Uncomfortable that her grinning cousin was glancing back and forth between her and the music teacher, Isabelle cleared her throat. “Check these and if you need more, let Annabelle know.” There, she’d made it clear that he didn’t have to contact her directly, just in case he’d decided since Sophie wasn’t available, she’d make do. “We want her senior year Christmas concert to be perfect. Not only is she family, but she’s also the quilt shop’s star part-time employee.”
Annabelle leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Izzy. You and Sophie are the best. I’ll see you at The Threaded Needle after school.”
“Maybe I could stop by and—”
“Oh, look at the time,” Isabelle interrupted the still blushing teacher, glancing pointedly at her watch.
No need to encourage him when she had no time for such nonsense. Other than with Greg during the time she’d lived in Nashville, she never had. It didn’t bother her. She had a wedding to plan, a quilt shop to run, and she’d never give a man a chance to do to her what her father had done to her mother.
*
“How does atiny hole-in-the-wall town have such good food?” Zach took another bite of his Pine Hill burger. Although he’d always been fine with eating whatever, he enjoyed good food. Lou’s topped some of the finest he’d ever sampled.
“Quality basic ingredients and a talented cook.” Across the booth, Bodie grinned. “You should stick around to have some of Lou’s chili that he serves at the annual Christmas Festival. My mouth waters just thinking about it.”
“I’ll be long gone before Christmas festivals.” Or maybe not, since even the diner already had silver tinsel garland and a two-foot artificial tree at the cash register counter. Advertisements for local Christmas activities were taped along the front and a Triple B Ranch Toy Drive drop-off bin was prominently displayed. A bit early to be so holidayed up, but whatever tinseled up this small town’s Christmas float.
“This forced vacation is ridiculous.” Zach snorted his disgust at being shackled by his currentrestrictions. After his injuries, he’d been in a low, dark place and climbing out of that despair had taken a while, but he had overcome. “My accident was almost two years ago. That I blacked out two weeks ago had to do with my not eating while undercover, not my head injuries. Lukas should know that.”
Bodie looked skeptical. “You think?”
“I’m fine.” The intense throb that sometimes hit was killer, but what were a few lingering headaches when compared to what many of his comrades dealt with? What they’d sacrificed? Zach was one of the lucky ones.
“The building you were in exploded. You were unconscious for weeks, had surgery after surgery removing shrapnel, including the piece that paralyzed your right arm and hand.” Bodie unnecessarily reminded. “The moment you left the rehab facility, you dived into working for iSecure and have pushed nonstop. A few weeks’ vacation isn’t going to hurt you.”
Zach’s hopefully last surgery scar burned his upper back just below his T-shirt’s collar.
Willing it to stop, he stuck the last of his burger into his mouth, but what had tasted delicious a minute before now had to be forcibly swallowed with a gulp of water. “Is that how you felt after your medical leave when your hip was busted up? That a few weeks of R and R wasn’t a bad thing?”
“Point taken.” Bodie’s gaze didn’t waver from Zach’s. “But that time off ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Those few weeks between his pal’s discharge from the rehab facility in DC, the same one Zach had been at less than a year later, and his starting work for iSecure had led Bodie to Pine Hill to thank a woman for a patriotic quilt that had been a catalyst to his turnaround.
“I’m happy you found where you belong in the civilian world, but the thought of staying in one place makes me feel as if my air supply is being cut off. It’s why I couldn’t just sit in DC for the next month. I need to get back to what I do best—making a difference.”
Zach had been good at his job. The best. But not quite good enough. Not that he remembered much about that horrific day. Could he have prevented their mission from being compromised? Have prevented unnecessary loss? If so, could he live with himself that some of those sacrificed last breaths had been his fault? Was that why no amount of therapy had been able to recover whatever his brain had locked away? He curled his fingers into his palms, his nails digging into the callused flesh. Most of the feeling had come back months ago, and after the numbness, he welcomed the physical discomfort.
Bodie’s brow arched. “That wasn’t what you were doing last night on Sarah’s computer? Making a difference?”
“More like your wife had me working the bugs out of her embroidery program.” Sarah’s computer was a dinosaur. He’d half expected to hear a dial-up noise when he’d turned on the beast. Zach wouldn’t be bypassing any major security walls with that snail system. “You can thank me for the extra time she’ll have to watch Jeannie, freeing you up from babysitting duty.”
“Thanks for helping Sarah, but watching Jeannie is a privilege, not a duty.”
Zach eyed his friend. “It’s hard for me to reconcile that the tough soldier I served with now gets up in the middle of the night to change diapers.”
Bodie’s grin said he wouldn’t trade doing so for the world. “Best job I ever had.”
Zach wrinkled his nose. “Diaper duty?”
“Dad duty,” Bodie corrected.
The sincerity on his friend’s face had Zach shaking his head. Bodie had been one of the best soldiers Zach had ever served with, which was likely why they’d become such good friends during their deployment together. To see the soldier so domesticated boggled the mind, but Bodie appeared happy playing house and chasing down lead-footed grannies in his sheriff’s deputy SUV. Then again, the IED explosion that had left Bodie hospitalized for months provided a powerful impetus. Zach knew that power, knew how it could bend a man into anything it chose, sometimes dragging one’s mind to the pits of hell.
“Better you than me.” Zach picked at the grilled vegetables on his plate. “Not that I know much about babies, but I’ll admit yours is cute when she smiles.”
“Which she does a lot around you.” Bodie’s tone implied that he didn’t understand why.
Zach chuckled. “Kid has good taste, even at five months.”
