bullets and crooked foreign politicians for years.
That career, the one he’d loved for so long, wasn’t a smart way to spend the rest of what would be too short a life. If he could learn to slow down, settle in, everything would be perfect. If he couldn’t do that in Tall Pines, he had no idea where to go next.
Maybe it was time to have the conversation he’d been putting off since he arrived.
“Listen, Dad,” Dean said as he scrubbed his hands through his hair, “you probably have some doubts, but I have a good plan, one that will work. You’ll still be free to fish or hit the road or whatever. You can trust everything to me.”
His dad was silent, and Dean fought the urge to explain himself to this quiet man who’d always been content like this, sitting on the dock and watching the water. This plan to explore the country all alone was a new development, another one Dean was having a hard time adjusting to. He watched his dad stand easily and bend down to grasp the fishing pole.
“For how long?” His father spoke softly, but it was a loud thought in the silence of Spring Lake on a summer day.
That was the only question he didn’t have an answer for, and it was the most important one.
“Maybe you could explain what’s going on, son.” His father reached up to squeeze his shoulder, the same way he’d done when Dean was a teenager and needed encouragement. It wasn’t one of his mother’s perfumed hugs, but the way he wanted to fling his arms around his father’s neck was just... He was a grown man. Crazy enough to travel the world with a camera and a backpack. He could handle his own problems.
“I think...” How could he say it without alarming his father? The last thing he wanted, now that his dad was considering moving forward, was to hold him back. “You know how, when you’re busy, you keep adding things on, piling on one more job and hurrying through this thing to get to the next until finally something happens and you can’t catch up anymore?”
His father frowned and considered the weathered boards under his feet. “Been a long time, but maybe. That what happened to you? Need a vacation? You could always hit the road with me. Sure would be exciting.”
Dean gave a hard laugh. Yeah, that was what happened. Except it was so much worse than missing deadlines or being late with bills. Watching men fight for their lives took a toll. Sitting on a beach and soaking up the sun was only the first step in his recovery, but it was one he could take immediately.
“I need a new life. I need to sleep without the threat of death or the memory of my last assignment waking me up. I need...” Dean hated even saying the words out loud, admitting his weakness, especially to his father. “If I don’t do something new, I’m afraid I’m not going to make it, Dad.”
His father didn’t look away until Dean awkwardly cleared his throat. These attacks of emotion that came out of nowhere rattled Dean, but the truth was he had no control over them. He hated that.
They might shock his father, but he’d never let Dean down, either.
“And you think this place can give you what you need?” The doubt in his voice was clear. Dean tried not to take it personally, because he wasn’t fully convinced himself.
They both heard the crunch of gravel down the washed-out road.
“Guess she’s here.” His father squeezed his shoulder again. “We’ll figure it out, son.” Dean hoped to convince them both that letting him have the Bluebird was the best decision, but the right words wouldn’t come.
“Just meet her. I’ll show her how run-down the inn is. Might be enough to convince her she’d like to build her own house somewhere nearby. We could be neighbors, and everyone’s happy.” His father didn’t look like he believed that, though.
“Hard to imagine another space like this anywhere, Dad.” Dean was relieved to be on firmer emotional footing. His father whistled as they walked up the hill to the overgrown yard.
When the car door shut on a sensible gray four-door sedan, Dean watched the doctor, if she was a doctor, tiptoe carefully through the gravel in sandals that had no business outside the city streets. Instead of scrubs or a white coat, she was wearing a sundress. She looked like a model for a beachside getaway. Obviously, she’d dressed for the old Bluebird Bed-and-Breakfast. If she’d known about today’s disaster, she’d be wearing work boots or mourning. Either way, she was not prepared for what she was about to see.
Didn’t mean she wasn’t pretty in a very serious, very studious kind of way. Her dark glasses perched on the end of her nose, and her hair was twisted up on top of her head. Except for the setting, she could be out for brunch with the ladies.
“Hi. I hope I’m not late, Mr. Collins,” she said breathlessly as she stepped into the grass in front of the porch. “Beautiful day for a drive.”
“Shoulda warned you about the road. You could have called me from the highway to save your car a little wear and tear.” His father propped his hands on his hips. Dean had seen the pose a few hundred times. It was the one his father struck when he was carefully assessing the situation.
“Oh, it’s not so bad.” She held out her hand. “I’m Elaine, Dr. Watson. It’s nice to meet you, Dean.”
Caught off guard, Dean grasped her hand in his. She surprised him again when she gave it a firm shake and then dropped it as though it was too hot to hold.
“What do you think?” his father asked. “Not quite what you remembered, is it?” The uncertainty on his father’s face had a few defensive comments popping to mind, but before Dean could get any of them ready to fire, she said, “I love it.”
She slowly stepped forward as if she was drawn toward the building, being towed in by a mixture of old memories and the charm of the faded wraparound porch.
“I can’t believe it’s taken this long to come back,” Elaine said quietly. “Only good manners have kept me from showing up on your doorstep, Mr. Collins.”
His father laughed. “And crazy hours, double shifts and patients who need you have no doubt hampered your ability to explore.” She smiled at his father over her shoulder and instead of being the enemy out to build a better offer than anything he could put together, she was a beautiful woman. A beautiful, happy woman in a breezy sundress posed in front of the old farmhouse as though she was a model spokesperson to sell relaxing vacations. She seemed to fit the landscape perfectly and at the same time made him wonder what it would be like to be the man who put the smile on her face.
That smile was dangerous. Land-mine dangerous.
Determined to get things back on track, and Dr. Elaine Watson chugging down the washed-out road as quickly as possible, Dean roughly cleared his throat. “Well, you’re here now. Might as well get the whole tired picture.”
When she turned her eyes to him, he was thankful for the glass lenses, which were probably the only things saving him from incineration. She didn’t miss a thing, and as she assessed him from head to toe, he was aware again that he’d dressed as if his only choices were in the Lost and Found. “Sorry. If I’d known we were having company, I’d have put on my dress flip-flops.”
Dr. Watson didn’t like him, didn’t want to like him, and the sharp eyes of a competitor were easy to see. She was here to win. When his father frowned at him, Dean almost apologized, but then her cool
