“Poor guy. But you said he was finally released, right?”
“Yes. My father insisted on receiving a report on his progress every day. He went home a couple of days ago.”
“To Chatham?” Susan sounded surprised.
“I think so. Or maybe he went back to Camp LeJeune.” She shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“Maybe we should have stopped by the drugstore on our way out of town,” mused Susan, “We could have paid him a visit. It would have been nice to have him acknowledge that you saved his life. Nothing wrong with a little groveling.”
“He doesn’t need to do that,” Holly replied, aghast, although she did find the thought of Shane Rafferty groveling a little bit intriguing. “Besides, he was shot trying to protect me. If I hadn’t insisted on driving in that convoy…”
“Listen,” Susan interrupted, “you can play the blame game all you want, but the bottom line is that you’re both okay. Thank God.”
Holly was silent, replaying those horrific moments in Iraq when she’d believed Shane was dead. She never wanted to experience anything close to that ever again. She drew in a shuddering breath.
“Hey.” Reaching over, Susan covered Holly’s hand with her own. “You are okay, right?”
Holly nodded. “I’m fine.”
She wasn’t ready to confide in Susan about the phone call she’d received from the Naval hospital. Her doctor had confirmed what she had already suspected—the bullet that had shattered her upper arm had done permanent nerve damage. She might never regain full use of the limb.
The gnawing pain that had kept her awake those first two weeks had subsided to a dull ache. She’d stopped taking the pills that the doctors had prescribed because she didn’t like how they made her feel woozy and disoriented. The incision where the surgeons had inserted a metal plate and screws into the upper arm bone had mostly healed, although her arm would always have a nasty scar from the bullet itself.
But what bothered her most was the annoying numbness across the back of her hand and through her fingers, and how she couldn’t seem to get a good grip on anything. The doctors had run more tests, and had called her that morning with the results. The news had come as a devastating blow to Holly. Without full use of her arm, she would likely have to leave the military. Even if the top brass decided she could stay, she’d probably be placed in a desk job, overseeing administrative minutia. Her days of going on deployments were over, since she could no longer handle a weapon. In fact, she could barely handle a camera.
Her beloved camera had been lost in the explosion that had destroyed her supply truck, and her father had presented her with a brand-new one just days after she had arrived home. Holly knew the camera was the best that money could buy, but she still grieved for the one she’d lost; the one she’d had since she was a teenager. That camera had been as familiar to her as her own hand. She sighed. It seemed that nothing would ever be the same as it had been.
“So how are your parents going to react when they learn you’ve left?” Susan interrupted her thoughts.
Holly sighed deeply. Her parents had been playing golf with friends when Holly had made her getaway. They wouldn’t be back for hours yet, but Holly didn’t expect them to come after her. They would respect her need for privacy.
“They’ll be hurt,” she admitted. “They’ll think they did something wrong. But I couldn’t stay there any longer. I was…suffocating. I just needed to get out.”
That was the truth. She hadn’t told her parents that she was leaving, knowing they would try to dissuade her. But her mother’s constant hovering had begun to wear on her nerves. Since she’d come home, Holly hadn’t been permitted to do anything for herself. Her mother insisted that she spend her days relaxing in the gardens or on the enormous wrap-around porch, preferably with a cup of tea or a tall glass of lemonade. She’d drunk so much of both that it was a wonder she hadn’t floated away. Her father had given her the space she needed, but his worry and concern for her had been like a palpable thing.
Holly knew her parents meant well, but she didn’t think she could bear their pity when they learned her arm was permanently damaged. Her father, a retired Navy admiral, would take it the hardest. He’d been so proud the day she’d graduated from the academy and loved telling people that both of his children—his son and his daughter—had followed family tradition and made a career with the Navy. But Holly could just see their reaction when she told them the news; they would hover and fuss over her, trying to make things better, until she screamed with frustration. She needed this time away to come to terms with the fact that her life would likely never be the same.
Most of all, she needed to come to terms with the fact that she would never be with Shane Rafferty, not the way she’d dreamed of. The main reason she’d joined the military was to impress him, to be close to him; to follow him into battle if need be. But she’d never anticipated that she would be injured and forced to make a choice about staying in or getting out. At least in the military, she’d been able to take assignments at the same locations as him, ensuring that they moved in the same orbit. But if she was in Chatham…they would literally be worlds apart, and she had a feeling that if it were up to Shane, he’d never willingly come back.
What would she do now? All of her carefully laid plans were falling apart. Worse, she had no idea what she would do with the rest of her life. Even if she could remain with the Navy, the idea of teaching at the academy or working a desk job somewhere held little appeal for her. But if she left the military, she’d also leave her only connection to Shane. Yes, she had a lot of thinking to do.
“Here we are,” Susan said quietly, and Holly looked up as the woods opened onto a large clearing. A gravel drive circled around the front of a timber frame house with a modest entry. The house was deceptive, Holly knew. Sitting on a rise overlooking the water, the back of the lake house was where the true magnificence lay. The property had belonged to the Durant family for generations, but where there had once stood a rustic cabin, the current lake house was a modern mixture of timber, stone, and glass, with an enormous wrap-around deck that boasted unobstructed views of the lake.
Holly knew that if she were to step onto the deck, she would see the lawn that swept down to the shore, where a quaint boathouse stood attached to a long dock. The small guest room over the boathouse had initially been intended as a place to change out of wet bathing suits before walking back to the main house, but a young Mitch had quickly adopted the space as his club house. When Shane had come to spend time at the lake, the boathouse had become his bunk room. If she closed her eyes, Holly could still picture him lying back against the pillows on the narrow bed, his body a mouthwatering combination of silken skin and hard muscles. And the expression in his eyes…
The memory caused a shiver of awareness to go through Holly.
Susan pulled up to the entrance and put the car into Park. “Do you want me to come in with you? Help you settle in? You said your parents haven’t been out here in months. The place is probably crawling with cobwebs.”
Holly smiled. “No, I’ll be fine. Mum has a cleaning service come in every two weeks whether she’s here, or not. They air everything out and keep the spiders down to a minimum.”
“What about food? Even dry goods have a shelf life.”
Holly gave her a tolerant look. “You know my mother, she keeps the house well-stocked. But I’ll give Pete a call in the morning and ask him to bring out some fresh groceries, okay?” Seeing Susan’s doubtful expression, Holly leaned across the center console and gave her friend a one-armed hug. “Don’t worry about me. I need this time alone to get my head straight.”
Susan nodded. “I know. I just hope your parents don’t blame me for aiding and abetting.”
Holly opened the