by Jill Sanders
At that moment Kevin stepped back and Robert finally got a look at who they were bullying. His mouth went dry and he almost lost his footing.
Amelia Blake was the one girl he just couldn’t be around. Every time he was, he reverted to a stuttering fool. She was a year younger than him, and he’d had a crush on her since the first time he saw her, on his first day of school in Pride. Her bright red hair and freckles had been so unique, he’d instantly liked her. He’d never seen anyone with such bright hair before. She’d been teased all throughout school, until sometime in junior high. She’d shown up on the first day of school after summer break and her bright red hair had darkened to a deep amber, her freckles had disappeared, leaving smooth porcelain skin, and everything else on her had matured as well. She had been beautiful before, but now, she was just stunning. His infatuation with her had tripled.
“What do you want mister goody two-shoes? Can’t you see we want to be left alone with Amy?”
They had her pinned against the chain link fence that bordered the school parking lot. Her back was up against the fence, and he could see the fear in her green eyes. Her books were pressed against her beautiful chest, and he thought he actually saw a tear leave her face.
“Kevin, Ricky, don’t you have somewhere else you’re supposed to be?” He took a step closer, trying to show that he wasn’t going to back down. After all, he knew he could take Kevin; he’d done it once already, just last year. Ricky, on the other hand, he wasn’t so sure about, especially since there were two of them. What he needed was to level the playing field. Looking around the parking lot, he found that almost every car was gone, already.
“Leave us alone, twerp. We were just having fun with Amy. Weren’t we? Tell him, Amy, we weren’t doing anything wrong.” Kevin’s hand reached out and ran down her cheek. Robert watched as she flinched away. When Kevin reached to grab her, Robert stepped over and stopped his hand. Without thinking about it, he flung Kevin away from Amelia and watched as Kevin landed a few feet away.
Then he was being attacked from behind as Ricky punched his kidneys. He felt the blows, and before he could block them, he felt something snap. He turned and caught the third blow with his hand and easily blocked the next.
Amelia screamed and tried to move farther away. He got in a few good hits before he hit the ground, and the two started kicking him. Then he heard his buddy Todd Jordan’s voice as he started running towards them.
When Robert looked up, he saw Kevin and Ricky driving away in Ricky’s truck. Then Todd and his brother Iian were standing over him.
“Man, are you okay, Robert?” Iian asked. The kid was tall for the age of eight. Todd was in the same grade as Robert and had been his good friend since he’d arrived in town.
“Yeah.” He sat up and tried to get his breath. Then he looked over at Amelia. She was still standing up against the fence, her books held tightly against her chest.
When he stood, she watched his every movement like she was in shock.
“Are you okay?” He got up and walked towards her with his hands out. He could feel every place where Kevin and Ricky’s feet and fists had connected.
She nodded her head, and he saw a few more tears form in her green eyes.
“They—” she took a deep breath. “They wanted me to get in the car with them. They told me it was about time they initiated me into the Honeymoon pact.”
Robert felt like running after those two. The Honeymoon pact was a pact the football team had to sleep with all the attractive girls in the school, whether they wanted it or not. In short, he’d just saved her from being abducted and raped by two jerks.
“You’re okay. They’re gone now.”
Todd walked over to him. “Are you okay? You’re lip is bleeding.”
He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Yeah, they hit like girls.” They all laughed and he started feeling a little light headed. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground with Amelia looking down at him. His head was in her lap and she was stroking his hair. He thought he could just lay there forever, looking up into her face.
“Don’t move. Todd went to get Dr. Stevens,” she said as she ran her fingers through his hair.
“Why would I want to move?” He thought he saw her smile, but then he felt a new pain, one that was so sharp, it left him gasping for breath.
“It’s okay, you’re going to be okay. You saved me, you know.” His eyes had closed on the pain, but now he opened them to see more tears in her eyes. They ran down her face and dropped onto his shirt.
He tried to reach up and wipe them away, but when he moved his arm, the sharp pain was back.
Damn! Ricky must have broken his rib.
“Don’t cry. They aren’t worth it.”
“I’m not crying over them, you fool. I’m crying because you’re hurt and it’s all my fault.” She looked a little mad and he wanted to laugh.
“It’s not your fault. I’ve been trying to find a reason to kick their butts for a while now.”
She laughed again and looked up. “Dr. Stevens is here. If I don’t get time to tell you later…” She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his lips. He could taste her tears, and for a second he thought he smelled flowers. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
Robert didn’t make it to his graduation that evening. Instead he spent the night in the hospital with a broken rib and a punctured lung. He’d heard that both Ricky and Kevin had missed graduation, as well. They’d spent the night in a cell down at the sheriff’s office. Considering that the sheriff was Amelia’s father, they were lucky they were allowed to bail out the next day.
Of course when Robert arrived home to his aunt’s place, she had a large gathering of friends who all praised him as a hero. He was okay with it since Amelia was there. Her mother hugged and kissed him while tears had fallen down her face, and her father had shaken his hand like he owed him everything.
Amelia watched Robert as he sat across from her. She’d never really paid much attention to him in school. He’d been one of those kids that had always stood in the back of the class pictures and was never really called out from the crowd. But after seeing him fight off the two boys, she had a new interest in him. While he had been passed out, and after Todd and Iian left to go get the doctor, she’d had plenty of time to look at him.
His eyebrows were dark and his eyelashes were long. His skin looked smooth and when she’d run her fingers over his face, she’d enjoyed the small stubble on his jaw. His hair was dark and thick and she’d liked running her hands through it. He was built like one of the fighters her dad watched on television every Saturday night, which made her wonder what he looked like without his shirt on. Would he have the same rippled muscles that most boxers had?
When his eyes had opened, she’d gotten lost in the dark chocolate pools.
How had she not noticed him before? What was she going to do to make him think she wasn’t some fool who couldn’t take care of herself?
Her face heated as she remembered feeling helpless and afraid. She felt a shiver run down her back at the memory of Kevin’s hands on her. They had cornered her, and before Robert stopped them, they had both grabbed her chest and had pinched her until she almost cried.
Looking over at Robert, she wondered what his hands would feel like on her. She watched as he got up and made his way towards her. He held his sides a little and she could see him cringe slightly from the pain.
“Can I sit here?” He nodded towards the side of the couch her mother had just left. When she nodded, he slowly sat down.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, it only hurts when I laugh.” He smiled at her.
“Well, I’ll make sure not to tell you any jokes.” She liked seeing his eyes spark when he smiled at her. “What are your plans now that you’ve graduated?”
He looked across the room at his aunt. His aunt, Daisy, had been confined to a wheel chair for as long as Amelia could remember.
“Well, I was actually planning to l
eave tomorrow. I’m heading south for a while. But with this,” he motioned to his side, “I may be delayed a few days.”
“South?”
“New Mexico. It’s where I’m from.”
“What will you do there?”
He looked at her and she thought she saw sadness in his eyes.
“I haven’t figured that out yet. I just know that I have to get away from here for a while. Maybe I’ll travel for a while, you know, see the world.”
It sounded wonderful to Amelia. She had one more year of school, then her father and mother had already planned for her to attend college in Portland, close enough that they could keep an eye on her. Which wasn’t too bad; after all, she loved her parents. But being able to travel and see the world sounded wonderful.
“Well, I hope you’ll look me up when you get back.”
He smiled at her and reached for her hand. “Don’t let those guys corner you again. Promise me you’ll be careful.”
She nodded her head and wished more than anything that they were alone in the room. She wanted to feel his lips on hers again. Ever since she’d kissed them, she’d imagined doing it again.
Chapter Three
Ten years later
Robert’s car almost stalled as he pulled into Pride. The thing was on its last leg and he’d been lucky to get this far. When he pulled up in front of O’Neil’s Grocery on Main, he realized he was glad to be home.
As he parked, people turned their heads and looked to see who had just driven into town. He sat behind the wheel for almost a minute before he stepped out. When he did, the greetings immediately started. First the old men outside the barber shop yelled over to him. Then it was Mary and Betty, who had been walking into the grocery store. They both rushed over to give him hugs, then talked his ear off for over ten minutes. He finally pulled himself away from the pair and made it into the store to purchase some fresh flowers to give his aunt. He just couldn’t see himself going home empty-handed. Not after everything she’d done for him.
It took almost another half an hour to get out the doors with the small bouquet in his hands. He knew that word traveled fast in town and thought that the news of him coming home might actually reach his aunt before he had a chance to step foot on her doorstep.
He was happy to see her sitting on the front porch, waiting for him.
“Betty called.” She smiled up at him.
“Of course she did.” He kissed her cheek and handed her the flowers as a tear fell down her cheek. She’d aged a lot in the time he’d been gone. So much so that he started to feel guilty for being gone so long.
It took him a week to get back into the swing of things. Since leaving, he’d done exactly what he’d planned. First he’d gone to New Mexico to try and track down his mother and Roy. After almost five years of working with the police there and coming up with a bunch of dead ends, he’d moved on and traveled for a while. A few years later he’d received a call from the Nevada police saying they’d found his mother’s car, so he’d rushed across the country. But instead of finding a trail to his mother, he’d found Roy.
The car had been abandoned in a parking lot at a casino. When he’d tracked down the security footage, he’d seen the frail old man on the video and immediately known it was Roy.
Roy’s trail lead him from casino to casino. Tracking him had given Robert so much satisfaction, almost like he was on a hunt. The closer he got, the more energy he felt.
But then the trail had gotten cold and he’d headed back home. In all his time traveling, he’d studied. While in New Mexico he’d killed his time taking police courses, and to make money, he’d ended up working on the force. But his entire focus had been finding his mother.
Being a cop had just come naturally
, so the first thing he did on the Monday morning after he returned to Pride was walk into the sheriff’s office and apply for a job. He was greeted and hired on the spot. Evidently several of the deputies had moved out of town and they were extremely shorthanded. He and Sheriff Blake were the only two working there besides Stacy, the clerk and dispatcher.
He didn’t want to feel like he was burdening his aunt, so he rented the apartment above O’Neil’s Groceries. The small apartment was already furnished and it was in town, so he could easily keep an eye on everything.
Pride wasn’t such a big place that there was a lot going on. Most of his calls were simple complaint calls. High school kids would get into trouble, sneaking into places they shouldn’t. Or husbands and wives would argue too loudly and there would be a domestic dispute call. They also dealt with accidents on the main highway between Pride and Edgeview, a larger town just fifteen minutes away.
Some days he would end up patrolling the beach, but with winter coming there would be far fewer people visiting. He also helped the rangers patrol the state park. Kids like to party up at the overlook on Friday nights, and he’d swing by there to make sure nothing too crazy was going down.
He was only in his second month on the job when things took a turn. He was sitting at the small diner off the highway with the sheriff, when David grabbed his chest right there over his lunch and fell over.
Robert did CPR on him until Dr. Stevens arrived, then they took him away in the ambulance. Robert called Mrs. Blake and stopped by to pick her up and drive her to the Edgeview hospital. She’d been losing her sight since earlier that year and didn’t drive. By the time they got to the hospital, David was gone.
Robert sat there with Mrs. Blake crying on his shoulder and wondered what he was supposed to do now.
Amelia was at work in Portland when she got her mother’s call. It took her less than ten minutes to leave the small veterinary clinic. Packing while your eyes are flowing with tears was very difficult. She asked her neighbor to watch her place while she was gone, packed up Oscar, her five-year-old Siamese cat, and headed home.
While she drove she kept thinking of her father. She’d spent her entire vacation in Pride over the recent holidays. She remembered him smiling and laughing, and he’d looked healthy enough. She knew that he’d had more stress in the last year since his two deputies had quit and moved out of state. Her mother’s deteriorating health had also caused him some stress. She just couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that he was gone. When she finally drove up to her parents’ house a few hours after leaving Portland, it hit her.
The driveway was packed with cars and she knew the well-wishers were already there. There was a group of older women in town who saw to it that anyone who was going through a tough time, wouldn’t be alone. Which usually involved a lot of food and people. Parking her car behind her dad’s cruiser, she started to walk in when she heard a noise behind her. There was a group of older women in town who saw to it that no one who was going through a tough time in Pride would be alone. Their plans usually involved a lot of food and people. Parking her car behind her dad’s cruiser, she started to walk into the house when she heard a noise behind her.
She turned around and saw him standing against a tree trunk next to the cruiser. She recognized him immediately. Robert Brogan had been on her mind a lot over the years. Because of him, she’d had the courage to do things she never would have. She’d taken a year off and had traveled to places she’d wanted to see her whole life. Rome, Paris, Hawaii, and Australia had been the first on her long list. Then she’d settled back down and finished college. Being a veterinarian was something she’d dreamed of ever since she’d found a hurt bird and nursed it back to health when she was a child.
She’d also learned from her experience with Ricky and Kevin that day so many years ago and had taken nine years of judo. No one would ever corner her like that again.
She walked over to Robert, stopping just a few feet away.
“Are you going to come in?” He stood in the shadows and continued to just look at her.
“In a minute. I’m sorry about your dad.”