Page 54 of Wandering Souls

“You mean like a physical?”

Damien gave a single nod, feeling like he’d just betrayed her confidence. “And a psych eval.”

Ray frowned. “Why?”

Damien turned and stared at his youngest. Clearly, she’d inherited the McCafferty trait of being stubborn. “She wants to fly again.”

“She said they wouldn’t let her, not with all that shrapnel in her leg.” Ray sounded sad. He had no idea how right she was.

“It’s basically get better in twelve months or sayonara, but that’s the military for you.”

The copper’s lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line as anger flashed in his eyes. “She deserves better.”

“Too right.” But he had no sway with the Army anymore. With no chance of engineering a positive outcome for his daughter’s career, Damien needed to get creative.

“It’ll break her.” Ray’s grim expression summed up the way Damien felt about the situation, too.

“Because like a true McCafferty, she’s holding on for dear life to the miniscule chance they’ve offered her, not realizing that the slimmest of hopes is even slimmer than she could possibly imagine.”

Ray pushed away from the vehicle and swore. For someone who’d known Abigail for a couple of days, he seemed highly invested in her success. Either she was the kind of person you’d root for in a heartbeat, or Ray was in love with her. As Damien studied the intense concern on Ray’s face, the truth became obvious.

Both.

Abigailwasthat kind of person and Ray loved her for it—whether he knew it or not.

“So, what are we going to do about it?”

Ray’s question stunned him. What could he do about it? Damien couldn’t make her heal any faster, and while he understood trauma and could debrief men in his command, he wasn’t a psychologist. When he’d rescued Penny and learned she’d suffered multiple traumatic events, it became clear he wasn’t qualified to see her through such a minefield. His love for her and their history together formed a bias he couldn’t ignore.

The same could be said for Abigail. It was true, he hardly knew her, and that could potentially allow for objectivity, but the mere knowledge that she was his daughter put a kybosh on any such notion.

Besides, he just wanted to be her father.

Options ran through his mind. Being a relative didn’t have to mean he’d sit back and do nothing to help her. The only thing he had to do was find the balance between enough and overkill.

So easy.

He rolled his eyes at himself. He’d never quite been able to find balance.Overkill it is.

“What are you thinking, Damien?”

Damien tried for an innocent expression. “Who? Me?”

Ray chuckled. “If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you have a perspective on things few of us share. Whatever you’ve got in mind, please, be gentle with her.”

Reaching forward, Damien started the engine and slid his seatbelt into place. “I’ll let you be in charge of that, Ray, because you know I’ll have words with you if you break her heart.”

The blood drained from the copper’s face. “Damien,” he breathed. “I—”

He shifted the car into drive and laughed. “Mate, take it easy. It’s obvious you have feelings for her.” And if she reciprocated, maybe he’d be another reason she’d come back to the Crossing after her evals. “And you seem to know her better than any of us. Promise me one thing.”

“O-Okay.”

“Don’t fall too hard for her.”

Damien chuckled at the wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression that overtook Ray’s pale face and hit the accelerator. He pulled away from the curb and headed west from the town center. Heavy, black clouds gathered on the horizon, signaling a storm was on its way. He watched them brew as he slowed for the turn-off to the local airport.

Following the bitumen road as it wound its way toward the hangars, he let the big SUV roll into the large parking lot. A number of businesses operated out of the small but vital community facility. The first hangar stood with its doors open, a charter plane facing the exit as people milled around. The skydiving company that operated out of it were gearing up for the day’s first run.

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