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One Day in Apple Grove(74)

By:C. H. Admirand


Shit. How did you have a conversation with the father of the woman you’ve been sleeping with? Cut to the chase and admit it—making love to, because what he had with Cait was way more than just physical. He wanted a lifetime with her.

Joe came out of the house as he parked his Jeep and got out.

“Glad you could stop by.” Joe looked him up and down. “You look like hell.”

Jack nodded. “Rough night.”

“Heard about part of it.”

When he didn’t say anymore, Jack waited, knowing it was bound to come out.

“Scared my little girl.”

“Joe…Mr. Mulcahy—”

“Joe’s fine,” he told Jack. “I just have one question.”

Whew, Jack thought, and waited.

“Are you finished with her?”

Jack waited a heartbeat and then asked, “Excuse me?”

“Something wrong with your hearing, Gannon?”

“No.”

“Then answer the question.”

“No, sir.”

“Is that your answer or your stance?”

Jack had to chuckle at that. “My answer, Joe. I love Caitlin.”

“Hmmpfh. You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”

“She’s the one who walked out on me.”

“As I hear tell it, she waited for you to come back after you scared the shit out of her by using your body to protect her from an IED.”

All of the blood rushed to Jack’s feet. She’d figured out what he’d been trying so hard to control. How did it happen?

Was it the storm?

Was it the stress of having to give Jamie back?

Joe tugged on Jack’s arm to get him to walk with him. Instead of the barn, where he knew Joe spent a lot of his time, he walked toward the field out back. “I have a buddy who suffers from PTSD. He’s going for help and manages to keep it under control.”

Jack nodded. “I’m not due to see the doctor at the VA for another couple of months.”

Relief flooded Joe’s features. “I knew I was right.”

“About?”

“You being smart enough to seek help. You’re a doctor and know how important something like this is.”

“I do,” Jack agreed. “Everything was fine until that first storm.”

“By storm, do you mean my second born or the weather?”

Jack stopped walking and looked into Cait’s father’s eyes. “Both, maybe. It hasn’t happened in a while. I’ve been keeping on top of the weather to know when a storm is on the way, but Cait distracted me.”

“She has that talent,” Joe said.

“You could say that.”

“What are you going to do about it, Jack?” He turned around to walk back toward the driveway. “She deserves to know what’s going on so she can understand it. My girls are strong enough to handle anything.”

“She said she’d stick…but she left me,” Jack rasped.

“Did you give her a choice?”

Jack shrugged. “I guess not. But I thought she knew…after last night—”

“Would that be before or after the thunderstorm?”

Jack opened his mouth and then closed it tight. Joe could boil him in oil, but there were some things that should remain private…what happened between him and Cait the night before was precious and was theirs.

Joe acknowledged Jack’s silence and changed the subject. “Gracie has Cait’s schedule if you’re thinking about catching up with her partway through the day to apologize.”

“I—” Instead of words, Jack held out his hand to Joe. When the older man took it, Jack nodded. “Thanks.”

Joe nodded and said, “I’m always willing to give a man a second chance…but that’s all I’ll give him before I come after him for hurting one of my girls.”

Jack swallowed against the lump of emotion in his throat. Cait and her dad were willing to give him another chance. He was smart; he was taking it and he wasn’t gonna mess it up.

“Yes, sir.” With a wave, he got into his Jeep, put it in reverse, and hightailed it into town; he had to stop at Mulcahys before his first appointment was due to arrive.

Grace was sitting in front of her computer terminal, same as always, when he pushed open the door. “Hi, Grace.”

She looked up at him and then back down at her keyboard. “What do you want?”

How had word spread that fast? “I was hoping you could tell me where Cait would be around noon.”

Without looking up, she asked, “Why?”

He held on to what was left of his pride. “I need to talk to her…I need to apologize.”

“Really?” The hopeful tone in her voice tipped him off that Cait’s sister might not know what happened; she just figured out from Cait’s mood that something did happen.