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“I understand.”
She tilted her head to the side, studying his wounded eyes. “You do?”
He nodded. “After Laurie and Riley were killed, I started having panic attacks. I still have PTSD. It’s been a long, painful road.”
Needing to comfort him in some small way, she placed her palm on his arm. “I can’t even imagine how you’ve dealt with everything you’ve lost. What helped you get through?”
He dropped his gaze to her hand and smiled. “This place. Friends forcing themselves into my house to check on me.”
She chuckled. “I got a glimpse of that today.”
“Then there was figuring out how to quiet my mind. That was the hardest part.”
“What did you do? I mean, I’d take any advice right now to get my mind to shut up for a minute.” She moved her fingers along his skin. The hairs of his arm brushing against her.
“Do you really want me to show you?”
She nodded.
He dipped his head toward the back door. “Grab your shoes.”
Slipping on her sneakers, she met him at the back door then followed him onto the deck. She inhaled the fresh air. The sun peeked through the clouds, warming the day and chasing away the threat of more rain. After her morning coffee with the view of the pond and the surrounding trees, she’d told herself she’d enjoy this more, but hadn’t thought it’d be today.
But this time, Chet didn’t settle onto a chair. He bounded down the stairs onto the lawn and hurried to a small shed she’d never seen the inside of.
She waited for him to emerge with two fishing poles, one in each hand, and a slow smile on his handsome face. Not convinced this was the right move, she scrunched her nose. “Fishing?”
His smile morphed into a shit-eating-grin, and she could almost see the little boy he used to be. Ornery and carefree. Just wanting to be outside, getting his hands dirty and driving his mom a little bit crazy. “Ever been?”
She shook her head, and the curls of her hair bounced around her face. She hooked a strand behind her ear and mustered as much enthusiasm as she could. Chet sharing a pastime with her was a big step. She didn’t want to make him feel as though she didn’t appreciate it. Besides, what could it hurt? “My mom wasn’t much of an outdoorswoman. We did mostly inside activities, when she had time do anything beyond work.”
“Same, but Julia and I always played outside. Always got into trouble. Fishing was one of our favorite things to do.” Sadness skittered across his expression. He turned to look at the pond. “Having my own place to come down and fish whenever I wanted was one of the reasons I rented this place. That and knowing I’d have my privacy.” He faced her again with raised brows and a smirk.
She laughed. “Looks like that flew out the window. Sorry about that. I didn’t realize a hermit lived next door when I moved in. I just saw a nice, clean apartment available at a hell of a deal.”
“Bobby has a good heart. Always has. I’m sure he’s not charging either of us half of what he should.”
His statement sobered her. “Do you really think so? I don’t want to take advantage of anyone.” She understood all too well what it was like to be on the losing side of that kind of arrangement.
“People round here look out for one another,” Chet said. “Especially Bobby. He does what he can to help anyone in this town. You should feel like one of us now. Hell, even with his hardware store. He would have worked there forever if it wasn’t for Eddy.”
Mia grabbed one of the poles from Chet and walked beside him to the dock. The warm rays on her skin relaxed her. The sound of the birds chirping calmed her tangle of nerves. Maybe this exercise was more about being in nature than the actual fishing, which was fine by her. “What do you mean?”
“Eddy didn’t have the best home life. His dad roughed him up then his mom would send him to Bobby and Missy’s place. Bobby treated him like the son he never had, and when Eddy had trouble finding a job, he pretty much handed over the store.”
Finding a place to sit on the old dock, Mia settled on her bottom and tucked her feet under her. “That’s so nice.”
“That’s Bobby, and most folks in Pine Valley. It’s a good place to live. Most the time.” A dark cloud seemed to appear over his head as he stared out into the water then cast his line.
“Aren’t you supposed to put a worm on the hook first?” Mia asked, not wanting to venture into more somber conversation.
“Says the woman sitting on her ass with her pole on the ground.” Amusement laced through his words, but he kept his focus on the white and red bobber dancing on the surface of the water.
“Fair point.”
Chet waited a few minutes then reeled in his line again. His phone rang, and he shifted to pull the device from his pocket and checked the screen.
This time, she laughed at his old school phone. “Why do you still have that thing? No one uses a flip phone anymore.”
