by Amber Lynn
“I don’t know about that. You seem to be pretty immune to them.”
Toby’s jaw set in a way that almost felt like a dare. Meredith imagined how his eyes looked under the sunglasses. His brows remained stationary, so she could only guess about the heat of a challenge staring at her.
She wasn’t about to let him think anything contrary to his words, so she shrugged. Splashing water at him as a distraction, she kicked away from him and headed towards the dock. It was time for her to get home and the conversation was going a direction she preferred to stay away from. Meredith had already made the mistake of not telling him what an idiot he was for admiring her stomach.
“I don’t need a man in my life, so whether you look like a god or not doesn’t make a difference to me. I need to get back to Caleb, but if you’re serious about wanting some fashion advice for the dance, come over in a couple hours and I’ll help you out. We needed to go into town today anyway.”
Meredith still wasn’t sure why she’d commanded Toby go to the dance, or why she’d promised she’d go in order to get rid of Paul. She was so wrapped up in trying to figure out what was going on with her swimming companion that she hadn’t been thinking clearly. There was something about him, probably the wounded warrior vibe he had going on.
“Wait a second.”
Toby wasn’t right on her heels, but he was keeping up as she made it to the ladder and started pulling herself up. She didn’t hesitate to get out of the water as quickly as possible. Swimming was something she could still do somewhat gracefully. Any other movement was clumsy and she wanted Toby to see as little of it as possible.
“No can do. No matter how fascinating our conversations are, my son comes first.”
Meredith wished bringing a towel was part of her daily routine. When she didn’t have an audience, it was refreshing to walk home with the cool water still dripping from her body. Toby watching made her want to cover up. Even with his scars, his body was perfect and hers was anything but.
She was already on her way to the well-worn path back to her place when Toby’s warm hand touched her right shoulder. Warm wasn’t the right word. His touch felt like pure fire on her skin. To make sure he didn’t know that fact, she didn’t bother shrugging out of his touch or turning around. She stopped to listen to him, but that was all he’d get from her.
“I’m glad you agree that our conversations are fascinating, and you’ll get no arguments from me about your kids coming first. I just wanted to verify whether I’m walking over to your place or if you want me to drive us to town. I have no problem chauffeuring you guys around, but I’m not sure your stance on it.”
Meredith’s desire to leave made her response sharp and quick. It was a miracle based on how muddled her brain really felt.
“You can drive.”
She could’ve qualified it with as long as he felt like it, because she did wonder how his headaches interfered with his driving. She figured if he was offering, he didn’t think there’d be a problem, and for the time being, she was willing to trust his judgement. She hoped that trust didn’t come back to bite her.
Chapter Nine
“So has your time in the wilderness cured everything?”
At least Jimmy had learned not to ask how Toby’s head was doing. After the millionth time of hearing the question, Toby had basically exploded in a very public scene at an awards banquet. He’d had to fight doing the same thing when Meredith had asked him earlier that morning. He’d expected it, so he was able to quickly pretend the words hadn’t been spoken. There was part of them that was actually happy to hear she cared enough to ask.
Jimmy had been his teammate for five years and most people thought they were attached at the hips. There was no questioning whether or not the other man was his best friend. They’d seen the best and worst of each other and still could stand to be in the same room together. Since taking on his little adventure, Toby hadn’t phoned him. He decided making the call was a good excuse to sit out in his SUV while Meredith and Caleb bought whatever groceries they needed.
Meredith had said he could come in with them, but they both knew Paul was more than likely in the store. They were already getting glares from everyone else who saw them drive into town together, so it was best they didn’t set Meredith’s wannabe boyfriend off. The man seemed unstable to Toby.
“Nope. I’ve been out twice.”
There was no need to hide anything from Jimmy. He thought the idea of communing with nature had been one of Toby’s dumber ideas, but he hadn’t stopped him.
Toby leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. Looking out any of the windows only showed people trying to get a look at him. With the dark tinting surrounding him, he figured he was having more luck seeing them than they were him.
“That mean you’re coming home?”
A knock on the window next to him halted Toby’s response. He looked over, expecting to see someone standing there. When he didn’t find anyone there, he rubbed his eyes with his free hand and looked again, but no one was out there.
“Nah. I want to give it a little more time. Both times may have had a little stress involved.”
With his eyes on the window, Toby saw the small hand reach up and knock on it a second time. It was nothing more than a quick flash of peach skin.
“Did you hear me?”
Ignoring Jimmy, Toby turned the key in the ignition so he could roll the window down to figure out who was knocking. He hadn’t been watching the store, but he didn’t expect to find Caleb standing on his tiptoes next to the SUV.
“What’s up, Caleb?”
“Mom says I can have some ice cream since I was good all the way here. I told her you were pretty good yourself so maybe you want an ice cream cone too.”
The kid had sort of a goofy grin on his face and his blue eyes looked mischievous. Toby wasn’t sure why asking him about ice cream would cause the look, but he was game to let the kid have some fun.
“Sure. I’ll have whatever you’re having. Let me give you some money for it.”
Caleb was quick to shake his head. The curls on top of his head moved with the action.
“Mom gave me money, but she said I can’t go to the ice cream store by myself, so you gotta take me.”
The grin made a little more sense. Toby clearly looked like an easy sell, so the kid didn’t even try to hide the fact he’d gotten his way.
“And you can’t wait until your mom’s done in the store?”
Toby didn’t have a problem taking the kid for ice cream. After the whole stranger thing the first time they met, he was surprised the kid was willing to go with him.
“I don’t like shopping with her. Paul keeps staring at her and it’s creepy.”
Caleb was five and even he could see how creepy Paul was. That said a lot about the guy. It made Toby reconsider the fact he’d let Meredith walk into the store by herself. With how quick Paul projected the whole serial killer thing, it could’ve very well been him speaking from experience.
“It sounds like I’m off to get some ice cream, so I’ll have to call you back later, Jimmy.”
“Who’s Jimmy?” Caleb asked before the man on the phone could answer.
“Who’s the kid?” Jimmy said in response to the question.
“He’s my neighbor.”
Toby’s eyes were still on Caleb so he pointed to the phone to try to indicate he was talking to Jimmy. As much as people thought they were glued together, he and Jimmy lived at least a mile away from each other. Unlike in the mountains, a mile didn’t make you neighbors.
“You going to be around for a bit? After ice cream we’ve got to do some shopping so I have something to wear to this dance I agreed to go to tomorrow.”
“Wait, what? You can’t leave me with that. What dance are you talking about?”
The confusion was warranted. Toby could be social if he had to be, but he didn’t willingly sign up for it. He was always the first to leave any of the team parties and had only on
ce or twice gone out drinking with the guys. After his head problems started, he rarely went to the parties and going out drinking fell off his list of things to do.
“I owe someone a favor, so I’m going to a dance. It’s not a big deal.”
Toby had unbuckled as soon as they pulled in, so he grabbed his keys and opened the door. Not wanting to slam it into Caleb, he gestured with his hand for the boy to move. The window was still down, which he figured wouldn’t be a problem. He hadn’t checked crime stats before picking out the town, but he couldn’t believe a threat lurked in the alleys.
“You’re actually talking to people up there? I thought you were just going up there to meditate.”
Jimmy covered the phone and whispered to someone. There was a high chance that it was his wife. Training camp should’ve started, but there wasn’t enough background noise for him to be hanging out with the guys.
“Like I said, it’s not a big deal. I seriously do have to go. My ice cream date doesn’t look like he’s willing to wait forever.”
Caleb hadn’t changed his expression. Toby had his feet on the cement and was trying to end the phone conversation, so progress had been made.
Outside of the vehicle, it was easy to see that the handful of people he could see walking weren’t hiding the fact they were staring at him. When he’d been alone buying supplies, they’d done the same thing, but Toby was an expert at avoiding the stares. None of the people seemed to be willing to make direct eye contact. As soon as Toby looked at them, their eyes darted away.
“If I don’t hear from you today, I’m coming up there to save you from yourself. I don’t know what’s going on, but all that fresh air you hoped would help with your head has probably caused a brain tumor.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I’ll talk to you later.”
Toby hung up the phone and slid it into his back pocket. The threat of his friend dropping everything to come check on him fell on deaf ears. Jimmy didn’t have a spontaneous bone in his body, so the chances of him stopping by for a visit were slim.
“Who’s Jimmy?”
Glancing down, Toby saw a small hand stretched up at him. He stared at the hand and then over to the kid’s face. Caleb’s eyebrows were lifted and his eyes clearly wondered what was taking Toby so long to take his hand. Toby looked around quickly to make sure no one would come running at him for holding Caleb’s hand. It seemed a little silly, but he was an unknown in the area and back home kidnapping wasn’t uncommon.
“He’s my best friend. There a reason why we need to hold hands to get ice cream?”
He didn’t want to hurt Caleb’s feelings. He just wanted to verify the kid had a reason and wasn’t taking a shine to him. Toby didn’t have his stuff packed, but like Meredith had already alluded to, he was going to go back home eventually. Once he started making a list of everything he missed in his daily life – hot showers, a decent set of weights, steak and lobster dinners – Toby knew his days in the woods were numbered.
“The ice cream shop is over there and I can’t cross the street unless I’m holding someone’s hand.”
Caleb pointed towards a building with a giant twist ice cream cone painted on the front window. A group of kids stood in front of it wearing jeans and shirts that even from across the street made it look like they’d been rolling around in dirt. Toby looked down and checked out Caleb again. The kid’s light blue t-shirt looked clean and his blue jeans didn’t have any signs of even a grass stain.
The kids across the street looked a little older than Caleb, but Toby had no reference to say whether Caleb was short for his age. He clearly saw the kids and didn’t seem worried about them, so Toby shrugged and took the offered hand. His much larger hand engulfed Caleb’s, making him hesitate to squeeze tighter than he would if he had a butterfly in his hand. He couldn’t remember ever holding onto something that delicate, but it was the best reference he could come up with.
“What kind of ice cream can I expect?”
A small town probably meant basic flavors, which was fine. Toby had a thing for interesting flavor combinations, often ordering a three-scoop sundae of competing flavors. Bubble gum, cherry cheesecake and pistachio with marshmallow cream instead of hot fudge was his go-to treat. It hadn’t made the list of things he missed, but thinking of it put it towards the top of the list.
“Whatever kind you want. Miss Kelsey has about every topping I can think of and she mixes it with whatever flavor of ice cream you want. She says it’s better than some kind of special ice cream thing they have back in the city. You’ll like it.”
The kid seemed sure of himself. The any topping he could think of sounded like an interesting challenge. A kid his age probably didn’t have the same imagination Toby did.
It didn’t take more than a minute to cross the street. Foot traffic was the only thing around them, so they didn’t have to wait for cars to get out of the way. Caleb waved at the kids in front of the store, as Toby verified it looked like they’d rolled around in dirt. He’d thought at first they had decent tans, but their little faces were also covered in dirt.
When he was a kid, Toby had been focused on hockey, so there wasn’t a lot of time to just roll around and rough house. His mom would’ve probably killed him if he ever came home looking like the handful of youngsters. There was a part of him that envied the abandonment it must take to just play and not worry about the consequences.
The kids were focused on Toby and probably hadn’t noticed the wave from Caleb. They were theoretically Caleb’s friends, so Toby felt bad about taking the attention away from him.
“You guys going in for some ice cream?” Toby asked.
It was impossible to tell whether they’d already been inside and were just hanging out or if they were waiting to go in. There didn’t seem to be a reason for them to be standing around, but that very well could have been the thing to do in their town.
“Miss Kelsey kicked us out and told us to go jump in the creek,” the tallest of the kids in the group said.
Toby found himself nodding at the suggestion. The kids and their clothes could use a good rinse.
“Miss Kelsey is a firm believer that cleanliness is next to godliness,” Caleb provided.
“Are these your friends?”
Before Toby offered to buy the whole gang some ice cream, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t stepping into some conflict. No one seemed aggressive, but that could’ve just been because there was an adult around.
“Sure. That’s Henry, Miles, Tommy, Winston and Alan.”
Each boy nodded when they were introduced. They all had goofy smiles with different teeth missing in each mouth. Thankfully they were young and those missing teeth weren’t permanent. Toby had plenty of dental work over the years to repair teeth he’d lost while on the ice.
“In that case, why don’t you guys give us your orders and we’ll take care of getting the ice cream from Miss Kelsey.”
The group had been sedate, but with Toby’s words they came to life. Giving them extra sugar was probably a big-time parenting mistake. It was a good thing no one ever mistook Toby for a parent.
Chapter Ten
The next closest grocery store was about an hour away, but Meredith seriously considered making the trek. She could feel Paul’s eyes on her everywhere she walked, whether he was actually watching her or not didn’t matter.
Caleb had been quick to catch onto the stress running through her body. She’d hid it as well as she could on the trip to town, but once they stepped into the store and Paul smiled in their direction, Meredith felt like her body morphed into wood and someone else was pulling her strings.
She didn’t like thinking about her life before moving away from the city. Thinking about feeling like a puppet made her remember how things used to be. She hated it.
“Something wrong with your truck?”
The question from Paul was simple, but a hostile undercurrent accompanied a raised eyebrow and an eye focused out the front window. Meredith had
sent Caleb out to take Toby for ice cream not long after she felt herself turning to wood. He hated being in the store anyway, so the promise of a cool treat didn’t take a second thought for him to agree to.
“Toby needed to come into town, so it made sense that we came together. He’s my neighbor, Paul. As far as I know, you are still the only guy who thinks I’ll eventually be looking for another husband.”
Meredith thought it was pretty generous that she left off the fact that those words made her sick. It wasn’t only the fact that Paul wanted the position. On the way to town, she actually wondered what it would be like to have a man in her life again. It was a fleeting thought as Toby drove them down the twisted path through the mountains.
Toby was an interesting trigger to make her think those thoughts. The fact that he was safe had to be the reason her mind wandered. He hadn’t denied he was going to disappear one day and he was so far out of Meredith’s league that it seemed safe to maybe daydream a little.
“I know you hate to hear it, but you need someone up there to protect you. Especially with him up there.”
Biting her tongue, Meredith tried to take in a deep breath so she could temper the usual outburst brewing after hearing someone thought she couldn’t cut it. It was another reaction that went back to her old life. Over the years, she’d done everything she could to block things out and the fact that things were coming through made her want to scream and rip her hair out.
There was so much pain buried deep in there that she couldn’t remember her mother’s face. Years of living with the woman and the years away made it nothing more than a fuzzy picture. Meredith knew that if she ever did focus and see it clearly, she’d be the one people needed to worry about going on a killing spree.
She shook her head, ridding her mind of the dark images trying to make their presence felt. Paul would never understand that he reminded her way too much of a man she was supposed to marry, and there was no way she’d ever tell him.