More Than a Touch: A Snowberry Creek Novel

by Alexis Morgan

  Zoe studied him for a few seconds before slowly nodding. “Callie’s got my number.”

  Then she was gone, but not before she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. It seemed like things were finally starting to look up for him. His good mood didn’t fade until he was stretched out in bed and his pain pills sent him over the edge into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 2

  For a soldier, the mission was everything. Leif knew that and had lived by that creed for his entire army career. At twenty, he’d signed up to serve his country and ended up being deployed three times to fight in a pair of down-and-dirty wars on the other side of the world. Experience was a bitch of a teacher, but he’d learned damn near everything there was to know about combat in the dust, dirt, and bloody sand of Iraq and Afghanistan.

  Which was why his current surroundings had him a bit freaked. He glanced out at the neatly trimmed grass and towering firs scattered around the gently rolling hillside. This wasn’t where he was supposed to be—that was for damn sure. He should be holding a gun, not a cane. At least he felt more at home in his ACUs than he would’ve in jeans and a golf shirt even if his desert camouflage uniform did stand out like crazy in the midst of all this Pacific Northwest greenery.

  By the time Leif reached his friend’s side, he was breathing hard. A pain pill sounded good about now, but they’d become even more of a crutch than his cane. Besides, he needed his wits about him to get through the next few minutes.

  “Well, Wheelman, sorry it took me so long to stop by, but that guy Murphy had it right about everything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

  He smiled and shook his head. If anybody knew about the role Murphy’s Law played in the life of a soldier, it was Spence.

  “Anyway, I brought the beer.” He held up the six-pack in his right hand. “You always did say that conversation was thirsty work, and I’ve got a few things to say. I figure you won’t mind if I do all the talking.”

  He popped the caps off a pair of bottles of the Wheelman’s favorite microbrew, one for himself and one for Spence. Leif took a long swig to let the smooth chill of the beer clear out the last bit of fear.

  As tempting as it was to stare up at the blue sky, Leif forced himself to look at his friend head-on. “I’ve only been back in the States for a few weeks, Spence. That last mission landed my ass in the hospital in Germany. Well, not my ass, exactly.”

  He reached down to knock his beer bottle against the plastic contraption that encased the lower half of his left leg. “My ankle got busted up pretty bad on that last mission. The army surgeons did a bang-up job of screwing the bits and pieces of my bones back together. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they tell me it’s going to be a long haul to get it back to full strength.

  “I haven’t told the sergeant this next part, Spence. He already feels guilty. No use in making it worse for him.” Leif paused for another long drink. “The docs insist on telling me the prognosis is good, but I’m not buying it. Maybe it would be easier to believe them if even one of the bastards could look me in the eye for a second while he said it.”

  But that hadn’t happened yet. Hell, he knew he was damn lucky to have a leg left at all. All things considered, he didn’t have much to complain about.

  “Anyway, they’ve fixed me up with someone at a civilian clinic and a physical therapist right here in Snowberry Creek. I’m supposed to meet up with them this morning.”

  He shook his head. “That’s another thing you should know, Wheels. Nick and I, well, we somehow ended up hanging out here in your hometown, and it looks like we’ll be staying a while. How weird is that?”

  The words kept coming. “You see, Nick drove all the way out here from Ohio to see if Callie would give Mooch a home. That was his excuse, anyway. Mostly, he needed to put some space between himself and his folks. You know how hard it is to adjust to being stateside again.”

  Leif rolled his shoulders, hoping he could get the rest of it out before he ran out of beer or courage. “This is a real nice town, Spence, and the people are sure friendly. Sarge has decided to stay here in Snowberry Creek permanently. I know you had thoughts about coming back here to Callie, what with the two of you being so close and all. I don’t know how serious you were about that, but she and Nick have hooked up big-time. Hell, they’re planning on getting married.”

  There. He’d managed to get the worst part out. “Not only that, but Nick’s starting his own remodeling business here in Snowberry Creek once he gets clear of the army, starting with your house. He wants me to think about throwing in with him on it. For sure, he’s not going to reenlist, and I’m not sure the army will want me back with this leg. Maybe they’d offer me some kind of desk job, but you know how much I’d hate that.”

  The alarm on his cell phone chimed, reminding him he had places to be, other people to see.

  “I think I’ve covered the high points of what we’ve got going on these days. Guess I’d better head over to the medical clinic now, Wheels. I’ll stop by again soon. I’ll leave the beer for you.”

  Leif set the rest of the six-pack next to Spence’s headstone before reaching out to trace his friend’s name, carved into the polished granite. The stone was surprisingly warm, but then Spence had always run hot, charging through life at full bore.

  “Damn it, Wheels, I miss you so fucking much. We all do.” Leif took a step back. “It hurts so damn much knowing that you died on that street so Nick could drag my worthless ass to safety. He and I are both having a hard time learning to live with that, but maybe we’ll figure it out eventually. I’m not much for the mushy stuff, Wheels, but it was an honor to know you and serve at your side.”

  Leif straightened up, ignoring the fresh stab of pain in his leg. Blinking hard to hold back the sting of tears, he could have sworn he could hear the ghostly strains of “Taps” echoing through the nearby woods. Maybe he was only imagining how it had been the day his friend had been laid to rest here next to his parents on this Washington hillside. Real or not, it didn’t matter. Throwing back his shoulders, Leif stood at attention until the last note died away.

  Clutching his cane in his left hand, he executed a perfect salute, did an about-face, and marched away.

  Chapter 3

  “Hey, Zoe, your next appointment is here.”

  “I’ll be with you in a second, Brandi. I need to finish this before I lose my train of thought.”

  Her medical assistant nodded and leaned against the doorframe while Zoe finished typing an e-mail. She scanned it one last time and hit SEND before looking up. “Now you’ve got my undivided attention.”

  Brandi held out a clipboard and a stack of paperwork. “His name is Corporal Leif Brevik. He’s a soldier who needs physical therapy for his leg.”

  Leif? Zoe stared at the forms he’d filled out. How had she missed seeing his name on her patient list for the day?

  Brandi kept talking. “He’s a real cute guy, by the way, if a bit too clean-cut for my tastes.”

  “And how is that last part pertinent to his medical care?”

  Totally unrepentant, her assistant just grinned. “I wanted to make sure you noticed that he is totally drool-worthy. You have a tendency to miss important details like that.”

  If Brandi figured out that she and Leif had not only met but had shared drinks and slow dances, Zoe would never hear the end of it. She gave an exaggerated sigh. “He’s a patient, Brandi, which means what he looks like is completely irrelevant.”

  She pointed her finger at the top of the form. “Besides, according to this, he’s three years younger than I am.”

  “Your point being?” Brandi popped her gum and gave Zoe her best wide-eyed–innocent look. Somehow, she managed to pull it off despite her black lipstick, nose ring, and white spiked hair, which was tipped with green this week.

  “He’s too young for me, so you can quit playing matchmaker. I’m not interested.”

  Especially now that he was a patient. The trouble was that she wasn’t inte
rested in anyone else, either, a situation that her young assistant seemed determined to change. Good luck with that.

  Zoe slipped her lab coat on and settled her stethoscope around her neck. “While I talk to Corporal Brevik, can you give Isaac a heads-up that I’d like him to pop in to meet his new patient?”

  She glanced at her watch. “Tell him we should be ready for him in about twenty minutes.”

  “Will do.”

  Zoe waited until Brandi was gone before making her way down the hall to the examination room. Before knocking on the door, she paused for a few more seconds to finish reading through Leif’s answers to the questions on the form.

  Typical guy, he’d ignored the entire section on mental health and had answered the rest of the questions with one- or two-word responses: yes, no, not applicable. That was all right. Zoe knew enough to fill in the gaps. After serving three tours of duty, of course he was having a few issues. At the very least, she doubted he’d slept through the night in months. And if she were to toss something through the door with no warning, she’d bet her last dollar he’d be diving for cover. It took more than a few weeks to overcome the effects of living on the edge for months at a time.

  Considering the amount of hardware the surgeons had used to reconstruct Leif’s lower leg, he had to be hurting. On a scale of one to ten, he’d put his pain level at one. Yeah, right.

  Well, upon careful review and all things considered, she decided Leif rated an eight, maybe even a nine, on her own personal bullshit-o-meter. Not that it mattered. She’d spent years learning how to deal with tough guys and hard-asses like him when she was in the army. She and Corporal Brevik might knock heads over his care, at least at first, but eventually they would come to terms.

  For his sake, she’d make damn sure of it.

  • • •

  Zoe rapped on the door of the examination room before walking in. Most patients looked up as soon as she stepped into the room, but not Leif. Instead, he kept his back turned toward her, his stance rigid with tension and his left hand grasping his cane in a white-knuckled grip.

  “Corporal Brevik. We meet again.”

  While she waited for a response, she studied the man standing in front of her. Judging by the fit of his uniform, she’d been right about him needing to put on a few pounds. He’d lost quite a bit of weight since he’d been injured. No surprise there, but he still managed to fill up a lot more space than most men his size usually did. Something to do with those broad shoulders and that military bearing. He didn’t need that uniform to prove he was in the army. She would’ve recognized him as a soldier even without it.

  When he still didn’t respond, she tried again. “Corporal? Do we need to check your hearing, too?”

  He finally turned to face her, and it was all she could do to hold her ground. His dark eyes, which had been warm and welcoming last night, were now rock hard and cold.

  Leif finally acknowledged her with a quick nod. “You never mentioned you were a doctor. “

  “I’m a nurse practitioner, Leif, not a doctor. You can still call me Zoe. Ms. Phillips works, too, if you’d rather.”

  Time to get down to business. She gave his leg a pointed look. “Although we’re a family practice clinic, you’re not the first referral I’ve had for a soldier rehabbing in this area, and our physical therapist is one of the best. Like me, Isaac is former military himself, although he was in the navy. I’ve learned to overlook that particular failing on his part, because his other gifts more than make up for it. Almost, anyway.”

  She grinned at Leif, hoping the small joke about interservice rivalries might break through his control. Sure enough, the grim slash of Leif’s mouth quirked up at the corners, if only briefly. It was the first crack in his icy demeanor. Good. The two of them didn’t need to be best friends, but they did need to find some common ground. A patient’s trust was imperative if they were to work together as a team.

  “Why don’t you have a seat, and we’ll get started.”

  He eyed the examination table with obvious reluctance. Realizing that climbing up there would be problematic for him, she pointed toward the bench in the corner.

  “Would you mind sitting there? That way, we’ll be at eye level while we talk.”

  As she spoke, she sat down on the rolling stool that had been tucked under the counter. “To tell the truth, my neck gets tired after a day spent staring up at people on the exam table.”

  Whether or not he believed her explanation was beside the point. The small lie gave him the excuse to accept her offer without having to admit to any weakness on his part. There was no mistaking the flash of relief when he lowered himself to sit on the bench, his leg stretched out in front of him.

  Zoe frowned. Had she caught a whiff of alcohol on his breath as he passed by her? Maybe, but he was now too far away for her to know for sure. It was awfully early in the day to be drinking. That was something she’d have to keep an eye on.

  Meanwhile, he leaned back and closed his eyes, his body language making it clear that he’d rather be anywhere else right now. She wanted to smack him upside the head to get his attention.

  “I’ve read through your file. The doctors want you to start a course of therapy designed to improve both strength and mobility in your leg.”

  No response.

  “I see you’ve been given a prescription for a pretty powerful painkiller. How much of that last refill do you have left?”

  Those dark eyes popped open to glare at her again. “Some.”

  God, she hated guessing games. “How often are you taking them? Do you wait until you’re hurting or do you take them more often than that?”

  “If you’re asking if I’m addicted to them, the answer is no.” He sat up straighter, wincing as he did so. “I don’t like taking the damn things at all. They leave me thickheaded, and I hate that feeling.”

  Leif shifted again, as if still trying to find that one magical position that didn’t hurt. “I do take them at night. I sleep better that way.”

  Another lie or at least an exaggeration. People who were sleeping well didn’t have those dark circles under their eyes. She made a couple of notes on his chart before moving on to another hard question.

  “Are you self-medicating with anything else, like alcohol or recreational drugs?” She softened the question with a small smile. “I’m not talking about an occasional beer with friends, Leif. We all need those once in a while.”

  How odd. For a second there he’d looked a bit sheepish. At least now he was answering in more than monosyllables.

  “Yes, as you well know, I do drink beer, but I don’t take the pain pills when I do. The medics warned me that mixing the two wasn’t smart. And for the record, I don’t do street drugs. Never have and never will. That’s a damn good way to get yourself killed in combat.”

  His response was vehement enough to convince her that he was telling the truth. He was still talking, the bite of temper ringing clear in each word. “I didn’t take a pill this morning because I knew I was going to have a beer with a friend. That’s why I’m hurting worse than usual right now. Satisfied?”

  She put a little more starch in her own response. “Yes, I am, Leif. I also understand these questions are making you angry, but I will ask them anyway. I can’t help you if I don’t know the truth of your situation.”

  Leif flexed his hands several times, clearly trying to find a safe outlet for his frustration. “Fine. Ask away.”

  They ran through the rest of the list in short order. Toward the end, he was even offering up more information than she’d asked for. That was progress.

  “I’ve asked our physical therapist to stop in. Before he gets here, I’d like to take a look at your leg. If you’ll come with me, the exam table in the next room is lower, which should make it easier for both of us. My assistant would’ve put you in there to begin with, but it was in use at the time.”

  Okay, that was another lie, but she wanted to protect Leif’s pride as much as
possible. She wasn’t about to point out that she doubted very much that he could make it up onto the exam table without causing himself a lot of pain right now.

  “I’ll open the other room for you and then rejoin you in a minute or two. I need to check in with my assistant to see if Isaac will be able to stop in soon. Boot and pants off, by the way.”

  She offered him a smile and walked out. Experience had taught her that despite their wounds, soldiers were still soldiers. He might cut himself some slack when no one was watching, but he wouldn’t appreciate an audience as he struggled to stand up, much less getting out of his boot and pants.

  It didn’t help that she was feeling a bit off her game having him as a patient. At the party, they had flirted and laughed. She could still remember how it felt when he held her close as they danced. They could have been friends or even something more. Now, because he’d come under her professional care, an unexpected chasm had opened between them that she wasn’t sure how to bridge or if she should even try. No, her gut instinct said they’d both be better served if she maintained a professional distance.

  With that in mind, she opened the room next door and then made herself scarce.

  • • •

  An hour later, Leif made it out of the clinic in one piece. Barely. Right now his leg ached, his head throbbed, and his pride was shredded.

  Yeah, he appreciated Zoe’s efforts to make things easier for him by moving him to the room with the lower table. But damn, did she really think he wouldn’t notice the room was decorated for kids? It was hard to miss all those cutesy zoo animals painted on the walls and the box of toys in the corner.

  He hoped he hadn’t been too much of a jerk. It was hardly Zoe’s fault that he was in pain. Hiking his ass all over the cemetery earlier when he was scheduled to see her and that huge guy who was going to be his physical therapist hadn’t been smart. The long overdue talk with Spence had left him emotionally drained and hurting before he even got to the clinic. Then having her and the therapist twist and turn his ankle like it was a fucking pretzel hadn’t helped much either.