The Marine's Road Home

by Brenda Harlen

  Either way, the current situation was no one’s fault but her own.

  She backed out of the driveway, but she couldn’t resist turning her head for one last glance toward Jake’s house and saw Molly at the window. Well, at least the dog seemed disappointed to watch her go.

  * * *

  He’d totally blown that.

  As Jake stood in the kitchen, staring at the door through which Sky had recently exited, he acknowledged that there were countless other things he could have said or done to communicate his desire for her to leave without resorting to the blunt words he’d used. But when he’d returned to his bedroom after discarding the condom and saw her temptingly naked body sprawled on top of the tangled sheets, he hadn’t wanted her to leave at all. What he’d wanted then was to get back into bed with her for an encore performance—Hot, Sweaty Sex, Part Two.

  But he was afraid that if he gave in to that desire, he wouldn’t want to let her go.

  And the one thing he knew for certain was that he couldn’t let her stay.

  Molly turned away from the living room window and padded into the kitchen. She sat at his feet, looking up at him with big brown eyes filled with sadness.

  “I know,” he said, acknowledging the truth aloud. “I blew it.”

  She tilted her head, as if to let him know that she was listening, although her understanding seemed to be limited to the words walk, run, ride, fetch and dinner.

  “Of course, I blew it,” he continued. “I’m not ready for a relationship. I barely know how to have a conversation with regular people anymore, never mind interact on a deeper level.”

  Except that he’d had no difficulty interacting with Sky in his bedroom, and on a very deep level. But he knew he shouldn’t feel too proud about that, because the way she’d kept her gaze averted as she gathered up her clothes and dressed, he didn’t think he was likely to ever see her naked again.

  “It’s pretty sad, isn’t it, when the most meaningful conversations I have are with my dog?”

  Molly tilted her head so far over, he was afraid she was going to end up with a kink in her neck.

  “Especially when you’re just hanging out with me because you want your dinner,” he noted.

  Recognizing the word dinner, Molly immediately sprang to her feet and danced over to her bowl.

  Jake measured out her kibble and dumped it into the bowl.

  Then he turned on the oven to heat up a frozen pizza for himself, wishing—for the first time in a long time—that he had someone to share it with.

  * * *

  When Sky got back to the Circle G, she found Ashley at the kitchen table, gluing letters onto a poster board.

  It had taken some time for Sky and her siblings to accept that they had a half sister, and longer still for them to acknowledge that their father had real feelings for his youngest daughter’s mom. Not just because he’d grieved the death of his first wife so deeply and for so long, but because Valerie was a Blake and the Gilmore-Blake feud was the stuff of legends in Haven, Nevada, with tangled roots that went back five generations.

  Now David Gilmore and Valerie Blake were married and Ashley was sleeping in the bedroom across the hall from Sky. And while it had been a surprise to Sky to discover that she had a little sister, she was enjoying getting to know Ashley.

  “Homework on a Saturday night?” Sky asked her now.

  Ashley nodded. “It’s for book fair, and it’s worth thirty percent of my final grade.”

  “How’s it going?”

  The teen made a face. “Me and Chloe are supposed to be working on it together, but she left.”

  Sky opened the fridge, took out a can of cola. “Do you need a caffeine boost?”

  “Sure, thanks.”

  She grabbed a second can and carried both to the table.

  Ashley popped the tab on her drink, and a furry head popped up from her lap.

  “You’re not supposed to have the dog at the table,” Sky felt compelled to remind her.

  “But there’s no food at the table,” Ashley said, a point that seemed to remind her: “Although Martina made a plate for you—it’s in the oven.”

  “I guess I missed dinner, didn’t I?”

  And lunch, she remembered now, thinking of the forgotten takeout container on the backseat of her Jeep. But she wasn’t hungry—or she didn’t think she was, until her empty stomach rumbled.

  “A plate of what?” she asked, even as she opened the oven door to take a peek.

  “Meatless meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans.”

  “What did Dad have for dinner?” she wondered aloud, sliding her hand into an oven mitt to remove the hot plate.

  Since David Gilmore’s heart attack, Martina had been strict about limiting his intake of fatty foods, including red meat—which was a definite bone of contention between the cattle rancher and his longtime cook. And since Ashley and her mom had taken up residence at the Circle G, Martina had embraced the challenge of making occasional meatless meals to accommodate Ashley’s vegetarian lifestyle.

  “Meatless meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans,” Ashley said again. “But Martina made his potatoes with skim milk instead of cream and didn’t let him have any butter or salt on his beans.”

  She carried her plate and cutlery to the table. “Did he threaten to fire her?”

  Ashley grinned. “Just like he does every day.”

  Sky picked up her fork and dug into the meatloaf and her sister got back to gluing the cardboard letters that would spell out her project title. But when Sky paused between bites, she noticed Ashley staring at her phone.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “What? Oh, yeah.” Ashley capped the glue stick and picked up her can of soda, then set it down again without taking a sip. “Actually, I was just thinking about Jodie.”

  Sky paused with a forkful of mashed potatoes halfway to her mouth. “Who?”

  Ashley rolled her eyes. “I know you’re not supposed to talk about your clients or patients or whatever they’re called, but Chloe told me that her sister’s been talking to you about their mom’s boyfriend.”

  “Did she?” Sky said.

  Though Jodie had mentioned that she had a sister, she hadn’t realized that Jodie’s sister was Ashley’s best friend because the two girls had different last names.

  “He doesn’t pay any attention to my sister,” Jodie had told Sky, when she’d first reported the uneasiness she felt around her mother’s boyfriend.

  But Sky knew that opportunity was often a deciding factor in the commission of sexual crimes.

  And when she’d met with Jodie that afternoon and asked about her sister’s whereabouts, Jodie had assured her that she was safe because she was spending the night at a friend’s house. That revelation had alleviated Sky’s immediate concerns, because she’d believed that the teen’s mother would be home before Jodie’s sister returned from her sleepover the following day.

  Ashley nodded. “Chloe said Jodie freaked out when their mom told them that Leon would be moving in with them, but she also said that Jodie can be a drama queen at times.”

  Sky pushed aside her half-eaten plate of food. “What does Chloe think about her mom’s boyfriend?”

  “She says he’s not so bad. He even pretends not to notice when she sneaks one of mom’s vodka coolers out of the fridge.”

  Sky wasn’t shocked to learn that her fourteen-year-old sister’s best friend was sneaking alcohol, but she was increasingly uneasy with the picture coming together in her mind.

  “You said Chloe was here earlier, working on this project with you?”

  Ashley nodded.

  “Was she supposed to sleep over?”

  “Yeah, but then she decided that she’d rather go see a movie.”

  “Who was she going to the movie with?”

/>   Ashley shrugged. “She didn’t say, just that Leon was going to pick her up and we’d finish the poster board another time.”

  Leon had picked her up?

  Oh, this was so not good.

  “You know, it isn’t really fair that you’re spending your Saturday night working on this project while Chloe is out having fun,” Sky said, aiming for a casual tone.

  “I know,” Ashley agreed. “But what can I do?”

  “You can call Chloe right now and tell her that we’re on our way to pick her up so that she can come back here and help finish the project, like she promised.”

  * * *

  Sky slept through breakfast the next morning, and after a quick shower, she decided to go into town to grab a bite. On the way there, she decided that she needed some sisterly advice as much as she needed sustenance, so she stopped at Sweet Caroline’s before heading over to Katelyn and Reid’s house.

  “I brought coffee—and donuts,” Sky said, holding up the tray of drinks and bag of pastries.

  “She looks like my sister, but she’s really the devil,” Kate remarked, accepting the proffered items.

  “You don’t have to eat any, if you don’t want to,” she pointed out.

  “The problem is that I want to eat them all.”

  “Well, at least save one of the jelly-filled for Tessa,” Sky suggested, as her niece came running down the hall.

  “Auntie ’ky! Auntie ’ky!” The little girl launched herself at her aunt. Sky caught her easily and lifted her for a smacking—and sticky—kiss.

  “I think someone already had breakfast,” she noted. “I taste maple syrup.”

  “An’ pancakes,” Tessa said, already wiggling to be let down. Since she’d taken her first steps, it seemed to Sky that the little girl never stayed still.

  Sure enough, as soon as she set her niece back on the ground, Tessa took off, eager to play.

  Ah, the life of a two-and-a-half-year-old, Sky thought, with amusement and affection, as she followed her sister to the dining room.

  “Reid took her to the Morning Glory Café so that I could sleep in a little,” Kate told her.

  “Are you not feeling well?” Sky’s tone was deliberately casual as she pried the lid from her cup.

  “Just tired,” Kate said. “Which isn’t as much of a surprise this time around, but still a struggle.”

  “This time?” Sky grinned. “So he was right? You are pregnant?”

  Her sister nodded. “But it’s still early days, so we’re trying to keep the news quiet for a while yet.”

  She mimed zipping her lips.

  “You know the not-so-quiet news making the rounds this morning?” Kate continued. “Leon Franks was arrested last night and charged with supplying alcohol to a minor.”

  Thanks to her stop at Sweet Caroline’s, Sky had already heard the news. “Unfortunately, I don’t imagine that will keep him locked up for long.” In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the man had already made bail. But she was keeping her fingers crossed that, whether or not the charges stuck, Leon’s arrest would be a wake-up call to Tammy Morningstar to get the man out of her house and out of her life. In the meantime, Sky had at least succeeded in getting an inebriated Chloe out of a potentially dangerous situation the night before—and helped Ashley glue together the pieces of her book fair project.

  “Probably not,” Kate acknowledged. “But the outstanding warrant from St. Paul, Minnesota on charges of possession of child pornography will.”

  That was news to Sky, and she immediately knew that she had her brother-in-law to thank for following up her request. “I’m not glad that Jodie’s instincts were right about this guy, but I’m relieved that he’s going to be Minnesota’s problem. I assume he’ll be extradited to face those charges?”

  Kate nodded. “The DA’s filling out the paperwork this morning.”

  “That’s a relief,” Sky decided.

  “Now tell me your news,” her sister suggested.

  “I don’t have any news.”

  “Are you sure?” Kate pressed. “Because the coffee and donuts suggest otherwise.”

  “Maybe I did want some advice,” she admitted.

  “About?”

  “Men.”

  “As a species in general? Or are you referring to someone specific?” Kate asked.

  “Jake Kelly.”

  “Oh?”

  Something in her sister’s deliberately casual tone tripped her radar. “Do you know him?”

  Kate’s gaze slid away. “Not really.”

  “He’s a client,” she guessed.

  “No, but... I guess it’s not really a violation of attorney-client privilege to tell you that Ross Ferguson was. And it’s hardly a secret that Jake is the nephew that Ross named as primary beneficiary in his will.” Kate looked at her sister then. “But how do you know him?”

  “He’s been in the bar a few times.” Actually, Jake had come into Diggers’ six times while Sky was working, but she didn’t want her sister to know that she’d been counting.

  “And he’s a lousy tipper?” Kate guessed.

  She managed a smile. “No, he’s a decent tipper. But he’s a lousy conversationalist.”

  “So maybe not everyone who sits at the bar is looking for a tête-à-tête with the bartender,” her sister suggested.

  “But most customers are at least willing to exchange basic pleasantries,” Sky said. “It was weeks before Jake even told me his name.”

  “A man’s entitled to his privacy,” Kate pointed out.

  “I know,” she agreed. “But there’s something about him—”

  “No,” her sister interjected firmly.

  Sky frowned. “No what?”

  “You have enough wounded souls in your life without looking to add another one.”

  “What makes you think he’s a wounded soul?”

  Kate pressed her lips together, apparently already having said more than she’d intended to.

  “You know that he’s former military,” Sky guessed.

  “That’s the rumor around town,” her sister conceded.

  “And this time, the rumor is actually true. Jake was—or is—a Marine.”

  “Did he tell you that?” Kate asked.

  Sky shook her head. “He didn’t have to. I saw his US Marine Corps tattoo.”

  “I’ve never noticed a tattoo.”

  “It’s on his shoulder, so you wouldn’t notice it if he’s wearing a shirt.”

  Her sister’s brows winged up. “Are you telling me that you saw him without a shirt on?”

  “I saw him with nothing on,” Sky confided.

  “Oh. My. God.” Kate’s jaw dropped. “You slept with him?”

  Her smile slipped, as her sister’s question pointedly reminded her that there’d been no sleeping because Jake had kicked her out of his bed as soon as the deed was done. “No, but I did have sex with him.”

  “But you just told me that you don’t know anything about this guy,” Kate said, sounding worried.

  “How well did you know Reid before you fell into bed with him?” Sky countered.

  Her sister’s cheeks colored. “Not as well as I should have, or I might have been prepared for him to show up in town a few weeks later wearing the sheriff’s badge.”

  “Then you have no right to judge me,” she pointed out.

  “I’m not judging, I’m worried.”

  “Don’t be,” Sky said. “I know how to look out for myself.”

  “You were careful?” her sister prompted.

  “Always,” she promised.

  “So was I,” Kate reminded her. “Which was all well and good until a condom broke.”

  She was referring, of course, to the first night she’d spent with her now-husband, Reid Davidson, at a
legal conference in Carson City.

  “And nine months later, you had a beautiful baby girl,” Sky noted.

  Kate smiled then. “But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten those terrifying moments in the beginning when I was completely overwhelmed and didn’t have the first clue what to do.”

  Sky hadn’t forgotten, either—or the guilt she’d felt when her sister told her about the broken condom. Sky had been the one to give Kate the box before her sister went away, to ensure she’d be protected if the opportunity presented itself. Thankfully, everything had worked out for Katelyn and Reid—and Tessa—in the end.

  “Well, you don’t have to worry,” Sky assured her sister now. “There weren’t any safety malfunctions when I was with Jake.”

  “That’s good then,” Kate said, though she still sounded dubious. “Do you think...are you going to...see him again?”

  Sky shrugged, a deliberately casual gesture. “I’m sure our paths will cross.”

  But the truth was, Sky wasn’t sure about anything where Jake Kelly was concerned.

  Chapter Six

  In the Marine Corps, Jake had learned the importance of being prepared for any contingency—and that, despite those preparations, it was almost inevitable that things would go FUBAR.

  Since moving to Haven, he was trying to embrace routines as a way of feeling more in control of his life. According to the doctor he’d talked to at the VA hospital, routine was supposed to help him cope with change, form healthy habits and reduce his stress levels. Over the past couple of months, part of his routine had been Wednesday night meetings with a veterans’ support group at the community center, followed by what he dubbed “immersion therapy” at Diggers’.

  Though he had yet to share anything of his own experiences with the group, he did find some comfort in listening to and empathizing with the experiences of others, proof that he wasn’t alone in his struggles to readjust to civilian life. But since that first night when he decided to stop at Diggers’ on his way home, his routine had evolved to include a pint of beer at the local bar and grill—and occasionally some casual flirting with the pretty bartender.