“And you don’t get bored?”
“I might if it weren’t for Stephanie. You don’t get bored with Stephanie. I’m working with her now to become qualified in canine search and rescue.” He seemed to notice Jubal’s dubious expression as he glanced down at Bart.
“Not with Bart,” he explained. “He doesn’t qualify. He’s too timid, although he’s getting better. Stephanie has two trained golden retrievers. I’m the one that needs qualifying, not the dogs. It’s embarrassing.” He paused, put his hand down on Bart’s head. “But Bart’s helped me a lot. More than I have him.” He paused, then added, “I know a great dog if—”
“No,” Jubal said. “I’ve been avoiding attachments all my adult life. They don’t go with what we do.”
The answer was automatic. One he’d given many times to avoid any lasting relationships, especially with women. SEALs worked in small teams and often disappeared with an hour’s notice, leaving whoever loved them not knowing where they were going, or when they might be back—if they came back at all. It was hell on marriages.
He was grateful Clint didn’t remind him he wasn’t a SEAL anymore. Jubal still thought like one. Hell, he’d been one for twenty years. He’d learned to close the door on his emotions.
He just didn’t know how to open it again. Wasn’t sure he wanted to. He took another sip of beer only to find it nearly gone. He unwound his body from the chair. “I’m getting another beer. You want one?”
“Sure. I’m off duty.”
Jubal snorted loud enough for Clint to hear. He went inside, pulled two beers from the fridge, opened them and returned to the lounge chair after handing one to Clint. The setting sun was streaming layers of gold and crimson flames across the sky.
Clint was silent, apparently satisfied that Jubal seemed to appreciate the sunset at least.
“What else is there in Covenant Falls?” Jubal asked after several swallows of beer.
“We have a couple of great bars, including one that’s veteran-owned. We all get discounts and never get kicked out for being rowdy. There’s Monday night poker games. Horseback riding.” He glanced at Jubal. “You ride, don’t you? Didn’t you tell me you did some riding in Afghanistan?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t exactly pleasure riding. Those horses were ornery as hell.” He didn’t want to explain more, though the memory wasn’t all bad. Those horses had been ornery, all right, but he’d relished the challenge of riding over narrow mountain paths in the dark with some of the most ferocious warriors in the Middle East.
Clint stood. “I’ll go and let you get some rest. How about we hit that bar tomorrow night?”
He nodded. “I’ll probably head out the next day.”
Clint looked disappointed but nodded. “In the meantime, the fridge is loaded with food and beer. Help yourself. If you need anything, there’s a general store, grocery store and pharmacy in town. My phone numbers are next to the phone. The middle room is kind of a library. Feel free to take or add any books. Lastly, we do have internet. It’s slow but it usually works.”
Jubal stood, as well. He’d been damned unappreciative. He thrust his hand out and Clint took it in a tight grip. “Good to see you.”
“Likewise. I’d better warn you,” Clint said. “Neighbors might leave tins of cinnamon rolls or brownies on your doorstep.”
“And I have to be polite?”
Clint shrugged. “I was. Josh wasn’t. He scared the hell out of the first person who tried.”
“I think I would like Josh.”
“I know you would,” Clint said. “Get some rest, buddy. Call me if you need anything.”
Jubal watched Clint walk toward the side of the cabin before turning around the corner. He had changed. Become civilized.
Still, he was glad he came. He had done more talking this afternoon than he had since his return. But Clint was an old friend, a warrior, and the fact that he, too, was separated from the service he loved made talking easier. He was one of the few people who understood having a foundation ripped away.
He sank back down in the chair and mulled over the conversation. Three vets had occupied this cabin. All three were married or engaged or close to it. Covenant Falls was beginning to sound like a Venus fly trap. If that was what the town did to a warrior like Clint, then he—Jubal Pierce—didn’t belong there.
LISA REDDING WAS thinking along the same lines as she listened to Gordon and Kerry complain on the drive through Covenant Falls to their new home.
It had been a whirlwind four weeks. First came the professional problems. She couldn’t practice in Colorado or write prescriptions on her own without a Colorado medical license. She did qualify—she’d passed a nationally recognized exam, had thirty-six months of postgraduate training and numerous reference letters—but it would take the medical board sixty days or more to verify the information and check for malpractice problems.
She’d started the process immediately after returning to Chicago, and Dr. Bradley had assured her he had friends on the board and would do what he could to expedite the licensure. But there would be at least a month when he would have to be available to “supervise” and write prescriptions.
He assured her he could do that from his home, which was close to the clinic.
After that problem was managed, she told Kerry and Gordon they were moving.
“I’m not going,” Gordon announced. “I’ll bunk with someone here.”
“Think again,” she said. “In the first place, we’re moving to keep you out of juvenile detention. If you don’t go, you’ll violate your probation and go back to detention.” It had taken several weeks of heavy-duty bargaining with the juvenile court judge, caseworker and probation officer in cooperation with the Covenant Falls Police Department before Lisa received permission to take Gordon to Colorado.
Still, he would have to adhere to certain restrictions, including a curfew, no alcohol or drugs and regular school attendance. She had the impression that Chicago—and Illinois—was only too happy to shove a problem kid to another state.
“I don’t have to do what you say,” he retorted. “You aren’t even my real sister.” It was the same old comeback he always used.
“Regardless, I am your guardian and we are going,” she said, shutting him down while trying to hide the hurt she felt.
Kerry wasn’t any better. Upon hearing the news, she wailed, “You’re ruining my life. What about my friends? Just because Gordon did something dumb, I’m being punished.”
Kerry’s complaints grew even louder after she checked out Covenant Falls’s website. “It doesn’t even have a movie theater,” she whined, then went in her room and slammed the door. Woe of all woes.
Aunt Kay, though, was relieved. She’d been hoping to move in with her sister, who recently lost her husband. Now that Lisa would have the time to take care of her siblings, she could do so.
With Dr. Rainey’s help, Lisa leased the family home to the doctor who was replacing her at the hospital. He had a wife who also worked at the hospital. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. She would have someone responsible taking care of the house, and the couple had a partially furnished home near the hospital.
The drive to Covenant Falls had been a nightmare. She’d rented a U-Haul trailer for what little furniture they were taking. Several of her friends helped load it while Gordon stood by, glaring.
She’d