Midnight Promises

She managed not to flinch. The bruising had faded, and the swelling was mostly gone. But it was still tender. “I’m okay.”

“You don’t look it.” He sounded grim. “And if you were really okay, deep inside, you wouldn’t be moving back home. What happened?”

“I thought Charlie told you.” She moved away, unable to bear his scrutiny for long, and tucked the bowl into a box.

“He said you were beaten. Two weeks ago. By a couple of punks at your school.” The words came out flat, staccato. “And you’ve quit your job because of it and plan to move back to Highpoint.”

The attack wasn’t the only reason she’d decided to move home, but it had clarified some things for her. “That’s pretty much what happened, though the attack wasn’t the only reason I quit. I haven’t been happy here.”

“I know you haven’t been crazy about the large classes and all the paperwork, but I hate to see you chuck it all in. After all the years you worked to get your teaching certificate, it doesn’t make sense!”

“I’m not planning to give up teaching. I just don’t want to do it here. Not anymore.”

“Don’t tell me you’re still homesick.” He shook his head. “You’ve been away from that stupid town for years now, what with college and then your job here. You can’t still be pining for Highpoint.”

She felt a familiar pang. Jack would never understand how deep her roots went in the small town where she’d grown up, the town he’d been only too happy to leave after high school. He didn’t understand roots. “That’s part of it, too. But only part. I don’t like the big city, Jack. You know that. And…” She hesitated. But he was her friend. He would understand. “I just don’t feel safe here anymore.”

“I hate what happened to you. I really hate that it happened while I was gone. If I’d been here—”

“It still would have happened. But I’m okay now. A little sore still, but everything is mending. Only…you know how news reports always say, ‘the victim was treated and released from the hospital’? That’s what happened. Nothing broken, just a cracked rib and a lot of bruises. But I always thought that ‘treated and released’ made it sound as if no one was really hurt.” She tried to smile. “Wrong!”

He frowned. “Would you quit trying to be brave and plucky? It’s annoying the hell out of me.”

That surprised a laugh out of her—which she suspected was what he’d intended. They looked at each other for a moment in silence before he spoke again, his voice carefully level.

“Charlie said that the attack wasn’t sexual.”

“I wasn’t raped. I—oh, good grief.” Her eyes irritated her by filling with tears. For days after the attack she’d wanted nothing more than to have Jack there, holding her. But he’d been in Paraguay. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. The doctor said it could have been a lot worse. He said I was l-lucky.”

“The doctor’s an idiot. No one needs that sort of luck. Come here.” He put his arm around her and urged her over to the couch, which was covered with neat piles of clothing she had yet to pack. He dumped one of piles on the floor.

“Jack! My clothes—”

“Never mind your clothes.” He tugged her down onto the couch beside him. “Annie, I’m so sorry. So terribly sorry.”

He just held her then, unspeaking, his body warm and hard and comforting. She rested her head on his shoulder and let his warmth soothe her, let herself cherish this moment. She’d needed this, needed it badly. Too badly. That—although she would never tell anyone—was the main reason she’d decided to leave Denver. She couldn’t afford to need Jack Merriman.

After a moment she made herself straighten. She didn’t pull away entirely, though. He still had one arm around her. His body was still warm and solid along her side. “I really am all right. I had no idea I was such a wimp until this happened.”

“You’re not a wimp.” There was a strange look in his eyes, one she didn’t recognize. “Can you tell me how it happened? What were you doing at the school in the summer?”

“Teaching summer school, of course. I’d stayed late grading papers, but it should have been okay. I mean, I’d done everything right.” That was what kept eating at her. She’d done everything right, and still she hadn’t been safe. “I was parked near the door in a well-lit area, and there were people around. Not a lot, but the kids in the theater group had been rehearsing and were leaving at the same time. The security guard was there. I thought I was okay. Even when the two of them came up to me, I thought I was safe enough.”

His mouth tightened. “There were two of them?”

She nodded. “One grabbed at my purse. I yelled at him. I was so mad…I should have just let him have the purse, but I was mad, not scared. I—I knew him. He was one of my students.”

Jack stroked her hair. “That made it worse, didn’t it?”

“Yes.” She blinked the sting out of her eyes. “He yelled back at me, called me filthy names. Then h-his friend slapped me. I wasn’t expecting that, but I still wasn’t scared, not really. I hit him back. I didn’t think. I just hit him, punched him right in the stomach. I hit him hard, too. But he was high on something. He didn’t feel it. It just made him more angry. And then they…they both started hitting me, and I couldn’t…I couldn’t…”

“Where was the guard?” Jack’s voice was tight. “Where was the damned security guard while all this was happening?”

“He got there as fast as he could. He’d been walking some girls to their cars, but when I yelled he came running. The two of them—my assailants, to put it in police jargon—ran away before he got there. And then it was all over.” Except for the police reports, and the ‘treated and released’ part, and the bad dreams. She shivered, and Jack rubbed her shoulder.

He meant to comfort her. She knew that, but the slow, insidious warmth seeping into her had little to do with comfort, and everything to do with her reasons for leaving. She pulled back. “I really wasn’t badly hurt. I was sore all over and shook up, but that’s all.”

“You were beaten,” he said flatly, “and scared half out of your mind. You’re still scared, or you wouldn’t be running away like this.”

That stung. “I’m not running away. If I had been happy here in Denver, satisfied with my job, I wouldn’t let one unpleasant incident chase me off.”

He looked away. “The thing is, Annie, I’m going to miss you. It’s been nice, knowing you would be around when I was between jobs.”

Nice? She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t.

Jack worked for a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Denver. International Construction Aid built schools and clinics in developing nations all over the world. When Jack was between assignments he was in Denver, too. Though Annie was amazed now at her foolishness, that had actually been one of the reasons she’d chosen to live in the Mile-High City after getting her certification. She had thought it would ease her homesickness to have an old friend around part of the time.

And at first it had helped. Whenever she and Jack had gotten together to eat pizza and argue over what movie to rent, or to drive into the mountains for a day’s hiking, she hadn’t been homesick. But she’d begun to depend on those flying visits too much. Instead of easing her homesickness, the times she’d spent with him had left her feeling more alone than ever after he left.

And, of course, he’d been gone most of the time.

“Listen,” Jack said. “I can see why you want to leave Denver. But why go back to Highpoint, for God’s sake?” He gave her his most beguiling smile.

That smile put her on her guard. “I miss Highpoint.”

“But there are lots of small towns close to Denver where you could feel safe—Shawnee, Longmont, Boulder, Bennett—half a dozen others. I’ll bet some of them are crying out for teachers with your qualifications. If you lived nearby, it would still be easy for us to get together when I’m in the country.”

“Highpoint isn’t that far from Denver. We can get together if you’re willing to drive a little farther.” He wouldn’t do it, of course. Not often, anyway. Jack hated Highpoint as much as Annie loved it.

Abruptly he stood and started to pace. “You could try compromising a little. What about Colorado Springs? If you lived there you’d be able to see your brothers every weekend if you wanted, and it still would be simple for me to drive down for a visit.”

She watched him pace, exasperated. “Are you suggesting I should shape my life and my career around your dislike for our hometown?”

He stopped. That odd look was back in his eyes when they met hers, a strange hardness she wasn’t used to seeing on her old friend’s face. “No, I’m suggesting you shouldn’t shape your life around fear.”

Her heart jerked in her chest. “You think I’m running away. That I’m a silly, scared fool.”

“I don’t blame you for being frightened by what happened. Hell, my hands shook for half an hour after I heard. But running home isn’t the answer.”

“I’m not ‘running home.’ I like it in Highpoint, Jack. I like it better there than anywhere else I’ve been. Why wouldn’t I want to live there?”

“You’ve never really been anywhere, Annie. You’ve never cut the ties. You keep the past knotted up around you like a rope. It’s familiar, it’s comforting, and it’s keeping you from following your dreams.”

She shook her head. “I’m not giving up my dreams. I’ll still teach—”

“Forget about teaching. I’m not talking about that. What about travel? What about all those places you always wanted to see someday?”

“Travel is your dream, not mine.”