Full Contact

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“Yep. Shelley’s twenty-three, working toward her doctorate in music at Montford. She had her bachelor’s at twenty and finished the master’s program last year. Rebecca’s twenty-two and married. No kids yet. Tim’s just turning twenty. He’s at Montford, too, playing baseball. And his interest is definitely more on the field than in the classroom, though he’s planning to go to law school.”

The woman was beautiful. He stared at her mouth, watching the way her lips moved as she talked. Her features were soft, almost innocent in their allure. Yet her eyes held secrets. And a sadness directly offset by the straightness of her spine.

He liked sitting here with her. Wanted to be here.

He noticed the uniformed man walking toward them. “Sheriff.” He nodded acknowledgment.

“Ellen, you okay, sweetie?” Greg asked.

“Hi, Greg. Yes, I’m fine.” Ellen’s tone, her smile, was almost that of a child humoring a too protective parent. “Have you met Jay Billingsley? He works at the clinic.”

Greg Richards glanced Jay’s way, nodding, but the smile on his face didn’t quite mask the concern lining his forehead. “Yes, we’ve met.”

“The sheriff paid me a visit my first night in town,” Jay said easily. “I invited him in and we—”

“Sheriff Richards. You did not go over and search this man’s house simply because he rode into town on a loud motorcycle.” Ellen’s grin was filled with a disbelief that could only be genuine.

“No, he didn’t,” Jay asserted. If Ellen didn’t already know about his police record—and shocking lack of family—then he preferred she not find out now when he needed her to feel comfortable with him. “He introduced himself and let me know that he was around if I needed anything.”

The sheriff had crossed Jay’s path twice since then and had been respectful. Jay responded in kind.

“Does your mother know you’re here?” Sheriff Richards wasn’t letting Ellen off the hook.

“If she doesn’t yet, she will soon.” Ellen’s slight derision wasn’t lost on Jay. And he didn’t think the sheriff missed it, either. “I’m okay, Greg, really. David knows I’m here. And why.”

David?

“Oh, well, okay then. Enjoy your breakfast.” With that, the man was gone as quickly as he’d arrived. Whoever this David was, he apparently had clout with the sheriff.

“DAVID IS MY STEPFATHER,” Ellen said as soon as Sheriff Richards had left her peripheral vision. Opening up about her family, about her life, with an outsider went against deeply ingrained instincts.

Still, he might look like a Black Leather kind of guy but he was a professional. Shawna trusted Jay. Ellen trusted Shawna. Ellen wanted to get better. Therefore, she had to confide in him. She should have let Shawna fill him in to begin with and saved herself this awkwardness.

“You a churchgoer, Mr. Billingsley?”

“Call me Jay. And no, can’t say that I am.”

“I didn’t think so. Otherwise you’d know David. He’s the preacher here in town.”

“And your stepfather.”

“Yes. It’s been seven years and he and my mom are still crazy about each other.” In some ways it was hard to believe that much time had passed. In others, it seemed an eternity. “He’s also one of my best friends.”

Let Jay make of that what he wanted.

Nancy reappeared with breakfast.

“I thought you had an appointment at Big Spirits this morning,” she said as she spooned hot oatmeal from the side of her bowl.

“Yes. At eight.”

“How did it go?”

“Good.”

The man kept the confidence of his clients. A point for him.

“I met with a mother and daughter from Phoenix yesterday,” Ellen told him as they ate. “They were looking at the center as a possibility for the mother’s brother.”

“I thought the residence was full.”

“It is. But there are a couple of rooms that have been used for storage that can be converted. After the meeting yesterday I volunteered to do the painting and decorating to prepare the rooms.”

“They can’t afford to hire a painter?”

“Yeah, they can, but I’ve got the time right now, and the rooms could be available by next week, which would work for those women. The man is being released from six months of rehab for a broken hip.”

“So his stay will be temporary?”

“No.” Ellen opened a packet of mixed fruit jelly. “He broke his hip when he ran a red light and was sideswiped. His wife died in the accident. His sister wants to take him to live with her, but the man is twice her size and she still works full-time. She can hire a nurse for home care, but she’s afraid he’s going to mourn and not improve. She heard about us and came for a tour. She has to make a decision this weekend.”

“That’s gotta be tough.”

“Yeah.” People had real problems. Much worse than an aversion to being hugged. “I gave her my cell number in case she had questions or concerns.”

“You’re committed to your job.”

“I love my job.”

He stopped eating and looked at her. “Why?”

The question was intrusive. Penetrating.

She held the slice of jelly-covered toast. She could do this. She could talk to him. “I have an affinity for old people. I think in part because they have so much wisdom.” She silently fought the internal battle to flee. “The kind of wisdom you can’t learn from books—or even always put into words. They teach by example. And I’m a sucker for that kind of lesson.”

“So how do I teach you by example?”

She dropped the toast, the beginnings of a cold sweat coming on.

“I’m not— You’re not—” She couldn’t do this. She’d tried, but…

Jay wiped his mouth, put the used napkin in the center of a pool of syrup on his plate, then picked up the bill. “You ready to go?” He stood and pulled a couple of bills from a wad in his pocket and dropped them to the table.

She nodded then followed him outside. “Thank you for breakfast.”

Every single person in the diner had watched them walk out. She slid her hands into the front pockets of her jeans and resisted the urge to run.

“I’m not giving up on you.”

His quietly spoken statement slowed the cacophony inside of her. He wasn’t giving up on her. Was she?

“I have a son.” Josh. If she couldn’t do this for herself, she had to do it for Josh. “His name’s Josh. He’s five.”

They were standing on Main Street on Saturday morning. Attracting looks.

Shelter Valley protected its own—most particularly Ellen. She’d been in the papers. Everyone knew who she was.

“Did you talk to his father about your session with me?”

“No. Josh’s father lives in Colorado now. He’s got a live-in girlfriend. Josh is with them for the month of August.”

“Oh.”

One word, but it seemed to mean more than a professional collection of knowledge.

Or she was overreacting.

“How long has his father been in Colorado?”

“Three years. He left us to take a job there.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Me, too, for Josh’s sake.”

“Not for yours?”

Ellen shrugged. “Not so much. By the time Aaron left, our divorce was almost a relief.”

He didn’t ask any more. But she could see the questions in his gaze. The battle raging inside her—run, get away, protect, protect, protect! on one side and you need help, you’ll be imprisoned for life, you’ll never be normal! on the other—was overwhelming her. She couldn’t hear either side clearly.

But she could picture her son’s face.

“Do you have time to take a drive with me?” She was losing it. She couldn’t be doing this. Couldn’t be contemplating opening up any more to this man.

She had to do something.

“In your car?”

“Yeah. I drive or we don’t go.”

“I have no problem with that.”

She did, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She lived life. She didn’t run from it.

CHAPTER SIX

JAY HAD NO IDEA WHAT, specifically, was going on. But he knew it was significant. In her jeans, Ellen looked about eighteen behind the wheel of her mini SUV as she drove beyond the city limits and approached the highway entrance ramp. He glanced at the steely set of her chin.

From there he watched the road. And waited.

Past the ramp, she turned into a parking lot full of potholes and in need of repair. He’d ridden by the seedy-looking motel turned studio apartment rentals any number of times. At least fifty years old, the place had clearly seen better days, and he had thought it closed before he’d seen a car parked outside one of the rooms earlier in the week.

Judging by the way she drove in without hesitation, Ellen had been there before. She pulled up in front of door fourteen, then put the Escape in Park.

Surely she didn’t live here?

Even if she did, she wouldn’t be taking him inside. The car was still running.

“How much time do you have to talk?”

The question wasn’t what he’d been anticipating. At the least, he’d expected an explanation of why they were here. The trashy place with its peeling paint and filthy windows wasn’t the setting he’d pictured for the intimate conversation he’d been hoping to have.

“A couple of hours. I’ve got a client at two.” In Phoenix. Because work would initially be slow in Shelter Valley, Shawna had asked if he would be willing to do a few sessions in Phoenix. He was using the space of another medical massage therapist who didn’t work weekends.

But right now, Ellen was all that mattered to him.

“I had the perfect life growing up,” she said. “Parents who loved me. A safe town where people care about each other. Enough responsibility to shape me into a contributing member of society, enough freedom to learn from my mistakes, enough material comfort to more than satisfy my needs and enough time for fun.”

Jay listened. He stared at the ugly door and didn’t kid himself that he and Ellen were simply getting to know each other. Something was coming.