He ducked outside and closed the door behind him. A moment later the doorbell rang. All three dogs turned toward it, and Hunter said, “Answer it, Clara.”
The smaller golden retriever trotted over to the door and jumped up. With her front paws on either side of the handle, she used her chin to push it down. As she backed up, the door drifted open to reveal a very proud Trent standing there.
Hunter had no idea what to say or do. He knew the dogs made him happy, and he couldn’t help smiling. “They’re great, Trent. They must cost a lot of money.”
“Loads,” Lauren said. “So which one do you want?”
He looked at the German shepherd who’d brought him his cane, and the pretty golden retriever who’d opened the door. The third dog had laid down at Lauren’s feet, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
“I like Clara.”
“She’s yours,” Trent said, stooping to scrub down the pup. “He chose you, you lucky girl. Yes, you’re so lucky. He wants you.”
She grinned up at him and took his praise and affection, and Hunter decided that being back in Hawthorne Harbor wasn’t so bad if he could have that pretty dog at his side—and Lauren and Trent just down the street.
* * *
The next day, Lauren pulled up to the hospital, and Hunter said, “I really can go in myself,” after she’d offered to accompany him inside.
“All right.” She grinned easily at him. “Text me when you’re done. I’m on a job site only a block away, and I’ll come get you.”
“I can probably get a ride.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door, the autumn wind practically ripping the door off its hinges.
“Really?” Lauren asked. “With who?” At least she wasn’t afraid of offending him.
“I don’t know,” he mumbled.
“So text me.”
“Fine.” He slid out of her truck, it being much easier to get to his feet from a taller vehicle. He leaned into his cane and limped into the hospital, still twenty minutes early for his appointment.
Still plenty of time, he coached himself. Lots of sick people in the hospital. Hardly anyone glanced his way. You can walk. You’re alive.
He kept up the positive self-talk all the way to the elevator and up to the third floor of the hospital, where the physical therapy unit was located. He was sure they’d put it in the farthest corner of the hospital as some sort of sick joke.
An atrium sat on his right, and the hallway beside that led down to the children’s wing. A few people sat on the benches with the plants surrounding them, eating lunch. He watched them for a moment, a smile coursing through his body and crossing his face.
A woman eating with a boy sat in the corner, and Hunter’s eyes caught on them. She lifted her head, her dark, wavy hair falling over her shoulders and that oh-so-familiar smile lighting up her face as she laughed.
Alice.
Hunter’s breath caught in his lungs, and he choked. Plenty of people around to help with that, but he knew he didn’t need physical assistance to breathe.
Of course he’d run into Alice Kopp. Her family was Hawthorne Harbor natives, same as his. And he’d left her here when he’d answered his summons to enter active duty, nine years ago.
His wife.
Well, ex-wife now. That marriage had only lasted seven days before Alice had gotten it annulled. Hunter had been notified first by her and then by the court, and he’d never heard from Alice again.
But that woman was definitely her. He’d know her anywhere, as she’d been the first woman he’d fallen in love with. They’d gotten married spontaneously, sure. Irrationally, even. But Hunter had thought they could make it work.
He’d loved her. She’d loved him. That was enough, wasn’t it?
Apparently not, and one of the main reasons he hadn’t come back to Hawthorne Harbor before now was sitting twenty feet from him.
Alice wore a pair of pale pink scrubs, which meant she obviously worked here, and the child she was with was probably seven or eight years old. Probably a patient, but Hunter watched as Alice checked her watch, said something to the boy, and leaned over to hug him.
They got up together and started toward him. Hunter panicked, everything in him telling him to move. Get out of the way. Disappear somehow.
Because Alice was going to see him.
Before he could even get his good leg to take a step, she looked up and right into his eyes. She froze.
He was already cemented in place. Behind him, the elevator dinged, and he thought maybe he could just fall backward and the car doors would swoop closed, concealing him.
The boy took a few more steps before turning back and saying, “Mom?”
Mom, Mom, Mom.
The word echoed endlessly in Hunter’s head. So Alice had indeed moved on. Found someone else to marry. Had a kid now.
“Well,” a woman said, and Hunter managed to turn to look at her. Alice’s mother. She hadn’t been terribly supportive of Hunter and Alice’s youthful romance, nor their shotgun wedding.
“Westin,” Alice said, coming up beside the boy quickly. Her voice rang every bell in Hunter’s system, and a fool’s hope danced through him that they might have another chance. After all, she’d named her son after his father.
Probably a coincidence, he thought. He couldn’t even remember her mother’s name at the moment. Or his.
She’s married with a kid, he told himself as he tried to find something solid to grab onto. And you’re a lame war veteran without a job or a purpose.
Her eyes widened, and she swallowed, clearly nervous to be face-to-face with Hunter. He wondered if she felt like she was seeing a ghost, the way he did.
“Isn’t this just one big family reunion?” her mother asked, her tone slightly acidic.
“Family reunion?” Hunter repeated, looking at the older woman, who had pure white hair now—something that didn’t exist in his memory.
Karen—he was honestly shocked he remembered Alice’s mother’s name—turned to her daughter. “You didn’t tell him? You promised me you’d told him.”
Alice put her arm protectively around the boy, and Hunter’s synapses were firing like cannons. He put all the pieces together quickly, always good at puzzles.
Westin had dark eyes—like his.
Westin had his mother’s dark hair, but Hunter’s sloped nose and square jaw.
“Westin,” Alice said, her voice much higher than it had just been. “This is your father, Hunter Magleby.”
Hunter felt like he was falling. Falling forever, the way he’d been when his tank had been hit. The world spun, and he flung his arm out, trying to find something to hold onto. It hit something soft, and her mother seized his hand and squeezed it.
“Hunter,” Alice said, grounding him, centering him, the way she always had. “Um, this is your son, Westin.” She looked at the child and then back to Hunter. “Westin Hunter Magleby.”
* * *
Oh my goodness! Hunter has a son he didn’t know about, and Alice is going to have some explaining to do! Read their second chance romance in THE SOLDIER’S SECOND CHANCE, now available in Kindle Unlimited.
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Read all of Elana Johnson’s books:
Hawthorne Harbor Second Chance Romance:
1. The Paramedic’s Second Chance
2. The Chief’s Second Chance
3. The Firefighter’s Second Chance
4. The Officer’s Second Chance
5. The Soldier’s Second Chance
6. Th
e Captain’s Second Chance
7. The Sheriff’s Second Chance
8. The Sergeant’s Second Chance
Brides & Beaches Romance, Getaway Bay:
1. The Helicopter Pilot’s Bride
2. The Billionaire’s Bride
3. The Prince’s Bride
4. The Doctor’s Bride
5. The Rockstar’s Bride
6. The Carpenter’s Bride
7. The Police Chief’s Bride
Stranded in Paradise Romance, Getaway Bay:
1. Stranded with the Hidden Billionaire
2. Stranded with the SEAL
3. Stranded with the Quarterback
4. Stranded with the Cowboy Billionaire
Clean Billionaire Beach Club Romance, Getaway Bay:
1. The Brainy Billionaire
2. The Bold Billionaire
3. The Bashful Billionaire
4. The Brazen Billionaire
5. The Billionaire’s Bodyguard
6. The Billionaire’s Boyfriend
7. The Brave Billionaire
8. The Belated Billionaire
Forbidden Lake Romance:
1. The Professor’s Secret Crush
2. The Lumberjack’s Secret Guest
3. The Owner’s Secret Client
4. The Billionaire’s Secret Flame
5. The Rockstar’s Secret Weakness
6. The Biker’s Secret Girlfriend
Carter’s Cove Beach Romance:
1. Boyfriend by Mistake
2. Accidental Sweetheart
3. Bodyguard, Not Boyfriend
4. Not Her Real Fiancé
5. She Loves Him…Not
About Elana
Elana Johnson is the USA Today bestselling author of dozens of novels, from YA contemporary romance to adult beach romances. Check out her sweet romances in the Hawthorne Harbor Romance series, the Clean Beach Club Billionaire Romance series, the Beaches & Brides Romance series, the Forbidden Lake Romance Series, the Stranded in Paradise Romance Series, and the Carter’s Cove Beach Romance Series.
Find her on Facebook, BookBub, and her blog. Tap here to see all her books.
She also writes under the pen name Liz Isaacson, who is the USA Today bestselling author and Kindle All-Star Author of the Three Rivers Ranch Romance series, the #1 bestselling Horseshoe Home Ranch Romance series, the Brush Creek Brides series, the Steeple Ridge Romance series (Buttars Brothers novels), and the Grape Seed Falls Romance series, the Christmas in Coral Canyon Romance series, the Quinn Valley Ranch Romance series, and the Last Chance Ranch Romance series.
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HOMETOWN HEROES: HAWTHORNE HARBOR SECOND CHANCE BOXED SET #1
Includes Book 1: The Paramedic’s Second Chance, Book 2: The Chief’s Second Chance, Book 3: The Firefighter’s Second Chance, and Book 4: The Officer’s Second Chance in the Hawthorne Harbor Second Chance Romance series
by Elana Johnson
Copyright © 2018 by AEJ Creative Works Inc, Elana Johnson
All Rights Reserved
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Cover design by Captiva Publishing
Interior design by AEJ Creative Works Inc.
Hawthorne Harbor Box Set Page 81
