With that, she turned and hurried through his backyard, glancing over her shoulder at him. “Close your door, or you’re going to freeze.”
He didn’t shut the door. Instead, he stepped into a pair of boots, grabbed his parka and stood there in his backyard in his underwear, looking like a total jackass and freezing his nuts off, watching to make sure she made it safely home.
When she locked the door behind her, he walked back into his cabin and dumped the rest of the rum down the drain.
Chapter 19
On Friday, Ellie was assigned to the recovery room to fill in for a fellow RN who was out sick. She spent eight long, slow hours taking vitals, administering pain meds, and reassuring groggy patients that they were okay. Compared to the ER, it was pretty quiet, giving her time to think—perhaps too much time.
Claire was right. Ellie had been so caught up in the emotions of being wanted and wanting someone again that she’d ignored her guilt about being sexually involved with another man. The intellectual side of her knew that Dan would want her to move on. Hadn’t he made her promise she would?
But three weeks ago, she’d still thought of herself as Dan’s wife. She’d still thought of him as her husband. It was a lot to set aside in such a short time.
Somehow, hearing that Jesse had known him had brought it all to the surface. He shouldn’t have kept it from her, but she shouldn’t have said the things she’d said to him.
You came back, but Dan died in that helicopter.
The memory of her own words made her wince. There’d been desolation in his eyes, as if he felt it was an injustice somehow that he had survived.
God, she hadn’t meant that the way it sounded.
She texted him on her lunch break, wanting to know he was okay, wanting to know that the fragile bond between them was still intact.
SEE YOU TONIGHT?
How he was getting through the day with what must have been a killer hangover, she didn’t know. Then again, he was a big man, and men metabolized alcohol faster than women. If she had polished off most of a bottle of rum, she’d have ended up in the ER getting her stomach pumped.
She was glad that he was seeing a therapist. She hoped he would mention the drinking. He was self-medicating, and it would hurt him in the end. Everything he loved—climbing, ski patrol, the Team—depended on him staying strong and healthy. Booze wouldn’t fix anything.
He replied five minutes later.
I’D LIKE THAT.
Some of the tension she’d been carrying eased.
She finished her shift and was thrilled that her mother invited her and the kids to stay for supper. Walking through the front door of her parents’ house always felt like slipping into a hot tub of water.
She stepped through the door, a heavenly scent in the air that made her mouth water. “What are you cooking? It smells incredible.”
“Pork roast, potatoes, salad, and green beans,” her mother called from the kitchen. “Pork roasts were on sale at Food Mart.”
Daniel and Daisy came around the corner and ran to her. “Mama!”
She slipped out of her coat and got down on her knees, hugging them to her, the feel of them precious in her arms. “I’m so happy to see you! What did you do today?”
They both spoke at once, the word “horsie” in there several times.
Soon, dinner was on the table.
“I’ve heard a lot about horses today—and a certain Jesse.” Her mother was not one to bother with subtlety. “This is the gentleman who helped you and who needed your father to pay a house call, right?”
“Yes.” Ellie looked over at her father, who seemed to be especially fascinated by the contents of his dinner plate.
“Just be careful—if you know what I mean,” her mother said.
“Mom, I’m a mother, an RN, and I’m twenty-eight, not fifteen.” Ellie knew how to make them change the subject. “Jesse is a former Army Ranger, a combat veteran. He knew Dan.”
Her father’s head snapped up. “He knew Dan?”
“I guess Dan flew him and his men on some of their missions. He said he thinks Dan saved his life a time or two.”
Ellie’s mother reached over, gave Ellie’s arm a squeeze. “What a small and interconnected world it is.”
*
“The kid scared the bejesus out of himself.” Matt stood across from Jesse and Kevin, arms crossed over his chest, Boomer at his feet, everyone else gone for the day. “He doesn’t want to be on explosives, and I don’t see how we can ask him to keep doing that. It’s a huge liability issue if anything happens as a result.”
Jesse had no argument there. “If he wants out, he should be out. We can’t have someone handling live charges if they’re spooked. His head would have to be in the game, and it’s not.”
“So, he’s off explosives,” Kevin said. “Do any of our patrollers want the job?”
“Amanda.” Matt looked from Jesse to Kevin. “Amanda told me she wants to learn the skill. She has zero experience with avalanche work. I don’t know how the two of you feel about that.”