A Reason to Love (5 page)

How much should she share? After all, there was a lot she didn’t know herself. “Spence grew up here in Snowberry Creek, but as far as I know, he hasn’t been home for years. I don’t know a lot of the specifics about his time serving in Afghanistan other than his vehicle hit an IED. His two friends survived, but there was a second explosion. All they found were his dog tags, and he was reported as killed in action.”

She paused, finding it difficult to continue. “Spence saw his own headstone earlier tonight.”

“Son of a bitch, no wonder he ended up here.” Liam’s eyes glittered in the darkness, staring toward her car. Finally, he turned his attention back to her. “Do you have someplace to take him? I’ve got a cot in the storeroom if he needs a place to crash.”

She’d already considered driving Spence to the nearest motel but had rejected it as being too far to go, not to mention how late it was. Maybe dumping Spence on Liam’s cot would be the smart thing to do, but she already knew she was going to turn down his kind offer. Spence deserved better than to wake up in the morning surrounded by cases of beer and hard liquor.

“He can stay at my place for tonight.”

Liam didn’t argue, but he did ask, “Is there someone there to help you in case he gets rowdy?”

No, she was alone, just like Spence. “We’ll be fine. Thank you again for everything, but we should get going.”

“I hope he appreciates what you’re doing for him, Melanie. If he doesn’t, let me know, and I’ll kick his ass for you.”

She laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Good night, Liam.”

By the time she had the car started, their host was astride Spence’s Harley and revving the engine. Hoping she was doing the right thing by entrusting the bike to Liam’s care, she pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.

“We’re going to my house, Spence. Hope that’s okay.”

A soft snore was his only response.

T
he moment Spence opened his eyes, he slammed them shut again. Thanks to the sunlight streaming in the window, it felt as if his eyes were being stabbed with shards of broken glass while some bastard pounded a bass drum inside his head.

It was a vicious combination that made it impossible to figure out answers to his two most pressing questions. How far was the nearest bathroom? And where the hell was he, anyway? Only one way to find out.

This time he used greater caution and peeked out at the world through narrow slits. Rolling his head to the side, he studied his surroundings. Nothing looked even vaguely familiar, leaving him just as confused about how he came to be sleeping in this bed. Obviously, if he was going to find answers to his questions, he’d have to hunt them down.

Bracing himself for a renewed surge of pain, Spence rolled up to sit on the edge of the bed. His head spun and his stomach lurched, but at least he could take pride in the fact that he’d managed to stay vertical and not puke on the carpet. Progress was being made.

After the dizziness was under control, he slowly stood up. A quick look down showed he was wearing yesterday’s boxers and T-shirt. He spotted his ACUs folded in a neat pile on the dresser with his boots sitting side by side on the floor. His shaving kit was there, too, along with a thick green towel, a matching washcloth, and a bottle of aspirin.

Okay, someone else had to be around. If he’d been alone, his clothes would be scattered on the floor, not squared away. Growing more curious by the second, he made his way around the edge of the bed to look out the window. He closed his eyes and then opened them again to verify what he was seeing. Nothing had changed. It was all real, and he now knew exactly where he was.

Wow, somehow he’d spent the night in the Wolfe House, which was on the local historical register and had a sign on the front fence to prove it. Definitely not the kind of place that took in strays like him. How the hell did he get there? He closed his eyes again and tried to recall the events that had brought him to this point.

Rolling the clock back, he remembered riding into town and stopping at the cemetery. That’s right. Melanie Wolfe had found him standing over his own grave. He shoved that WTF moment to the back of the line and kept going. They’d left for the church, where he’d watched Callie marry Nick. Skipping over the details of that disaster, he concentrated on what had happened next.

He’d left the church, looking for the closest watering hole. Someone had been there with him—Melanie. Bits and pieces from the rest of the night came pouring back with a vengeance. He had vague memories of a long, double row of beer bottles lined up on the table in front of him. God, no wonder his head was so fucked up. He hadn’t consumed that much beer at one time in years.

He had more questions to add to his list. Why had Melanie decided to keep him company instead of going to her friend’s wedding reception? And why would she drag his worthless ass home with her?

All things considered, he was surprised that her mother hadn’t come after him with a rolling pin for daring to cross their threshold. Hell, Mrs. Wolfe and her husband had never had much use for him back when Spence and Melanie were in high school. He could only imagine her reaction to the sorry condition he’d been in last night. The woman he remembered would’ve tossed him out to sleep in a ditch somewhere.

Well, he couldn’t hide in this room all day. He also probably owed Melanie an apology—or maybe a dozen—as well as his thanks for sticking with him last night.

He picked up his pants and yanked them on. Grabbing the towel and his kit, he headed out the door. Before he faced anyone, he needed a hot shower to clear his head. Once he was presentable, he would collect his boots and the rest of his gear, make his apologies, and disappear.

Except how would he do that? He was pretty sure his Harley was still back at the bar. He had vague memories of the bartender lifting his keys to keep Spence from driving drunk. Smart of him. He had no need to risk his livelihood for a soldier on a full-out bender. If he’d let Spence ride out of there, he could’ve been held liable if anything had gone wrong. Even so, Spence was grateful.

He’d thank the man when he got there to retrieve his wheels. How he’d even get there, though, was another problem in itself. Right now he was in no shape for a forced march across town, although he hated asking Melanie for another favor.

He could always stop to refuel at the Creek Café with one of Frannie’s jumbo breakfast platters. A gallon or two of her ridiculously strong coffee would do the trick. That would have to be his fallback plan, though. His return to Snowberry Creek had caused enough of a stir last night, and he’d barely survived the experience. Postponing any further public appearances until after he was back in top form only made good sense.

His plans made, he opened the door as quietly as he could and headed down the hallway in search of a bathroom.

•   •   •

Twenty minutes later, he was back in his temporary bedroom and unsure what to do next. That was one good thing about life in the military: What needed to be done at any given moment was rarely in doubt. Standing there having to figure it out for himself felt wrong somehow.

He stared at his own image in the mirror over the dresser. “One step at a time, Corporal. One step at a time.”

Those were the words the counselor had forced him to repeat from the first time they met after Spence had been rescued. Even now, he could hear Terry’s voice in his head, speaking in that maddening slow, Southern drawl of his. During their first few visits, Terry had done everything he could to get Spence to open up, to cough up all the gory details about the hell he’d been through. Spence had fought him tooth and nail, but he’d ended up spewing it all out anyway.

Afterward, he’d felt as if he’d been turned inside out and upside down, but he’d been able to sleep through the night for the first time in months. The next visit was only marginally easier, but he’d come to trust Terry and the process. Although the man had used all the correct mumbo jumbo of his profession, in the end he’d boiled his advice down to a few words:
Don’t rush. Don’t run. Take it easy. Better to take one slow step back toward normal and get it right than to run like hell only to fall on your face.

Last night definitely qualified as a face-plant episode. It was time to take that next slow step. Gathering up his gear, he left the sanctuary of the bedroom and went in search of his hostesses.

Out in the hall, he paused to listen. The house was strangely silent as he headed down the staircase that led down to the main floor. The enticing scent of fresh coffee led him around to the back of the house, where he found Melanie sitting alone at the kitchen table.

As soon she spotted him, she immediately closed the folder she’d been reading. “Good morning.”

He nodded, still unsure how to proceed. “Good morning.”

Then she glanced at the clock on the wall behind him. “Or I guess I should have said good afternoon. The coffeepot is on the far counter, and the mugs are in the cabinet right above it. I made a run to Bridey Roke’s new coffee shop and picked up half a dozen of her best muffins. Pile your stuff on the counter and help yourself.”

“Thanks, Mel.”

Was it just him or was her smile looking a bit forced? As he rattled around fixing his coffee and picking out a couple of the muffins, he noticed her eyes kept straying back to that folder. If he had to guess, he wasn’t the reason behind whatever had her so worried. What was going on?

He sat down across the round table from her and took his time peeling the wrapper off the first muffin. “I hope your mother wasn’t too upset about me crashing here last night.”

Melanie flinched. “Not a problem. She doesn’t know.”

Interesting. “So maybe I should go before she and your father come home and find out. I don’t want to cause you any problems. And before I forget, thanks for hanging out with me last night. I know I wasn’t the best company.”

Her smile brightened a bit. “Believe it or not, I rather enjoyed myself.”

He looked up from his coffee to see if she really meant that. It wouldn’t have surprised him if she was yanking his chain, but her smile now looked more genuine. “Really? Sitting in a dive watching me try to drink the place dry was a good time? You must not get out much.”

Okay, he’d meant that last part as a joke, but she took him seriously. Melanie’s smile faded as she explained, “You might not have heard, but my father passed away unexpectedly last summer. I came back to help my mother get things settled, so it’s been a while since I’ve had time for much of anything other than work. By comparison, hanging out in a bar for an evening was a vast improvement, not to mention Liam serves a mean burger.”

Okay, then. He got that. It wasn’t as if his life had been filled with grins and giggles lately, either. As good as the burger had been, if he were to choose the high point of the evening, it would have been dancing with Melanie. Especially during that slow song there at the end.

The memory of how it had felt to hold her in his arms came rushing back. It left him hungry for more of the same, especially since he’d always had a weakness for leggy redheads. The downside was that this was Melanie Wolfe. He didn’t need her mother to tell him that Mel was off-limits, especially for damaged goods like him.

Despite Spence’s best intentions, his dick chose that moment to surge back to life for the first time since . . . hell, he couldn’t remember. A lot of things had gotten scrambled when that IED had . . . No, he couldn’t think about that day and what had come afterward. He also ignored his body’s interest in the woman seated across from him as he shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position. After everything he’d been through, maybe he should be grateful that the damn thing still worked, but now wasn’t the time or the place. And God knows, Melanie wasn’t the right woman.

He needed to hit the road before he did something stupid. With that in mind, he stuffed the final bite of muffin in his mouth and swallowed hard. After washing it down with the last gulp of his coffee, he put his mug in the dishwasher. “I should get going before your mom gets back. I don’t want to cause you any trouble, not after everything you did for me last night.”

“She’s not coming back.”

Melanie looked as if she’d just bitten into a lemon. He returned to the table and sat back down. “As in not today or as in not ever?”

She shrugged and let out a long breath. “To tell the truth, I don’t really know. Mom took my father’s death hard, and everything else that’s happened since has only made it worse.”

Melanie gave that same folder another worried look before continuing. “After he died, I took a leave of absence from my job in Spokane to come stay with her, but I never expected to be here this long. My boss at the library was pretty patient, but I eventually had to resign. When that happened, I gave up my apartment and put all my stuff into storage.”

She looked around the kitchen and sighed. “Sometimes it feels like I’m living in one of those extended-stay places.”

Not that it was really any of Spence’s business, but right now Melanie looked as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her slender shoulders. “So where did your mom go?”

“About three weeks after the funeral, she packed a bag and drove down to Portland to visit her older sister. That was months ago. My aunt keeps me posted on how she’s doing. It’s not good.”

Well, shit. Last night Melanie had stood toe-to-toe with him, refusing to back down an inch. She’d bullied him into eating his hamburger and into getting into her car. He might have no memory of how he came to be in that bed upstairs, but he’d bet his last dollar she’d been beside him every step of the way, nagging him into taking care of business.

Right now Mel looked as if a stiff breeze would blow her away. He might not know her all that well, but he recognized desperate when he saw it. It had to be lonely rattling around in this behemoth of a house all by herself.

Speaking of which, “Is it the help’s day off or something? I haven’t heard anyone else moving around.”

“Our housekeeper retired right after Mom left, and the maid only comes once a month to do the heavy cleaning. With just me living here, things don’t get very messy.”

There had to be more to that story than she was telling him. Why else would she be biting her lip as if struggling to hold back something?

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

To give her credit, she hesitated a few seconds before shaking her head. “Not at the moment, but thanks for the offer. The main problem is that I’ve had to learn the family business from the ground up and on the fly. I’ve made progress, but it’s been a lot to absorb all at once. I’m trained to do research, so gathering the pertinent information is easy. It’s figuring out what to do with it that’s the problem.”

Spence leaned forward to rest his arms on the table and stared her straight in the eye. “You will call me if there’s anything I can do.”

He put enough emphasis in his words to make sure she understood not only that he meant it, but that he also expected that call. Before she could argue, Spence changed the subject. “I hate to ask, but can you give me a ride to the bar? I need to get my motorcycle back from that guy Liam so I can start looking for a place to live.”

She was already up and moving. Without being asked, she got him a small backpack to dump his gear in and then dug her keys out of her purse. “So it sounds like you’re back in Snowberry Creek to stay.”

“I’m back, but that’s as much as I can say at this point. I’m not going to reenlist in the army, but I haven’t had time to make any solid plans. I just need a place to roost temporarily.”

She bit her lower lip and studied him for several seconds. “There aren’t a lot of rentals here in town, and the nearest motels are all the way back out on the interstate. What kind of place are you looking for? An apartment or a house?”

Something else he hadn’t thought much about. He supposed by rights he could move back into his family home, but that didn’t feel right. Either way, it hurt to think about Callie and Nick living there together. He wasn’t ready to poke that nest of snakes yet.