best in Dave Wainright? Insides squeezing, she tried to laugh off the conversation. “Oh, you newlyweds. All you think about is love.”
Annie arched one blond eyebrow but didn’t say anymore because at that moment the men trooped into the country kitchen. Fatigue pulled at their faces.
Kitty’s stomach quivered oddly when she looked at Jace Carter. She wished Annie hadn’t said such a silly thing. She’d never allowed herself to consider Jace as…well, as a man, but now she couldn’t help noticing. Average height, he bested her by several inches. The word neat always came to mind when she thought of him. But tonight his usual tucked in, tidied up appearance was disheveled and dirty. His brown hair was rumpled and tagged with dirt as though he’d run a muddy hand through it.
He had the softest, quietest eyes. Hazel she thought, though she’d never noticed before. And he had strong, carpenter hands, a little rough and work-scarred, but capable. She had noticed them before, the way he held a piece of lumber almost tenderly as though he could envision the beauty hidden inside. He was an artist with wood.
“You guys okay?” she asked to stop the flow of her thoughts. Annie and her suggestions.
“Rough night.” Sloan did the talking.
Sloan Hawkins, dark and dangerous-looking with blue eyes that could melt a rock, crossed the room to kiss Annie’s cheek. “Smells good.” He smiled a tired smile. “So does the food.”
Annie blushed prettily and swatted at her husband. The newlyweds’ sweetness put a catch in Kitty’s chest. She and Dave had loved like that. She glanced at Jace, saw him avert his gaze. He removed his ball cap, crushing it in those capable, tattered hands.
“I should go. I’m too dirty to be here.” The voice was as quiet as his eyes, warm, too, and manly.
“Don’t be silly,” Annie said. “Kitty, get him a towel, will you, while I put this food on the table?”
“Got it.” She hurried out of the kitchen, glad for the momentary reprieve from her own crazy thoughts. She was tired. That’s all.
Jace settled into the chair Sloan shoved at him, glad to be off his feet. He was cold to the core. Should have gone home, but when Sloan said Kitty was here, he’d been too tired to resist. Just looking at her helped soothe the ache of these last few hours.
Tonight her hair was swept up in a knot atop her head and held by a black doodad, but he’d seen it down before, long and pale. She was like a fairy tale, a blonde Rapunzel with a hint of Tinkerbell in her heart-shaped face and blue-bonnet eyes. Jace laughed at his fantastical thoughts but thought them again when he saw her coming toward him with a big blue towel.
“I warmed this in the dryer.” She draped the heated terry cloth around his shoulders. “You look cold.”
He was cold, inside and out. Tonight’s failed rescue chilled his soul.
“Thanks. Feels good.” The towel smelled good, too, clean, fragrant and warm. Or was that Kitty?
“You really should get out of that wet shirt. Sloan could probably loan you one of his.”
The rain had started, a soft drizzle right before they’d given up the search.
“I’m okay.” She couldn’t know that he would never remove his shirt in front of anyone. Ever. He was modest, yes, but more than that, he was ashamed.
Kitty hovered, and he searched for something, anything to say, but his useless tongue stuck to his mouth. He’d had no one to fuss over him since he was small, and having her bring him a towel or a glass of tea or a cheery smile felt good. Too good to ruin with words.
Ah, who he was kidding? If not for her motel and the work he did there, Kitty Wainright wouldn’t give him the time of day. The motel office was a shrine to her hero husband and according to the local gossip he’d picked up over breakfast at the Sugar Shack each morning, Kitty had openly declared herself a widow forever. As was her way, Kitty was kindhearted and good to everyone. Even a stray dog like him.
Which made them friends and neighbors and nothing else. Ever. He had long ago declared himself a lifetime bachelor, though his reasons were far less heroic than hers. He rubbed at his shoulder and remembered a time too ugly to forget.
“Let’s eat.” Annie waved her hand over the steaming bowls of chili she’d set at each place. “There’s plenty. Hope it doesn’t keep you up all night.”
They chuckled at the joke, knowing it wasn’t indigestion from the spicy chili that would keep them awake tonight.
They ate in silence until Justin broached the topic of to night’s tragedy. “Do you think they’ll find him?”
Sloan laid aside his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully. “Drowning victims are usually found.”
“But not always?”
“No. Not always.”
Annie shuddered. “Gruesome.”
“I wonder if he has a wife and family,” Kitty mused and Jace turned to look at her. “I remember when Dave was killed. The army sent an officer. Who tells a civilian’s wife?”
“The police.”
Annie said, “I wonder if it’s on the news.”
“Should be. There were reporters everywhere.” Sloan trekked over to the counter where a small TV hung from the cabinet. He positioned the screen toward the table.
In the months since Sloan Hawkins, purportedly the bad boy of Redemption, had returned to his hometown and married his high school sweetheart, Jace had come to like and respect the man. There was darkness in him, a darkness Jace recognized because of his own shadows, but Annie Markham Hawkins and a relationship with God had smoothed some of Sloan’s rough edges.
Jace knew about that, too—the lightening of dark places with faith. He’d be a dead man without Jesus.
A half-dozen fast-paced, loud commercials flickered across the screen while Sloan surfed through the channels in search of late-night news.
“Here we go,” he said, tossing the remote to the table as he returned to his food. “Chili’s good, Annie girl. Just what I needed.” He winked and squeezed her hand on the tabletop.
Jace suffered the familiar pinch of envy. No man was an island, or some such proverb.
“Hey, Dad. There you are!” Justin leaped up from the table to point. Sure enough, the camera scanned the scene at the river, then focused on Sloan’s face. Relieved that he didn’t appear in the shot, Jace listened as a digital Sloan repeated his comments to the reporter. He’d no more than thought the thought when there he was. The shot was only a flash as the camera panned but enough for him to recognize himself. Not once, but twice as the cameraman surveyed the rescue attempt.
“You look handsome, handsome,” Annie said, smiling at Sloan.
Sloan thumped a fist against his chest. “Hollywood will be calling. What do you think, Jace? Me and you. Made for TV?”
Jace forced a laugh as the rest of them chuckled at Sloan’s attempt to lighten the
