“I guess that’s why I hurt so bad.”
Dr. Miller continued speaking as he went to work, stitching the shrapnel’s damage. When the doctor finished, he pulled off his gloves, saying, “And now I will have a little chat with your parents, who are in the waiting room. Once you’re in a room, I’ll send them up to you.”
“Thanks, doc.” As soon as he left, Zack extended his arm toward her. “I’m not imagining you, am I?”
Holly only hesitated a moment before placing her hand in his. “I’m really here. I didn’t remember you were from Canyondale, or did you move here?”
“Born and raised here. I had no idea you were working at our hospital.”
“Tonight is my first shift.” His warm response softened the tension in her body. Just like at camp, he’d had a way of bringing her down when they had problems with the campers. Something in the way he watched her kept her from admitting tonight could be her last shift. The trembling had already started, and she worried the nightmares would begin again.
“So you live here now?” he asked, though his pain medication made him sound drowsy.
“I have a temporary place in Price.” Holly explained about the housing situation and what Kathy had said. “Do you know her?”
Humor flashed across Zack’s eyes, the corner of his mouth quirking up. “All my life. We were part of theFearsome Threesome.” Then he opened his eyes wider, more awake. “You sound doubtful. You aren’t thinking of leaving already, are you?”
The uncomfortable sense of panic she’d grown familiar with at her old job kept Holly from speaking. She couldn’t handle it again. Especially not if she had to watch people she knew and cared about going through this.
But what could she do? She had cut off everything in Denver, including all contact with her family. She had nowhere else to go.
“No, Holly. Please don’t leave yet,” Zack mumbled as he struggled to stay awake. “Promise me you’ll give us a chance. It’s not usually like this.”
His eyes closed, and she thought he had dozed off. All she wanted was to get far, far away from here. She tried to ease her hand from his, but his grip tightened.
“Stay,” he whispered, “at least for a little while. Promise me.”
As he had all those years ago, something in him seemed to run from his hand to hers. How could a man in his condition transfer strength to her? It forced back the fear, loosening the knot in her stomach so her breaths came more easily.
Holly whispered, “I promise.”
CHAPTER 2
Four Months Later
Hurrying from the Sheriff’s office, Zack shot another glance at the time on his wrist phone. His shift had run over because of paperwork, and he would have to hurry to reach Holly’s new apartment.
After all this time, the night had finally arrived to help her move into her new apartment in Canyondale. Never, when he’d begged her to stay, had he imagined how little they would actually get to see each other. Between his loving but smothering family during his recovery from the shooting and Holly’s long shifts and commute to Price, their relationship—if he could even call it that—had mostly been long distance. That was about to change.
He hoped.
As he drove to the new complex, Zack tried to keep his nervous excitement to a reasonable level. He was counting on things between them to take off finally now they would be living so close. Like next-door close.
Not that he’d mentioned it to her yet. He only found out about it himself when he’d picked up his keys at lunch. Hopefully, she would take it well.
Zack pulled into the empty stall in front of his new place. After living in a dark basement apartment with a window he could barely squeeze out of in an emergency, he looked forward to this new adventure. Even more now that he was seeing so many people he knew moving in, including some young families in the adjacent building with larger units.
At Kathy’s urging, Holly had given him a key to her place so he could have it open and ready when they arrived from Price with her belongings. He grabbed the housewarming basket his mother had helped him put together. It included a holiday fleece throw, a scented diffuser, and a local hot chocolate sampling box, since he knew how much she liked the gourmet ones.
Stepping inside, he inhaled, enjoying the smell. Sure, it was full of chemicals from the paint, carpet, and wood, but it wasnew.His second great-grandfather had built Zack’s childhood home, so the closest he’d ever gotten to thisnewsmell was whenever they painted a room. He even owned a used truck.
He had barely put the basket on the kitchen counter when he heard an engine right outside. Zack said a silent prayer that Holly wouldn’t hate having him for a neighbor. Especially since they’d each signed one-year leases.
Zack and Kathy had expected to rent a moving truck, but Holly had assured them a pickup truck would be more than enough. Acting as a guide for Kathy as she backed in, he scanned the boxes in the truck bed. Holly must have sold most of everything she owned before leaving Colorado.
With raised eyebrows, Zack met Kathy’s gaze through the rearview mirror. She shrugged. Did this mean Holly didn’t plan to set down roots here?
She hopped out of the vehicle first, so he asked, “Where’s your bed?”
