“No. I love it.” Holly shifted her gaze to the table again. “With the ends raised, I could seat a good half-dozen people around it.”
“Yeah. Or leave one down for just you or another person.” An image of the two of them sharing an intimate dinner came to mind, making his stomach tighten.
Once again, she surprised him with a twitch at the corner of her mouth, but she didn’t disagree and only said, “Thank you.”
“I’m glad it will get some use. My mom made me bring one other thing for you.”
Holly laughed. “I wondered why you needed two bed sets.” She nodded to both headboards leaning against the wall.
“I mentioned you’d been sleeping on only an air mattress, and she insisted I take a bed frame from the attic. No mattress, though. Those got trashed years ago. Their house is one of the oldest in the area, and they’ve accumulated quite a collection of furniture over the generations. She was glad to get rid of something. But you’ll need a couch too. Kathy has talked about coming over here for movie nights.”
“We’ve already had long-distance movie nights where we watched the same thing and chatted with each other online. I think she misses McKenzie since she and Marc got engaged.”
“You’re right. I’m glad you and Kathy have hit it off so well. It’s good for her.”
“What about you? Do you still prefer the air rescue?” Holly’s face remained placid, but curiosity laced her tone.
“Definitely. It’s kind of crazy. Just before I got shot that night, Marc had asked me if I would be interested in working part-time for them as the EMT for an air med helicopter business. You know they started out doing sightseeing flights, but they’ve slowly pulled out of that and will eventually just do rescue.” Zack hesitated but decided to mention his fifteen minutes of fame. “It started when the guys got asked to fly me and Kathy to rescue a couple of climbers last summer before you moved here. It even got videotaped and went viral.”
“What’s this? A rescue video?” Holly asked, pulling out her phone. “I’ve got to see this.”
Zack’s cheeks grew hot, but he flipped through his phone until he found the video and handed it to her to watch.
“Oh, my…” Holly breathed. “Is that Kathy?”
“Yeah. She’s fearless.”
“Excuse me, but I think you’re pretty fearless too.” Holly handed the phone back with a soft laugh. “My hands are shaking from watching that.” Her expression turned serious. “You could have been killed.”
“Yeah.” Zack rubbed the back of his neck. “But it’s dangerous being a deputy too.”
She shot him a dark look. “Have you forgotten I helped treat you that night?” Holly sighed. “But I get it. We’re lucky to have people like you willing to do it.”
Holly’s phone pinged with a text. She checked it and gave a resigned sigh. “It’s from Kathy. She says we’d best getbusy, because she and McKenzie need our help. Yesterday, she mentioned something about a bake sale. How did she know we’d be together?”
“Marc or Ike probably mentioned it. I hope you don’t mind helping with the festival.” Zack was counting on them working together on some of the preparations.
“No,” she said, tearing up. “I’m a firm believer in healing, especially after the shooting.”
But even as she spoke the words, a shuttered look came to her eyes, and Zack feared it had to do with the pain she still held inside. Without thinking about it, he gave Holly a quick hug. It was obvious the people of Canyondale weren’t the only ones who needed healing.
He ached for her obvious pain but, dang, she felt good in his arms.
CHAPTER 4
“Holly,” Kathy called from the ER nurses’ station.
Holly had almost finished reviewing the paperwork about a motorcycle accident that had happened while she was busy moving. The interruption would have irritated her, but the tone in the woman’s sing-songy voice made Holly rise from the desk instead.
“Someone has a delivery for you.” Kathy nodded at the young man standing at the counter.
Holly had never seen him before. He wore a heavy coat since the weather had turned unusually cold again, but his expression was also nervous.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, hurrying to join them.
“Nothing.” He handed her a package.
“Well, open it,” Kathy said, when Holly turned it over, searching for information about the sender.
