Tidal Falls (Wounded Hearts Book 1) (16 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Nick stared after
Sara’s wreck of a car as it hiccupped and belched its way down the street. Had she noticed the flowers he’d begged old Mr. Abraham down the block to part with? He’d never brought flowers to a woman before, well discounting the dandelion and daisy bouquet he’d proudly picked for his mother as a child. Hurt and frustrated last night when she’d refused to acknowledge his apology he’d stormed out as if he was still that little boy not getting his own way. After another sleepless night, his second in a row—though he couldn’t complain about the first one—he didn’t know what was up and what was down. He understood her hesitancy, but at the same time, was she going to give up on them at the first bump in the road? That didn’t bode well for their future. He’d spent half his life believing love was a myth. Then came Sara. Now he was afraid she was sliding through his fingers, and he wanted to grab and hold on for all he was worth.

The
hard, heavy clap of Frank’s hand as it landed on his shoulder reminded Nick why they had stepped out the door in the first place. Right, luggage.

“She’ll come
round, give her some space. Sorry if I created some discord between you two, that wasn’t my intention. I’m open to anything you can come up with that will work better. But know this, if she does help us, we’ll make double damn sure nothing goes wrong, okay?”

“I know
, Chief, I get what you’re saying. Sara needs to feel she has a part in this too, so she can put an ending on that piece of her life. I’m just scared shitless something will go wrong and she’ll get hurt. I don’t think I could handle that.” Agitation propelled him to the back of the sedan.

“Bel
ieve me, I understand what you’re going through, but if you don’t give her the room to make her own choices, you’re smothering her, and you’ll lose her.”

Nick heard
the regret in Frank’s voice and it made him wonder again about the chief’s history. Frank reminded him of the lonely Mesquite trees standing sentinel on his land in Texas. He hoped to repay the big guy one day. Nick meant to make sure they stayed in touch after this.

The car,
a four-door beige Chevy Impala, was plain as can be, but Nick would bet his bottom dollar under the unassuming hood lurked a monster, probably an LS7 pushing about 505 ponies if he had to guess. Frank popped open the trunk, and Nick had to grin at the mismatched luggage within, kind of like the two men who owned them. One was an old army duffle still meticulously clean though it had obviously seen better days, the small rip in one corner tacked with precise even stitches. The other, as flamboyant as its owner, a rich coffee colored leather satchel, straining the zipper open to overflowing with striped cotton shirts and high-end jeans, Jared’s.

Hefting the case out—
shit, did he have bricks in there or what? —Nick grinned at Jared’s bragging from the doorway, “Careful there, mate, that case is going to net us a whole school of bottom feeding scum.”

“Humble, isn’t he?” Nick mumbled, and Frank let out a rusty bark of laughter as he lifted his own bag effortlessly before slamming the trunk closed.

“I can’t rightly say I’ve ever heard that in connection with Jared. Now if you wanted to call him immodest, conceited or egotistical, I’d know who you were talking about.”

Nick lugged the heavy bag up to the house where Jared stood, shirt undone
soaking up the morning rays. He’d missed the camaraderie of these people. He’d made a few good friends over the years, but nothing compared to the connections between those who go through fire together, literally, and come out the other side changed, some for the good, some not.

“Hey,
thanks man, I could’ve grabbed that. Let me change my shirt and then I’ll treat you guys to the best breakfast to be found anywhere on the west coast. Is Grits and Grace still open downtown?”

“Yeah
, it’s there. You’ve been here before?”

“
I grew up here. Left to go to college and never came back. Small world, hey.” A somber look stole over his face, and he grabbed the first clean shirt to jump out when he unzipped the suitcase, heading down the hall to the can.

Frank shrugged
, grabbed his own change of clothing and disappeared into the spare room to change, leaving Nick to ponder the craziness of the last few days. He wanted to see Sara again, talk to her about what happened. He hoped she would be more amendable to listening to him today. He hated the distance that had sprung up between them.

He
should have told her as soon as he’d made the connection, instead of which he’d given her dickhead ex the chance to play a stupid mind game with her. He knew she was hurting, had wanted nothing more than to follow her to her room last night and force her to understand and accept his apologies. Not let one mistake tear them apart this way.

Who
was he kidding? How much could she really care if she was so willing to take her a-hole husband’s word over his anyway? Maybe he should forget it. Help her get her friend back, send dick-wad to jail for the rest of his natural born days, and then blow this place, move on.

Jared came back into the room tucking a western style charcoal grey dress shirt into the waist of his jeans, the color highlighting his weird eyes glowing
behind his glasses in the ambient lighting, a teal blue. He’d wet his hair and slicked it back, and when he noticed Nick watching him he grinned, “Gotta look good for the babes, you never know.” Frank moved up behind him and gave him a cuff across the head. “Hey, don’t mess with the goods. Just because you took a vow of celibacy doesn’t mean we all have to.” He smirked, easily blocking the next shot.

“
Just because I’m a lot more discriminating than some people I know,” Frank threw a pointed look in Jared’s direction, “it’s got nothing to do with being abstinent.”

“Oh, is that what you call it? I thought you were saving yourself
, or maybe you’re impotent, I hear that happens as you get older. They make little blue pills to help you out with that you know. Come on, we won’t tell, you can trust us, your bosom pals.” As he went to give Frank a commiserating hug, the pained look on the chief’s face made Nick snicker.

“Okay, before he kills you and I get no breakfast, let’s hit the road. I want to get back here before Sara does so we can figure out our next move.”

“Why don’t you give her a call, maybe she’ll come and meet us, help break the ice?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea, safety in numbers,
right.” Nick grinned doubtfully.

“There you go
, buddy, positive thinking, that’s the way to win the girl.”

“Okay
, Dr. Love, if you’re done handing out advice on that of which you know absolutely diddly-squat, we’ll get out to the car and leave the man in peace to make his call. Come on, let’s go.” Frank bullied Jared out the door squabbling all the way to the car, man he was glad they were here.

Screwing up his courage, he woke up his cell and speed dialed Sara’s number, hoping she would at least pick up and give him a chance.

***

The two women were in the
back on the floor with the kids. Annie had brought the donut box half full of slightly stale offerings, and a couple of juice boxes, along with an obviously much-loved old wool blanket and they were now all enjoying an impromptu picnic. Amid the laughter and the teasing, there were lots of oohing and ahhing over Chris and Jessica’s art. They had managed a more than credible job of depicting their own ideas of a perfect house down on paper.

Jessica’s work had the requisite two story pink mansion built like her dollhouse at home, the back open to show each of the rooms cluttered with furniture,
and Jake guarding the entry with a big smile on his doggy face. Chris’s picture depicted a tall bushy tree, a ladder attached to the trunk led the way up, and he had actually done a masterful job of hiding the tree-house, with a wall here and a window there peeking out from behind the leafy branches. The kids had painted their families beside their homes. Both featured two adults holding hands with a child in the middle, causing lumps to form in the women’s throats as they looked at each other and silently acknowledged their children’s deepest wishes laid out in watercolor.

After finishing th
e snack, the kids jumped up and began running around the cavernous room, pretending to be airplanes dive-bombing the various pieces of pottery equipment and crates of craft supplies, convincing blasts coming from their small throats.

“It’s none of my business
, so please don’t feel you have to answer, but is Chris’s father a part of his life?”

A cloud fell over
Annie’s usual sunny disposition. “Chris never met his father. He left here the night after he got me pregnant, and he’s never been back.” She spoke matter-of-factly but her feelings manifested themselves with the darkening, bruised look of her normally green apple eyes.

“Oh honey, I’m sorry
I opened my big mouth, let’s forget about it, okay?”

“No, its fine.
I learned a long time ago I could only count on myself, so no worries. He and I should never have happened anyway. He was the high school quarterback and I was the geeky girl. Half the time I wore whatever art project Mr. Hammond had going on, and he, he always had his choice of adoring fans. I thought he was nothing more than a pretty face. Art was the only class we shared, thank God, because I couldn’t stand listening to all those simpering girls vying for his attention. Then one day a couple of boys had me pinned by my locker, they liked to tease me a lot because I was kind of chubby back then. No, really,” At the disbelief on Sara’s face.

“Anyway, they’
d grabbed my hair; it was a lot longer back then, and was trying to drag me to the guy’s bathroom, when he came out drying his hands. As soon as he saw what they were up to, he grabbed the one holding my hair and did some kind of trick, because the kid let go, squealing like the pig he was and the both of them took off. He made sure I wasn’t hurt and then went on his way as if nothing had happened. I figured, okay, the guy’s not a complete loser, but then the next time we had art, he made a point of stopping by my table, checking out my work, asking for advice. I didn’t know what to think, I mean me, chunky Campbell, in the same orbit as the hottest male in school? It was beyond weird, but kind of wonderful at the same time, and I fell headlong into my first crush.”

She watched the kids for a few minutes, a faraway look in her eyes. “
I think he knew, but he never needled me about it. We hung out at lunch whenever he wasn’t flirting with the co-ed’s, and we started going to each other’s houses a couple times a week studying, when he wasn’t at a game or out on a date that is. Then high school was over and he was heading to college while I was staying here, getting a job. Mrs. Hammond owned the craft store back then and took me on as an apprentice, so I was happy.

“
Whenever he came to town during his breaks, he’d call and we would meet up; catch up on all the news. Then one day he phoned from college, and I could hear by the excitement in his voice something big was up. I’m pretty sure I died a little, thinking he was about to say he’d found someone he was serious about, but it was even worse than that. He planned to join the freaking Navy. I, and I’m sure his mother too, tried to talk him out of it, I mean it’s noble and brave and everything, but not for him, you know. All we did is succeed in pushing him away, he quit calling, never came home on his leaves, and I thought that was it, I’d never see him again.”

As the whooping and hollering continued on the far side of the room, Annie look
ed at Sara with melancholy eyes. “I never heard a word for four long years, not a word. I lost some weight, had my hair styled, and even started dating, but I still missed him every single day. Then one night, I came home from work and there he was, sitting on my doorstep, looking the same and yet so different. His gorgeous hair was gone, replaced by a buzz cut that only accentuated those killer eyes. He seemed both taller and broader to me. And when he looked up, there was an instant when everything narrowed down to him and me. It felt as if the whole world held its breath. Silly, huh.”

Sara’s throat clogged with emotion. “No, not silly at all, pretty much perfect actually.”
She shared a goofy grin with her friend.

Annie sighed
, filled with memories, and then continued on, “We hugged, I tried not to cling, and then we went out for dinner, and came back to my place where he filled me in on the last couple of years. Seemed he’d become a Navy SEAL, he always was an overachiever, and was only in town for a couple of days to try to mend fences with his Mom. It was so great to see him, I felt like my heart was going to burst right out of my chest. He asked me…me, Sara… if I would like to go to a party the next night his old school friends were hosting. Said he really wanted me there, that I was his best friend. Yeah,” At Sara’s commiserating look, “so anyway I went, and actually had a pretty good time. Most of them didn’t even remember me, ouch, but at least it solved any awkwardness, well except for when they asked if I was his girl and he hurried to correct them.”

“He would have been lucky to have you, you’re gorgeous.” Sara grabbed onto Annie’s tensed hands and squeezed.

“Where were you when my confidence needed a boost?” Annie smiled and gave her a quick hug before checking again on the children who were now working on Chris’s Litebrite machine.