She reached up to touch it—she had almost forgotten it was there. “It’s getting better, thanks,” she replied. “How are you doing?”
“Good,” he responded, that too-easy smile covering his face again as he looked between the three women. “It’s starting to feel like home here. Fresh air, good food. And when you’ve got a therapist who looks likethat, how can you complain, right?”
He laughed, but none of the women did.
Hannah stared at him, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. How could he talk about Sarah like that? She was amazing at her job. And yeah, she was beautiful, but it had nothing to do with the relationship she had with her clients. Hearing him speak about her in that way…it didn’t sit right with her.
“Anyway, I’ll leave you ladies to it,” he remarked, and he headed down toward the cabin he was staying in.
Hannah waited until he was out of earshot. “Well, that was gross and uncalled for.”
“Wasn’t it?” Bailey agreed. “Why is he talking about Sarah like that? And to us.”
“He gives me the creeps,” River added. “I don’t like him. I haven’t liked him since he got here. It seems as if he’s just lurking around sometimes. Watching.”
“Really?” Hannah replied, relieved. So, it wasn’t just her who had noticed how off he seemed. It wasn’t that he acted less nervous or insecure than most of the other guests. While he did seem cockier and more self-assured, that didn’t necessarily bother her. It probably wouldn’t have even stood out to her at all if it were anyone else.
“Yeah, I noticed him standing off path the other day, kind of back in the trees. Like he was watching something, or waiting. When he saw me, he turned around pretty quickly and walked off. It was weird.”
Hannah and Bailey exchanged a worried look at River’s words.
“Cade thought something seemed off about him, too,” River added. “The more I see of him, the more I think he was right to have his doubts about him. I definitely don’t want to be alone with him.”
“I haven’t seen a whole lot of him,” Bailey interjected. “But if you guys think there might be a problem there, I’ll speak to Aaron about it and see if there’s anything he can do to keep a closer eye on him.”
Hannah felt a little guilty for even considering speaking to Xavier about this, but at the same time, she didn’t want to ignore what might end up being a problem. If she had learned anything these last few months, it was not to brush aside the emotions that she didn’t want to deal with. Good or bad, she needed to deal with them and share her thoughts when something was bothering her.
There was no harm in the three of them being cautious and watching their step around the guy, right? If there was truly nothing going on, then there was no harm in just asking the guys to keep an eye on him for a while.
“I’ll speak to Xavier about him, too,” Hannah added, deciding that she needed to say something.
She didn’t want to divide Xavier’s focus any further right now or give him more to be concerned about, but at the same time, if there was something worrisome going on around the sanctuary, he would want to know about it. He was part owner, after all, and he and Lawson worked hard to keep out trouble and give their guests a safe place to recover. He wouldn’t want anybody there feeling uncomfortable or threatened in any way by another guest.
Jed was probably less careful about what he said to the women, and he might put up a front when it came to the guys so they didn’t get suspicious or look any further into his reasons for being there.
“Guess we should get back to work,” Bailey remarked, gesturing to all the lights that still needed to be put into place.
Hannah nodded in agreement and tried to push the comment Jed had made about Sarah to the back of her mind. But it troubled her. There was something off about that guy. And she needed to find out what it was before anything came of it.
Chapter Seventeen
As Xavier tightened the last screw into place, he took a step back to admire his handiwork on the latest addition to the lodge building.
“Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself,” Aaron remarked, grinning. “Though I still don’t know why anyone would want to jump into freezing cold water first thing in the morning.”
“Hey, if it helps them, that’s what matters,” Xavier pointed out. He dusted off his hands and reached for the half-full cup of coffee he’d been sipping on to help motivate him through the construction.
The cold plunge tub had been Lawson’s idea, after he heard about it helping athletes in their recovery. He’d done a little research into it and found that it had some decent therapeutic value for people dealing with trauma, the shock of the cold sometimes enough to pull them out of a flashback. He wouldn’t say anything to the others about it, but he could attest to the accuracy from his icy showers when he needed the extra help coming back to reality.
And besides, there was still plenty of work to do before it was ready to go. Aaron had offered to give him a hand putting it together, and they were making good progress. Plus, it was a distraction from Xavier’s meeting with Sarah in a bit, though he realized that he didn’t feel the usual dread when he thought about seeing her. He was starting to get used to their meetings, even if he still came out of them feeling drained.
Slowly, he could feel himself starting to open up. Beyond just the question-and-answer sessions they had with her pulling information out of him, he was freely volunteering stuff to her now, glad to get it off his chest after so long holding it back. There were still so many painful memories to go through. He hadn’t even really talked much to her about how his family had reacted after he had returned from service without his brother in tow, but he was getting somewhere.
The nightmares had still been pretty bad, but he figured that was a given, at least for the time being, as he brought up all these painful memories again. He was actually beginning to think they’d get easier, lessen in time. Sarah had already given him a few skills to help manage the immediate aftermath of his dreams when he woke up—grounding techniques to keep him from spinning out of control and to remind him where he was and that he was safe here.
And more than anything, he could tell how happy it made Hannah, which was reason enough to keep going. When Xavier struggled with motivation, he would just look at her and remind himself why he was doing this in the first place: to become the kind of man she deserved—without worry, without doubt, without second-guessing herself for being with him.
It wasn’t her job to put those pieces of him back together and he didn’t want to become a burden or a regret for her. It was his responsibility to fix himself, to do the work and put in the time to be whole again. He had to want to be whole again. And thanks to Hannah, he did.
