Healing Home

by Madden, J. M.

She moved to the silverware drawer like she’d lived here for weeks and he suddenly realized she’d been in his house.

  “When did you get here?”

  “Yesterday,” she said, stirring the juices he could see around the roast. “Mrs. Black overnighted your house key to me.”

  Lincoln blinked, wondering how he felt about having her in his house without him there. He supposed he didn’t really care. She didn’t seem the criminal type, so he doubted she’d do anything to what few things he had in here. The important stuff, his legal papers and weapons, were in the gun safe. There was no way she could get into it. He glanced through the living room, looking at his sparse furnishings. There was a burnt orange colored candle on his bare coffee table, as well as a stack of magazines on the corner of the end-table near his recliner.

  It looked like she’d added just a few things here and there to try to make his place a little more homey.

  “If you give me half an hour I’ll have fresh biscuits to go with it. You could go shower or something,” she suggested, giving him a smile.

  “I think I’ll do that.”

  She drew a chunk of meat out of the steam on the end of the fork and blew on it for a few seconds, then held it out to him.

  Lincoln blinked, shocked at the intimacy of the moment. He opened his mouth and took the meat inside, chewing without thought. Then the flavor hit him and he groaned. “Thirty minutes? You give me a bite like that then tell me I have to wait?”

  BB grinned, then gave a giggle that totally disarmed him.

  “You can wait. Go get clean,” she ordered, then turned away as if she expected him to listen. Well, if he wanted food he supposed he should do what she said. A little bemused, he left the kitchen, wondering at the surreal turn his life had taken in the past hour.

  As he walked through the house he saw other little touches she’d added. There was a rug on the floor of the hallway he’d never seen before, a stunning collage of colors that should have been too much for the generically painted house, but it really wasn’t. When he entered his bedroom, he automatically glanced at his safe. It was secure, as always, but there was a new magnet on the front of it that made him grin. It was a donut with pale blue icing and sprinkles. The magnet held a note. In a world full of ugly muffins, be a pretty donut!

  Lincoln laughed, shaking his head. The woman had a sense of humor, that was for sure. He closed the bedroom door and crossed to the bed to take off his boots. He groaned as the heavy things fell to the floor, allowing his feet to breathe for the first time in almost twenty-four hours. Stripping the rest of his uniform off, he kicked it into the corner and headed for the attached bath.

  Lincoln soaked under the hot water for as long as he could, before his empty gut reminded him that there were other things he needed to do. Stepping out of the shower he toweled off and padded out into the bedroom to dress. He pulled on boxers and a t-shirt, then a pair of nylon gym shorts. Comfortable.

  Five minutes later he stepped out into the hallway and his mouth watered. Damn, she was killing him with that scent.

  As soon as he entered the kitchen, BB handed him a steaming bowl of roast and vegetables, with two biscuits tucked into the sides.

  “Go ahead and sit down. What would you like to drink?”

  “Beer,” he said firmly as he moved toward the table.

  Grinning, she reached into the fridge, the line of her body stretching invitingly in the blue dress. Link bumped into the chair because he wasn’t watching where he was supposed to go. He set the steaming bowl down, then settled into the chair. Seconds later, BB set the bottle of beer in front of him, and an iced bottle of water for herself. She walked to the kitchen to retrieve her own bowl of food, then returned to sit across from him at the table.

  BB’s eyes were a startling shade of pale green. They made him think of the green peridot stone in one of his mother’s favorite rings. His father had given it to her when they’d gotten engaged. She’d worn it for years before he’d passed, and it was one of the few things he had of hers. She’d taken it off when Dad had been killed and hadn’t seemed to want it near her. It was in a safe deposit box at his bank. When he realized he was staring at BB, he turned his attention to the food in front of him. “This looks amazing.”

  “It should be perfect. It’s been cooking since this morning.”

  Link speared a bite of the meat and put it into his mouth. It was scalding hot, but he breathed through his mouth as he waited for it to cool, then he chewed. Absolutely incredible. After months of MREs and cafeteria food, this was such a step up from what he was used to.

  Lincoln forced the biscuit into the juices, then lifted it to his mouth. He closed his eyes as he chewed. When he opened them for the next bite, BB was grinning at him, her brows lifted in question. Lincoln shook his head.

  “Best thing I’ve eaten in months. Literally. It’s even better than the beer,” he told her, nodding at the unopened bottle.

  Working his way through the entire bowl of food, he got up long enough to refill, then settled back at the table. The beer wasn’t opened until he finished the second bowl of food.

  Leaning back in the chair, he folded his hands over his belly. “I’m so full I could bust.”

  BB scraped the last bite from her own bowl and ate it, then sank back into a similar position. “I haven’t made that for a while. It was pretty tasty.”

  Lincoln looked at her curiously. “Is this your regular job? Welcoming guys home that you don’t know?”

  BB laughed lightly. “Of course not. My sister Carolina owns the company that your team hired and she was in a bit of a pinch. I only help occasionally. I’m self-employed.”

  Lincoln shook his head. “This is such a bizarre situation.”

  “It is,” she agreed. “And not something I’ve ever done before, I promise you.”

  He tilted his head. “What have you done, exactly? What services does your sister’s company do?”

  BB didn’t look offended by the question. She sat back in her chair and folded her forearms beneath the curve of her breasts. It was a struggle for Link to keep his eyes on her face.

  “Helping Hands does pretty much anything, but we work exclusively for military families. The company is approached by the family when the government services just aren’t getting it done.” She glanced around his living room. “So, like, moving across the country. Yes, the government will get your stuff there eventually, but there may be a gap of as much as a month. The family might hire us to go in and stock an apartment with rental furniture to cover the gap.” She made a motion to his own dining room table and kitchen, her eyes shining. “Recently we had a soldier come in for the birth of his baby. He was only allowed a few days leave before he had to go back out into the field. The family of the soldier hired our company to go in and give the mother support with the new baby. She was in Germany at the time and none of them could make it over.”

  Link nodded slowly. ”You’re extra hands.”

  “Yes,” she said, waggling a hand. “But we have specialized help. Nurses and assistants, childcare workers, animal handlers, interior designers. Most of us have a somewhat flexible job that allows us free time to devote to helping out soldiers or veterans.”

  He looked at her closely. “You said you were self-employed. What exactly do you do?”

  She grinned at him. “I’m a cartoonist.”

  His dark brows lifted in surprise. “Really? That’s interesting. Anything I know?”

  She blinked and gave him an odd smile. “I do the Sonya Sniddlebee comics.”

  BB waited for the startled look most people got on their faces when they realized what she did, bit it didn’t come. He just looked at her, blank faced.

  BB’s ego twinged and she laughed at herself internally. After doing signings and TV interviews, sometimes it was nice to come across someone who had no idea who she was. She shrugged lightly. “It pays the bills.”

  “That’s awesome,” he told her. “It’s really nice if
you can find something you love in life and get paid for it.”

  BB nodded. “Isn’t that the truth. Do you like what you do?”

  He got an odd look on his face. “I do, for the most part. I mean, there are always gripes, but it doesn’t do any good to even voice them because trying to get the military to change just isn’t going to happen.”

  BB snorted. “You’re right, I’m sure. What do you do for them, can I ask?”

  “I’m a special operator. I do the hard jobs no one else can do. Our SEAL team has a very high success rate, so we’re deployed a lot.”

  There was no ego in his voice, which was interesting.

  Then she frowned as the meaning of his words sunk in. “That doesn’t seem right. They work you harder because you’re doing a good job?”

  Lincoln smiled slightly. “Yes, in a way.”

  “Will you have a bit of a break, considering your teammates are wounded?”

  He shrugged lightly. “A bit, maybe. We’ll just be training while they’re recuperating.”

  She sighed, sinking back into her chair. “Seems like a thankless job.”

  “It is, a bit,” he agreed. “But we know we make a difference.”

  That was really something. BB loved getting the notes from people who seemed to live for everything she drew. After doing the Sonya series for the past several years, she’d gathered several long-time followers. She even had a social media platform, though she generally left that to her manager to run. Occasionally she would pop on and stir things up, but for the most part she left it to the experts.

  Lincoln was staring at his beer bottle. He looked tired, she realized. “Why don’t you go relax in your chair for a while. Or go take a nap in bed. You look like you’re about to fall asleep over your beer.”

  Lincoln grinned at her, bright teeth flashing. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had free time like this. I think my body is remembering to chill.”

  She nodded. “I’m sure the time change will affect you as well.”

  Heaving a great sigh, Lincoln stood, rubbing a hand over his face. “I think I might go stand in the shower for a while again. It’s been a long time since I had the luxury.”

  “Be decadent,” BB suggested. “Take a bath.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll drown in the tub if I do that,” he chuckled.

  BB grinned as well. She loved to see the humor in his expression. “Just a suggestion.”

  He paused before he left the room, looking around. “Will you…”

  “I’ll be here when you get up. I have work to do,” she told him truthfully.

  “Don’t let me sleep more than a few hours,” he told her as he left.

  BB watched his lean form head down the hallway. She could see the weariness in the slope of his shoulders and the drag of his feet. She might nudge him in a few hours but she doubted he would get up.

  After she cleaned the kitchen and stored the rest of the roast and potatoes, she settled into the couch with her sketchpad and a container of her favorite pens. But she didn’t work on what she was supposed to work on, a half-finished Sonya panel. No, instead she found her pens flowing in different directions than they normally did. She sketched Lincoln as she’d first seen him, head down as he exited the plane, carrying a huge pack on his back. The families and Lincoln’s teammates were off to the side, reveling in being together, while he stood alone, trying not to be envious of their joy. Then she flipped the page and started another panel. In this one, Lincoln had a quizzical expression on his lean face as he realized she was there for him. But there was more in his eyes. Some haunting… loneliness.

  BB sat back in the chair and gazed down at the drawing. She could see the loneliness in his eyes because it was what her heart responded to. More and more of late, she’d felt the same… awareness of passing through life alone. Yes, she had Frankie, but all around her people were expanding their families and building lives together. Her manager, Belle, had fallen in love this year, and after a whirlwind courtship, had eloped to the Smoky mountains. She and her new husband had started baby-making immediately, and just had a baby less than a month ago. BB could freely admit that she wanted that to happen to her.

  Rain, her neighbor down the hill, was in a hot and heavy relationship with another man she never could have imagined him with, but somehow they worked. Even her mail lady had gone on honeymoon this week.

  It seemed like love was spreading like the flu, and no matter how many shopping cart handles she licked she couldn’t catch it.

  Flipping the page, she starting sketching another guy that had been there. What had his name been? Swamp man? He had a bunch of little kids that were absolutely adorable crowding around his dusty legs, waiting for attention. But the grizzly man had taken a second to stare adoringly into his wife’s eyes and give her a lingering kiss before turning his attention to his offspring.

  Flipping again, she sketched out Black on the gurney. She could remember his name because it was so easy. Then she drew in the wife, tears tracking down the woman’s face as she leaned over the man she loved. That had been an especially poignant scene, because Lincoln had said the man was retiring soon.

  It must be hard falling in love like that, then watching him fly away into danger you could do nothing about. BB wondered how long they’d been married.

  She went back to the Sonya panel and finished it, though she was a little distracted. Perhaps she would put it away for a few days before she came back to it. She didn’t think it was as funny as it needed to be.

  After Lincoln had been sleeping for four hours, she tapped on his bedroom door. When there was no response, she let herself inside and crossed to the bed. He lay on his side on the mattress, breathing deeply, his face lax. “Lincoln?”

  He didn’t even move. She reached out and wiggled his arm. No response.

  BB frowned. The man was exhausted. She had a very strong feeling that he would sleep through the night. Turning, she left the bedroom, closing the door softly behind herself.

  Chapter 3

  Lincoln blinked into the darkness. It took him a second to realize he was in his own bed at home. He sighed, rubbing his cheek against the soft fabric of the pillow. It was softer than anything he’d ever felt when he was deployed. Had the Navy invested in fabric softener?

  Then something wafted through the room. What was that? Whatever it was it made his stomach grumble.

  Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, he gaped. It was after ten in the morning. He looked at the window. The blackout curtain had been pulled shut, but he could see a crack of light along one edge. Fuck!

  Then he remembered BB, her shining eyes bright with awareness as she welcomed him home.

  Link rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Had he seriously slept for fourteen hours? His bladder said yes.

  After he cleaned up and scrubbed the buildup from his teeth, he headed out into the house. Once again the scent of cooking food slammed into him. BB stood at the stove, removing bacon from a pan and placing it on a paper-towel lined plate. She looked up at him as smiled. “Hey, sleepyhead. I thought the bacon might work.”

  Lincoln had to stop in the doorway, caught in the moment. For a bare second his mind took off and he imagined that his life had grown to include this beautiful woman. He couldn’t imagine a more perfect woman as a wife. Beautiful, kind, self-sufficient. And she had a damn bangin’ body, curvy and soft. He would give damn near anything to belong to a woman like her.

  But that wasn’t the arrangement they had going. In two days she would be gone, and he had a feeling he would be left reeling from her absence.

  Today her light-brown curls were up in a bouncy pony-tail, trailing down her neck. He wanted to reach out and pull the tie from her hair just so he could see what she looked like with her hair down. She wore a pretty, glittery t-shirt today with a dog on the front and a pair of jean shorts. Casual clothes, but she wore them like they were high-class debutante worthy. Her legs were lean and muscled.r />
  Lincoln dragged his gaze away from her delectable form before he grew hard enough for her to notice. Last night there had been a buzz of arousal in his veins, but today, rested and alert, it was even more pronounced. It had been months since he’d been stateside, and even longer since he’d been with a woman, and he was feeling that lack.

  But he was also feeling the lack of easy companionship. Just hanging with someone, people watching, sharing a meal, maybe watching a movie. Yeah, he could go hang with his teammates to watch a game here and there, but there was always the expectation that he would leave eventually. It wasn’t like he could move in and just hang. His buddies had their own separate lives, and he’d gotten used to cutting out gracefully.

  His ex-wife had not been the cuddling type. She’d let him touch her here and there, but she’d always pulled away when he’d wanted more. It wasn’t until later in the relationship that he realized she’d been in love with another man.

  Stop thinking about her. You have a beautiful woman standing right in front of you this second. Live in the moment.

  Crossing to the stove just so that he could be closer to her, he reached around her for a piece of bacon. She grinned as he stuffed the entire thing into his mouth and chewed. He grinned back at her because he could appreciate the immaturity.

  Frankie sat beside her mistress’ feet, staring up at him. It was obvious she loved bacon as well and was just waiting for a nibble. Lincoln looked at BB. “Can I give her a piece?”

  BB cocked a hand on her hip, frowning at him. “If you do she’ll never leave you alone. I’m warning you now, those big dark eyes of hers will get you every single time.”

  Grinning, he grabbed another piece from the plate. He could tell the dog still didn’t like him, but that wasn’t going to stop her from taking the treat from him. Tearing the strip into pieces, he made her work for it. Frankie ‘sat’ and ‘shook’ and ‘layed down’, staring at him hard until he gave her a piece every time she completed the task. Link laughed and tried to pet her once the bacon was gone, but she turned up her nose and walked away from him.