CHAPTER 10
WHITNEY
I woke up the next morning to decadent smells coming from the kitchen. I stretched, feeling my ankle shoot searing pain up my leg. I bit down on my lip and whimpered, trying to keep my emotions at bay. I could hear things sizzling in pans while the smells wafted around me and I didn’t want to bother the cook in the kitchen.
“Whitney?” Liam asked.
“Morning,” I said.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just a bit of pain.”
In an instant, he was at my side. His fingertips were peeling back the blankets I had wrapped around my body before he carefully picked up my ankle. He unwrapped it to survey the damage and I could see the knowledge he possessed at work behind his eyes. His fingertips were careful and his touch was warm and, as I watched him slowly try to move my ankle, I felt his thumb feeling for something.
“Your foot’s tightening up a bit because of the swelling,” he said. “Let’s keep the bandage off for a little while and let the swelling dissipate.”
He looked up at me and I nodded before he went back to the kitchen. I swung my legs around the couch and pressed my foot to the floor. The pain was still there, shooting right up into my shin as I tried to stand up.
“Doesn’t mean you can try to walk,” Liam said.
“The food smells wonderful,” I said. “What are you making?”
“Omelets and hash browns,” he said.
“Sounds wonderful.”
“Coffee, sweet tea, or juice?” he asked.
“You must’ve grown up in the South if sweet tea is a replacement for water,” I said, grinning.
He didn’t respond.
Instead, he walked over with a plate and handed it to me. He set down a mug of coffee in front of me and I smiled up at him before he disappeared again. He might’ve been closed off and quiet but he was a fabulous caretaker and I wanted to see if he would let me do something to repay him.
I picked up my fork and took a bite of the food, moaning as it melted in my mouth. Liam came and sat down in the chair beside me while I continued to groan over the taste of my breakfast. By the time I was done with my omelet, I felt like I could think straight again. The pain was subsiding and the fog from sleep was clearing, so I turned my gaze to him and smiled.
“Thank you for taking care of me,” I said.
“You’re welcome.”
“No really. You’ve been wonderful and I appreciate it.”
“No problem,” he said.
“And this food is fabulous,” I said. “Have you always been such a good cook?”
At my question, he fell silent again.
I had learned a few things from observing him over the last two days. He was a cautious man—very cautious—and didn’t give away too much about himself. He liked to be in control, not because he wanted to lord power over me but because it seemed to keep him calm to call the shots. He suffered from nightmares, which I could only guess were from something he’d experienced while in the service, and, when he didn’t answer a question, it wasn’t because he was trying to be a dick. He obviously lived up here all alone for a reason and so far he had handled having an unexpected houseguest a lot better than most people would have.
“It’s beautiful up here,” I said. “Even through the snow I got caught in, I could see it. I understand why you’re drawn to it. I’ve always been that way, too.”
Liam nodded but he didn’t say anything. I found that I didn’t care. I hadn’t spoken to anyone new in a very long time. When I quit my job, I got rid of all but one person I talked with on a regular basis. It was nice talking to someone else.
Even if that someone didn’t want to talk back.
“I’ve always preferred the mountains over the beach,” I said. “I don’t like the way the beach makes me feel so exposed. Both mentally and physically. I don’t want to actively go somewhere where it’s a requirement to strip down to something akin to colorful underwear.”
I giggled and could’ve sworn I saw his lips tick up into a grin. I really couldn't tell underneath all that hair.
“Plus, the sunsets are better out here,” I said. “Gwen would like them. That’s my best friend back home. She’s a hairdresser and she’s about to open her own business. You know, she’s wanted to do that ever since she was a little girl. We went to grade school together.”
Memories upon memories came flooding back to me as I put my plate down. I picked up my coffee mug and brought it to my lips. I thought back to my middle school years and how Gwen and I used to spend hours walking around the mall, buying ice cream cones with our allowance like we were hot stuff. We’d spend time during class passing notes back and forth like the teacher couldn’t see us and we’d have entire weekend sleepovers where we’d stay up too late and gossip about all the boys in school.
Life seemed so much simpler back during those days.
I looked over and saw Liam staring at me with his peridot eyes. He seemed to be softening just a bit. His eyes didn’t seem as stern and the sounds he did make didn’t seem as edgy. Instead of his shoulders being rolled back, they were relaxed, like he was settling in for a story he was intent on listening to.
It was the first time I’d ever seen him this way and, I had to admit, it was nice.
“I have a friend like that,” Liam said.
“You do?” I asked.
“Yeah. Callen.”
“Was he in the Navy with you?” I asked.
“Still is,” he said.
“Is he a medic too?”
I saw that tension creeping back into his body and I wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. I wasn’t ready to go back to the way things had been at the beginning, where he was annoyed at my presence and I felt like nothing more than an intrusion.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was just trying to make conversation.”
His eyes flickered back to me with their soft blue notes and I heard him sigh through the thick hair on his face before he sank back into his chair.
“Nothing to be sorry for,” he said. “I just don’t get many visitors.”
“Or you don’t want them,” I said. “Which is okay, too. I can relate.”
He didn’t answer but his eyes were trained on me again.
“Outside of Gwen and one of my former colleagues, I don’t talk with anyone. It’s just easier that way.”
I brought my coffee mug back to my lips and my eyes hooked onto the roaring fireplace. For once in my life, my mind was at a complete standstill. In the silence of this cabin, with nothing but the fire crackling, I was really able to take stock of my life. I was able to actually get away from it all, take a hard look at my life, and figure out where in the world I was going to go from here.
“Was it hard?” I asked.
“Hmm?”
“Being a medic,” I said.
I turned my gaze back toward him and I saw his eyes grow icy and defensive.
“All I meant was, doctors take an oath to do no harm to people, right? But that seems a bit counterintuitive to being at war. Like me helping guilty people get off scot-free as a lawyer. Did you struggle with it? I did.”
I was trying to find common ground. I was trying to find a way to relate to this man. I watched him get up from his seat and tear his eyes from me before he headed toward the hallway but I wasn’t letting him go this time.
Not without at least trying to get him back.
“Please talk to me,” I said. “I just want to get to know you a little more. To thank you for taking care of me.”
“Then you can stop broaching subjects you know nothing about,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
“I saved more people than I should have, Whitney. And that’s all you need to know.”
His words knocked the breath from my lungs before he started back down the hallway again. I sat there, my cup of coffee in my lap, and listened to his footsteps retreat. He shut a door behind him and I sighed. All I wanted to do was get to know the man behind the beard. All I wanted to do was try to make conversation. To learn a little more about him. I wanted to know what made this burly man tick. I wanted to know why he felt the need to be so closed off.
I wanted to know what his nightmare was about a couple of nights ago.
I didn’t know what was going on or what he had witnessed but I wasn’t going to give up on him. I felt he was a kindred spirit, like he understood a part of me I still didn't quite understand myself. I leaned into the couch and sipped my coffee, racking my mind as to how I could penetrate through the steel walls this man had so expertly thrown up.