“Hey,” she greeted him. “You sleep okay?”
“Great, thanks,” he replied, though the dark rings around his eyes told her differently.
She decided not to press the issue, and gestured back toward the lodge. “You ready for your meeting with Sarah?”
“Sure,” he replied. “Lead on.”
He kept pace with her as they made their way back to the main building. Something seemed to have shifted in him since the night before, and he was spilling his story to her before she had a chance to respond.
“I’ve heard so many good things about this place,” he remarked brightly. “I wanted to come here for a long time. Got so much to work through, you know?”
She nodded, remembering him saying something similar the day before. “Lots of the guests here do,” she replied. She wasn’t going to delve any deeper, but there was something about the way he spoke that told her he wished she would.
“Yeah, wartime really does a number on you,” he remarked. “I saw some pretty messed-up stuff out there.”
He paused expectantly, but Hannah didn’t take the bait. She didn’t want to hear those stories. She knew he must have been through hell to end up here, but that didn’t mean she had to go into the details first thing in the morning. “That’s what Sarah’s here for,” she told him with a smile. “She’s amazing at helping people work through their trauma. I bet you’ll find her really helpful.”
He paused as they stepped inside the lodge together and rolled his shoulders back. A hint of defensiveness came off of him, and Hannah held his gaze steadily. She was better at managing grocery lists and intake forms than listening to people’s deepest, darkest secrets, and she wanted to keep it that way.
But the way he was looking at her, it was clear he felt she’d said the wrong thing. Did he expect her to sympathize, tell himhow sorry she was? Maybe she had been too blunt. Just as she parted her lips to apologize, footsteps caught her attention, and she turned to see Xavier approaching the two of them.
“Oh, Xavier,” she greeted him, glad for the distraction. “This is Jed, one of our new arrivals.”
Xavier extended his hand to Jed, and it seemed as though his presence instantly shifted something in Jed’s mood. Jed cast aside the grim expression on his face and put on a smile instead, shaking Xavier’s hand enthusiastically.
“Good to meet you,” he remarked jovially. “You’re one of the owners, right?”
“Yeah, I am,” Xavier replied.
Hannah’s ears perked up. Wait, how did Jed know that? He must have really been doing his research on Warrior Peak before he got here.
“Well, I think I can take it from here,” Jed told Hannah. “You said the therapy office was down there, right?” He pointed down the corridor.
Hannah nodded.
“Thanks for your help,” he told her, and then he took off down the hallway.
Hannah watched him as he went, and so did Xavier. Xavier had always had a good eye for people, and she was sure he could tell as much as she could that something was off here. “What’s up with him?” she wondered quietly.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But he reminds me of someone.”
Hannah looked to him in surprise. “Reminds you of someone? Who?”
“Not sure, there’s just something familiar feeling.” Xavier shrugged and turned his attention to Hannah. “I need to head into town to see Sheriff Willis, want to come along?”
She felt a smile spread over her face before she could stop it. Time alone with him? Yes, please. “Sure,” she agreed.
They headed out to his SUV, where Hannah cranked up the heat. She was still freezing from her trek to get Jed earlier, and the way his tone had shifted when Xavier walked up had sent a shiver down her spine in a way she couldn’t quite understand.
“So what do you need to see the sheriff about?” she asked.
Xavier paused before he responded, his eyes fixed on the road in front of him, as though he was considering exactly what he was going to tell her.
God, he looks so handsome in this light, the way it picks up the sharpness of his jawline…
“There was a break-in at the lodge earlier this week,” he explained. “One of the rooms. Mine, to be precise.”
“Oh no way,” she gasped, panic gripping her chest. “Did they take anything?”
