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He hobbled back inside and opened his laptop to check emails. There were a number from pilots in his unit in Afghanistan. No losses, thank God, but some close calls. A woman had joined their unit as a pilot. She wasn’t the first, but it was still a novelty. The weather was fierce as usual, hot as hell during the day and freezing cold at night. They envied him.
The last was a lie, and he knew it. Most of his buddies, especially those without families, would prefer being in that godforsaken country to being back home. Like him, they would miss the adrenaline rushes that beat any other feeling, the exhilaration of a successful mission, the camaraderie between missions. He didn’t allow himself to think about the bad stuff.
He closed his email and plugged “Stephanie Phillips, Covenant Falls, veterinarian” into a search engine.
Not much. No website. No background information. Several newspaper articles, though, most of them involving search-and-rescue missions. One mentioned she was also a volunteer firefighter. He found a candid photo of an exhausted-looking Stephanie and Sherry apparently being thanked by a mother holding a child. Search-and-Rescue Team Find Five-Year-Old, the caption reported.
It was another side of his chauffeur from yesterday. An intriguing lady, indeed.
That was it for information. Someone really had to work at privacy not to have more.
He closed the computer. He was damned restless, but his foot precluded the long hike he would have liked. He went into the second bedroom, which contained a single bed and two bookcases filled with books. He rifled through them. An interesting mixture. Biographies. Novels. History. His host obviously had eclectic taste.
He found a suspense novel, moved slowly to the kitchen for a glass of water and took both to the porch.
He settled in the swing and opened the book, but couldn’t concentrate on the words. Too many other images crowded into his mind: his last combat mission, the rush of adrenaline as he pulled Rangers out of a killing zone, the military doctor’s verdict, or lack of one. He hated feeling powerless. He’d lived with it too long as a boy.
He needed that control back. He couldn’t sit here and read a book on someone else’s dime.
He removed his cell phone from his pocket and punched in Josh’s number.
CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_ed4fb4d4-9d8e-57d4-b84d-6f8ba8e64758)
CLINT WAS READY when Josh drove up in his Jeep.
He’d shaved and changed into a clean pair of jeans and a pullover knit shirt. His swollen foot still hurt like hell, but he didn’t want to use crutches. He had put on his only pair of sandals.
Clint was already bored with his own company. He’d always been active, driven to excel in sports and physical training. He’d always wanted to be the best. At first, it had been to earn his father’s approval, then it had been to get into the service, then to be the best in his unit. He had always asked for the most dangerous missions. A death wish, one of his fellow pilots said. But it wasn’t that. He simply needed to challenge himself. Dr. Payne had probed at that contention. Why? He hadn’t had an answer.
Why had he accelerated the Corvette that day?
Josh jumped out of the Jeep, limping slightly. Clint hadn’t noticed that yesterday. He’d been too tired, too focused on the veterinarian and, he admitted, on himself. A dog trotted after Josh, keeping in step with the man.
Josh walked up to the porch and opened the door. “This is Amos.” He pointed to the dog. “Say hello.”
Amos offered his right front paw just as Sherry had. What was it about polite canines in Covenant Falls? Was it contagious? Nonetheless, he took the paw gingerly.
“You’re a friend now,” Josh said. “Unless, of course, you attack me.”
“Then what?”
“He wouldn’t be happy. You do not want to run into an unhappy Amos.”
“He’s a handsome dog.”
Josh plopped down on a chair, and the dog sat next to him. “He’s ex-military.” He changed the topic. “How’s your foot?”
“Did you have to remind me?” Clint grinned. “It’s an experience I would rather forget.”
“Good luck,” Josh said. “This town is a gossip mill. I imagine that rancher has probably told the story far and wide.”
Clint shrugged. “I won’t be here long.”
Josh raised an eyebrow. “Would you like to go for a beer?”
“Sure.”
“Good. I’ll introduce you to the town’s best bar. The Rusty Nail. It also has the best burgers.”
“Sounds good. And Amos?”
“Amos is allowed inside. He’s considered a hero around here.”
“Why?”
Josh shrugged. “He saved my life a couple of times overseas, and here in town he saved the mayor’s son. Twice.”
“How?” Clint asked.
“He took a rattler bite meant for Nick, then later found Nick after he was kidnapped. It’s a long story, probably better told by my wife and Nick.” He stood. “Let’s go.”
Clint hesitated. “Don’t you have something else to do? I don’t want to interfere.” He didn’t want to be someone’s cause, but he damned well wanted that beer. He also wanted to know a hell of a lot more about Stephanie.
“You’re not. Nate, my partner, has everything under control.”
“What do you do?”
“We’re starting a construction business. We’re doing some remodeling, and we’re talking to the bank about buying and rehabbing a run-down motel here. Our goal is to bring new business and residents into Covenant Falls. The town desperately needs jobs.”
“What did you do in the army?”
“Ranger. Staff sergeant. Learned a lot about building things, as well as exploding them.”
Clint stood, balanced on the bad foot, then ignored the pain as he followed Josh to the Jeep. Amos jumped into the backseat, and Clint climbed into the passenger seat in front.
“Miss it?” he asked. He knew he didn’t have to say what.
“Parts of it,” Josh admitted.
“You were a lifer?”
Josh started the Jeep. “I thought I would be. This leg sorta ruined that.”
“And now?”
“Things are good. You’ll know why when you meet Eve and Nick.”
“Nick?”
“Eve’s son. Really bright kid. Full of curiosity. Pretty good baseball player, too.”
“Stephanie said you had several dogs.”
“Five, to be exact. I went from being a loner to a husband with a stepson, five dogs, two horses and a cat. Talk about adjustment. I still think I’ll wake up and it will all be a dream.”
“You seem happy.”
“I am. But not without a hell of a lot of mistakes, miscues and doubts. Sometimes, I need to escape, and thank God Eve understands that. You ever been married?”
“For a very short time. Turned out absence didn’t make the heart grow fonder. Got home from a deployment and found she had moved in with someone else, and there had been several other someones.”
“Rough. I saw a lot of that in the service.”
Clint nodded. “After the initial feeling of betrayal, I was relieved. We’d married too fast, and for all the wrong reasons. I thought I wanted a home to return to, but I really didn’t know what a home was. She thought she was marrying someone who would party all night, every night. It was not an unrealistic expectation since that’s what we did in the two months before we married.” Why in the hell was he telling a stranger so much? But he had immediately liked Josh Manning, had felt a kinship with him. “But that wasn’t what I wanted in a home. Hell, I didn’t know what I wanted.”
He looked ahead and saw a sprawling building with a sign that read The Rusty Nail in big letters. The gravel parking lot was about a quarter full.
Josh parked, and they both limped inside. Sawdust covered the floor and a long bar lined one side of the room. The rest of the bar was filled with mismatched tables and chairs with maybe a third of the seats occupied. A bandstand stood out in one corner.
A pretty young girl hurried over to them as they sat. “Hi, Josh. Haven’t seen you in a while. What can I get you two?”
Clint glanced at him. “You order. You know what’s good.”
“Two of whatever crazy beer your dad is experimenting with today, two cheeseburgers and fries.”
“Gotcha.” She dashed off.
Clint eyed his companion. Josh still had the look of a Ranger about him. His gaze never stopped roaming the room.
“Is the veterinarian taken?” Clint blurted.
Josh looked amused. “Taken? You mean in marriage or engagement? Nope. She scares the hell out of most of the eligible men around here. I take it you aren’t one of them.”
“Oh, she scares me, too.” Clint chuckled.
“Good. I like her a lot, and she’s Eve’s best friend. I wouldn’t like to see her hurt.”
“I won’t be here long enough.”
“I’ve heard that before,” Josh said. “Mainly from me. When I came here, all I wanted was to be left alone, and now look at me. A wife, a son, two horses and five dogs.”
Clint grinned. “Well, I doubt lightning strikes twice, but while I’m here, I want to be useful. You mentioned building a dock. I would like to do it.”
“Good.” He paused, then said, “Any idea of what you want to do in the future?”
Clint shrugged. “I’m thinking of going back to college in January. Get my computer science degree.”
“You’re good at that, then? Computers, I mean?” Josh was looking at him speculatively.
Clint wasn’t sure he liked it. He would rather talk about Stephanie. “I’m okay.”
“Eve’s pet project is teaching our older citizens how to use computers. She just bought new ones for the community center. We’ve been looking...”
“Whoa there,” Clint said. “I’m happy to build a dock. I can do that. But teaching a bunch of older people about computers, I just don’t think I would be any good at that. I can’t make that kind of a commitment.”
“I’m not talking about a commitment. A couple of hours a week whenever you have time.”
“Why don’t you do it?”
“I have all I can handle right now, and I’m not good with people. You appear to be. I’ve never seen Stephanie flustered before.”
“You haven’t, huh?” Clint mused.
Two men approached their table. Josh introduced them as Jeff Smith and Mace Edwards, two vets from the Iraq War. “Heard you were coming,” the one introduced as Mace Edwards said. “Wanted to say welcome. You need anything, just want to get a beer, talk, call us.” He offered a napkin with phone numbers on it.
He placed his hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Hear you might have some big work soon. If you need any workers, we can sure use the jobs.”
Josh nodded. “Hope it will be soon. Join us for a beer.”
“Don’t mind if we do,” Mace said.
Clint mostly listened to the three men talk. It felt good. He never discussed his service or the war with civilians, but he could open up with other vets. They understood the unbreakable bond that united members of a unit, and nearly every man and woman who had been in war. Many, maybe even most, were closer to each other than they were to their families.
No one else could understand.
But now he was with people who understood. After sharing beers, the two men left, and Clint glanced at Josh. “You’re really making it here, huh?” he asked.
“It’s not always easy. I still have sweating spells at night. And nightmares. I worried about that with Eve. That I might hurt her or the boy. But she knows how to wake me when I have them. And I’m crazy about Nick. The dogs, now, that’s another matter.” But he grinned as he said it, and Clint got the definite impression he really didn’t mind the dogs one bit.
“You miss being over there?” Clint asked.
Josh didn’t say anything for several minutes. “The army was my family for a long time. I miss my team, but most of them died in my last mission.” The trails in his face deepened. A lot of pain was etched there.
Clint hadn’t known. Dr. Payne had said very little about Josh. “I’m sorry.” Then he asked the question that had been needling him. “Why me? Why did you select me for the cabin? You must know I wasn’t injured in battle. It was a dumb car accident.”
Josh shrugged. “Injured in the field or not, we all have scars. Nightmares. Horrors we can’t talk about except to someone who has been there, and still they continue to burn in our heads. And then,” he added in a voice so low Clint could barely hear it, “there are those we left...” His voice trailed off.
Clint could relate. He’d lost several close friends in chopper crashes. One was in his chopper when enemy fire hit it. He could usually lock those memories in a mental box, but sometimes they escaped, swamping him.
He nodded, cleared his throat. “It’s a great cabin,” he said, changing the subject. He regretted asking his question. It was none of his business and it brought back too many memories of his own.
“It was my salvation, that and Eve.”
Their order arrived, and the conversation stopped. The cheeseburgers were fat and greasy and, well, terrific, or maybe it had just been a long, long time since he’d had a good one. The draft beer was icy cold and served in frosty glasses. The world was looking better.
“We’ll go by the grocery store on the way back, and you can pick up whatever you need. The invitation for dinner is also good for tomorrow night,” Josh said. “I think Eve plans to ask Stephanie to join us.”
“Sounds good.” More than good. He hadn’t felt much anticipation for anything since the accident, but he did now.
