by Zoe Chant
A rap on his window startled him out of his reverie. Dottie, the clinic manager, stood out there, so he rolled down his window.
“You all right, Caleb? I was just coming back from getting coffee and saw you sittin’ here.”
“Yeah, it’s all good. Your new girl in there wore me out, is all.” He could smile at her, that wasn’t a problem. Dottie was old enough to be his mom.
“She’s good, ain’t she? I don’t know why she decided to come out to ass-end of nowhere, but I’m glad she did, we needed an extra pair of hands.” Dottie waved a finger at him. “Don’t you go getting any ideas. Marty’d kill me if I let you switch therapists. Don’t tell anybody I told you, but you’re his golden boy.”
Caleb ducked his head. Marty had done good by him. It was thanks to him that Caleb had adjusted as well as he had. Marty had worked Caleb’s ass off in the first months he’d come home, and as a result, Caleb was almost as strong as he’d been before the IED. “Nah, I wouldn’t do Marty like that. He doing all right?”
“He’s fine. Sick kid. You sure you’re doing okay?” Dottie peered at him with the practiced gaze of a small town busybody.
“I’m fine.” He grinned. “Go on, shoo. You’ve got other chicks to look after, and I gotta get going.” To prove his point, he finally put his keys in the ignition and started up the engine.
“All right. You take care.” She waved him off as he pulled out of the parking space.
His mind was clearer, but he was halfway up to the holler before he remembered: Smithson’s. He needed to stop by and see about a job. Just as well, he wasn’t thinking too clear about that either, thinking he was going to go job hunting in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He’d run home and change, then come back.
An hour later, after a quick shower and shave and letting Lucille run in the backyard, Caleb was back on the road headed back to the Smithson store. He got there during an afternoon lull. There were just a few shoppers wandering up and down the aisles. Smithson’s maybe wasn’t the fanciest grocery store, but the prices were fair and it was Smithson’s or drive twenty minutes down Route 5 to find a Piggly Wiggly. Caleb straightened his shirt and went to the door marked “Office” in silver hardware store letters and knocked.
Old Man Smithson himself opened the door, and Caleb fought the urge to stand at attention. “Afternoon, Mr. Smithson. I don’t know if you know me, I’m Caleb Bentley, Mattie and Sam Bentley’s boy.”
“‘Course I know who you are,” Smithson said, and caught Caleb’s hand in a fierce handshake. “You think I don’t know the town hero when I see one? Come on in, what can I do for you?”
Caleb kept the smile on his face, but it took some doing. Town hero. He was just a dumb kid who made a stupid mistake and got his leg blown off. He was damned lucky to be alive, and he sure as hell was no hero. This was going to be harder than he thought. He let Smithson usher him into the office and sit him down. “Well, sir, I saw you had a Help Wanted sign out front and wanted to see about a job application.”
“Aw, you don’t want that, son. It’s a cashier job. Man like you can do a helluva lot better than that!”
“A job’s a job. I learned real quick not to think I was too good to do anything.” Keep on smiling. “I’d be much obliged if you’d let me go ahead and apply.”
Smithson paused, but pulled a form out of a folder on his desk. “You’re welcome to apply, of course. You know you’d be on your feet all day—” He grimaced, catching himself. “I mean—”
Caleb took the application. “They’re both mine and they’re both feet.” He wasn’t going to sit here and let the pity party get started. “Left one’s probably tougher than my right, these days.” He stood up and offered his hand again. “I appreciate it, Mr. Smithson. I’ll have this back to you in no time.”
“All right.” They shook hands again. “A pleasure to see you, Caleb. We were real sorry to hear about your momma.”
“She’s in a better place now.” Stock phrases came easy, and he could say them without thinking. He escaped the office, and slipped out of the store before anybody else could speak to him.
Michaela managed to make it through the rest of her day without making a fool of herself over another client. She got into her apartment without running into Miss Harvelle, and slouched back against her door. She’d seen Caleb and Dottie talking out in the parking lot before he drove off. Had he told her what happened? If he had, Dottie didn’t show any sign of it. Dottie wasn’t the type to mince words. If she was mad, Michaela would know.
She changed out of her work clothes and started putting together a simple supper. She’d never been much good in the kitchen, and left to herself, would have lived on frozen dinners if it weren’t for the new stream of vegetables from Miss Harvelle’s garden. After dinner, she settled in at her computer to make her usual rounds of email and Facebook. In her email was a note from Brenda. All it said was, “Girl, CALL ME.”
Knowing Brenda, it could be anything from a world-class tragedy to meeting a new guy at the gym, but Michaela dutifully dialed her number.
“What took you so long?” Brenda answered the phone. “Girlfriend, you won’t believe it. We are falling apart without you here. The receptionist and two more therapists quit today.” Michaela had worked beside Brenda at Silverwood for two years, and they’d been instant friends. Brenda was the one real thing she felt bad about leaving behind in Louisville.
“You’re kidding.” Michaela flopped on her couch, settling into gossip mode. “What happened?”
“Well. Everybody already thought the way you got treated was shady as hell, so the whole place was already on edge.” Brenda paused to take a dramatic breath. “But then today Reuben decided that not only were we going to be open on weekends and that everybody had to work them, but he told us that after the ‘discrepancies’ he’d found in the billing, he was going to be going over everybody’s paperwork with a fine-toothed comb.”
Michaela winced. “That sounds like him. Did he actually say he’d found discrepancies?” More importantly, did he say they were mine?
“He did, the smug son of a bitch.” Brenda snorted. “You know nobody believes him.”
“Oh, I’m sure a few people do.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do. He never got around to replacing you, either, so we’re down a quarter of the staff and we’re working on Saturdays. I think you got the better end of the bargain.” One of the great things about Brenda: she was fiercely loyal. “How’s it going out there in Hooterville?”
“Okay. I started my new job today, and managed to make a jackass of myself.”
“I know you. Whatever you think you did, I bet nobody noticed.”
“He noticed, all right. Bren, have you ever been attracted to a client before?” She was almost afraid to ask, but she had to tell somebody.
“Ooh-wee, don’t tell me, did Miss Stoneface finally crack?” Brenda sounded too gleeful. “You’re in the middle of nowhere, how hot could this guy have been? Are you dropping your standards already, girl?”
“Marine,” Michaela said. “Tall. Built. Blond hair and blue eyes. You tell me if that sounds like a drop in standards.” She sighed. “No, he’s so far out of my league I don’t even think we’re playing the same sport. But I practically threw myself at him, while I was working, ugh.”
“What’d he say?” Brenda sounded both delighted and scandalized. “Did you grope him on the table? Ask for his number? Spill!”
“It’s not funny!” That didn’t stop Michaela from cracking a smile. “He didn’t say anything, like, at all. I think he was horrified.”
“Nah, if he’s all that, he’s probably used to women losing their cool. Probably expects it, if he’s like the Marines I know.”
“I just— what if he tells my boss?” With Brenda, Michaela could voice her worst fears. “I can’t get fired again.”
“You’re not gonna get fired. And anybody with half a brain could figure out what Reuben did doesn’t count either.
” Brenda got more serious. “I mean it. You can’t start looking over your shoulder every time you think you made a mistake, ’Chaela. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”
She was right, but that didn’t make it any easier. “I think I’m already there.”
“Well, look at it this way, at least you aren’t going to have to start working on Saturdays.” Brenda changed the subject. “So when are you going to invite me out to see your new place?”
“I dunno, if you’re going to be working all these weekends, when are you going to have time to come down?” Michaela teased. “Besides, I thought you weren’t interested in Hooterville.”
“That was before you told me Hooterville was crawling with sexy Marines.” Brenda laughed.
Michaela laughed with her. “I think they like to keep it quiet, so they don’t get overrun with big city girls.”
“Lucky for me, I’ve got someone on the inside. Let me double-check to see when this weekend shit starts and we’ll figure something out.” She paused. “Other than being needlessly worried about your job, you like it okay there?”
Michaela thought about it, considering any number of answers, and settled on the truth. “It’s okay. It’s kind of... cozy. The mountains are everywhere. And wait until you meet my neighbor. First thing she’s gonna tell you is that you’re too skinny. And then she’ll try to feed you.”
“Can’t wait. ’Chaela, try not to worry so much, okay? It’s gonna be fine.”
Chapter Three
Caleb might have overestimated how easy it would be to stand on his feet for hours. He thought he knew, from time spent standing at attention, long marches, guard duty— he’d spent most of his time as a Marine on his feet, seemed like. This was different. Aside from the fact that back then he’d had two good feet, now he wasn’t moving around as much, but had to stay right where he was, behind the register with Janine, the kid who was training him. Janine was just out of high school, but knew her way around the store like a pro. He’d have to ask her what kind of shoes were best, because his sneakers weren’t it.
“On Tuesdays it gets a little hairy cause that’s double coupon day,” Janine was saying. “You’re gonna get a handful of old biddies trying to give you expired coupons for things we don’t even carry, so you’ll have to check extra close. If somebody gives you a hard time, you can send ‘em to me if Mr. Smithson ain’t here.”
Caleb hid a smile at the idea of deferring a pissed off old lady to a kid, and nodded obediently. The work didn’t seem hard, just the standing. He’d expected his leg to ache where the prosthetic fit over his stump, but he hadn’t counted on the pins and needles in his good foot. Didn’t matter. He’d get used to it.
“Next customer that comes in, you can ring ‘em up,” Janine said. “You look like you’re getting the hang of it okay.”
They didn’t have to wait long, but Caleb wanted to crawl under the counter when the next customer walked in. That physical therapist from the other day, the one he couldn’t say two words to, walked in with a basket over her arm. “No, Momma, I have to go, I’m at the store. Love you.” She hung up her cell phone and nearly froze when she spotted Caleb behind the counter. Janine nudged him.
“Afternoon,” he said. “Welcome to Smithson’s.”
Janine nodded her approval, while Michaela— that was her name— looked like she wished she was anywhere else in the world. “Thanks,” she said, then ducked down an aisle. He hadn’t heard anything else from his bear since the other day; he figured it had been a fluke. Until now. He felt the beast stirring inside him, stretching and yawning. What was going on?
Caleb scoured his brain for something clever to say when she came to his register. Something to let her know that he wasn’t a stupid lunk. Should he apologize? He never worried about talking to Marty during their sessions, so why was he worried now? That was a stupid question. Marty wasn’t a sweet, voluptuous woman, Marty was pushing fifty and balding.
Janine chattered at him about something, but he listened just enough to figure out she wasn’t trying to teach him about the job, just saying something about her rowdy brothers. He knew the Ellis brothers, all right. Janine was too young to have run with them, but the Bentleys and the Ellises were both part of the small clan of bear shifters in town.
He still hadn’t thought of anything by the time Michaela was done shopping, but at least he could give her a smile as she came up to him. “You find everything okay?”
“Yeah, thanks.” She unloaded her basket on the counter. Frozen food, some fruit, some canned stuff. He was seized with a desire to cook her a good home-cooked meal. “I didn’t know you worked here,” she said.
Aha! An opening! He grinned. “It’s my first day. As a cashier.”
There was the smile he was looking for, the same one she’d given him when they’d met, before he’d clammed up and wrecked it. It was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. “Don’t make fun of me, that’s not nice.”
“No, it really is!” He nodded at Janine, trying to pay attention to what he was doing at the register and flirt at the same time. “Ask her, she’s training me.”
“You’re his first customer,” Janine confirmed. “So if he gets outta line, you tell me.”
“So far so good,” Michaela said, still smiling.
Caleb tried to think of something else to say. The mirror! Despite his doubts, he’d bought a cheap wall mirror like she’d suggested. “Thank you for the mirror exercises,” he said. “I’ve been doing them.” Behind him, Janine was bagging up Michaela’s order. If he didn’t act fast, she’d be gone again.
“Are they helping?” Michaela was looking at him, actually looking at him, and he almost forgot to charge her for her oranges. Her eyes were a soft, luminous green, like the pine trees that covered the mountains around town.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “Yeah, I think they are. Sounded crazy at the time.”
“The brain is a strange place,” she said. She stood looking at him expectantly. What was she waiting for? Janine nudged him again. Oh! The total! “That comes to thirty-five twenty.”
She paid, and now she was picking up her bags. She was about to leave, and he didn’t think he could stand it. When she walked out the door, something snapped in him. “I’ll be right back,” he said. He tugged off the green apron that had his name tag and the Smithson’s name on it and rushed out the door. “Michaela!”
She’d reached her car, and turned around, startled. “Did I forget something?”
“No, I did.” Both feet were on fire and he fought to keep from limping as he chased after her. “Listen, I— I got the feeling I made kind of a bad first impression. Will you let me take you to dinner sometime?” Before she could answer, he rushed on, “If you don’t want to or if it’s against the rules or anything, that’s fine.”
“Dinner? Me?” She looked adorably confused and he wanted to kiss the expression right off her face. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.” There was another of those sunny smiles, and it warmed him to the core. She tore off a piece of grocery sack and got a pen from her purse. “Here’s my number. Call me?”
He took the scrap and tucked it into his pocket. “I will.”
The day of her date with Caleb, Michaela spent the whole day telling herself she should cancel. He’d asked if it was against the rules. She should have said yes. It wasn’t exactly; she’d only been his physical therapist that one time, and she could just tell Dottie she couldn’t work with him again, but it felt like a gray area, and the last thing Michaela needed right now were more gray areas. “Don’t you dare, Michaela Jane Baker,” Brenda said when she’d mentioned it. “Don’t make me come out there. The hottest man in the county asks you out, you say yes.”
If she canceled now, Brenda would never let her hear the end of it. And truthfully, Michaela didn’t want to cancel. When she realized that Caleb had chased her into the parking lot to ask her out, she felt like she’d walked onto a movie set. She didn’t think that sort of thing ever happene
d in real life. It didn’t seem possible that he could be so sweet. And good-hearted too, she’d bet. Most men out here would’ve turned their nose up at working a cash register. She admired the hell out of him for his determination.
That’s not all you’re admiring, a wicked part of her brain piped up. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t stop noticing the way his jeans had cradled his butt as he was walking away. Or that she couldn’t stop thinking of the possibility that the night might end with him kissing her, taking her in his arms. Maybe more. Michaela didn’t usually think of herself as someone who had sex on the first date, but she was willing to make an exception if he was.
“You all right?” Dottie’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She was standing in the office door looking at Michaela oddly. “Your face is all flushed. I hope you’re not coming down with something.”
Michaela bit her inner cheek to keep from laughing. “I’m fine, I promise. Whatcha need?”
“I just wanted to say, good job this week. Everybody’s been raving about you so far.”
“Everybody?” Granted, she was pretty sure by now that Caleb hadn’t been offended by her on her first day, but she’d had a couple of clients who didn’t seem too thrilled with her.
“Well,” Dottie amended with a grin, “most everybody. I’ve got no complaints.”
Michaela felt warm all over again, this time for a difference reason. “Thanks, Dottie. I appreciate that.” A little knot of stress started to dissolve in her belly, one she’d gotten so used to she’d forgotten it was there. Maybe she’d do okay here after all.