Operation Soldier Next Door

Her brows rose in shocked surprise. That hadn’t even occurred to her. Oddly, he looked relieved at her reaction, as if he’d really thought that was what she’d been hinting at.

“No, not at all,” she said with a fervent shake of her head. “I just meant it seems impossible to be just a coincidence.”

“They happen. That’s why there’s a word for it.”

“I’m not some conspiracy theorist, if that’s what you mean. I’m just saying it doesn’t figure, doesn’t make sense, no matter what way you twist it. Martin wasn’t careless, but even if he was, the timing is suspect. No way it could have been leaking all this time unnoticed, and yet still have enough left to explode like that. It’s been three months, after all.”

He winced at that, and she felt instantly contrite. The man had just lost his beloved grandfather. Three months was no time at all when it was someone you loved that much.

“I’m sorry. I should go.” And stay away, since I apparently can’t stop making things worse.

She hurried back to her house and went in through the back door without even glancing at her garden. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it.

Even spaghetti wasn’t going to cheer her up tonight.

* * *

Of course it was an accident, Tate thought as he rolled over onto his other side of his makeshift bed on the floor of the shop. He’d hit it early, trying to catch up a little more on sleep, but the moment he’d closed his eyes the rabbit warren of his brain had opened up full force and he couldn’t find the off switch.

Sometimes I wish brains had an off switch, Tate.

But Gramps, if it’s off, how would you switch it back on?

He smiled into the darkness. He always smiled when that childhood memory came to him. Mostly of how Gramps had roared with laughter, as if Tate’d said the most clever thing ever spoken.

I’ll not worry about you, boy. Your brain works just fine.

It was working overtime now. But it had to be an accident. What else could it have been? He was no longer in the world where any explosion was assumed to be enemy action until proven otherwise.

Unless...

What if she really had meant she thought he’d somehow set it off himself and just hadn’t wanted to admit it?

He closed his eyes, remembering her startled reaction. It had seemed genuine. So genuine he’d been relieved to see it. Not that that had done anything to ease the tension he felt every time she was around.

She made good spaghetti sauce, though. Really good. And if it hadn’t been for that huge tub in the fridge, he probably would have ended up eating odds and ends of unbalanced stuff instead of a full, satisfying meal.

You owe her, he told himself. And frowned. He wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t like owing anyone, or because he didn’t like owing her. Because owing her meant more contact, at some point.

She lives next door, you’re not really going to be able to avoid her all the time.

His common sense told him that, but the inward discomfort he felt at the thought made him wish he could. Which in turn made him frown again, at himself, because she’d been nothing but nice and helpful.

Really nice neighborly young woman, sweet, thoughtful and helpful.

Yeah, Gramps. The beautiful part was just frosting, right?

You admire the pretty ones, but you marry the real ones. If you’re smart.

Smart? Well, Gramps, there’s book smart and then there’s life smart.

And if you’re as lucky as I was, you get both in the same package.

Tate shook his head. Not many are that lucky, Gramps. And I think you and Gram may have used up all the McLaughlin luck in that arena.

Chapter 9 (#uc2168f76-7182-5e51-bd47-473b1730e57c)

When she caught herself contemplating buying more chicken at the market to make a larger batch of her four-cheese bake so there would be extra, Lacy grimaced and stopped herself. And wondered if the fact that most of her cooking lately had been aimed at easily reheatable things was for the same reason.

Her troublesome neighbor.

Not that he was troublesome in the usual way of some neighbors. No, were it not for the sound of tools when he was working on the repairs to the house, or the sight of a light on in the workshop at night, she wouldn’t even know he was there.

She wondered about that, the workshop. Rather, how much time he spent in there. Yes, the house wasn’t repaired yet, but surely in his time in the service he’d been in worse? And he could easily sleep in the living room, away from most of it. So why was he still sleeping out in the workshop? True, the nights weren’t that cold anymore, in fact, they were having a rather warm June, and besides, she knew there was a woodstove in the back of the shop, although she hadn’t seen any smoke rising from the metal flue above the roof. Not that she checked all that often, but—

Quit kidding yourself. You’re always looking over there. And now you’re standing here in the produce section with a no doubt idiotic expression on your face while you contemplate how much of your life has been sucked up by your new neighbor.

Forcing herself to move on, she quickly finished her shopping so she could stop at the post office and still make it home in time for her next session. She had two completion certificates pending and she wanted to get them in the mail today so her proud students could show them to parents who didn’t quite believe the good news. She was focused on that when she heard someone call her name.

“Lacy?”

She turned and saw Hayley Foxworth, headed toward the store she’d just left.

“No dog?” Lacy asked lightly.

“Too warm already, and besides, Quinn took him to the office. One of our guys is at our headquarters in St. Louis, and Cutter’s been worrying about him.”

Lacy smiled. She already knew the dog was beyond clever, but that seemed a bit much. “Worrying?”

Hayley laughed as they stepped out of the way of another customer going into the store. “Rafe left his car here, and he works a lot in the warehouse, where the backup generator and the helicopter are. Every time we get there, Cutter’s off to inspect both, to see if there’s any sign he’s been back.”

Lacy laughed in turn at that. “Okay, that’s pretty clear.”

“After that, he’ll finally settle down. Usually with a mopey sigh. He really does worry about Rafe.”

Lacy wondered what there was to worry about with this particular Foxworth guy. But she was even more curious about something else Hayley had said. “Headquarters? Helicopter? You guys must be big.”

“We’re growing.” Hayley’s smile turned satisfied in a very personal way as she went on, “We have a southwest office open now. My brother’s running it.”

“So, it’s literally the family business?”

“When family’s the best person,” she said. “Quinn’s loyal, but if he didn’t think Walker could do it, he wouldn’t have offered it.”

“So, what exactly does the Foxworth Foundation do?”

Hayley met her gaze levelly. “We fight for those in the right who can no longer fight for themselves.”

Lacy blinked. “I... That’s quite a mission statement.”