He wanted a career in education, with children. But with his looks, he’d figured he couldn’t do anything but online teaching. Now, come to find out, there was a perfect job within reach—partly because of how he looked.
Special ed. Physical limitations. He hadn’t thought about it before, but he was definitely strong enough to lift kids in and out of wheelchairs. At the VA, he’d gotten to know guys with all kinds of disabilities. And with his own very visible scars, the students would know instantly that he understood.
Father God, You work in mysterious ways.
His heart beating faster, he looked down the street and saw Lacey and Charlie coming back toward the house, laughing, trying to manage the unruly Wolfie. He stood up and headed toward them. He wanted nothing more than to tell Lacey the good news.
A job, Charlie, and maybe Lacey. Everything he wanted was within reach. Under one condition: he had to figure out a way to tell Lacey the truth about Charlie.
* * *
Lacey looked up from trying to contain Wolfie’s enthusiasm and saw Vito walking toward them, face alight with some kind of excitement. The call he’d gotten must have been good news.
“Dad! Dad!” Charlie bounced toward Vito, leaving Lacey to try to hold Wolfie back with both hands as he lunged after the boy he seemed to know already was his.
Vito ruffled Charlie’s hair. “How’s it going? We better help Lacey, huh?”
They came toward her and Vito took hold of the out-of-control dog’s leash. “We need to figure out how to work off some of his energy,” he said.
“That’s what me and Lacey were trying to do! Only, he’s so crazy and he doesn’t know how to walk on a leash and he ran after a squirrel and we almost couldn’t hold on!”
“He’s excited, buddy. We’d better let him run in the yard at the guesthouse, if that’s okay with Lacey.”
“Good idea,” she said. “He was about to yank my arm off!”
Once they’d gotten him inside the fence, they all ran and played with him. It didn’t take long to discover that the fence had a broken section; Charlie and Lacey ran after the dog and brought him back while Vito did a makeshift fix. After Wolfie’s energy finally started to calm, Vito and Lacey sat down on a bench together while Charlie lay beside the dog, holding tightly to his leash.
“So, finally I can ask. What had you looking so excited after that phone call?”
Vito’s face lit up. “I might have a job.”
As he told her about the offer, Lacey nodded. It sounded perfect for someone as nurturing—and strong—as Vito.
“I’m going to have to set up some doggie day care for Wolfie, I think, and Charlie has his park program, so we’ll be out of your hair a little more if this all works out.”
She tilted her head to one side, studying him. “You’re the least self-centered guy I know.”
He looked blank. “What do you mean?”
“Most men would be crowing and bragging about getting a job, but you’re all about how to take care of your responsibilities and how it’ll affect other people. That’s...refreshing.”
His eyes narrowed. “You sound like you’ve had some experience with another type of guy.”
She looked at the ground, nodding, feeling guilty. Lately she’d been having some realizations that were altering her view of her marriage, and it wasn’t at all comfortable.
“Gerry?”
She hesitated a moment. But she could tell Vito, couldn’t she? “Yes. I hate to say it, but he tended to think of himself first. When the time came to reenlist, he didn’t even ask me—he just did it and bragged about it. And I was pregnant!”
“You’re kidding. That wasn’t right. You deserved better.” He touched her chin, forcing her to look at him. “You deserve the very best.”
She met his warm brown eyes and her heart beat faster. She didn’t know about deserving the very best, but she had the feeling that being with Vito would be the very best. Maybe even, in some ways, better than being with Gerry. It was a disloyal thought that made her look away from Vito, but that lingered in her mind long into the night.
* * *
Two days later, Vito set out lawn chairs at the lake and pulled a picnic lunch—courtesy of the Chatterbox Café—out of the back of the pickup.
It was his way of making it up to Lacey for all the hassles of having a giant new dog in her guesthouse. He’d talked her into taking the day off with them—his last day off for a while, as his new job started tomorrow.
“I wish we could’ve brought Wolfie,” Charlie said, his face pouty as he reluctantly helped unload the picnic basket. Since Monday, he and the dog had been inseparable.
“This is a good way to test out the doggie day care where he’s going to spend mornings. And Lacey needs a break.”
Charlie made a face, and Vito sighed. The boy and Lacey had been getting along great, but when he was in a bad mood, he tended to take it out on everyone. He hadn’t wanted to come to the lake because it meant being separated from Wolfie. And probably because Vito’s new job started tomorrow. Even though it wouldn’t mean much of an adjustment for Charlie, even though he liked his summer parks program, anything new was tough on a kid who’d had too many changes and losses in his young life.
“I’ll take over if you want to check out the water,” Lacey said to Charlie, coming over to the table. “Man, it’s hot! I’m coming in as soon as we get our stuff set up.”
She was wearing a perfectly modest black one-piece and cutoff denim shorts. With her blond hair and sun-kissed, rosy face, the combination was striking.
Very striking.
“Hey, Charlie!” came a boy’s shout from the beach area.
“Xavier’s here!” Charlie’s bad mood dissipated instantly. “Cool!” Without asking permission, he ran down toward the water.
“Stay in the shallow part,” Vito called after him. He waved to Xavier’s mom, Angelica, who was sitting with several other women right at the dividing line between grass and sand. He pointed at Charlie and she nodded, indicating she’d keep an eye on him.
“Can he swim?” Lacey asked.
“Not real well. His old life wasn’t conducive to swimming lessons.”
She spread a red-and-white plastic tablecloth on the splintery picnic table and anchored it with mustard, ketchup and pickle bottles. “Speaking of his other life, how are his visits with his mom going?”
“Okay, when she shows up sober.” She and Charlie had had two supervised visits since the first Sunday one. One of the other planned visits she’d canceled, and once, she’d shown up high, causing the social worker to nix her seeing Charlie. “Whether the visit works out or not, he gets upset. Tuesdays are rough.”
“Well, let’s make his Wednesday better.” She flashed a brilliant smile at him as she set out a big container of lemonade. “Man, I’m hot. I’m going to go say hi to Angelica and dip in the water.”
“I’ll probably be down.” Vito wiped his forehead on his T-shirt sleeve.
Before Iraq, he’d have whipped off his shirt and jumped in the water in a heartbeat. Now, though, he hesitated.
For one thing, he’d have to take out his hearing aids. And while he could still hear some, especially if a person spoke clearly and was close by, he couldn’t keep up with conversations, especially when there was a lot of background noise.
Add to that the dark, raised scars that slashed across his chest and back, ugly reminders of the plate glass window that had exploded beside him that last violent day in Kabul. He’d taken the brunt of the glass in his chest, with a few choice gashes in his face and back.
Outside of a hospital, the only person who’d ever seen the scars on his torso was Charlie, and he’d recoiled the first time Vito had taken off his shirt in his presence.
To have a whole beach full of people
do the same might be more than Vito could handle.
It wasn’t that he was vain, but he hadn’t yet gotten used to turning people off, scaring kids. And mostly, he couldn’t stand for perfect, gorgeous Lacey to see how he looked without his shirt.
Hearing young, angry voices shouting down at the water, Vito abandoned his load of beach towels and headed toward where Charlie and Xavier seemed to be in a standoff.
“It’s not fair.” Charlie clenched a fist and got into fighting position.
“Charlie!” Vito shouted, speeding up to a run.
“Take that!” Xavier let out a banshee scream and brought his foot up in an ineffectual martial arts kick, at the same moment that Charlie tried to punch him.
Somehow, both boys ended up on the ground, which seemed to end the disagreement.
Vito reached the boys. “Hey, Charlie, you know hitting doesn’t solve any problems.”
Angelica came over, not looking too concerned. “Xavier. You know you’re not to practice karate on your friends. You need to apologize.”
“You, too, Charlie.”
Identical sulky lower lips came out.
Identical mumbles of “Sorry.”
Then Xavier’s face brightened. “C’mon, let’s get in the lake!” he yelled, and both boys scrambled to their feet and ran to the water as if nothing had happened between them.
Getting in the lake sounded really refreshing. “Sorry about that,” Vito said to Angelica. “I didn’t see how it started, but I’ll speak to Charlie.”
“Don’t worry about it. These things happen with boys, and they don’t last but a minute.” She smiled at him. “How’s Wolfie working out?”
“He’s a handful,” Vito said, chuckling. “Bet Troy’s glad to have him off his hands.”
“There’s a sucker born every minute,” she teased. “Actually, he’s a great dog. He just needed to find the right home.” She nodded toward the other women. “Come on over and say hi.”
The sight of Lacey, hair slicked back, perched on the end of someone’s beach chair, was all the magnet he needed. He went over and greeted Gina and a woman named Sidney. They had their chairs circled around three babies, and as he watched, little Bobby held out his arms to Lacey and she lifted him up. “Such a big boy!” she said, nuzzling his bare stomach and blowing a raspberry on it, making the toddler laugh wildly.
Vito’s heart seemed to pause, then pound. Lacey looked incredible with little Bobby, like she was born to be a mother. And suddenly, Vito wished with all his heart that she could be the mother of all the children he wanted to have.
If only he could tell her the truth about Charlie, cutting away the huge secret between them, he could let her know how he felt and see if there was any chance she’d be interested in him. But telling the truth would destroy her happy illusions about her husband and her marriage. Not to mention the impact the truth would have on Charlie, if he could even understand it.
And Vito didn’t take promises lightly, especially deathbed promises.
The trouble was, he was having a hard time imagining a future without Lacey in it. Somehow, in these weeks of living at the guesthouse, she’d become integral to his life and his happiness.
“Dad! Come in the water!” Charlie and Xavier were throwing a beach ball back and forth.
“You should get in.” Lacey smiled up at him. “The water feels great.”
The sun beat down and he was sweating hard now, partly from the heat of the day and partly from the warmth he felt inside, being here with Lacey.
“Let’s take the babies down to dip their feet in the water,” Angelica suggested. The other women agreed, and soon they were all at the water’s edge, wading.
“You’re not worried about getting burned, are you?” Lacey asked him. “You’re dark skinned. But I have some sunscreen back at the car if you need it.”
“Why d’you have your shirt on, Dad?” Charlie asked, crashing into Vito as he leaped to catch the ball.
Vito’s face heated, and to avoid answering, he splashed Charlie. That led to a huge splash fight and Vito was able to cool off some, even though he didn’t dunk to get his shirt entirely wet. It was white, and his scars would show through.
When they got hungry, they headed back up to the picnic tables and Vito grilled hot dogs. The women and babies had declined to join them, but Xavier had come over to get a hot dog. It was fun and relaxing, just the kind of day he’d hoped they could have, a gift to Charlie and to Lacey, too.
“You nervous about starting your job tomorrow?” Lacey asked as they ate.
“A little,” he admitted. “It’s definitely going to be a challenge. I expect some testing.”
“You’ll handle it well,” she reassured him. “You’re great with kids.”
Charlie grabbed the ketchup and squirted it on his hot dog. The bottle made a raspberry sound which Charlie immediately imitated, laughing.
“Let me do it!” Xavier cried, grabbing for the ketchup. As he tried to tug it from Charlie’s hand, he accidentally squeezed the bottle. Ketchup sprayed around the table, painting a line across Charlie, Lacey and Vito’s chests.
“That’s enough!” Vito plucked the squirt bottle from Xavier’s hand and set it at the other end of the table, away from the boys.
“I’m sorry,” Xavier said, looking serious and a little frightened as he surveyed the damage.
“It looks like blood!” Charlie said. He and Xavier looked at each other. Charlie made another raspberry sound, and both boys burst out laughing.
Vito rolled his eyes. “Sorry,” he said as he handed napkins to Lacey, and dabbed at the mess on his own shirt.
She shrugged and met his eyes, her own twinkling, and he was struck again with how great she was. She didn’t get bent out of shape about boys and their antics. What a partner she’d be.
“This isn’t coming off, and it stinks,” she announced, gesturing to the ketchup on her shirt. “I’m getting in the water. And I bet I can beat you two boys.” She jumped up from the picnic table and took off.
Immediately, the boys followed her, laughing and yelling.
Vito watched from the picnic table, alone and sweating in a now-even-smellier T-shirt. More than one male head turned to watch Lacey’s progress. With her short hair and petite figure, laughing with the boys, she looked like a kid. But if you took a second look—as several guys were doing—she was all woman.
He dearly wanted to take his shirt off and follow her into the water. To be an easy, relaxed part of things. A partner she could be proud of.
He let his head drop into his hands, closed his eyes and prayed for insight and help. Insight to understand what to do, and help to do the right thing. Not just now, in regards to his ultimately silly shirt dilemma, but overall, in regards to his promise.
The smell of warm ketchup got to him, though, and he lifted his head again without any answers.
Except a memory from his time rehabbing at the VA: had he ever lost esteem for someone because they had scars?
And the answer was glaringly obvious: of course not. He respected the way they’d gotten them, and he looked beyond.
Charlie and the other kids might not be mature enough to do that, but Lacey? Of all people, she was one of the least superficial he knew.
On the other hand, he wasn’t just interested in gaining her respect. He wanted more. He wanted her to be drawn to him physically, as he was to her.
And why was he so obsessed with what Lacey thought of him, when their relationship couldn’t go anywhere?
Like a slap in the face, it hit him: he was in love with her.
Not just a crush, a remnant of high school attraction.
Full-fledged, grown-up love.
Wow.
He just sat and tried to wrap his mind around that concept for
a while, until the boys got out of the water and started throwing a football and Lacey came back toward the table.
“Hey, lazy,” she said, grabbing his hand and tugging it. “The water feels great. Come get in!”
He let her pull him up and she laughed and let go of his hand, walking toward the water with a flirtatious smile over her shoulder.
All of a sudden, he didn’t want to be the good friend anymore. For once, he wanted to follow his instincts and desires, to be the main man. To try and see whether his scars were really the turnoff he feared they’d be.
He pulled off his T-shirt, removed his hearing aids and located their case, all the while psyching himself up for an encounter in some ways more terrifying than heading into battle.
Chapter Twelve
Lacey’s cheeks heated as she headed down toward the lake. Had she been too forward? What was she thinking, insisting that Vito come swimming?
She glanced over her shoulder to see if he was following her. When she saw him fiddling with his ear, her hand flew to her mouth.
She usually didn’t even remember that he wore hearing aids. But of course, he couldn’t wear them into the water.
Was that why he’d been reluctant to come in?
She glanced again. Or was it the scar that slashed across his back, dark and very visible?
Pushing him had been a mistake. He was such a good sport he’d come if begged, but she hoped she hadn’t caused him to do something he didn’t want to do.
Kids shouted as they ran and splashed in the shallow part of the lake. As she walked by a group of teen girls, she inhaled the fragrance of coconut oil, something every dermatologist in the world would blanch at. Some things never changed.
She just hoped the kids and teens would be tactful about Vito’s scars.
She waded into the lake, waist deep, then looked back to see whether he was following. And sucked in her breath.
The front of his chest, which she hadn’t seen before, was crisscrossed with scars. Long ones and short ones, visible even with his dark Italian skin.
Their eyes met, and Vito’s steps faltered a little.
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