Raising the Soldier's Son(5)

Dan smiled. Wade was, by far, his favorite patient. The growth issues that had plagued his early years had meant they had regular contact. Dan was proud of the little boy Wade was shaping up to be.

Somewhere around midnight, the crowds started to thin. She saw Cam leave first, then Kirk, and finally, it was just Annabeth and Emma, alone in the bar. “Go on home, Em. I’m just going to check the bookings for the weekend then I’ll lock up.”

“Nah, I’ll wait.”

“You’ve got that big photo shoot tomorrow, Emma. Come on, I’ll feel guilty if you’re tired because of me. Plus, A.J will kill me if I keep you at the bar all night.”

Emma grinned goofily, as she always did, when she thought of her country singing boyfriend. “You know he’d never be mad with you, Annabeth,” Emma countered, but she was already swinging her legs off the bar stool. “He’s too sweet to be angry with anyone.”

Annabeth nodded. A.J wasn’t just a star on the country music scene. He was an all round good guy. Emma had been dating him almost a year, and it was getting serious between the two of them.

“Okay, okay.” Emma stood up and blew a kiss at her friend. “See yak later, Beth.”

“Bye, hon.”

Clearview was the kind of town that was comforting and homely. With the exception of the time she’d spent away at college, she’d lived in the small town all her life. She knew most of the locals. She never felt unsafe, anywhere she went. So she was surprised to realize that she startled, when a car flashed its headlights at her as she left The Whistlestop.

She held a hand up above her eyes and squinted, trying to see through the windscreen.

Slowly, she walked towards the car. It was a sleek, black four wheel drive; not one she’d seen before.

As she got near, the front door opened, and Kirk swung his long legs out.

“Kirk!” She exclaimed, lifting a hand to her necklace and fingering it nervously. “What are you still doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure you got home safe.”

Annabeth’s laugh was lacking humor. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Why is that funny?”

“Oh, Kirk. Come on. I’ve been getting home just fine every night for the last five years. Why would tonight be any different.” Her eyes narrowed as she realized what he was really looking for. “Or did you want to make sure I got home alone?”

His blue eyes hardened. “That guy was all over you.”

“Sweet Lord, are you actually daring to play the part of the jealous ex?”

“I’m not playing a part. I didn’t like seeing you mauled by another man.”

“Dan was not mauling me. We were dancing. And he’s just a friend.” She jammed her hands into the pockets of her low-slung jeans. “And it’s none of your damned business. You gave up any right to know what’s happening in my life when you sent me a Dear Jane email,” she pointed out acerbically.

Pain lanced through Kirk. He remembered the email. He hadn’t actually written himself. He’d dictated it to one of the staff sergeants and they’d typed it out for him. He vaguely remembered the man urging him to wait a while before making irreparable life decisions. But Kirk hadn’t wanted to wait. He’d known it was over, and that leaving Beth in any doubt for a day longer than was necessary was cruel. His reasons for leaving her were as valid now as they had been then. So why did he reach out and pull her to him, so that her small, neat figure was crushed to his muscled chest? Why did he run his hands through her long blonde hair, breathing in her floral scent?

Annabeth could only stare up at him. Her body, her treacherous body, was craving more contact. Confusion swirled through her. “Kirk,” she whispered, thinking how his blonde hair shone like stardust in the light cast by the moon.

“You’re the only girl I’ve ever loved,” he murmured, raking her face with his eyes, and tumbling his hands in her hair.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “Not enough.” She pushed away from his body, and stared up at the starlit sky. “Not enough.”

Too much, he thought angrily. He’d loved her too damned much to let her tie herself to him for the rest of her life. She had deserved better than marriage to a man like him.

“Can I give you a lift?”

Annabeth’s throat was raw. “No. I’m just around the corner.” She jerked her head towards the water.

“All the more reason to let me drive you.”

“No.” She responded emphatically, shaking her head firmly. “Kirk, you’re here for Cam’s wedding. That’s all. Stop… acting as though there’s still something between us. We’re finished. Kaput. I’ll admit, it’s stirred up some weird feelings for me, seeing you again. But that’s not real. It’s just whispers of the past, nothing more. Go home, and leave me alone, okay?”

He watched her walk across the parking lot, her stride long, her hair blowing in the breeze behind her. She was moving as if she was running from the past. In some ways, she was.

* * *

“Any problems?” Annabeth asked quietly, shutting the front door gently behind her.

Cassandra looked up from re-runs of last year’s The Bachelor. “Of course not. He was an angel.” Cassandra cleaved her substantial frame off the sofa and stood with a groan. “Busy night at the bar?”

Annabeth nodded. “Yeah. This time of year’s always flat out.” The sun was warm, the beach inviting, and the locals wanted nothing more than to shake off the cold of winter with a few beers and conversation. “Sorry to keep you so late.”

“Keep me from what? My riveting life as a cat-loving spinster?” She laughed, in that loud, bellowing way of hers. “You know you and Wade are all I’ve got. Happy to help out, honey.”

“Thanks, Cass. Dad’ll be back in a few weeks. But until then, I’m so grateful you’re happy to fill in.”

“More than happy. Wade’s just an angel. Gawd, he’s a fast runner too. Took him to the beach for a play and he was off like a shot.”

Just like his father, Annabeth thought. Physically, Wade was pure Sparks. He had Cassandra’s fair, curling hair, blue eyes, and petite frame. But his personality was pure Robinson. Fire and ice, determined, fiercely intelligent, and yes, he was athletic, too.

“And to think you used to worry he was too small.” Cassandra was still talking, shaking her mop of short red hair with gusto. “He might be on the littler side of boys his age, but he can outrun any of them.”

He wasn’t just on the littler side of his own age group, he looked more the size of a two year old than a four year old. Doctor Dan had run all kinds of tests, and sent them to specialists around the country for appraisals. Eventually, it had been agreed that Wade’s premature birth might have been a factor, or maybe genetics, and that there was no way of knowing whether he’d be short for the rest of his life, or hit a growth spurt in his teens. In other words, no one knew anything with any certainty, except for Annabeth, who felt, in her heart of hearts, that her boy was just perfect.

Cassandra wouldn’t accept money for babysitting, but Annabeth was always sure to send her home with something. Tonight, it was a Cheesecake she’d baked earlier that day.

“Same time tomorrow?” Cass asked, as she heaved herself into the driver’s seat of her pick up.

“That’d be great. See you then.”

“Night, Beth.” She blew a kiss and waved her hand out the window, her gold bangles jingling together noisily.

Everything about Cassandra was loud. From the tip of her bright red head, to the garish outfits she assembled, to the booming way she put forth her opinions uncaring of who disagreed. Yes, she was loud, but she was an angel. There was a sweet serendipity to the situation, too, that the woman who’d helped raise Annabeth while Horace was running The Whistlestop was now helping so much with Wade.

By the time Annabeth had showered off the smell of beer, and tried to wash away all thoughts of Kirk Robinson and what he’d once meant to her, she was tired. Only her mind wouldn’t quit. Quietly, she creaked open the door to Wade’s room and tiptoed over. He was fast asleep, a little arm flung above his head, his mouth open as he breathed his sleepy breaths into the room. She looked around his own personal space. She’d let him add bits and pieces to the décor over the years, and the result was a loud tribute to stars, spaceships, aliens, rockets, robots and dinosaurs. She ran her finger over the clay stegosaurus they’d built a few weeks earlier. They’d shaped it together, baked it, then Wade had painted it. Orange and gold. His favorite colors.

She pressed a kiss to his forehead. He didn’t stir.

Asleep, he was so like Kirk. She’d never seen that before. But now, having spent an evening staring at the man she’d once loved, his features were freshly imprinted in her mind. She looked down at Wade and sighed. Kirk had left her devastated, but he’d also given her Wade, and that made her the luckiest woman on earth.

She should have been exhausted, but lying in her bed, sleep eluded her. A curious spark of energy was flowing through her veins, making sleep utterly impossible. She lay in bed, her blonde hair puffed about her face, her legs spread-eagled towards the lower corners of her mattress. And when she shut her eyes, she saw Kirk. Her body remembered what his touch had been like, and her soul felt cravings of old sear through her once more.