Page 36 of Embattled Ever After

Several of the men shook their heads, but a couple Duncan knew wouldn’t even tell her if they had seen him. He’d asked a few times, more subtly than she just had.

The homeless, as a group, were very protective of each other. To a certain extent they became their own family, watching out for each other as much as possible. And they had a network to keep track of people.

“He didn’t come in during the storms or anything. He was a different kind of duck,” Mike R. told her.

That was a lot coming from him.

Alex seemed to sense she wasn’t going to get anymore from them, so she moved on to a new subject.

Duncan watched her charm most of the twenty men in the room. A few would never be charmed because they just weren’t the type. If they’d had any kind of domestic history that led to their homeless situation, they could harbor resentment against women in general. There were a couple of guys he’d talked to like that. They stayed on the streets so they didn’t have to deal with life, or the entanglements they might have created at some point.

They’d talked for about half an hour before the topic shifted to Christmas. Immediately, the mood in the room seemed to gain weight.

“Okay, no sad faces,” Alex told them. “Tell me one of your greatest Christmas memories. It can be recent or old.”

The silence stretched in the room, until one wizened faced man spoke up. “It was five days after Christmas but I still remember it. Getting off the plane when I returned from Korea and seeing the face of my brother waiting for me. I had been told he’d been KIA. He had one less leg and was a lot grumpier, but I still kissed his shiny head.”

Alex laughed, appreciating the humor. “I would have, too.”

Another man cleared his throat. Duncan recognized Tom Wolford, though he twisted his trademark bedraggled hat in his hands. Duncan had never seen his bald head before. No wonder he protected his hat. Colorado winters could be fierce.

“I’ll always remember coming home after being in Vietnam for a year and a half. I was worried my son wouldn’t remember me, but he did. Ran right across the tarmac to me, snow suit bright red against the snow.”

His voice faded off.

“Anybody come back to new babies at Christmas?” Alex asked.

Several of the men waved their hands.

“From another perspective,” Alex murmured softly. “I’ll always remember waking up one year and finding my dad sitting under the Christmas tree. My mom died later that year, so it was a big one for me.”

Duncan felt like they could end the talk on a good note there. “Well, gentlemen, I believe I’m going to take the good doctor out and show her Denver.”

The crowd began to break up and people lined up to tell them goodbye. Alex handed out business cards, promising she would answer if they ever needed anything. The men tucked the cards away. A couple of the guys refused to take them, but Alex didn’t seem offended.

“And you all know where I am,” Duncan told them. “I’ll be back in a few days.”

The room emptied slowly. A couple of the guys wanted some of Duncan’s time so he stepped aside to talk quietly as Alex told the rest of the men goodbye.

When they finally left Harmony House, she heaved a sigh. “That was interesting, and sad, and fascinating.”

Duncan chuckled, knowing she had a lot to process. “I think you did a great job. You weren’t condescending and you didn’t belittle their experiences.”

“Of course not,” she gasped. “I would never do that.”

No, she wouldn’t. Duncan was realizing that even though she was very much a polished professional, Alexandra Hartfield was also a very decent woman. He worried that being in the shelter would shock her, but she’d controlled herself well. Even when they’d crossed the main room and the catcalls had started. Rather than getting offended, she’d waved a hand and smiled as she walked through the door. She’d shrugged when he’d given her a look. “If you steal their thunder, it’s not as much fun. I’ve gotten that before.”

If any other woman had said that, Duncan probably would have thought she was bragging, but Alex didn’t work that way. Her looks were inconsequential to what she was doing. The only time he’d seen her play them up was for him.

His body clenched as he remembered taking her on his desk this morning. That had been unexpected and…thrilling. Dangerous. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Duncan knew he had fallen into a rut. Home, work, home, work, shelter. Rinse and repeat. The only breaks had been speaking to potential new hires or sometimes vetting the new cases that came into the office.

Alex was definitely out of the everyday. And he would miss her when she was gone.

She was in the prime of her life and he was on the downhill slide. Her youth and energy was invigorating, but he doubted he could keep up with her. She would find him dull and stodgy in the long term.

They stopped at the front door of the shelter and bundled up. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light outside. The snow had disappeared but it was still bone-shuddering cold. Clenching his jaw he very carefully planted his cane to cross the sidewalk.

A bundled form brushed behind him and headed down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.

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