by Brenda Novak
Of course, the fact that she’d also bought condoms—and gone to the next town to do it so she wouldn’t have to look someone she knew in the eye while paying—was a little revealing. But no one had to know about that. She’d already hidden them in her purse.
As soon as she cut the engine, he strode toward her, Rifle at his heels.
“Well, would you look at that!” she said as she opened the door.
He glanced behind him. “Look at what?”
More pleased to see him than she probably should’ve been, she grinned. “Rifle is dogging your every footstep—so to speak. The two of you have become friends in spite of your ugly encounter with Spike and Sauron.”
“Who’re Spike and Sauron? The pit bulls?”
“That would be them.”
Bending slightly, he scratched behind her dog’s ears. “This is a good animal. Smart. Loyal. Eager to please.”
“I just hope he doesn’t try to go with you when you leave,” she said with a laugh. Rifle had never shown much interest in another human. She’d always come first. But he seemed to be quite taken with Levi. Although she understood the attraction, Callie couldn’t avoid feeling a twinge of jealousy. Levi possessed some indefinable quality that made him even more appealing than his handsome face and well-toned body would warrant on their own.
Levi straightened. “Doubt he’d fit on the back of my bike.”
“It looks like he’d follow you anywhere.”
Rifle seemed able to tell that he was the subject of their conversation. The tags on his collar jingled as he trotted over to lick her hand. But then he returned to Levi’s side.
“Traitor,” she grumbled.
Levi didn’t comment further on the dog’s behavior. His mind was clearly on something else. “So...you’re okay?”
She’d tried to wait long enough that the evidence of her tears would be gone, and she’d thought she’d done that, so this surprised her. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You left hours ago. I was beginning to worry.”
“That you might have to cook your own dinner?” she teased.
His hands rested on his hips, above the tool belt he’d put on. “That you might’ve run into trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” She hoped he wasn’t going to mention her pale face or her noticeable fatigue. Now that she was home, she wanted to forget about her condition, at least for a few hours. Why ruin whatever time she had left by constantly fretting? Facing reality as she’d faced it this morning had been emotionally exhausting. She couldn’t continue to carry such a heavy load. She had to rely on hope, which was what she’d been doing so far. Surely her doctor would call with good news at some point—some point soon.
“Denny and Powell came by.”
She’d just turned to get the chambray shirt she’d purchased at the Western clothing store in town. She was eager to show it to him. But at this, she froze. “They spoke to you?”
“Briefly. I think they were startled to find me here. It was obvious they expected me to be gone.”
A trickle of unease ran through her. “What’d they want?”
“They were looking for you, had something for you to sign.”
“Did they try to start anything?”
“No. They kept their distance.”
Apparently, they weren’t as dumb as they looked. But she feared they might be as mean. “What was it they had for me to sign?”
“I didn’t see it and I didn’t ask. I think it’s safe to assume it’s something that’ll save their dogs.”
“Why didn’t they have you sign it?”
“They probably knew better than to ask.”
“I can’t sign it, either.”
His biceps bulged as he folded his arms. “Maybe you should.”
Grabbing the sack she’d been reaching for earlier, she climbed out. “Why?”
“I don’t want them bothering you after I’m gone.”
“But those dogs are dangerous.” She pointed at his right arm, which had more stitches than his left. “I’m not likely to forget that, not after spending all night helping Godfrey stitch you up.”
“Maybe it was a freak incident. Maybe a noise or a smell evoked an old memory that set them off and it’ll never happen again. Dogs don’t usually attack like that unless they come from some irresponsible backyard breeder or they’ve got owners who train them to be vicious.”
“Both of those things are probably true in this case. And even if they’re not, it doesn’t change the fact that they did attack you. Did it happen on the street, without provocation, like you said?”
“Yes.”
She hugged her bags to her chest, dropping her keys in her purse as she did. “Then how can we take the risk?”
With a sigh, he squinted into the distance before returning his attention to her face. “I’m uncomfortable where Denny and Powell are concerned. They have no respect for women. They won’t let you be the only obstacle standing between them and what they want. They feel they should be able to overcome something as...inconsequential as a small-town girl who’s stuck her nose in their business.”
Outraged, she stared at him. “That’s what they said?”
“Basically they said that the night I hit Powell. If you don’t give them what they want, I’m afraid they might...retaliate. And if I’m not here to—”
She waved his words away before he could finish. “They wouldn’t be so stupid as to make a bad situation worse.”
“Prisons are full of people who are just that stupid,” he pointed out.
Her day had been bad enough. She didn’t want to think about this. “You’re worried for nothing. If they were that concerned about their dogs, they should’ve been more careful with them.”
“They don’t see that they have any responsibility in this.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that they do.” She jerked her head toward the house, indicating that he should follow her. “Come on in and get showered.”
“I can shower in the barn.”
“It’s okay. You can use my bathroom.” She smiled, somehow happy in spite of everything. “I bought you another shirt, by the way.”
“You...what?”
Because she’d expected this kind of reaction, she kept walking. “It was on sale. You won’t be able to wear it much until later in the year, since it has long sleeves, but it’s going to look great on you.”
“Callie, I’m not some stray animal you’ve found that you need to take care of....”
She raised a hand. “You’re reading too much into it. I had fun picking it out, that’s all.”
The shirt really didn’t hold any significance, she told herself. Buying it for him was a pleasant diversion, her way of helping him.
But what about the condoms?
* * *
Dinner wasn’t difficult to throw together. Callie already had her mother’s lasagna, which she couldn’t eat, so that meant there’d be plenty for Levi. She couldn’t have the garlic bread she served, either, but planned to fill up on the salad she’d made to go with everything else.
Levi, hair damp from his shower, appeared in the kitchen smelling like her beauty soap.
“Vanilla, huh?” She grinned as she heard his tread behind her but didn’t look back. She was too busy pulling the bread from the oven. “Smells good on you.”
“If I wanted to get clean, perfumed soap seemed to be my only choice.”
“You could’ve asked me for something else.” She set the pan on top of the stove.
“It’s okay. It’s not like a flowery scent. Why can’t a guy smell like homemade cookies?”
She could tell he was teasing. “At least you’re comfortable with your masculinity.”
“It seems pointless to be any other way. So...what do you think?”
After closing the oven with her foot, she turned to see that he was wearing his new shirt. She thought it was perfect. But she didn’t want to act too pleased. “It fits. Do you like i
t?”
“I do. But it’s too hot to wear tonight.”
They were experiencing higher temperatures than normal, even for summer. She had the windows open and a fan whirring in the living room, like her grandparents had always done in the warmer months. “It’ll keep.”
Rifle approached Levi, tail wagging. Her dog craved his attention as much as she did, she thought wryly.
“Hey, boy.” Levi crouched to acknowledge him. “Do I smell like Callie?”
“Maybe that’s why he likes you.”
“He liked me before.”
When he began to strip off the shirt, Callie paused to stare.
He raised his eyebrows when he noticed, and she shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to look,” she said with a laugh, but then she made herself turn back to the counter and start dishing up the food.
By the time she faced him again, he was wearing the clean T-shirt he’d brought in with him and was sitting in his usual place.
“I’m starved,” he said.
The longer she was home, the better she felt. He seemed relaxed and content, too—far more relaxed and content than he’d been when he’d awakened here last Tuesday.
“You get much done today?” she asked.
“Nearly finished the roof. That old wood was more deteriorated than I realized. I had to remove a huge section of it.”
“I’ll pay you for the extra hours.”
“There’s no need for that. I’m satisfied with our trade. I just wanted to let you know why it’s going to take longer than I expected.”
For a change, Callie was hungry. Sitting across from him, she ate instead of just watching.
“Finally,” he said.
“What?”
He motioned to her plate. “That’s the first time I’ve seen you eat.”
“Glad I could make you happy.”
“I’m easy to please.”
She thought maybe they’d fall into the silence that had marked their earlier meals, but tonight he wanted to talk. He avoided certain subjects—or perhaps she just imagined he was avoiding them because she was sensitive about asking certain questions—but he seemed willing enough to share details about the places he’d visited since returning from Afghanistan. He’d been to almost every state, appreciated something about all of them. But he was particularly enamored with southern Utah.
“Have you ever been there?” he asked.
“No. What’s so great about it?”
“There’s Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Moab and the surrounding area, which they call Canyonlands.”
“I’ve been to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We went on a long driving vacation the summer I was fourteen.”
“I like the Grand Canyon. But I already knew it would be spectacular. Southern Utah came as a surprise.”
“Did you get to do much traveling as a kid?”
“Not really.”
“You grew up in Seattle, right? Is that where your folks are?”
She knew this was a personal question, the kind she recognized as more or less off-limits. But Callie couldn’t resist. He’d helped her the entire night she’d been sick—even slept in her bed—yet she didn’t know the most basic facts about his life or background.
His hesitation made her self-conscious about having asked, but then he answered, “I don’t know where my mother is.”
“Because...”
“She took my baby sister and got out while she could.”
The food in Callie’s mouth sat there, suddenly tasteless. She took a drink of water so she could swallow it. “How old were you?”
“Ten.”
“How old was she?”
“Ellen? Or my mother?”
“Both, I guess.”
“Ellen was four. My mother must’ve been about...my age,” he said as if he was slightly surprised to make that connection.
“And you are...”
“Twenty-seven.”
Five years younger than she was, like she’d guessed. “She had you when she was seventeen?”
“Yes. My father was eighteen. They married right out of high school, when I was one.”
“But the marriage didn’t work.”
He chuckled bitterly. “No.”
She moved some of the celery from her salad around on her plate. “Why didn’t your mother take you when she left?”
A muscle flexed in his cheek. “Because she knew my father would hunt her down and kill her if she did.”
Callie set her fork to the side of her plate. She hoped he didn’t mean “kill” in its literal sense, but she got the impression he did. “Was he violent?”
“He could get physical. He was also controlling.” He shook his head. “Impossible to live with.”
“How did she get away with taking his daughter?”
Levi stopped eating, too. He seemed to be looking at his past life like something he’d buried long ago and just unearthed, something he hadn’t particularly treasured but about which he felt a mild curiosity. “He wasn’t all that excited about having a girl.”
“You meant more to him?”
“Only because I’d already shown an aptitude for martial arts.”
“Why would he care so much about that?”
“He’d always wanted to be a champion, a recognized force in the industry. But an old injury kept him from going very far in competition. So he decided to make his mark a different way. He opened his own dojo and started to train others, was determined to turn out some of the world’s best fighters.”
“And you were one of them.”
“I was winning and providing him with the championships he needed, yes.” His smile took on a bitter slant. “He was never prouder than when I took home another trophy. We barely had enough for groceries, yet he spent thousands having special cases built at the dojo just so he could display them.”
“You must’ve made him look like a great sensei.”
“He was a good sensei. He just wasn’t a good dad.”
Callie wished she could touch Levi, let him know he wasn’t as alone as he probably felt. He seemed so isolated, sitting there mired in such dark memories. “Did you like competing?”
He shrugged. “For the most part.”
The sun was going down. She leaned forward to light the candle she’d put on the table. “So why’d you join the army?”
“To get away from him.”
The flame on the end of the candle flickered and cast moving shadows on his lean face. “Was he abusive with you, too?”
“Absolutely. Nothing too bad, like broken bones, but he certainly got violent. That’s not why I left, though. I was afraid I’d turn on him someday, hurt him—maybe even kill him. I had to get out before that day came.”
Obviously, he was dealing with a great deal of anger and resentment. She’d guessed that from his situation. She just hadn’t known the cause of it. “I see.”
He nursed the glass of chardonnay she’d served him. Because of her condition, she had to avoid alcohol as avidly as she avoided salt, but she liked to keep a bottle of wine on hand for her friends. She knew they’d guess something was up if she didn’t. They’d always shared a bottle when they had dinner in the past.
“What about your parents?” he asked.
His bottom lip, wet from the wine, drew her attention. He had a nice mouth—not that she was wise to notice. That fell into the same category as buying rubbers.
“They’re great.” She got up and carried her plate to the sink. “Very loving. Just saw them today.”
“Any siblings?”
“Nope. I’m an only child. Due to fertility problems, my parents had me late in life. I’m their ‘miracle,’ the answer to their prayers.” She indulged in a sentimental smile. “They’ve doted on me my whole life.”
“Doesn’t seem to have spoiled you.”
“I don’t think you can ruin anyone with love.”
For a few seconds, only the water running in the sink and the thump of Rifle’s
tail hitting the floor where he lay in the corner broke the silence.
“So...what’s the hardest thing you’ve ever dealt with?” Levi asked.
She almost laughed. He’d said that as if he expected her to struggle for an answer. He’d grown up without a mother, and he’d had an abusive, controlling father. Then he’d gone to war and, if those names on his arm were as significant as she assumed, he’d watched several of his friends die. But at least he’d survived. At least he was finished staring death in the face and now had his whole life ahead of him.
“You can’t think of anything?” Levi prompted when she didn’t reply.
Not that she wanted to share... “I guess I’d have to say...what I’ve done with Kyle.”
“You wish you hadn’t slept with him?”
She shut off the water and turned toward him. “It was a mistake.”
“Because...”
“It didn’t happen for the right reasons.”
He seemed to consider that. “Why’d you do it?”
“A number of factors led up to it.”
Leaning back as if he was all set to listen but skeptical he could be convinced, he folded his arms. “Like...”
“A lack of options, for one. This is a small town.”
“That means you have to sleep with your friends?”
She flushed at his facetious tone. “No, but there aren’t a lot of romantic options here. So we’ve got two close friends, male and female, spending a great deal of time together in a town where there aren’t that many people to date. The guy has just come through a nasty divorce and is reeling from it. The woman knows he needs love and attention and that he’s everything she should want.”
Levi balanced his chair on its back legs. “Basically, you considered him.”
“I what?”
“You thought you might like to become more than friends.”
She dried her hands on a dish towel before tossing it aside. “I think he and I both felt that way at various points. It would’ve made life so easy if we could fall in love. We’re ready to settle down. We want children before we get too much older. We know the other is a good person, a trustworthy person. The only problem is that the nature of our love didn’t change just because we went to bed together.”
“So why can’t you forget it? You tried. It didn’t work. Move on.”
