living room.

  Architect first and man second, David carried a long tube containing a set of house plans, even though this was supposed to be a fun night.

  Stone slapped him on the shoulder. “What’s up with the work stuff?”

  David flushed. “I know this is supposed to be a night of debauchery, but I just came from meeting with Sara to go over the plans.” David seemed to prefer working to playing, but the Wolves were slowly breaking him of his golden boy habits.

  “Well, what did she think?” Trey asked.

  David grinned and sighed at the same time, obviously relieved. “She loved them.”

  “You must be psyched,” Trey said. “I’m always ecstatic when a client likes my proposal.”

  “For sure.” David placed the tube on the sofa table as if it were a precious newborn baby and shrugged out of his black peacoat. “Especially Sara. She’s got that posh rich-girl vibe that scares me.”

  Stone chuckled as he took David’s coat. “She’s super sweet, though. I’ve known her since she was a pimply-faced college freshman.”

  Sara Ness was Autumn’s best friend from college. Newly widowed with a small baby, she’d hired the Wolves to build her a house on a piece of property outside of town. A huge house. Because she was richer than God—an heiress to a major fortune. Her massive wealth was their good luck. Without the personal connection to Autumn, they wouldn’t have had a chance in Hades of securing the deal. As Kyle always said—success was at least partly due to who you knew.

  David swept away a few wheat-colored waves from his forehead as he looked at his watch. “I told Lisa I’d check in on the kids before we go out, but she gave me strict orders not to. They do better if I just stay out rather than come home and leave again. Abandonment issues.” He said the last part as if it were a joke, but Stone knew he didn’t really find it amusing. His wife’s death had been hard on his young children.

  After losing his wife he’d moved to Cliffside Bay from Iowa to be near his twin, Lisa. When his sister was in town, she always offered to babysit so David could go out with the guys.

  Rafael showed up a few minutes after David. Rafael and Lisa were home for another week before leaving for a month in LA. With her filming schedule, she was gone for weeks at a time. Depending on their work commitments, Rafael went with her. As the head of finance and business operations of Wolf Enterprises, Rafael could work remotely from the apartment he shared with Lisa in LA. Stone gave Rafael a lot of credit. Being engaged to the “it” girl of Hollywood was not exotic vacations and champagne with every meal. Instead of being able to enjoy each other, Rafael was on the constant lookout for paparazzi or crazed fans. His former position as head of Brody and Kara Mullen’s security had trained him well for his new role.

  His phone buzzed with a text from Nico that he was already at The Oar and to get their butts down there ASAP.

  “I wonder how long he’s been there already,” Rafael said with a smirk. “Flirting with his favorite bar owner.”

  “I thought Nico was staying away from Sophie?” Trey asked.

  “Supposedly they’re just friends,” Rafael said. “But I think Sophie has other ideas.”

  “Not with her brother watching her every move,” Stone said. Zane Shaw and his sister, Sophie Woods, owned The Oar as well as being partners in Dog’s Brewery. Zane had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t like Nico anywhere near his sister. Which was a shame, because she liked Nico, and they had a lot in common despite their age difference. Sophie was only twenty-two. Nico was in his early thirties like the rest of the Wolves.

  The situation was further complicated because Zane and Kyle were best friends. The Wolves were grateful and reliant upon Kyle’s financial investment into their company. The tangled web of small-town life was like that. Not that Stone would have it any other way. He was a small-town boy and always would be. A man could breathe here in this little town by the sea.

  They walked together down to The Oar. The sky boasted a brilliant twilight blue that hinted of a wondrous starry night ahead. October, he’d learned since moving to Cliffside Bay, brought moderate sunny days and crisp, clear nights. Stone breathed in the brisk evening air scented with the sea and eucalyptus trees. According to the locals, a wet winter was coming. He’d heard on the news that the entire country was expected to have an early and harsh winter. Something about weather patterns and climate change, all above his comprehension. California residents up and down the state would welcome the rain, even if it meant fewer opportunities for construction. The chance for fires lessened with each day of rain.

  That said, he felt a sense of urgency to break ground on Sara’s house as soon as possible. Beating the rainy season would provide the opportunity to finish the house by spring. If they could exceed Sara Ness’s expectations, she would recommend them to her wealthy friends, and suddenly they would have a legitimate business.

  A blast of warmth hit Stone’s face as the door closed behind them. He took off his jacket, feeling hot. Too bad there were no outside tables this time of year. Even though it was chilly, he much preferred the fresh air to the manufactured heat. He tugged at his collar and breathed in the scent of grilled food and beer.

  Sophie waved to them from behind the bar. Blond, tanned, and legs for miles, she looked like the beach itself. No matter what time of year, Sophie Woods was summertime in a person.

  Nico Bentley was waiting for them at a table in the corner with his nose in a book about the planting regions of the California coast. He looked up to greet them with his typical joyful smile. The guy was never in a bad mood, always congenial and even-tempered. During their last project if anything bothered or worried him, he came right out and expressed it, making him an ideal business partner. If Stone knew what someone wanted, it made it a heck of a lot easier to give it to them.

  The Oar was quiet for a Saturday night, with about a half-dozen tables in the restaurant occupied. The bar section was full of happy weekend night drinkers. The locals liked the months between the Labor Day weekend and Memorial Day weekend. No crowds, and the drinks were half price during happy hour. The Wolves were particularly fond of the cheap drinks.

  They joined Nico at a table for six. His chair faced the bar, probably so he could keep an eye on Sophie. David plopped next to him. Stone and Trey took the seats opposite. Rafael had just lowered his muscular frame into the chair on the end of the table when a waitress who looked about twelve years old brought the menus over and passed them around. She gave them an apologetic smile. “I’m too young to serve alcohol, but Sophie will bring you whatever you want.”

  “You tell her one of us will come to her,” Nico said with a glance toward the bar. “She’s too busy.”

  “I’ll get the first few pitchers.” Rafael stood. “Couple of IPAs?”

  “Ask Sophie to pour us the seasonal one,” Trey said. “She told me it’s stellar.”

  “Please ask her to pour a glass of whatever red blend she has open for me,” Nico said.

  After the waitress left, Stone tossed a sugar packet at Nico. “She has a special bottle open for just you?”

  “If you must know, I’m here many nights for a glass or two.” Nico tossed the sugar packet across the table at Stone. “It’s merely good business to have a bottle open for one of her regulars.”

  “Yeah, but wine?” David asked. “Dude, you’re killing our reputation.”

  Nico laughed. “I don’t know what reputations we have, other than being complete losers with women.” He tipp
ed his head toward Rafael. “Except for him. Lucky bastard.”

  “Wine.” David shook his head again, as if disgusted.

  “Do I lecture you about how much sugar you put in your coffee?” Nico asked David.

  “Yes, you do.” David picked up the wayward sugar packet and wriggled it in front of Nico’s face. “And I’ll continue to have my coffee with two sugars, thank you very much.”

  “All I’m asking is that you try green tea for a week. You’ll start feeling one hundred percent better,” Nico said.

  “I feel fine.” David rubbed under his eyes. “If I could just get Laine to sleep in her own bed, I might not be so tired. She kicks all night long like she’s in a race or something.”

  “No luck, huh?” Stone asked.

  David gave a weary shake of his head. “She starts in her own bed, but the next thing I know I wake up to a hot little body next to me. By that time, I’m too tired to carry her back to her room.”

  “What about when you want to bring home a lady?” Trey asked.

  David guffawed and slapped the table. “Like that’s ever going to happen. I wouldn’t be able to stay awake long enough to make anything happen even if I could charm someone into the house of sippy cups and spilled cereal.”

  “You need a single mom. Someone who gets it,” Nico said.

  “I think my situation is a little more complicated than most women would want to be involved in. Like, what am I supposed to say when a date asks me about my late wife? She had brown hair and dealt drugs out of our minivan until she was murdered by her thug bosses.”

  The table grew silent for a few minutes.

  “Did you try the grief support group down at the church?” Trey pushed his black-framed glasses up his nose.

  “Not yet,” David said. “I tried to go the other night, but I just stood outside the door for about fifteen minutes and then turned around and went home.”

  “Baby steps,” Stone said. “Give it some time.” When he’d returned to civilian life, he’d been flummoxed by the smallest complications. Autumn had helped him start fresh. He’d moved in with her while he was studying for his contractor license. That’s when they’d decided to look for Kyle. Coming here had changed so much for him, given him a fresh start. David needed more time to heal. It hadn’t even been six months since his wife’s murder.