“My teeth.”
This time, June’s laughter didn’t stay contained in her eyes. It came spilling out and Aelissm was soon laughing along with her. Now that she thought back, she was surprised at herself for what she’d done.
“I guess I s a horny fiend,” she said, still giggling. “But, c’mon, June. He’s been living in my house how long now? And you can go straight to a nunnery if you don’t think he’s gorgeous.”
“You amuse me, Aeli.”
“Do I now?” Aelissm put her hands on her hips. “How so?”
“Well, you were threatening to throw him out in the snow in his birthday suit if he complained about the lack of creature comforts and now you want to sleep with him. Oh, Uncle Bill would be thrilled.”
“Uncle Bill! Maybe he can tell me where Pat got that scar.”
“Aelissm….”
“Can I use your phone, June? If Pat won’t tell me what’s going on with him, I’ll ask Uncle Bill,” Aeli said, grabbing the cordless from the kitchen counter. “And don’t tell me it’s a bad idea to pry. He hasn’t told me anything and I’ve laid it all out for him.”
She dialed her uncle’s home phone. Bill picked up the phone, but told his wife “Corn’s fine, love,” before asking, “Hello?”
“Hi, Unk.”
“Aeli Girl,” Bill replied. He sounded happy. “How are you? Everything all right? No more word from Adam since the letter?”
“No, no, everything’s fine in that department. But I want to know something about Pat, Unk. How’d he get that scar under his collar bone?”
“He was stabbed with a paring knife. Why do you want to know?”
“He, uh, seems a little sensitive in that area.”
There was a pause and Aelissm could just see the grin spreading on her uncle’s face as he put two and two together. He wasn’t the lead detective in the Kitsap Sheriff’s Department for nothing and she swore as her face turned red. This was a bad idea, she realized too late. Bill wouldn’t let the matter drop now that she’d given him the smallest clue to the heat between her and Pat until he heard wedding bells. She recalled hearing Pat’s name in several conversations with Bill over the past few years and once or twice, he’d included her in the same sentence. Until Pat had shown up in the Bedspread looking so rugged and handsome in that sweater, Aelissm hadn’t given her uncle’s hints a thought.
“Yes, Unk, I kissed him. I know you’re wondering, so there you go. Are you happy?”
“We’ll see what happens and I’ll let you know. In the meantime, dinner’s ready and you know how your aunt gets if I’m not at the table before she serves it.”
That sounded like a cop-out to her, but her uncle bid her good-night before she could question him further. She hung up and looked at June.
“That was brave, telling Uncle Bill you kissed Pat,” June said.
“Tell me about it,” Aeli replied. She set the cordless back on the counter, let her hand hover over it for a moment. “Pat was stabbed with a paring knife.”
“Ouch. By who?”
“Uncle Bill didn’t say. He was rather evasive about it, actually.”
June took three sodas out of the fridge, handed one to Aelissm and motioned toward the living room. Luke was sprawled on the loveseat, reading. He glanced up when they plopped on the couch, said hi, took the soda June offered and went back to his book. Aelissm watched him for a while, wondering who would have stabbed Pat. He seemed like such a likeable guy. Patient. Compassionate. Affable. Who would feel they had cause to do something so vicious?
“Maybe it was in the line of duty and Uncle Bill wouldn’t say anything because something with the case is still on-going.”
“Could be.”
Aelissm stood up and paced. “Do you think it might have been his ex? I wish I knew more about her and what she did to him. He was talking to Bill on the phone after he first got here and he called her a bitch. Does that seem right to you? Like something he would say about a woman?”
“If she broke his heart.”
“But he left her.”
“Well, then. I don’t know what to tell you, Aeli.”
Aeli growled in frustration. This time, something in his past had affected her directly, made her doubt herself, so it was time she knew what she was dealing with. “He owes me an explanation this time.”
* * *
When Aelissm’s teeth had touched the scar, remembered pain seared through it, nearly as agonizing as the knife had been in his flesh. The hurt on her face needled through him like icicles, excruciating and pervasive. No matter how hard he tried to out-run it, no matter how hard he worked to close himself off to it, Sara’s hatred kept coming back, tormenting him from his memories. He massaged the scar, trying to work out the lingering ache. And now, it was beginning to affect those around him. He had no right to drag Aelissm down with him. She shouldn’t have to fight his past along with her own.
It took him a few more minutes before he finally found the willpower to push himself off the floor to start dinner. Spaghetti sounded good, he thought, trying to fool himself into being hungry. The hike had tired him, but not enough to explain the deep-seated lethargy. He couldn’t let her keep doing this to him, he told himself as he gathered the ingredients and browned the hamburger meat. It had been three years since he’d called it off. With a snort, he reminded himself that what had happened wasn’t as simple as “calling it off”. He was just setting the water on to boil when the phone rang.
Pat absently reached for the cordless as he continued to work. “Hello?”
“Who the hell is this?”
Instantly, Pat’s attention was yanked to the call. He didn’t recognize the voice, so it wasn’t anyone from the valley, but the area code suggested the caller was somewhere in Montana. He thought the prefix might be Devyn, but wasn’t sure. Jogging into the living room, he picked up the pad of paper and pen resting beside the phone’s base and jotted down the number on the caller ID, then detailed what had been said so far.
“I asked, who the hell are you?”
“Pat O’Neil,” he replied at last, still scribbling. “Who’s calling?”
“Where’s Aelissm?” the man demanded.
“Out. Can I take a message?”
“No, but you can stay the hell away from her.”
Winters, Pat decided. “I’m afraid I can’t and won’t do that. Not as long as you’re still around, Adam.”
There was a pause and Pat strained to hear any background noises. He thought he heard the clatter of dishes, as might be heard in a restaurant, and someone—another man—asking when the phone would be free. While Winters was distracted, Pat wrote notes about possible places he might be calling from. In the margin he wrote, Devyn?
“I’ll be done in a minute. Back off, pal,” Winters replied, away from the mouth piece. To Pat, he asked, “How do you know who I am?”
“Call it a hunch. Would you care to leave a message?”
“Yeah, tell Aeli she’s mine and I’m coming for her. And I’ll plow right through you to get to her, asshole.”
“I don’t think so, Adam.”
“Stay away from her.”
The click of disconnection rang in Pat’s ear. By the time he’d finished writing, the impatient, broken dial tone was squawking at him. He pushed the end button and set the handset in the cradle before returning to the kitchen. The water was boiling, so he added the noodles, then poured the jar of ready-made spaghetti sauce into the pan with the meat. He crushed a couple cloves of fresh garlic and added a little extra seasoning.
Adam wasn’t in Seattle anymore. He was getting closer to Aelissm and Pat snarled at his own helplessness. He couldn’t even tell where the bastard was calling from. He could appreciate Aelissm’s situation better now and more fully understand her fear. It was callous, the way Winters had shadowed her since Bryce’s death, always waiting to jump out of the shadows at her. It no longer surprised him that she’d run.
“Son of a bitch,” he mu
ttered as the noodles nearly boiled over. He turned the heat on the little gas range down and separated the noodles with a fork.
Glancing out the kitchen window, he noticed the light had gone golden as the sun sank westward toward evening. Movement pulled his gaze deeper into the forest to where Aelissm, June and Luke were making their way toward the cabin, stepping and bounding over logs and rocks with enviable energy. All three of them were laughing and Pat felt his face lift slightly in response. Aelissm was beautiful even frowning, but when that honest smile graced her features, she was exquisite. The light of it danced in her eyes and flowed out through her arms and legs and even her hair as she tossed her head back to laugh at something Luke had said. That unbridled joy lent a fluid grace to a body that was already lissome.
The insane urge to slide his hands over those sleek hips again knifed through his tension and for a moment, he was too distracted chiding himself to worry about Adam’s call or Sara’s lasting memories. And it would be so easy, too, and so perfect to lose himself in her. It wasn’t just her body that drew him like a dreamer to blessed night, but everything about her. The dry wit she frequently unleashed and the talent she had for crafting and the compassion she often said wasn’t even one of her traits. Beside Aelissm’s brilliant light, Sara’s shadow faded away until he could barely make it out.
The feeling wouldn’t last, he knew, but each moment he wasn’t plagued by his ex was a blessing and one bestowed upon him more frequently the longer he spent basking in the glow of Aelissm’s halo.
“Am I her guardian angel or is she mine?” he wondered aloud as Aelissm’s gaze caught his through the window. Her lips quirked upward and she made a gesture telling him they needed to talk. His heart sank, then fluttered skyward again when mischief flickered like green fire in her eyes. He laughed. “I believe I spy horns holding up that halo.”
The trio trooped through the back door, still laughing and Pat asked what was so funny.
“Old times,” June replied. “We were talking about our Thursday night card parties back in college. We were playing a game called peanuts––it’s sort of like group solitaire––when a friend of ours jumps up on the table, in the middle of a particularly frantic game and shouts ‘No one expects a Spanish inquisition!’ My poor roommate actually started hyperventilating.”
Aelissm nodded. “And Luke was telling us a really bad joke a kid told in his science class. What did the RNA strand ask the DNA strand?”
“I don’t know. What?” Pat asked.
“Can I unzip your genes?” Luke piped. “It’s a bad science joke.”
Pat smirked. “That is pretty bad.”
Aelissm went over to the stove, where dinner was nearly ready. “I’m impressed, Pat. You actually managed to make spaghetti without burning anything.”
Pat rolled his eyes. “I know how to cook, Aeli, even if the sauce is out of a jar. Although, I almost burned it.”
“Ha! The truth comes out!” she said triumphantly. She tested the sauce. “Mmm. This is good, Pat. You might just have earned yourself a promotion to the kitchen at the Bedspread.”
“Really?” he asked with false enthusiasm.
“Really. So what were you doing that you almost burned it? Day dreaming again?”
“No. You had a phone call.”
“From who?”
He hesitated, not wanting to ruin the jovial mood. “Adam Winters.”
Aelissm turned on her heal to face him. Her face went white. “Adam called?”
Pat nodded. “I took notes. In the living room, on your pad.”
He watched her walk into the other room, her strides jarring and her body rigid. No one said anything while she read what he’d written.
“He’s in Devyn,” she said at last.
Her voice was icy, but it didn’t waver. Pat lifted his brows in surprise. She wasn’t afraid. She was angry.
“That son of a bitch is in Devyn!” Aelissm yelled.
June stepped over to her friend and hugged her. Rage vibrated through her, Pat could see that even from a distance, but fear was returning quickly and her face lightened another shade toward ashen. June murmured something Pat couldn’t hear and Aelissm’s blindly staring eyes finally met her friend’s.
“I know, June. But dammit, he keeps doing this to me.”
“Maybe it’ll be over soon,” June said hopefully, glancing at Pat.
He nodded, wondering what he should do, because he’d do just about anything to keep her safe.
Aelissm’s blond head bobbed in affirmation. She and June came back to the kitchen and sat down at the table, across from each other, Aelissm with her back to the living room and June with her back to the door. Luke set the table for dinner before taking his seat by the window. Aelissm ruffled his hair and he didn’t try to duck away.
“Thanks for your help. You’re a good kid, Luke,” she murmured. “It’s good to have you here.”
Luke beamed and Pat felt the mood shift away from the shadows. He exhaled slowly, letting the tension slip away for the time being, and served dinner. They ate quietly, too hungry to talk much. Toward the end of the meal, June asked Pat if he thought he’d gotten any good pictures on the hike.
“Yeah, I think I got a lot, actually,” he replied. “It’s so incredible here. You have no idea.”
June smiled indulgently. “Actually, we do.”
He laughed at himself. “Of course you do. I threw that out more as a generalization. I’d tell the world what they were missing, but I don’t want the world to come here and ruin it.”
“You hear that, Aeli? He’s barely been here a month and already he’s talking like a native! Voice those opinions around any of the rest of the locals and they might just make you mayor.”
“Except that I’m one of those outsiders.”
“The people of Northstar are kinda funny about that,” Aelissm remarked. “If you see things from their point of view, they’ll be a helluva lot more inclined to welcome you with open arms than a loaded gun. If they like you and take you in as one of their own, every one of ‘em will bend over backwards to help you, but if you spit on what they love, don’t expect even a ‘get bent’ from them.”
“So, do you think people around here like me or not?”
Aelissm laughed. “Like you? Hell, they love you, Pat.”
He didn’t know why, but hearing it made him feel… valued. And wanted. Having Aelissm tell him with that shine of glee in her eyes brought him to the gates of heaven. When he’d left Bill’s that day, he never would have believed it if someone had told him coming to Northstar might be the best thing to ever happen to him.
“You’re happy here, aren’t you?” Aelissm asked with a shyness that had Pat smiling like an old sap.
“Believe me this time, at least, when I say you have no idea.”
What was happening between them? And could he keep this up until he knew what it was without hurting her? He turned away from her, stood and started gathering up the dishes. June jumped up and took the plates from him.
“Oh, no you don’t. You cooked. Luke and I will do dishes,” she offered. “Why don’t you two pick out a movie and we’ll take it over to my place to watch?”
“I like the sound of that,” Pat replied. “Any preferences, Aeli?”
“Nope, you pick it,” Aelissm said.
Pat and Aelissm walked into the living room and picked the movie together. They decided on a few episodes of a British sci-fi comedy. Pat excused himself and went upstairs to retrieve his lightweight jacket. Even though each day was warmer than the last, he’d been here long enough to know the nights still frequently brought frost or even snow. He was about to head back down when he caught sight of his holstered gun peeking from beneath his pillow. He hadn’t bothered to wear it yet, but now that Adam Winters had called Aelissm from Devyn, it might be prudent to start taking it with him. Tonight, too, if for no other reason than bears and mountain lions. He tucked it away in the folds of his jacket. There was no reason to
alert Aelissm to his growing unease.
Minutes later, June and Luke were done washing dishes and ready to head back over to June’s cabin. Aelissm grabbed her two spotting lights and her coat before they stepped outside. The five of them made the trek to June’s as sunset flared across the sky in vibrant, fiery hues. Pat paused to admire how the light from the sky colored the land with a warm peach glow. It rekindled tranquility in his heart.
Aelissm put the movie on and plopped on the couch beside Pat to wait while June and Luke vanished upstairs to change into their pajamas. June’s couch and loveseat were perpendicular to each other and gave the open living room a sense of being its own room. There was a lively fire in the woodstove and he was more inclined to watch that than the television one the table below the window on the right wall. From the corner of his eye, he noticed something he hadn’t before. Across the room on the wall above June’s log desk was a poster-sized photograph of an alpine lake—Sawtooth Lake he guessed by the mountain in the background, which distinctly resembled the teeth of a handsaw. The frame’s design so closely matched the filing tiers in Bill’s office that he knew it was one of Aelissm’s creations. There were also two new log chairs.
“When did you make those?” he asked Aelissm.
“Over the past few weeks during class.”
“They’re beautiful. And they fit well in June’s cabin.”
Aelissm glanced around and remarked, “It’s fancier than mine.”
“Maybe, but I like your cabin,” Pat replied. “It’s very cozy.”
“Mmm. Thanks. I’ll tell my dad you said so.” She frowned. “I hate to bring it up right now, Pat, but we need to talk about something. I think I deserve to know some of what happened between you and Sara, because I’ve—”
“Yes, you do and you have.” Pat beckoned her to come closer and she did with only half a moment’s hesitation. She tucked herself into his side and rested her head on his shoulder. He stroked a hand across her back.
“We’ll talk about as much as I can tonight, when we get home. Is that soon enough?”
“It’s going to have to be,” she replied.
“I’m going to need all the time I can get to work up my courage.”
Mountain Angel (Northstar Angels, Book One) Page 14