by J. M. Madden
Stepping toward him, she reached out to straighten the little tab on the pullover. It had twisted. She set it to rights and let her hand rest on his chest for the barest moment. “I wanted to thank you for taking me to your family. Especially on Christmas. This is a treat I don’t get to experience very often.”
His dark eyes softened and he gave her a slight smile. “You may not thank me in a couple hours. My family tends to be…boisterous. And they will infer that we, uh…”
She nodded and stepped back. “They’ll assume we’re a couple? I’ll be sure to set them straight right away.”
Stepping back, she could have grinned when she saw the unsettled frown on his face. Can’t have it both ways, big guy.
“I’ll go out and start the truck and load up the presents. Come on out when you’re ready.”
Planting his cane, he leaned over to grab the big gift bags beside the door and headed toward the kitchen and the garage access door. Alex watched him go, biting her tongue to keep from offering to help. That would only aggravate him.
When Alex had been planning her trip out here, she’d wanted to be prepared, so she’d gone shopping, which had been a thrill in itself. She had a present for Duncan as well as several little generic things that could go to men, women or kids. Glad she’d had the foresight, but hoping she had enough, she settled the bag over her shoulder and grabbed her coat. Glancing out the window she was happy to see that the snow seemed to have finally stopped.
Slipping her snow boots on by the back door, she pulled it shut behind her as she slipped on her coat. The garage wasn’t as cold as outside, but Duncan had opened the overhead door to let out the exhaust from the truck. She was dismayed to see how much snow had piled up against the big door, and now fell in on the clean cement. “Are we going to be able to get through this?”
Duncan glanced at her over the truck. His eyes were glinting with excitement. “Yup. We should be able to. We don’t have too far to go.”
Alex stowed her bag behind the passenger seat of the red truck and climbed in, pulling the seatbelt tight across her body. Then she pulled on a pair of gloves and watched Duncan get into the truck. He pushed the button that shifted the truck into four-wheel drive and backed out of the garage. The truck barely even hesitated as it went up and over the bump of snow and onto the driveway. Duncan backed out into the street, hit the remote to close the garage door, and shifted into drive.
The snowplows had already been through to blade the streets, but everything was still pristine white. The snow-laden Rockies loomed in the distance, a perfect Christmas backdrop.
Duncan pointed out a few landmarks as he drove but Alex doubted she would remember them all. Then he pointed to a long, gray building with a handsomely printed wooden sign out front. Wilde Designs.
“This is your family’s print shop? Very cool.”
Duncan drove past the building and down a couple of side streets, then pulled into the driveway of a dark blue split-level home. Several other trucks and SUVs crowded the driveway, but Duncan managed to squeeze in. Alex worried that the slight incline might be treacherous going for him. Scrambling out of the truck, she grabbed her bag of presents as well as Duncan’s, and circled to the front of the truck. Duncan eyeballed her but didn’t say anything. He looked up the driveway and she could tell it worried him as well.
Obviously the concrete had been scraped, but the residual snow had started to melt as the day warmed. And now, as the sun was going down, things were freezing again.
Alex had no idea how to offer help other than to stand with the bags and follow along behind as he made his way slowly up the drive. At one point his cane slipped and she thought for sure he was going down, but he managed to keep his feet. By the time they made it to the front door Alex was a frightful mess, and not because of meeting the family.
Pushing open the door, he called out a hello. Immediately, a chorus of greetings rang through the house and people started to converge on the two of them.
Alex stood against the wall and tried to stay out of the crush. An older woman with short, curly, steel gray hair was the first to take Duncan into her arms. She gave him a big hug, a kiss on the cheek, then started clucking over him. “You shouldn’t have come out on this, Duncan. We could have waited to see you when the roads cleared.”
“It wasn’t that bad, Mom. The plows have been through.”
“Yes, but your father cleared the driveway and he didn’t do that great of a job.”
“He did fine, Mom. Hey, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Alex Hartfield. Alex, this is Meredith Wilde.”
Meredith’s wide gaze switched to Alex immediately, excitement washing over her features so similar to Duncan’s. “You brought a woman to Christmas? Oh, you should have told me! Come in, come in!”
Before she knew it Alex was drawn into a cushy hug and set back so Meredith could look her over.
“Oh, my, aren’t you gorgeous? Duncan. She’s a pretty one.”
Alex winced and when she glanced at Duncan he was shaking his head and mouthing ‘sorry’ to her behind Meredith’s back. Alex snickered.
“We’ve long lost hope that Duncan would ever bring home a real girl. His aunt Helen, my sister, always said he was gay because he was so pretty, but I knew in my heart that it would just take the right woman to catch his attention.”
Alex laughed out loud, loving the woman’s irrepressible nature. If Duncan was mid-forties, Meredith had to be mid-sixties to seventies, but she certainly didn’t look it, or act it. Alex looked at Duncan. His cheeks were a little pink and he had a strange expression on his face. “Aunt Helen thinks I’m gay? Seriously?”
Meredith waved a hand at him. “Not really, dear. She was just talking out her ass trying to convince herself your cousin Martin isn’t gay.” Meredith turned back to Alex and stage whispered, “but he is.”
Alex laughed, thoroughly enjoying herself. Then the other people started moving in. She lost track of names and faces but did single out Duncan’s brothers, Sam and Robert. Both were good looking men, and even Duncan’s father Joe still kept his good looks, though he was years older. He welcomed her with a light hug and a calm look. “Don’t let them overwhelm you.”
Nodding, she turned back to try to follow all of the introductions.
Duncan was popular with everyone and it took them a few minutes to make it out of the entryway and into the house. He motioned to one of the young boys, who crossed to Alex and took the gift bags from her. She held onto her bag—Duncan would have to help her with name tags if she could draw him away for a minute.
Their coats disappeared and they kicked their boots off at the front door. It was very apparent that this was a well-lived in home. “Have you lived here long, Meredith?”
The woman glanced over her shoulder and smiled as she led Alex to the kitchen. “We’ve lived here for the better part of fifty years. Joe did his tour in the Army. As soon as he came home, we married and he started working in the print shop. After about ten years, old Mr. Bagly sold the business to us, and we’ve been here ever since. Raised all three boys here. Had a wedding in the back yard and too many birthdays to count with all the grandkids. They love the pool so in the summer time they’re over here all the time.”
Alex smiled because the expression on her face said that she was extremely happy about that.
* * *
Duncan’s phone rang as he was finishing dinner. Pulling it from his pocket he checked the number. Not one he recognized, but it was a local Denver number. He pushed up from the chair, searching the floor for his cane. Alex handed it to him, her gaze concerned, but he shook his head. Might be nothing.
“Hello,” he answered.
There was a shuddering breath on the other end of the line, and then silence. Duncan’s tension escalated.
“Hello,” he repeated.
“I can’t believe you answered,” a man whispered. “I never thought anyone would answer.”
“Why not?” he asked, stalling for ti
me. Dodging a toddling nephew, he wound through the house, looking for a quiet area. Nobody was allowed in Dad’s library, so that’s where he went. “Who is this?”
“This is uh… you probably won’t remember me. I met you when you came in and talked to my therapy group. You told us about your company.”
“Okay, you’re narrowing it down for me. Was this the group at the hospital? I talk to several every year.”
As he talked, Duncan paged through the notes on his Evernote app. When had he talked to them? June? It had been decent outside, he remembered that much.
“Yes,” the man said softly.
That confirmation told Duncan a lot. The therapy group that met in the hospital had a less serious level of illness. Once he narrowed it down he found the meeting info and went into the file. It had been put together by Susan Rodriguez and she’d wanted him to talk about career choices when dealing with PTSD. There had been a couple of guys who had approached him after the meeting. He’d handed out a stack of business cards. Obviously that was how the guy had his number.
“Did I talk to you at the meeting?”
There was silence on the other end of the line and it put Duncan on edge. That silence could mean the voices in your head were telling you to do evil things. Or it could be telling you that nobody cared. He had no idea what the man on the other end was feeling, but Duncan was prone to imagine the worst. He’d been there and could imagine it himself.
He scanned the notes but didn’t see anything that would ring a bell for who the guy was.
“Yes, we talked. But just for a minute. You won’t remember me. I took your card but I didn’t say much. I couldn’t then.”
“Well, you can talk now,” Duncan told him strongly. “What’s up? Tell me your name first.”
“Uh, it’s Hank. Hank Fryman.”
“Nice to meet you, Hank. What can I help you with?”
The silence expanded and Duncan thought for a moment he had hung up, but eventually he heard breathing. “Take your time, buddy. I’m not going anywhere.”
Then came the sound of muffled, gasping sobs, and Duncan swore to himself silently. Fuck. He looked at the screen and searched for the number, jotting it down. Then he wrote Hank’s name down. Dad’s laptop sat beside him so he powered it up, shaking his head as he typed in the same password his dad had used for at least ten years. Then he started searching.
“I know this isn’t the way a man should act,” Hank said.
“Now hold on a minute,” Duncan told him firmly. “This isn’t going any further than you and me, so you just do what you need to do to talk to me. I’m not passing judgment on you for anything. I’m just here to listen.”
There was a gasp on the other end, like Hank was trying to control his emotions, but it wasn’t working well. Duncan rocked back in his dad’s office chair, forgetting about his own aches as the man on the other end of the line fought for his sanity.
“I’ve been where you are right now, in the depths of the night, wondering what the hell I’d done wrong in the world to be given such a shitty hand. It took me a long time to realize that I could make my reality better or worse. My body will always be fucked up, but I can train my brain to be better. It took a while, like years, but my brain is finally back on solid footing. It sounds like you’re still scrambling, looking for that rock.”
“Yes,” Hank hissed, emotion making his voice shake. “I thought I had my rock, but she left. It’s fucking Christmas and she walked out the door.”
Well, hell. The puzzle pieces fell together and despair settled in his bones. This could be wind up being very bad.
“Hank, tell me what’s going on. Are you okay?”
He choked out a laugh, but didn’t confirm or deny anything.
“Hank, are you feeling like hurting yourself?”
“I should, then I’d finally be out of my misery. You know? Even dogs get put down when they go rabid.”
“Hank,” Duncan said firmly. “You are not rabid. No man is. Don’t even compare yourself to a dog. That’s not okay to even think.”
There was no agreement from the other end of the line, just clicking like he was doing something that occupied his hands. Kind of sounded like he was clicking the safety on a gun.
“Hank! Tell me where you are and I’ll come talk to you. Can we do that?”
“No, don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have bothered you on Christmas. Sorry.”
And he hung up.
“Fuck,” Duncan growled. Scrambling, he searched for the website he used to do background checks at work, even as he pressed redial. The phone rang and rang as he waited for the website to load. He signed into the site and entered the phone number. Sometimes it paid to be in the snooping business.
Movement drew his eye and he looked up to see Alex’s dark-auburn head slipping around the edge of the door. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, can you get your coat and boots on real quick? We need to go.”
“Will do!”
Forty-five seconds later when he limped out to the entryway, she was ready to go and holding out his coat to him. Damn, that was impressive. His mom and dad stood to the side, worry lining their faces. “I’ll call you guys later, okay. Something’s come up with a veteran I need to deal with.”
“Okay,” his mom said, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Call me later.”
His dad patted him on the back but didn’t say anything, just cautioned him to be careful going down the drive.
Duncan slipped his coat on and headed out the door, Alex right behind him. He slipped twice on the packed snow going down to his truck, both times managing to catch his balance before he crashed. Pain slammed through his body each time and he couldn’t imagine actually landing on the unforgiving ground.
Growling, Alex snugged her arm through his. “Humor me for two seconds before you fall and bust your butt.”
Though it chapped his ass to do it, he gave in to her support. She walked him to the driver’s side of the truck, then circled the hood to her own side. “What’s going on?”
As he started the truck and backed out of the drive, he gave her the gist of the information he had, handing her the Post-it he’d scribbled Hank’s address on. “Can you GPS that?”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. Pulling her phone from her pocket she swiped and tapped until a voice started calling out directions. The location was on the north side of town, toward Fort Lupton. The roads were better and the snow had cleared, but it would take them a while to get there.
Duncan growled as he called John and filled him in on what was going on.
“You sure going up there is smart? Need me to run back-up?”
“No and no, but I can’t just leave him there alone.”
John sighed. “I know you can’t, but I don’t care if it is Christmas, you need to take someone with you.”
“I have Dr. Hartfield with me.”
She looked over when he said her name.
“That’s great you have your honey with you, but maybe you should have someone that’ll be better back-up. She could be collateral damage.”
Duncan wanted to bitch about the ‘honey’ bit, but he didn’t know how to do it without actually saying the word. “I think we’ll be all right. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything. He may not even be there by the time we get there.”
“You’d better call me. I’ll be waiting.”
They drove in silence for several minutes. Duncan concentrated on the spotty roads and not getting pulled over in the clear spots when he sped up.
“He may or may not want a female there when I talk to him. Hang back at the truck until I feel out the situation. If this guy’s woman has really walked out on him, it’s going to be a volatile situation.”
Alex nodded, but held up a hand. “I want you think about something though. I’m a trained medical doctor. I’ve done my rotations and have more than a passing acquaintance with psychology. I’ve dealt with suicidal subjects before and have ha
d pretty good responses.”
“Noted,” he told her firmly. If she would be an asset in this situation, he would use her.
The house that the GPS directed them to was decorated with blinking Christmas lights and seemed well-kept, fitting in well with the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. A blacked-out Jeep sat in the drive, patriotic stickers decorating the back glass. An Army Airborne sticker took prominence in the bottom right hand corner.
Duncan parked behind the Jeep, but left the truck idling. “If you hear anything, press redial on my phone. That’s John Palmer. Then dial 911 and tell them what’s going on. Understand?”
Alex shook her head. “You’re going to take your damn phone with you. I saw the number for Palmer. If I need him, I’ll call.”
Duncan felt a sudden flare of jealousy at the thought of another man seeing to her needs, but he pushed it away and tucked the phone into his pocket. “Okay, but you stay in the truck unless I call you.”
She nodded her head but he could tell by the set of her jaw that she might or might not listen to what he told her.
Duncan slipped out of the truck, planting his cane. The sidewalk had already been cleared, so he followed the path up to the front door. When he knocked, there was no response. He waited a few seconds then pounded again. “Hank?”
No response.
Stepping back he looked over the house and spied a second sidewalk leading around the side. When he leaned around he realized there was a little shed-type workshop in the back, and there were lights on inside. Carefully setting the tip of his cane on the not-so-cleared walk, he made his way around to the back of the house. There were boot prints leading from the house to the little barn, so Duncan stopped long enough to call out a hello. There was no response. Walking forward a few more steps he called out another hello. “Hank?”