Snowfall on Haven Point(86)

It was one of John Bailey’s familiar refrains, one he repeated to all of his children each time they took out one of his vehicles.

He felt a deep pang for his father, missing the guidance he had always provided. Maybe if John were here, Marshall wouldn’t be making such a mess of things with his own son.

“Andie, why don’t you come help me, to make sure I get the right keys?”

She looked surprised but rose to follow Wyn out of the kitchen.

Were they talking about him? Or did that particular assumption only make him narcissistic?

He wasn’t sure. He only knew he suddenly didn’t know if he liked the idea that his sister was close friends with his... Andie.

Not his anything, he reminded himself. She wasn’t his fake girlfriend or his real one. Just a neighbor who needed help. He might not be able to find himself out on the front lines of the storm, but he could offer safe shelter for a woman and her children who needed it.





CHAPTER NINETEEN

“WHAT HAVE YOU been feeding my brother?”

The question didn’t exactly sound like an accusation from her friend, but Andie wasn’t quite sure. “Um. This morning, bacon, eggs and toast,” she said warily. “I made him beef stew last week. And Louise Jacobs sent over some homemade shortbread he seemed to enjoy.”

“I’m sure he did. Marsh has always had a soft spot for cookies or sweets of any variety.”

“That is an understatement.”

Andie wasn’t sure she liked the way Wyn studied her. Marsh’s sister had been a very good police officer. She had a great deal of experience interrogating people, persuading them to reveal things they had no intention of doing when they first sat down with her.

“I’m stunned. I hurried back to town at the earliest opportunity because I figured he was well on his way to going stir-crazy—and taking everybody else along with him. Marsh hardly ever sits still. When he’s not on the job—which is most of the time—he’s working out or helping my mom with something at the house or enjoying the backcountry by hiking or mountaineering.”

She could easily picture him scaling some of the local high mountain ranges, looking tanned and fit and much more relaxed than he had since his injury.

“He’s also the most serious of my brothers and the least tolerant of his own human weaknesses,” Wyn went on. “I’m sure this whole thing is his worst nightmare—not just because they haven’t yet found the idiot who hit him but because Marsh finds purpose and meaning in his life through his work. He’s like my dad that way. It’s got to be killing him—not being able to meet what he considers his sacred responsibilities because of something as inconvenient as a compound fracture.”

How was it possible that she could admire him so much for that dedication to duty while still finding it an insurmountable obstacle to any relationship between them? “He hasn’t just been sitting around. I took him into the office last week for a briefing and he’s been going through cold cases. I heard him tell a woman who works with him that he wants to go back to work this week, but maybe the storm and the holidays will complicate that.”

“I doubt it. I’m astonished he didn’t go back the day he was released from the hospital.”

She smiled. “I’m quite sure he wanted to. He just couldn’t get a ride.”

Wyn squeezed her arm. “I can’t thank you enough for helping him.”

It seemed a lifetime ago that she had stood on his doorstep, wishing she didn’t have to go inside and face the man who made her so nervous.

The same man who had hobbled through deep snow with a broken leg to make sure she and her children were safe the night before.

“I’m really glad you asked me,” she said truthfully. As long as she could keep her heart from being broken, she would never be sorry she had been able to help him through a difficult time and in the process had come to know him better.

“Cade told me I should never have asked you.”

“Why?” she asked, hurt and confused. As her friendship with Wyn had deepened over the summer, Andie and Cade had subsequently become good friends, as well. She’d had the two of them over for dinner several times, they exchanged vegetables from their respective gardens, and she and the kids had carved a pumpkin for Cade at Halloween.

“He said it was unfair of me. He said you would feel obligated to do whatever I asked, even if you didn’t want to, because of what happened last summer. I believe he called it subtle emotional coercion.”

Marshall called it emotional blackmail. Cade’s version sounded only slightly better.

“Maybe he’s the one who should be taking all the psychology classes.”