The Marine's Road Home

by Brenda Harlen

  “If the neighbors complain, I’m going to have to put up a real fence—or keep you on a leash,” he warned her now.

  Molly’s tail waved in the air.

  “And who’s this?” Jake asked, as another creature emerged from under the lowest fence rail, apparently having followed Molly home. He dropped to his haunches and held out a hand for the miniature ball of fluff. “Hey there, little guy.”

  The pup sniffed his hand, then gave his finger a tentative lick, its little tail wagging its whole back end when Jake gently stroked the underside of its chin.

  “She’s a girl.”

  Jake glanced up to see another girl—this one of the human variety—climb over the fence.

  Not a child but a teenager, he guessed. Maybe thirteen or fourteen, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore a Foo Fighters T-shirt over a pair of faded denim cutoffs with thong-style sandals on her feet to show off toenails that were each painted a different color.

  “And—” the human girl continued, wagging her finger at the pup “—Rey is a very bad girl.” Then she looked up at Jake again, offering a shrug and a smile. “We’re still working on heel and stay. By the way, I’m Ashley Gilmore.”

  “Jake Kelly,” he told her.

  “You’re Mr. Ferguson’s nephew right? From California? I heard you’d moved in, but I haven’t seen you around town,” she continued, without giving him a chance to respond. “What do you think of Haven so far?”

  “I haven’t seen too much of it,” he admitted.

  She rolled her eyes. “There’s not much to see.”

  He couldn’t help but smile at that.

  “What’s your dog’s name?” she asked now.

  “Molly.”

  “She’s a Lab?”

  “Mostly.”

  “How old is she?” Ashley wanted to know.

  “Almost three years.”

  “Rey’s only three months.”

  He frowned. “I thought you said your dog was a girl.”

  “Not R-A-Y but R-E-Y, like the main character in the latest Star Wars trilogy,” she explained. “I’m not a huge fan of the movies, but Rey had her name before I got her. Princess, her mom, was a pregnant stray who snuck into the horse stable at the Silver Star—that’s my cousin Patrick’s dude ranch—but she had trouble delivering her babies, so Patrick rushed her to the vet clinic in town and Brooke did an emergency C-section and her son Brendan named all the puppies after Star Wars characters and now Patrick and Brooke are engaged. They haven’t set a date for the wedding yet, but it probably won’t be before Caleb and Brielle’s wedding reception.”

  And then, before he could ask—or even decide if he wanted to know—she continued, “Caleb is my brother—well, my half brother, because we have the same dad but different moms. And Brielle is his wife, but she’s also my cousin. They got married at the end of high school, but then Gramps literally had a coronary when he found out that his granddaughter had married a Gilmore.”

  “Do you mean literally in its true sense or are you using the new definition of the word?”

  “I mean literally in its true sense,” she assured him. “He almost died and had to have a triple bypass.”

  “So what was the big deal about—wait, didn’t you say your name was Gilmore?”

  She nodded. “It is now, but back then I was a Blake and Gramps had no idea that David Gilmore was my father. Probably because my mom knew that if she told him, her father would have a heart attack.”

  He was still trying to put together the pieces of information she’d revealed about her family.

  “So are you related to Sky Gilmore?”

  Ashley nodded. “Skylar’s my sister. Half sister,” she clarified again. Then her gaze narrowed. “How do you know Sky?”

  “I don’t really,” he said. “But I’ve been into Diggers’ a few times when she’s been working behind the bar.”

  “Our dad hates that she works there.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he didn’t pay for a fancy college degree so that she could pour beer at the local watering hole,” Ashley said.

  He was curious to know what course of study had resulted in her fancy degree, but he didn’t ask. He didn’t want to appear to be taking too much of an interest in his uninvited visitor’s sister.

  “Anyway,” the girl continued, “Brie blamed herself for Gramps ending up in the hospital, so she filed for divorce and moved to New York City to go to college but Caleb never signed the papers and now they’re together again and they just had a baby a few weeks ago. His name is Colton and he’s absolutely adorable.”

  “So your cousin’s son is also your nephew,” he said.

  Her head bobbed again.

  “It really is a small town, isn’t it?” he mused.

  “You have no idea,” she told him, with such heartfelt emotion he had to fight against the smile that wanted to curve his lips. “I thought it was bad when me and my mom lived in town, but since we moved out to the ranch, it’s even worse. I think they finally gave in and let me get a puppy because there is no one to hang out with and nothing to do.”

  “A dog can be good company,” he agreed, certain that he wouldn’t have made it through the past two-and-a-half years without Molly by his side.

  “The instructor at obedience school said puppies should have the chance to play with other dogs, too, to learn social skills,” she said. “And Rey really seems to like Molly.”

  He could hardly deny it. Not when Molly was sprawled on the grass and letting the puppy crawl over her.

  “Is this her ball?” Ashley asked, picking up a tattered tennis ball.

  “One of many,” he admitted.

  “Does she fetch?”

  “She would fetch all day if someone was willing to throw for her.”

  “Maybe she could teach Rey how to fetch.” Ashley drew back her arm and let the ball sail through the air.

  Molly immediately took off after the projectile and Rey, startled by her canine pal’s sudden abandonment, chased after her.

  “You’ve got a pretty good arm,” Jake noted.

  “I’m gonna play on Diggers’ softball team with my brother and sister someday,” she said. “But I’ve gotta be eighteen before I can try out.” Her wistful expression lifted when she saw Molly trotting back toward her.

  The dog dropped the ball at Ashley’s feet and sat, waiting patiently for the girl to throw it again.

  Jake knew he should nudge his visitor along. He didn’t want to gain a reputation for welcoming uninvited guests. But she was just a bored kid, happy to throw a ball for his dog, and since Molly was obviously happy, too, Jake saw no reason not to let Ashley stay a while longer.

  Rey quickly tired out chasing after the bigger dog. When the tiny fluff ball collapsed by Jake’s feet, he couldn’t resist scooping her up. She snuggled contentedly in the crook of his arm, exhaled a weary sigh and promptly fell asleep.

  Ashley glanced at the oversize face of her Apple Watch as Molly dropped the ball at her feet. “I have to go,” she said, sounding sincerely regretful. “Exams start next week and my friend Chloe’s coming over to study with me.”

  Jake nodded and exchanged the pup he held for the slobbery ball in Ashley’s hand.

  Molly looked at him expectantly, obviously wanting him to take over the game her new friend had abandoned.

  “Done,” he said firmly.

  The dog looked at Ashley.

  “Done,” she echoed.

  Resigned to the fact that playtime was over, Molly stretched out on the ground.

  “Maybe I could bring Rey over to play with Molly again sometime?” Ashley suggested hopefully.

  Jake sincerely doubted that he could stop her, and yet he felt compelled to caution. “I don’t know that your parents would approve of you hanging o
ut here.”

  “They won’t mind, so long as they know where I am.”

  He wasn’t entirely sure that was true, but he wasn’t going to argue the point with her.

  “So...can I?” she pressed.

  “If you come by and Molly’s in the backyard, I don’t think she’d mind playing with Rey,” he decided.

  Ashley rewarded him with a radiant smile. “You know, socialization is important for people, too.”

  Though he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, he felt he needed to be honest with her. “I’m not sure how long I’m going to be in town, but I wasn’t planning on making friends while I was here.”

  The girl shrugged philosophically. “I’ve learned that sometimes the best things in life come along when we’re not looking for them.”

  Chapter Three

  On Saturday, Sky headed into town to Diggers’ again. But this time, instead of work, she was there for lunch with Alyssa Channing.

  The high school math and science teacher had moonlighted as a bartender a couple of years earlier, before falling in love with and marrying Jason Channing. Though Sky had only worked with her for a short while, they’d remained friends, even if Sky’s various jobs and Alyssa’s new roles as wife and mother made it challenging for them to get together.

  After placing their orders, Sky scooped her friend’s seven-month-old daughter out of her carrier and cuddled her close. “I can’t believe how much Lucy’s grown since I last saw her.”

  “You haven’t seen her in almost three months,” Alyssa pointed out. “And babies grow fast.”

  “Why do you sound sad?” Sky wondered.

  “Because as fast as she’s growing, she’s still just a baby... I can’t bear the thought of leaving her in the care of a stranger when I go back to work in September,” her friend confided.

  “It was hard for my sister, too,” Sky told her. “There were several times, in the first few months, that Kate went to court with the baby strapped to her body.”

  Alyssa chuckled. “Unfortunately, I can’t imagine my principal allowing that—especially not in the chemistry lab.”

  “I would guess not,” Sky agreed, as her cell phone chimed with a message. She glanced at the screen, more out of habit than interest, because she had no intention of letting anything distract her from catching up with a friend she hadn’t seen in far too long.

  But worry dropped like a lead weight into the pit of her stomach when she recognized the number and read the brief words.

  Can we talk?

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized to Alyssa. “I have to make a quick call.”

  “Of course,” her friend immediately agreed, understanding the nature of Sky’s job as a counselor required her to be available when her clients needed her—and that wasn’t often during regular office hours.

  Sky returned Lucy to her mama’s arms and slipped away from the table, ducking into the alcove by the restrooms where it was a little quieter and she could give her full attention to the conversation with Jodie Dressler.

  It had always been Sky’s plan to work with kids struggling with grief, to help them cope. But to specialize in such a narrow field would have required her to move away from Haven to a much larger city. Maybe it was the loss of her own mother at a young age, exacerbated by the fear of losing her father, too, when he’d suffered a heart attack eighteen months earlier, that made her cling to the family she had left. Whatever the reason, she’d opted to stay in Haven and use her education and training to help wherever she could. Currently that entailed working a couple of days a week as a teen counselor at the local high school and being on call to counsel victims of abuse at a nearby women’s shelter.

  Sky had met Jodie at the local high school, where she had office hours two days a week. For the past few months, she’d been teaching the teen positive conflict resolution strategies to help with tension at home. And Jodie had been making good progress, until her mom decided to get back together with an old boyfriend, introducing a whole new source of friction into their already contentious relationship.

  “What’s going on?” she asked when Jodie answered the call.

  Jodie’s muffled sobs told Sky that the teen was sincerely distressed, and she struggled to piece together the few words that she could decipher through the girl’s tears.

  “Where are you now, Jodie?” she asked gently.

  “I’m at the p-park...with Mason.”

  “The park by your house?”

  “Uh-huh.” She sniffled. “I d-didn’t know where else to g-go.”

  But she’d gotten out of the house, away from her mother’s boyfriend, Leon Franks, who was suddenly paying more attention to Jodie than her mom.

  “Stay where you are,” Sky instructed. “I’m on my way.”

  “Th-thank you.”

  Sky disconnected the call and returned to the table where she’d left her friend. “I’m sorry,” she said again.

  “Don’t be. I already asked Deanna for a takeout container.” Alyssa gestured to the compostable clamshell on the table beside the plated burger and fries. “When it wasn’t a quick call, I figured you might have to go.”

  “You figured right,” Sky said, reaching into her purse for her wallet.

  Alyssa waved her away. “Go. I’ve got this.”

  “Next time it’s on me,” Sky promised, giving her friend a quick hug and dropping a kiss on top of Lucy’s head.

  After almost three years spent working with teenagers, Sky had mostly learned to distinguish between what was real and what was imagined. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t make mistakes or take missteps, but when she erred, it was always on the side of protecting a child.

  She’d just pulled onto the highway when her low-fuel indicator dinged. She glanced at the display: 35 miles to empty.

  Muttering a curse under her breath, she quickly calculated the length of her journey. She was headed in the opposite direction of the gas station, but it was less than fifteen miles to Jodie’s house, and only a quarter mile more to the park where the girl had said she’d be waiting. She had more than enough gas to make it there and back again.

  Of course, she hadn’t anticipated that Jodie’s mom’s boyfriend might come looking for her, prompting the girl to leave the park with her boyfriend. Or that they’d drive to a local fast-food place another five miles away. They met there to figure out a plan of action and, after Mason left for his part-time job, Sky drove Jodie to her aunt’s house, where she would spend the night. Though Leon Franks hadn’t yet crossed any lines that warranted reporting, Jodie’s discomfort around him was enough of a red flag for Sky that she decided to nudge her brother-in-law the sheriff to look into the man’s background.

  After the teen was settled, Sky finally turned back toward her own home. She eyed the low-fuel light warily but, based on her rough estimate, figured she still had enough left in her tank to get to the Pump & Go.

  Eight miles from the gas station, Sky discovered that she was wrong.

  * * *

  Molly loved to ride in the truck, but she didn’t love having to stay in the truck when Jake ran errands, so he usually left his canine companion at home when he went to do his weekly grocery shopping. Of course, she heard him swipe his keys off the counter and immediately lifted her head, a hopeful look in her big brown eyes.

  “Didn’t you have enough excitement making friends with Rey and playing fetch with Ashley today?”

  Her ears perked up in response to the word fetch, but she didn’t get too excited because she could see that he didn’t have a ball in his hand.

  “All right,” he relented. “I should be quick today, so you can come along if you want.”

  Molly’s tail thumped against the ground, more tentative than enthusiastic.

  Chuckling to himself, he spoke the words he knew she’d understand. “Do you wanna go for a ri
de?”

  She immediately sprang to her feet and made a beeline to the back door.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said.

  Molly raced ahead of him to the truck.

  When he opened the door, the dog immediately leaped onto the seat and took up her favorite position by the passenger window, her nose against the glass, her tail wagging.

  Jake slid behind the wheel for the trip to Battle Mountain, lowering the passenger side window several inches for Molly.

  There was a grocery store in Haven, of course, and he’d stopped in at The Trading Post a couple of times when he’d only needed to pick up one or two items. What he’d learned from those brief visits to the store was that that staff were overly friendly and chatty—not unlike Diggers’ sexy bartender, though no one behind the deli counter or at the cash registers had stirred his interest the way Sky Gilmore did. In any event, those visits had cemented his resolve to get his supplies in Battle Mountain, where nobody knew his name or even cared who he was.

  He’d just turned onto the highway when he spotted an SUV off to the side of the road with its hood up.

  Actually, Molly had spotted the vehicle first and barked to draw his attention to it. She was always excited by the opportunity to meet new people.

  Jake didn’t want to stop. Besides, Haven being the kind of town where neighbors looked out for one another, he was fairly certain that if he continued on by, the next vehicle to come along would stop to offer assistance to the stranded driver. The battle between his desire not to get involved and his instinct to help someone in trouble was a short one.

  “We’ve got groceries to buy,” he reminded the dog, but his foot was already moving from the accelerator to the brake pedal. “And your favorite kibble is one of the items on my list.”