* * *
Old guilt and his new reality gut-stabbed Max.
Time had gone by. Mistakes had been made. No matter how many battles he fought, no matter how many medals the army pinned on his chest, a part of him couldn’t move beyond the teenage boy who’d made a grievous error in judgment years ago.
He swallowed hard but kept his face even. “I should have come back sooner, Dad. I know that. But I’m here now, and I’ll do everything I can to make things easier for you and Mom. That’s if I can keep my mind on hardware with such pretty help.” He slanted a glance of pretended innocence Tina’s way.
His ruse of humor worked.
Charlie’s laugh lightened the moment. Tina looked like she wanted to mop the floor with him, making jokes at a moment of truth, but Max knew his father. Charlie Campbell would be the first to say that getting crazy emotional over must-have treatments and their outcomes wasn’t in anyone’s best interests.
You could have come back. You chose not to. That one’s all on you, soldier.
Max’s heart weighed heavy as Charlie picked up his car keys. Ten years of staying away, grabbing for a future because he couldn’t face the past. He’d lost time with his mother, his father, his siblings. Time that could never be regained.
Now he was home, determined to make amends and begin again. Charlie and Jenny Campbell had taken in a five-year-old boy, dumped by his mother the week before Christmas, and brought him to their sprawling lakeside home. They’d changed his life that day, given him a second chance not all children get.
He loved them for it. Now? Time to give back. And if reconnecting with his hometown meant facing old wrongs? Then it was about time he manned up and did just that because staying away hadn’t fixed anything. Over the years he’d faced enemies on three separate continents. He could handle Kirkwood Lake.
Once his father left the store, Max turned toward Tina.
“Don’t you dare break their hearts again, Max Campbell.”
He’d come home expecting emotional shrapnel.
Tina’s flat-out decree was more like a direct hit at close range. He started to speak, but Tina moved a half step forward, invading his space. “What were you thinking disappearing like that? All those years gone. What were you doing all that time?”
“My job?” He let his inflection say the answer was obvious, but he knew Tina was right. He could have come back. Should have come back. He’d missed weddings, baptisms, anniversaries and holidays. And he’d done it on purpose, because it was easier to face current danger than past lapses in judgment. He got careless and stupid, but he didn’t need this drop-dead gorgeous gray-eyed beauty to ream him out over it.
Although he preferred her sass to the tears she’d been fighting minutes before. Tears went hand in hand with high drama. If there was something Max steered clear of, it was high-drama women.
“Your job wasn’t 24/7/365.” She folded her hands across her chest, leveled him a look and didn’t seem at all fazed that he had her by a good seven inches and sixty pounds. Or that he was a munitions expert. Her bravado made him smile inside, but he held back, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate his amusement.
“I should have come back. Phone calls weren’t enough. I know that now.” He’d known it then, too, but it had been easier to stay away. Still, this was his personal business, not hers. Fortunately his straightforward admission helped take the wind out of her sails.
Good. He had no intention of being yelled at all day. With the high-volume sales of winter and holiday items upon them, he knew Campbell’s Hardware would be cranking. His job was to learn the new aspects of an old business ASAP, shouldering the work his parents did so naturally. “For the moment, if you can take a break from yelling at me, I need to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can to help out. Now we either do this together—” he mimicked her stance and saw her wince as if recognizing her stubbornness “—or we work as separate entities. But, Tina?” He held her gaze, waiting until she blinked in concession to continue.
Only she didn’t.
He shrugged that off mentally and stood his ground. “We’ve got to take care of this for Dad’s sake. And Mom’s. No matter how you might feel about me. Which means we might have to declare a truce, at least during working hours. Agreed?”
Her expression softened. She stared over his shoulder, sighed, then brought her eyes back to his. “Agreed.”
He refused to acknowledge her reluctance. Ten years in the service taught him to pick his battles. He’d seen her face when they’d talked of her business burning. He understood that working side by side with the Campbell prodigal probably hadn’t made her short list, and life had done a number on her.
But when she took a deep breath and stuck out her hand again, he realized that Tina Martinelli was made of pretty strong stuff. “Do-over,” she instructed.
He smiled, nodded and accepted her hand in his.
“Max, you might not remember me. I’m Tina Martinelli and I’m here to help your parents.”
He should resist. He knew it, knew it the minute her eyes locked with his. Held.
But he couldn’t and so he gave her hand a light squeeze and smiled. “Well, Tina, I do remember you, but what I remember is a pesky tomboy who whistled louder, ran faster and jumped higher than most of the guys around.”
The blush heightened again. Was it because he remembered or because he’d brought up her penchant for sports and winning? Max wasn’t sure, but he leaned closer, just enough to punctuate his meaning. “This Tina?” He shook his head, dropped her hand and stepped back. He didn’t give her a once-over because he didn’t have to. Her face said she understood. “This Tina is a surprise and I can’t say I’m sorry to be working with her. Reason enough to clean up and hurry into work each morning.”
“Which means we need to set ground rules.” She glossed over his compliment as if it hadn’t affected her. Max allotted her extra points for that and played along. “Employees are not allowed to fraternize outside of work.”
Max frowned. “My parents own this place and I’m going to guarantee they fraternize outside of work. That’s how they got to be parents.”
She bristled, looking really cute as she did. But he couldn’t think of that. There was work to be done so he held up a hand. “You’re right. I know you and Earl have been picking up a lot of slack, so my goal is to help you any way I can. If we can keep Mom and Dad from worrying about the store, Dad can focus on getting through his treatments. Getting well.”
“Then we share the same objective. Perfect.” She gave him a crisp nod as she moved to a stack of holiday-themed boxes. “As long as we keep our focus on that, we shouldn’t have any problems.”
Saucy and determined, the grown-up Tina wasn’t much different than she’d been years ago. He knew he should stop. Let her have the last word. But when she slanted a “keep your distance” look over her shoulder, he couldn’t resist. “Working for the government taught me to get around problems efficiently, Tina Martinelli. I expect that might come in handy now and then.”
* * *
Come in handy?
Not with her, it wouldn’t.
Oh, she saw the charm and self-assuredness that had drawn girls to Max back in their youth. Refined now, the charisma was more dangerous, almost volatile. But Tina hadn’t spent the last decade pining for her childhood crush. She’d managed to have her heart broken twice since, so Max could flirt and tempt all he wanted. It would do him no good.
Tina