Page 22 of Hero Unbound

“I guess you’re probably a little tired of your limited food choices.”

She stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth. “Wh-what?”

“Eating out all the time. Food is fairly decent at the Eagle’s Nest, but beyond that, I know your choices in Oak Creek are mostly fast food. You’re probably tired of that since you can’t cook at the hotel.”

“Right. Yeah. I definitely wish I had a kitchen.”

Why did he once again feel like they weren’t talking about the same thing?

“Where did you live before here? Your parents are in Colorado, right?”

“Yeah, near Denver. I’ve actually lived out east for the past few years. I wanted out of small-town life and thought I knew everything at the grand old age of twenty-one, so I transferred to a college out there.”

Theo smiled down at his plate. “I remember those days. Except my vast wisdom hit when I was seventeen.”

She smiled slightly too. “Don’t you wish you could go back and smack yourself upside the head?”

Considering his stupidity had almost gotten his parents killed? “Yes, every damn day. So the East Coast didn’t work out the way you’d planned?”

She placed her fork back on the plate. “For a while it did, but then…things changed.”

“How so?” He pointed at her plate with his fork. “But eat while you tell me. You need the calories, and this tastes much better hot.”

She picked up another bite of food. “Things just started going wrong. I couldn’t seem to make any right choices. And finally, I knew I had to leave.”

“A fresh start is good. Are you planning to go back to Colorado?”

“I’m not sure exactly where I’m heading. I only knew I couldn’t stay where I was.”

She was rubbing her forearm subconsciously, and when she moved her hand away, he saw a scar there. It looked like it was from a burn.

He stiffened and gestured toward her arm. “Did that scar have anything to do with you deciding to leave?”

Had she come from an abusive situation? A lot of things about her behavior would make sense if she had—the way she kept to herself, her hurt shoulder, how the dogs stayed so near to her.

She immediately covered it with her hand, then moved her hand away when she realized he’d obviously already seen the scar. “I, uh… Not really, no.”

He wasn’t sure if she was lying or not.He held out his arm and showed his own scar. “I’ve got one that matches yours. Not from a burn, mine was a knife wound.”

She touched the puckered skin gently, then withdrew her hand. “I’m sorry. I—”

“I don’t mind you touching it. I got this when I was a kid.”

She touched it again. “What happened?”

“I was trying to skin an animal and cut myself.” There was a lot more to the story than that, but it was still the truth. “How about yours? When did it happen?”

“I burned myself taking a baking tray out of the oven about a year ago.” She took another bite of food. “I think.”

“You think?”

She set her fork down and pushed her empty plate away from her. “It’s sort of a blur.”

Theo didn’t say anything. Fifteen years later and he could still remember nearly all the specifics of the cut that had almost ended up costing him his life—exactly how it happened, the pain, the blood. It was hard to believe she couldn’t remember how she’d burned herself that badly only a few months ago.

She looked up, found him watching her, and grimaced. “Yeah, my memory is crap. The doctors basically gave me the same look you’re giving me now. I—I’m just not sure exactly what happened.”

Her words seemed very sincere. And who was he to say how she reacted to trauma? It affected people differently.

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