The Way Home

Chapter 15

“WHAT WOULD YOU THINK ABOUT moving the display holding your souvenir items against the wall, then sliding the cubbies full of T-shirts and sweatshirts into a central aisle in their place?”

Ty had been after Jess all morning to take a break from her book work and walk this idea through with him.

“The truth is, I’ve been wanting to do that, but—”

“You never had the time.” He finished the well-used phrase for her.

“Don’t look so smug.”

“Permission to proceed?”

“If you’re looking for an ‘Aye-aye, sailor,’ you’re not going to get it from me.”

He laughed. “And if you don’t want me to do it, speak now, or forever hold your peace. Some of this stuff is so small it’s easy to slip into a pocket, and these shelves are out of view of your mirrors.”

He’d given her more than a hard time over her less than state-of-the-art surveillance system this past week. Jess knew it was lacking, but then, this wasn’t exactly the city, where shoplifting was a major problem. This was the north woods. People came here with relaxation, not petty larceny, on their minds.

“You’re going to do what you want to do anyway, so what difference does it make if I say no?”

“Hey.” He gripped her arm and gently turned her to face him. “This is your business. You make the calls. Period. I’m not trying to intrude, you know that. Right? I’m not trying to run your show, Jess. You say the word, and I leave things as is. I’ll find something that needs to be fixed. Lord knows, that’s a never-ending list.”

Because he looked and sounded so concerned that she would think he was interfering, she smiled at him. “As if I’d ever let you get by with messing in my business. Knock yourself out. If you need an extra hand, give me a yell.”

“I need an extra hand,” he said, all low and sexy. Then he guided said hand to his heart. “Here.” Then to his lips. “Here. Wanna know where else?”

She was laughing at the suggestive gleam in his eyes when the bell above the door rang—and then she wasn’t laughing anymore.

Brad. J.R.’s brother had made himself scarce ever since Ty had returned. Jess had been intending to call him or even go see him. Give him a heads-up about Ty so he wouldn’t be blindsided. But she’d known it would be ugly, so she’d put it off. The anger in Brad’s eyes was the main reason.

She’d been dreading this—and she’d known he’d show up, because the grapevine had to be working overtime with news of the stranger staying with J.R.’s wife in the apartment above the store.

She had hoped that when this time came, Ty would be off on an errand. She had desperately hoped that when Brad did show up, he wouldn’t see them in a compromising position.

So far, she was batting zero for two.

She slowly pulled her hand away from Ty’s and walked across the store to meet her brother-in-law.

“You’ve been a stranger,” she said, hoping to avoid a confrontation between the two men by heading Brad off at the proverbial pass. “Everything OK with you?”

Brad had not looked at her since he’d walked through the door. His angry gaze had fixed on Ty like a laser-guided missile with one intent: destroy the man in its path.

Judging from the silence in Ty’s general direction, he was very much aware that something significant was about to happen.

“Let me get you a cup of coffee.” She stepped in front of Brad, determined to distract him from something that could come to no good.

“I don’t want your coffee. I don’t want anything from you.”

Brad shouldered around her and walked directly toward Ty.

“Brad—”

“It’s OK, Jess.” Ty held out a hand. “You must be J.R.’s brother.”

Brad stopped, shoulders square, feet spread wide, directly in front of Ty. He ignored Ty’s extended hand. “And you must be the lowlife shacking up with my brother’s wife.”

“Brad!” Jess rushed to step between them. “If you came here looking for a fight, turn around and go right back out the door.”

“It’s OK, Jess,” Ty said again softly. “I’ve got this. Go finish what you were doing.”

“Yeah, Jess,” Brad said bitterly. “Do what the man says. The way I hear it, he’s pretty much running the show around here. Taking care of this. Taking care of that. Taking care of you.”

“That’s enough.” Ty got right in Brad’s face. “You got a bone to pick with me? Fine. But you’re not going to disrespect Jess.”

“I don’t have to. She took care of that when she opened her door and her legs to you.”

Jess gasped at the insult and anger in Brad’s voice. And she could see in Ty’s eyes that he was mad as hell at Brad’s goading.

“This is how your brother would want you to treat her?” Ty challenged with a calm that stunned her. Before Brad could counter, Ty leveled another verbal blow. “I didn’t know your brother. But I was deployed to Iraq the same time he was. I knew of him. Knew of his unit. Knew what a stand-up group of soldiers they were. Hell, they were legends. Every last one of them.

“So let’s get something clear. Your brother and I fought the same fight. I’m not here to disrespect him. I would never do that. And he would never disrespect Jess. Neither will you. Now, if you can’t man up and apologize to her, then walk out the door, and don’t come back until you figure out how to do the right thing.”

For several long moments, the men faced off. Hands clenched in fists. Legs spring-loaded and ready to pounce.

Jess watched with her heart in her throat.

Finally, Brad turned away. His face burned red with anger as he shouldered past her and stomped out the door.

She hadn’t even realized her heartbeat had accelerated until the speed of it made her lightheaded.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, horrified and mortified by Brad’s behavior. “I should have talked to him a week ago. Explained.”

“You’ve got nothing to explain. It’s your life, Jess. And you’ve got nothing to be sorry for. He, however, does. And he knows it. That’s why he’s so pissed.”

“That could have gotten so much uglier.”

He shook his head. “No. That wasn’t going to happen. We’d have taken it outside long before it ever came to blows.”

She hugged her arms around herself and shivered. “He loved his brother.”

“And seeing you move on with your life… it’s a grim reminder that J.R. is gone and he’s not coming back. I’m sorry, Jess,” he added softly. “I’m sorry he’s gone. But I’m so glad that I’m here.”

THAT NIGHT, AFTER they’d made love, Jess sat in a chair in the corner of her bedroom, her knees tucked under her chin, and watched Ty sleep.

The worst possible thing had happened. What they had… it had become so much more than a fling. But then, she suspected she’d been fooling herself on that count from the beginning. Fooling herself into believing that she wasn’t going to fall in love with him.

But how could she not? How could she not love a man who shared her grief over losing her husband, who empathized and understood his brother’s anger, and who defended her honor without humiliating her attacker?

How could she not love a man who made her laugh and shingled her roof and made love to her as though she was the end and the beginning of everything he wanted in his life?

She could no longer cling to her argument that he was just like J.R. That had been a weak prop from the get-go. J.R. had eaten, breathed, and drunk Army from the moment he’d put on the uniform. If he’d lived, he’d have been career. And he’d have been putting himself in harm’s way for as long as his CO would let him. Ty, while every bit as heroic, had clearly left that part of his life behind. She wasn’t going to lose him to combat—although the memory of the night she’d first met him, with his warrior face on, ready to lay it all on the line, was not something she’d soon forget.

So here she was. Falling in love. Trying not to regret it. Wondering where it would lead. Stunned to find herself in this position.

Quietly, so she wouldn’t wake him, she eased off the chair and back into bed. He stirred and turned and pulled her snugly against him, whispering her name in his sleep.

He’d lost as much as she had. Yet he had so much to give. So much life. So much joy. And although he hadn’t said the word, it was clear that if she gave him the right signal, he’d give her all the love she could possibly need.

A WEEK LATER, Jess watched Ty drive off to the airport to return to Florida long enough to take care of some pressing business. She missed him already.

“You know, that’s what I got you for, Bear.” She dropped down onto one knee and cuddled the dog close as Ty’s truck faded from sight. “To keep me company and make me laugh and keep my bed warm in the middle of winter. Look how well that worked out.”

But as she’d often realized during the past two months, a puppy wasn’t a man. And there weren’t many men like Tyler Brown.

Later that night, she slowly removed her wedding ring and tucked it inside her jewelry box.