A Place Called Home

Anger brought a flush to Ellie’s face. “And what gives you the right to offer me advice?”

He shrugged. “Just saying.”

“Don’t bother. You already messed my life up enough without trying to interfere in it now.”

He flashed her another one of his ever-ready smiles. “So you’re still angry with me? It’s been what—five, six years? Well, I suppose any emotion is better than none.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Andy.” She yanked open the passenger door, not wanting him to see how much he’d rattled her. “I was well over you years ago. You just make me remember home, that’s all.”

Before Ellie had a chance to climb into the truck, a small blue car drove up next to them.

“Paula’s back,” Andy said. “Come on, you’ll have to say hello at least.”

Slamming the door shut again, Ellie followed reluctantly.

Paula Carr was one of the most dazzling women Ellie had ever met. She wasn’t classically beautiful, but she radiated an inner warmth.

Paula hurried toward them, and when Andy reached down to give her a peck on the cheek, she smiled, squeezing his forearm. Her fair, shoulder-length hair shone in the sun, and her eyes were glowing. She’s in love with him, Ellie realized suddenly. She pushed away the knot in her stomach. What did she care? Andy Montgomery meant nothing to her anymore, and she felt sorry for any woman who came his way. It was obvious that he never stayed with anyone for too long, not even the woman he married.

“Paula, meet Ellie,” said Andy, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. Ellie sidestepped, uncomfortable with his touch.

“She found the fox I called to tell you about, on the side of the road.”

“I’ve got to confess,” Ellie said, “I didn’t exactly find it. My fiancé’s car clipped it. I feel terrible.”

Paula smiled, all-forgiving. “These things happen. At least you bothered to call for a vet—it sounds like you saved its life. Come on, then, show me the poor little thing.”

On the way back to the enclosure, Paula and Andy fell into a conversation about some creature or another, totally on the same wavelength. Totally suited for each other, Ellie thought. Unlike her and Matt? The idea niggled uncomfortably.

The cub was curled up in a dark corner, as settled as it could be in its new environment.

“We’ll have to keep an eye on it now,” said Paula, confirming what Andy had said earlier. “And perhaps before too long it can be released. Thanks again, Ellie, for saving it.”

Ellie squirmed. “Well, it was kind of my fault...our fault...so it was the least I could do.”

Paula shook her head. “Accidents happen to everyone. There’s no use in laying blame. It’s how you deal with the aftermath that really matters.”

“Right, then,” Andy interrupted. “I’m off to give Ellie a ride somewhere. I’ll be back in the morning, Paula, and in the meantime, call if you need me.”

“You’re a godsend, Andy.” Paula smiled. “I’ll go and get some food for the new arrival.” She stood in the doorway as they walked away.

“Aren’t you going to say goodbye to her?” Ellie asked, nudging Andy’s arm.

He frowned, raising one hand in farewell without looking back. “I’m in and out of here all the time, and Paula doesn’t need all the niceties. I’ll check on your fox in the morning, so if you give me your number I can let you know how it’s doing.”

Ellie paused. This would open contact between her and Andy again...contact she’d relinquished long ago.

Andy pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his jeans.

“No...” she heard herself saying. “It’s okay. I don’t need to bother you. The number for Cravendale is there on the sign. I can phone and ask Paula how it’s doing.”

Was that disappointment she could see in his face?

“Suit yourself,” he said, his voice distant. The voice of a stranger, thought Ellie, when he had once been her whole world. How could that happen?

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_6e563742-f3d0-511a-95bd-cc2853239f7c)

ANDY DROVE ON AUTOMATIC, hunched forward over the wheel, staring straight ahead. He’d always had that habit of slipping totally into his own thoughts while he was driving, Ellie recalled, thinking of all the other times she’d sat beside him like this. That seemed like a lifetime ago, and yet it still felt so familiar.

It was true that he reminded her of home, and as they drove along narrow country lanes the memories she had kept locked away seeped from their confines, real and raw. The landscape around her didn’t have the same rugged beauty as her native Lake District, which was over fifty miles away, but the colors, sounds and smells were the same. Suddenly, she was consumed by a longing for the place she used to call home. Hope Farm in the Lakeland hills, near the village of Little Dale. It had been weeks since she’d spoken to her dad; she would call him tonight, she decided, just to make sure he was okay—even if he only answered in monosyllables.

“So where should I drop you?” Andy asked. “Hey, there...not asleep, are you?”

Ellie jerked herself out of her reverie. “No, of course not. Sorry, I was just thinking.”

“Nice thoughts, I hope.”

“Yes...” A half smile flitted across her face. “I guess they were.”

He raised his eyebrows. “So am I in them?”

She stiffened. “Oh, please. You left my thoughts a long time ago.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Dead sure. You let me down when I needed you most, Andy, so don’t expect me to be all sweetness and light just because you reappeared in my life after six years to save the fox.”

Andy turned his attention abruptly back to the road ahead, brow furrowed and fingers gripping the wheel. They drove in silence for a while, the air between them heavy and awkward.

“You can drop me at a bus stop if you like,” Ellie said eventually.

He flashed her a wry grin.

“You might think I’m a total waste of space, but I do owe you, in a way.”

“You owe me nothing,” she said quietly, though she was secretly relieved at not being abandoned.

“Oh, yes I do,” he insisted, smiling his painfully familiar, lopsided smile.

Back when they were together, that smile would have been quickly followed by a kiss. She shuddered, imagining the feel of his lips on hers.

“I owe you for helping the fox,” he said. “And for breaking your heart, of course.”

Ellie stared out the window, seeing nothing, anger bubbling inside her as the memories seeped away. How dare he make light of the event that had colored her teenage years...and her whole adult life? At the time, it had felt as if his breaking up with her and the shock discovery that her mother hadn’t long to live were painfully intertwined, as if it was all his fault. Now she knew better, but the pain still remained.

“Don’t give yourself so much credit, Andy Montgomery,” she snapped. “How could you even think that you broke my heart? We were just two kids having fun. It would never have gone anywhere.”

“Wouldn’t it?”