Page 12 of Dangerous December
“Right.”
“It’s good to see you in one piece,” she added. “When I heard you’d been wounded, I started praying that you’d be all right.”
His gaze shifted away. “Thanks.”
Years ago, he might’ve added a sardonic laugh at any acknowledgment of her faith, but this time he actually seemed to mean it.
Yet another way he’d changed into someone she no longer knew, she mused. “So you think your shoulder will be fine for active duty?”
“It had better be,” he muttered.
He edged away, and she saw the glint of something at his ear. “Was...that your only injury this time?”
“Pretty much.” But then he caught her studying him, and he sighed. “That, and a little hearing loss,” he admitted. “Just temporary.”
“I read aNewsweekarticle that said a lot of soldiers suffer permanent hearing loss because of the gunfire and explosions. Then they can’t go back.”
“It won’t be an issue,” he bit out as he strode to the entryway. “Not with me.”
Though she’d told herself that she wouldn’t ever waste the time, she thought about Devlin as she headed back to the bookstore.
He’d caught the eye of all the girls in high school, and no wonder. His golden-flecked, whiskey-brown eyes and the dark sweep of his eyebrows had bordered on heartthrob handsome as a teenager.
Now he was at least six feet of solid muscle. The uncompromising planes and angles of his lean face were attractive in a far more rugged way.
They’d married young—too young. They’d probably been as much in love with love itself as they’d been in love with each other.
With her own rocky family life—a free-spirited, irresponsible mother and a dad she barely knew—marriage had promised love and stability, and offered the kind of security she’d rarely felt growing up.
In comparison, Dev’s family had seemed like something straight out of a happy TV sitcom—parents who’d probably been married for decades. Who had lived in the same house since before Dev was born. Who lived their faith in a steadfast way.
She’d once imagined that when she and Dev were that old, they’d be just like them.
She’d discovered the truth much later.
Alan’s ironclad expectation that Dev would achieve nothing less than straight A’s in high school and then go into medicine had sparked extreme tension between them.
With Alan, nothing was ever good enough...and Vivian had sided with her husband.
For coming through his teen years as balanced as he was, given the constant criticism he faced at home, Beth had been completely impressed with Dev’s strength. She’d been so sure their marriage would be a safe and happy shelter from the world.
But growing up in a cold and distant household and building a career in the military hadn’t made him a warmer guy.
Then out of the blue, he’d come home from a tour in some undisclosed place to announce that their marriage was over. No explanations, no apologies...and the next day he was gone.
He’d been a wild one, a charmer in high school, and she should have known better than to risk her heart.
It wouldn’t be something she’d ever do again.
Beth eyed the antique grandfather clock opposite the checkout counter. The stately pendulum swung back and forth. Back and forth. Slower, it seemed, than ever before.
Twenty-four minutes to go, and counting.
Sauntering through the empty store once more, she straightened books and fluffed the colorful patchwork pillows strewn on the overstuffed chairs angled into every corner.
She’d let Janet, her sole employee, leave early to make it to her twins’ Friday night football game in nearby Parkersville. Since then, there’d been exactly two customers who’d braved the unseasonable chilly evening to stop in.
Both were frequent browsers, but the gentleman did put a heavy coffee-table book on Egyptian art on layaway, and his cheerful little wife selected several magazines while she sipped hot peach tea.
