More Than a Touch: A Snowberry Creek Novel

by Alexis Morgan

  “Here.”

  Leif accepted the proffered cane. He needed it, even though it burned him to have to admit it. “Thanks.”

  Gage stood back out of the way until Leif had navigated his way out of the room and into the hall. They did a slow march down the hall to the small lobby of the police department. Sure enough, Callie was there, pacing the floor while Mooch watched her every move.

  The dog spotted Leif first and came bounding across the room. Leif grimaced and braced himself for the impending impact. Getting knocked on his ass would be the perfect ending for a night that was already the purest definition of FUBAR.

  Callie yelled, “Mooch, no!”

  She made a passing grab for the dog, but he dodged to the side, so she missed him entirely.

  Gage’s deeper voice rang out next. “Dog, heel!”

  Evidently the police chief’s message got through; Mooch immediately put the skids on and slid to a halt just short of his intended target. Leif and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. He stooped to reassure the dog he was all right and happy to see him, too.

  When he straightened up, Callie asked, “Are you ready to go home?”

  God, could this get any more embarrassing? Probably, so he kept his response to a nod and a simple “Yeah, let’s get out of here before Gage changes his mind.”

  “I’ll go pull the car up out front. Mooch, you come with me.”

  She took off, with the dog following right on her heels. When they were gone, Leif crossed his fingers and took a step forward, hoping his leg would hold up long enough to get him home. One step. Two. Three. Great, he was on a roll. Gage kept pace with him all the way outside, where Leif coasted to a stop. Damn, steps. There were only four of them, but right now there might as well have been a million.

  “To your right, soldier.”

  Leif looked around and spotted a gently sloping ramp. He felt as if he’d aged a hundred years as he made his way down to the sidewalk. At least Gage allowed him the dignity of letting him walk it by himself.

  When he reached the bottom, he made himself turn back to face the police chief. “Thanks again, Gage. I swear I’m usually not this much of a fuckup.”

  The older man waved him off. “I know, Leif. However, you might want to remember I only give one get-out-of-jail-free card to each customer.”

  All things considered, that was probably one more than Leif deserved. “I won’t forget.”

  Which meant he’d have to check out the veterans’ group. Great. When Callie pulled up to the curb, Leif eased himself into the front seat and pulled the door closed. They rode in a chilly silence until they reached Spence’s house. Leif started to let himself out of the car but stopped. He had one more apology to deliver.

  “I am sorry you had to come get me, Callie. Gage shouldn’t have called you.”

  She angled herself in the seat to look directly at him. “He shouldn’t have had to, Leif. You should have. I’m not your babysitter, but I had no idea you’d made friends with Mitch Calder. It never occurred to me that you might be off having a good time with him.”

  He hated the catch in her words as if she were fighting the urge to cry. Now he really felt like a bastard. “I really am sorry, Callie. I didn’t mean to worry you. If you want to kick me down the road, I’ll go peacefully.”

  Callie shook her head as she reached out to touch his arm. “I don’t want you to leave, Leif, and I’m guessing I’ve overreacted. I’ve already lost Spence, and now Nick is gone, too. Even though I know he’ll be back, I can’t help but worry. It didn’t take much to send me right over the top.”

  She leaned over and kissed Leif on the cheek. “Now, go get some sleep. You look like hell.”

  He laughed, which set off the throbbing in his jaw. “Yeah, I suppose I do. After Mooch has a quick run, we’ll both turn in for the night. I don’t have to be anywhere until my appointment Wednesday morning, so I’ll check in with you later in the afternoon. Go get some sleep yourself, lady.”

  “Will do.”

  Leif waited until she was gone before attempting the steps. By the time he made it to the top, Mooch was back from his nightly patrol and ready to go inside.

  “Come on, dog. Let’s go lie down before we fall down.”

  Because he’d already done enough of that for one day. Inside, he gave Mooch fresh water and filled his food bowl. The dog gulped down the kibble as if he hadn’t eaten all day. One burger at the bar wouldn’t have held Mooch until breakfast, and Leif hadn’t even had that much. He settled for a bowl of cold cereal and a banana. Definitely feeling less shaky, he took a quick shower to wash away the stench of spilt beer and sweat.

  After toweling off, he swallowed two pain pills with a swig of milk right out of the carton. Bed beckoned, but he still needed to do a little first aid. He dumped a tray of ice into a plastic bag and wrapped it in a dish towel before putting it on his jaw.

  His small burst of energy was disappearing quickly. He crawled into bed while he had the strength to get that far. Damn, it felt good to get horizontal. The ice helped numb his aching face, and elevating his leg on a pillow slowed down the throbbing there a bit. As soon as he had himself situated, he patted the mattress.

  “Come on, dog. Lights-out.”

  He winced when Mooch jarred the bed jumping up, but the dog quickly settled in. The mutt had had a long day, too. A few minutes later, Leif slid into sleep with the comforting warmth of Mooch stretched out along his side.

  Chapter 13

  “Hey, Zoe, have you got a minute?”

  Isaac stood in her doorway, his eyebrows drawn down low and his mouth set in a tight line. She immediately closed the file she’d been working on and prepared to listen.

  “What’s up?”

  “Have you seen our boy this morning?”

  Although she suspected exactly who he was talking about, she made herself ask, “Which one?”

  Isaac didn’t dignify the question with an answer. “Seems he and our local star athlete decided to get in a damn bar fight Monday evening. That pair of chuckleheads were lucky they didn’t set their recovery back by weeks.”

  The staccato beat of her pulse thrummed in Zoe’s ears. “Do you need me to check them over?”

  “It probably wouldn’t have hurt, but they’re gone now. Something about needing to pay off their tab at the bar before Gage Logan hunted them down with guns blazing.”

  She pressed her fingertips to her forehead and rested her elbows on the desktop to support her suddenly aching head. “So the police were involved?”

  Isaac came the rest of the way into her office and perched on her low filing cabinet like he always did. “Yeah, Leif mentioned playing a get-out-of-jail-free card. Not sure what that was all about.”

  The therapist frowned. “Leif’s temper has been running on a razor edge lately, but I thought he was doing better. I wonder what happened to set him off.”

  Okay, maybe there is an easy answer to that question.

  An image of the hurt and fury reflected in Leif’s dark eyes when they’d parted on Monday morning flashed through her mind. She’d known he was upset, but she never imagined for an instant that their conversation might set off a drunken binge. Surely not. The real question was what, if anything, she should do about it.

  “How badly were they hurt?”

  Not that Mitch Calder was her patient. Technically, he was still under the care of the team doctors, but he’d made arrangements for Dr. Tenberg to handle anything that came up locally.

  “Mitch has one of the prettiest shiners I’ve seen in a long, long time. His knee didn’t seem much worse for the wear, which was my main concern. Leif’s jaw is sporting a dandy, fist-sized bruise, but he claims it’s fine. His knuckles were busted up some, too, but that’s to be expected. “

  Zoe should have been relieved that the damage was no worse than it was, but she was far more worried about what had triggered the whole episode.

  “Thanks for telling me, Isaac. It sounds as if you
’ve got a handle on the situation, but let me know if you need my help. Otherwise, I’ll wait until Leif’s next visit to talk to him about it.”

  Brandi appeared in the doorway. “Your next patient is ready, Zoe.”

  She was instantly up and moving. “On my way.”

  Isaac headed back toward his office while she picked up the chart for her next patient. She had a full schedule of appointments to get through before her day would end. Her patients all deserved her undivided attention, so she shoved her worry about Leif to the back burner for now.

  Later, after she got off work, she’d figure out if there was anything she could do to keep the man from going completely off the rails.

  After a quick knock on the examination room door, she pasted a friendly smile on her face and walked inside. Time to get back to work. “Hi, Mrs. Brooks. Tell me you brought pictures of that new grandbaby. I’ve been looking forward all day to seeing them.”

  • • •

  Six hours later, Zoe slowed her car as she approached the driveway that led to Spence Lang’s old place. Once she knew Leif was all right and not about to self-destruct, she could go home, heat up a frozen dinner, and rest her tired feet.

  Not exactly an exciting game plan, but there it was. Steeling herself for an unfriendly welcome, she flipped the turn signal on and slowly steered her car into the driveway.

  It took all of her concentration to maneuver her small SUV around the worst of the ruts in the gravel. At least it gave her something to think about other than the man who had just stepped out onto the porch. Leif’s expression was reserved. Mooch, on the other hand, immediately came bounding down the steps to greet her as soon as she got out of her vehicle.

  Darn it, she’d thought she’d long ago outgrown the ability to feel shy. If she couldn’t bring herself to greet the man she’d come to see, maybe she could ease into the situation by talking to his dog.

  “Hi, Mooch. How are you doing, fella?”

  The dog barked and then raced around the yard, doing two quick laps before once again coming to a stop at her side with his tongue hanging out in a doggy grin. She picked up a handy stick and threw it as far as she could, which sent the dog off in a frenzied chase.

  After a couple of more tosses, she finally worked up the courage to face Leif. He stared down at her in silence, letting her look her fill. He hadn’t shaved today, which emphasized his rugged good looks. But despite the dark shadow of his whiskers, she could see the faint outline of the bruise along his jawline.

  “Does it hurt?”

  At least he didn’t pretend to not understand. “Isaac has a big mouth.”

  She defended her friend. “He was worried about you.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you’re here. I wasn’t aware that you made house calls.”

  Clearly he was still angry over her efforts to keep their relationship strictly professional. Her mere presence here meant she was once again sending him conflicting signals. How could she hope that he would understand their relationship when she didn’t get it herself?

  It was time to go. “Forget I stopped by.”

  For a man who often had trouble getting around, he made a surprisingly fast move to prevent her from making her escape. Zoe was no stranger to tough situations, but right now she didn’t want to face the waves of anger radiating from Leif. This had been a monumentally stupid decision.

  When she didn’t immediately look up at Leif, he crooked his finger and used it to lift her chin until their eyes met. But instead of lashing out at her, Leif’s expression now looked more curious than angry.

  “So why did you stop by, Zoe? Isaac knew full well that I was only bruised up and sore. I’m also betting you didn’t stop by to check on Mitch Calder.”

  “He’s not my patient.” Before he could respond, she kept right on talking. “Look, I know you are fully capable of taking care of yourself. I also know if you’d been really hurt, Isaac would’ve hog-tied you before letting you walk out of the clinic without being seen.”

  She stepped back, and this time he let her. “I was concerned that our discussion the other day might have set this all off. I wanted to apologize again for handling the situation so clumsily.”

  When Leif didn’t say anything, she resorted to babbling to fill the void. “As I said, I’m sorry, and I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt. I’ll be going now.”

  Once again Leif blocked her way. He stared at her for several seconds as he ran his fingers through his hair in obvious frustration. “I haven’t eaten yet.”

  All right, that one sure came flying out of left field. What did that have to do with anything? “Then I should get out of your way.”

  “No, wait. Zoe, what I was trying to say is that I haven’t had dinner yet, and if you haven’t either, maybe you’d like to join me. It won’t be anything fancy. Burgers and a salad pretty much exhaust my culinary talents, but you’re welcome to stay.”

  She shouldn’t. That much was obvious, but the last thing she wanted to do right now was get back in the car. Damn, this shouldn’t be so hard. “Are you sure, Leif?”

  Leif thought about it hard before finally nodding. As he waited for Zoe to make up her mind, he picked up the stick that she’d been throwing for Mooch and gave it another toss. The dog chased it down and returned to drop it at Zoe’s feet.

  “Mooch would definitely be happy if you joined us. He’d love the company. I suspect he’s tired of mine.”

  He could tell she was torn, which pleased him. He’d hate to think he was the only one whose gut was tied up in a big knot at the moment. When Mooch backed away and barked, begging Zoe to come play with him, she finally caved.

  “All right, if it means that much to you, Mooch, I’ll stay.”

  It meant that much to Leif, too, but for once he managed to keep his mouth shut on the subject. “I’ll meet you around back. I’ve already got the grill heating, so dinner will be over before you know it.”

  He started to walk away and thought better of it. “That came out wrong, Zoe. What I meant was I know you’ve already put in a full day and coming out here to check on me has only added to it. You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like. Head on around back and make yourself comfortable, and I’ll bring you something cold to drink.”

  She tossed the stick for Mooch. “Make mine nonalcoholic. Even ice water would be fine.”

  “After the other night, I’ve been sticking to root beer myself. I’ll bring out a couple.”

  He knew he’d sounded gruff, but Zoe didn’t seem to notice. When she disappeared around the end of the house, Leif dragged himself up the steps to the porch. Suddenly, the boring evening that had been stretching out in front of him had possibilities.

  He made quick work of setting the table after putting away the paper plate he’d planned to use for himself. Zoe deserved better. He grabbed the drinks along with the platter of burgers for the grill and headed back outside. At first he didn’t see Zoe and feared she’d changed her mind about staying.

  Then he spotted her standing out in the gazebo that he and Nick had built right after they’d arrived in Snowberry Creek. She was studying the back wall, where they’d painted their names when they dedicated the gazebo to the memory of their friend, Spencer “Wheelman” Lang.

  He set down his load and joined her. Zoe traced the letters with her fingers and read the words aloud. Sighing, she turned toward Leif, her eyes looking a bit shiny. “I noticed this when I was here the other night. It’s a really special memorial, Leif. One of the best I’ve seen for one of our fallen.”

  As nice as the gazebo was, it also served as a constant reminder that Spence was dead. Leif didn’t regret helping to build it, but neither was he comfortable with seeing it every day.

  “It was Nick’s idea. He thought Callie would enjoy it. When she turns the place into a bed-and-breakfast, we figure her guests will like it as well.”

  They started back toward the patio, where Leif got busy arranging the food on the hot gr
ill. “In truth, building that thing really gave Sarge an excuse to stick around long enough to convince Callie she wanted him to hang around permanently.”

  Zoe laughed. “Gotta love a soldier with ingenuity. You guys sure did a beautiful job. I can imagine curling up out here with a book on a rainy day.”

  “That’s the whole idea.” He held out her root beer. “Nick’s next project is considerably bigger, since he plans to do most of the work on Spence’s house himself. I’m supposed to help.”

  He frowned as he studied the big Victorian house. “I suppose one of these days we’ll have to start referring to the place as Callie’s, but even she still thinks of it as Spence’s.”

  “Give the woman some time, Leif. She grew up with Spence, and it was his home for twenty-plus years. It’s only been hers for a few months.”

  There wasn’t anything Leif could say to that. He couldn’t imagine the hole that Spence’s death had left in their lives would disappear anytime soon, if ever.

  While keeping one eye on the food sizzling on the grill, Leif watched as Zoe wandered along the perimeter of the yard, stopping periodically to smell one of the roses. She took such obvious pleasure in the yard that it surprised him that she lived in an apartment. It was too bad, really, because if she had a yard, he could have ordered the materials to build a gazebo for her. The strength of that desire surprised him.

  Maybe it was some kind of weird mating ritual here in Snowberry Creek.

  “Is something funny?”

  “Uh, no.”

  At least nothing he was about to share with her right now. She was skittish enough. He changed the subject as he turned the meat on the grill. “How do you like your burgers?”

  “Medium rare.”

  “Then we’re almost ready to eat. I set the table inside, but we can eat out here if you’d rather.”

  “Inside is fine.”

  He transferred everything to the serving platter he’d brought out while she picked up their drinks. At least she made no effort to take the tray from him, evidently trusting that he’d ask for help if he needed it.