Ricochet

by Christy Barritt

  But she did.

  If he was honest with himself, he would admit to the truth in her words. Molly still hadn’t lost the ability to see through people’s facades into their hearts.

  And the last thing he wanted people to see was his wounded, battered heart. He’d put on a facade for so long, burying himself under the guise of carrying other people’s burdens. Now was the time he was supposed to be tending to his own heart—being introspective about his upbringing, about the things he’d seen in the middle of war, about the detachment he felt from people, his inability to get close.

  He hadn’t realized his own issues until he dated someone who was just like him. He’d dated Deborah for six months. They were introduced by a friend who said they’d be perfect for each other. And in so many ways, they were. But one day Nick had woken up and realized that they were too much alike. They were both so guarded that they’d never really let each other in. He’d tried to talk to Deborah about his concerns, but she hadn’t understood. They’d broken up and he’d gone to the Middle East. There, his best friend had been killed. Losing the people you loved hurt so badly... Was it even worth it? That’s when he realized he needed to step back from his role as a pastor and counselor and figure himself out first.

  Deborah, in the meantime, had found someone else to share her life with. Nick was happy for her. She deserved someone who could give her one hundred percent.

  But would Nick ever be ready to give someone one hundred percent? Or would he always hide behind his mask as a counselor, a caregiver, someone that others leaned on? His time alone had only compounded his questions. Would he ever have an answer?

  Even more reason to keep his distance from the straight-shooting, pure-hearted woman he’d at one time fallen in love with.

  Had his heart ever really recovered from Molly? He’d tried to convince himself that it had, but the truth was that he didn’t know. He hadn’t ever loved someone like he’d loved Molly. The few women who’d caught his eye had never quite measured up to Molly’s depth and compassion. She deserved someone who wasn’t emotionally closed to others. That person wasn’t him.

  He pulled into the camp, a place that had so much potential. Would God really be able to use him here? Or was this just a temporary stop on this new journey he was on? He wasn’t sure. He only knew he had to make the best of things here. He’d worry about his future later.

  Nick walked into the cafeteria and spotted Cody standing in the kitchen. As he approached the lifeguard, Nick noted the puddle of water at his feet. Cody looked up and shook his head.

  “This isn’t good.”

  Nick braced himself for whatever news he was about to receive. “What’s going on?”

  “The refrigerator’s out.” Cody held up a bag of soggy lettuce and watched as water dripped from the corners. “All of the food is no good. All of it.”

  Nick stomped over to the commercial-grade refrigerator and peered inside. He’d just used that refrigerator this morning and it was fine. Worse yet, their food delivery had just come yesterday and the appliance had been fully stocked with a week’s supply of food. Cody was correct, though. The inside wasn’t even cool anymore. How long had Nick been gone? He glanced at the clock. Five hours at the most? “How did this happen?”

  Cody shrugged and dropped the bag of lettuce into the trash. “I just got in. I came over here to grab some hummus I’d left and found this mess.”

  Nick checked the outlet. He reached behind the refrigerator and held up the power cord. “It’s been unplugged.”

  The screen door slammed shut across the building. Molly stepped inside, pulling her sunglasses atop her head as she did so. She spotted them and paced over, her hands on her hips and her eyebrows knit together in concern. “Another so-called prank?”

  A prank? Even Nick was beginning to see through that one. If this was someone’s idea of a prank, then someone had a twisted—and expensive—sense of humor. “We’ve all been gone all day today. Someone must have come in and unplugged it after we left. There’s no other explanation.”

  “I saw Wendell pulling in when I left this morning,” Cody said.

  Nick straightened and put his hands to his hips. “Wendell? When did you leave, Cody?”

  “Not long after the two of you did. Maybe an hour later?”

  “That would be about the time someone unplugged this fridge. Based on how quickly it lost its coolness, it’s been off for at least a few hours.” Nick shook his head. “We ran into Wendell earlier today. He must have stopped by right after we saw him at the hardware store. I wonder why.”

  Molly’s gaze locked on his. “Maybe he wants to shut the camp down so he can buy the land. Maybe he’s the one behind everything that’s been happening here.”

  Nick shook his head and stared at the puddle of water again. “I can’t see him being willing to sink that low. He’s more the type who will try to find a legality that will have us kicked off the property than the type who will sink low enough to vandalize the place.”

  Molly shrugged. “I’m just saying, he’s got the biggest stake right now in wanting this property. It would be smart to keep an eye on him. I think we’ve got to face the fact that someone is trying to shut this place down. The question is why.”

  Nick didn’t miss the fact that Molly said “we.” Knowing that she had his back in this whole situation brought him more comfort than it probably should. He pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the matters at hand. “The more urgent question is, how are we going to feed the campers this week? This refrigerator has been unplugged for at least five hours. We can’t use anything in here and the camp just overdrew the account when the electric bill went through.” Nick had some pay coming in from the military that he could use. But that pay wouldn’t go very far to sustaining the camp, especially with all that had been happening here lately.

  Molly nodded, a touch of determination in the action. “I’ve got some money tucked away for a rainy day. We can use that to buy some more groceries.”

  “I can’t ask you to give up your savings.”

  Molly shrugged. “God will provide. He always does. And he’s providing for the camp right now. I believe in Camp Hope Springs. I’m not going to let someone shut it down.”

  “I appreciate your positive attitude, but I can’t let you use that money. I should be paying you to be here. I can’t let you pay for the camp’s groceries.”

  “You’re not going to let me. I’m simply going to do it, whether you like it or not.” She raised her chin and locked her gaze with Nick’s.

  Nick had to suppress a smile because he knew there was no arguing with her once she set her mind to something. “You’re one stubborn woman, Molly Hamilton.”

  “No, I simply know that God provides. He’s proved that to me time and time again in my life. This instance is no exception.”

  Nick started to reply but drew his lips into a tight line instead. He wished he could have that kind of trust, but he didn’t. Would he ever?

  * * *

  Three hours later, Molly, Nick and Cody had cleaned all of the spoiled food out of the refrigerator and made a new list of everything they needed to purchase before the next round of campers arrived tomorrow. With that list in hand, Molly climbed into Nick’s truck with him, ready to head into town again and buy some food.

  “Didn’t we just do this?” Nick asked as they started down the road.

  “At least this time Cody’s at the camp to keep an eye on things
while we’re gone. It’s a shame that someone has to stay behind to watch over the property like that.”

  “And Cody’s only one person. The camp property is huge. But at least he can deter anyone from coming into the cafeteria and offices. Who knows what else someone has up their sleeve?”

  Molly pushed herself back into the seat of the truck and let her thoughts roam free for a moment. “You really don’t think Wendell would do this?”

  Nick shook his head, his hands gripping the steering wheel. “I don’t think he’s the type. He may be shrewd, but I can’t see him resorting to this.”

  “It wouldn’t be very wise of him to do it after Cody spotted him coming to the camp. But why would he come to the camp right after he’s run into you?”

  “I plan on giving him a call to find out as soon as we get back.”

  “Is there anyone else who might want to see the camp shut down?”

  Nick shrugged, the lines deepening on his forehead. “Not that I know of. Of course, I’ve only been back in town a few weeks. I have no idea what happened in the time I was in Iraq. Gene would know more than me. Prior to that, I was stationed down in Florida.”

  Molly shifted in her seat. “So what happened with Gene? I mean, what’s the story before we found the note today? I heard the general version. How about a detailed one?”

  Nick glanced over at Molly and shrugged again. “One Saturday he went into town for some supplies and he never came back. No one’s heard from him since.”

  “He left all of his things here? I mean, if someone’s going to take off on a new adventure in life, most likely they’re still going to need their clothes.”

  “Yeah, he left everything. I left all of his stuff in his quarters just the way he left it. The sheriff looked through everything, but came up with nothing.”

  “I thought it seemed suspicious before, but now I know it does. Something happened to him, Nick.”

  “My thoughts exactly. But until today there was no evidence that anything else happened to him. There’s still no evidence of where he went—no paper trail, no phone calls, no travel brochures he left behind. None of this makes sense.”

  Molly had been tempted to leave without explanation when she’d come here. The drug allegations against her—though untrue—had tarnished her reputation and planted a seed of doubt in her coworkers’ minds. The decision to come here had been impulsive. Most of her friends back in Bethesda had no idea where she’d gone. She’d simply told them she needed a change of pace. She didn’t want to tell any of them her exact location in case Derek pressed them for information. Not telling them was the simplest option because she knew how persuasive Derek could be.

  And Camp Hope Springs was certainly a change of pace.

  Before Molly could say anything else on the subject, her cell phone beeped. She had a new text message. They must be getting close enough to civilization that she actually had reception again, unlike at the camp.

  She flipped her phone open and saw the text message. Derek. Her heart sunk. She’d prayed that he would leave her alone. Hadn’t he already caused enough damage in her life?

  She braced herself for what he would say. As she read the words, her heart stammered in her chest. Come back to Maryland. Forgive me. Where R U? Can I come get you?

  “What’s wrong?”

  She flipped her phone shut before Nick could see the message. Her heart still raced from seeing the words. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”

  Nick raised his eyebrows. “Who was that message from?”

  She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. She really didn’t want to explain to Nick the headaches over the past year. “Just someone from back home. It’s nothing.”

  “Well, judging from the way your face went white, it didn’t look like nothing.”

  She squared her shoulders. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Nick finally nodded, slowly. Molly had a feeling he wouldn’t drop the subject, though. Maybe he wouldn’t ask more questions now, but he’d ask more questions sometime. Should she tell him the truth? Would he understand? Once your reputation was ruined—even if by false rumors—a bad name seemed impossible to repair.

  Thankfully, Nick didn’t ask any more questions as they pulled up to the grocery store. Molly still needed more time to process Derek’s message. Did he really think that Molly wanted anything to do with him after everything that had happened? Was he really that delusional?

  Maybe Molly would simply keep her cell phone off for the remainder of the summer. That way she wouldn’t have to worry about talking to anyone from her old job, especially not Dr. Derek Houston. She’d come here to get away from all of that.

  Her hands trembled as she rested them on a shopping cart. She saw Nick take notice, but he said nothing. Good. If he wasn’t going to share his problems with her, then she certainly wouldn’t be pouring out all of her woes to him.

  They decided to divide and conquer by splitting the list into two sections and each being responsible for half. That way they’d have enough time to pick up what they needed, pay and then head back to camp in time to sort everything and get ready for a new week.

  Had Molly really been here for a whole week already? In some ways it felt like mere days and in other ways, like she’d been here all summer. Kind of like how in some ways she felt she’d been away from Nick for a lifetime, yet at the same time, it felt like it had only been weeks. Time had a funny way of playing tricks on you like that.

  But a relationship with Nick would never be possible. Going back to him again would only prove she was just like her mom. No, she had self-respect. She wouldn’t lose that again.

  Not even for Nick White.

  SEVEN

  As soon as Molly disappeared on the other side of the store, Nick pulled out his cell phone. He couldn’t get the look on Molly’s face out of his mind. She was shaken. As if he needed further proof, the way her hands had trembled on her shopping cart was enough to make him want to pull the woman into a hug and offer to take all of her problems from her. But how could he even possibly help her if he had no idea what was going on?

  He’d pulled out Molly’s job application one night this week and noticed that she’d come here from a military hospital up in Maryland. He just so happened to have a friend he’d been stationed with over in Iraq who now worked there.

  Forgive me, Molly.

  As he dialed his friend’s number, he glanced around once more to make sure Molly was nowhere nearby. She rounded the corner on the other side of the store, and Nick knew he had a few minutes of privacy.

  “Mark Arnold, it’s Nick White.”

  “Nick White! I heard you were back in the States and out of the military now. Who would have thought? The military lost one of its best when you left.”

  “What can I say? It was time for a change. It’s good to be back home again. Listen, I have a favor to ask you.”

  “Anything. Shoot.”

  He glanced around again and lowered his voice. “I’m working with someone right now who used to work at your hospital. I need to see what you can find out about a nurse named Molly Hamilton.”

  “Molly Hamilton? That name sounds familiar. Is everything okay?”

  “Everything’s fine. I think there’s more to her story than she’s letting on. I was hoping you could find out something for me.”

  “You may not have saved me physically on the battlefield, but you saved me from myself on more than one
occasion while we were deployed. I’ll see what I can turn up.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  He hung up, satisfied that Molly was unaware of the phone call. Guilt began to nudge its way in, though. Maybe he should simply trust that Molly was here for the right reasons. When had Molly not been honest with him, after all? But his gut told him that there was more to the story and he intended to find out what. Something had her shaken, and he had a feeling it wasn’t simply all of the vandalisms taking place at the camp.

  Knowing he’d just lost some time, Nick quickly gathered everything he needed and then hurried to the registers to meet Molly. They both arrived at the same time with their carts loaded with food.

  “I think this will hold the campers over for awhile.” Molly smiled over the mounds of food in her shopping cart.

  Nick couldn’t help but smile also. “I think you’re right.”

  “If someone thinks that unplugging a refrigerator, ransacking some cabins and hacking up a sign is going to shut down the camp, they have another thing coming.”

  Nick grinned. “They have no idea who they’re dealing with, do they?”

  “Not at all. Every new thing that happens just makes me feel more determined not to let whoever is doing this win.”

  “Are you sure you’re not a good Samaritan that God sent here at just the right time?”

  Molly grinned, but the smile quickly faded. “Quite certain.” The troubled look returned to her eyes. Nick almost asked her what she was thinking, when a man appeared behind them in line. It was Richard Grayson, one of the camp’s board members. The man’s big hand clamped down on Nick’s shoulder.

  “Nick White, fancy seeing you here. Did you hear the news?”

  Nick brought his hands to hips. “What news?”