Broken Souls ... by Annay Dawson
Chapter 12
It wasn’t long before Addy was rushing Mia off to bed and giving Holden sidelong looks half afraid he would disappear as she followed Mia up the stairs. Holden walked into the kitchen and put on the pot for coffee. The coffee wasn’t even finished by the time Addy returned to the kitchen. Glancing at his watch he smiled.
“Record time,” and he pulled down a couple of cups.
“What do you expect,” Addy pulled out the ice cream containers from the freezer and two spoons from the drawer. For years they had shared secrets over bowls of ice cream long after their parents had gone to bed. As they got older they just ate from the containers when they were really having a heart to heart. Addy figured it was more for her than him but he never said no. She always had their favorites on hand. She continued the conversation.
“I walk into the coffee shop and there you are sitting and flirting, like old times, with a gorgeous blonde.” She set one tub of ice cream, vanilla with candied pecans, in front of Holden and the other, chocolate through and through, in front of her as Holden poured two cups of coffee.
“You really think we are going to talk this long,” as he glanced at the tubs.
“I want it all,” and she pulled off the top of hers, “no one leaves until you spill it.”
“Boy,” and for the first time in a long time Holden laughed aloud and meant it, “you may not know what you are asking for.”
“I’m ready,” and as she said that Holden sat down. He pushed away the tub.
“Let's start with what you saw today and work backwards," Addy looked at his tub of ice cream and back at him. He picked up the spoon and sighed as he started to scoop out a bite, "The other day when I was swimming I happened to meet up with Kari,” and he shook his head at Addy’s surprised look. “No, she wasn’t swimming, she heard me. She came over to investigate and that’s how we met.” He didn’t add that she had also gotten an eyeful.
“Okay, probably thought you were drowning," giggling a bit, "but that doesn’t explain the coffee date,” she let her spoon dig into the chocolate and scoop up a rather large spoonful.
“We seem to be continuously running into each other. That's what happened at the coffee shop, so it wasn’t a date,” and as Addy pointed the overfilled spoon at him ready to dispute it he continued, “alright, maybe it was date-ish but truth be told I really wanted a dinner date and got turned down.”
“Oh,” and Addy’s spoon stopped halfway to her mouth as her smile faded. Holden had to give her her due, she was trying not to show disappointment.
“But I did get a breakfast date for tomorrow. She'll bring the muffins and I'll bring the coffee,” and as Holden finished saying it he noticed how Addy held back her glee as well.
“Good,” Addy put the spoonful of ice cream in her mouth to keep from saying anything else. Holden took a sip of coffee before he continued.
“She seems a little shy, a little,” and he stopped. He was about to say gun shy but the term brought up bad memories. He looked down at the table, lost in a moment he couldn't change.
“You okay,” Addy’s voice was gentle as she spoke to him and she put her hand on his arm.
“Yes,” mentally shaking himself and patting Addy’s hand before he continued. “She just seems as if she is wounded in some way or another and needs some special care.”
“I can’t think of anyone better than you to give her that,” and Addy pushed the container back toward him.
“Well it goes without saying that I hopefully won’t be here for breakfast tomorrow,” Holden held up his cup.
“We’ll survive,” and she took a sip of her coffee, “By the way you were going to tell me something earlier. Was it about this?” Holden had a choice here. He wanted to tell her he was thinking about changing his career focus. His editor was enticing him with some new jobs. Some of them were overseas doing what he had been doing, embedded journalism, and what he was good at. To do any of those jobs he would have to be cleared by the doctors, both military and regular. He was pretty sure he could pass the physic exam if he wanted to do that. The other offer, a book offer, was interesting for other reasons. It would allow him to settle down in New Field or anywhere he wanted to in the States for quite a while. It would still require travel but he wouldn’t be away for more than a few days at a time and maybe only a day if he stayed in the area here.
“Yah, I wanted to ask if you knew who Kari was and if she was with someone,” Holden decided that until he made up his mind he wasn’t going to tell Addy anything just yet as it seemed that things were ever changing. This girl thing had made her really happy and for the first time since he had landed on her doorstep in the last few months he wasn't causing her pain.
“I wouldn’t have been much help there,” Addy was focused back on the ice cream again, “Haven’t seen her before today. She must be pretty new in town.”
“Good to know,” and Holden continued to sip on his coffee, “Our paths have been crossing quite a bit.”
“Really?” Addy was interested.
“Eat your ice cream,” and Holden laughed and started in on his. “What will Me-Me think when I’m not here for breakfast?”
“She’ll be fine. Are you really going up there for a swim tomorrow?” she was teasing him and it felt good to be a bit more relaxed around him, “Getting too cold to swim so early I think,” Addy’s spoon was halfway to her mouth and it suddenly stopped, “No, don’t tell me that you’ve convinced her to go swimming up there as well.”
“No, she’s not swimming. You’re right, it’s too cold for most people,” he had never told her about the burns and wasn’t going to start now, “She has been up there trying to do some early morning hiking,” and this time Holden focused on his ice cream.
“Hiking?” and this time Addison was staring at him with both of her eyebrows knitted together.
“Yes, hiking. Remember I said she heard me swimming,” he would have said singing but Addison would never let him hear the end of it.
“How, tell me, did she hear you swimming? Were you splashing about?” her one eyebrow was significantly raised. The gig was up as they say.
“I was singing,” and Holden watched Addy break into roaring laughter dropping her spoonful of ice cream back into the tub. He gave her a not so subtle look and dug into his tub, “No wonder. She must have thought you were drowning.”
"Not funny sis," feigning a hurt expression, Holden shoved a big spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
It was nine thirty and Kari flipped off the television and got up to go to bed. When she had gotten home she had slipped into a big fuzzy sweater and sweatpants. It had been so comfortable as she sat and read through about two more case files and organized a call list of people she needed to schedule for Daniel’s school. It was promising to be a busy day tomorrow. She had long forgotten why she had turned on the television and knew she wouldn’t make it to the nightly news.
As she moved around the couch she again noticed the pretty pink box of muffins she had bought earlier. Rubbing her head she had to wonder if she was crazy. Holden was an interesting man, that much was true, but a stranger. He could be a crazed serial killer. The little voice inside her head laughed at that. It reminded her that she was supposed to be starting over and this was the way to do it. Kari had turned down a dinner invite mostly because she had a ton of work to do but really because of how scared she was to say yes. Yes meant she was moving on. Staring at the box she knew why she had agreed to breakfast. It seemed safe, less commitment. But who was she fooling.
Walking through the bedroom into the bathroom to get herself ready for bed she couldn’t stop thinking about Holden. He wasn’t perfect; his singing proved that, but he seemed too good to be true. The term Boy Scout came to mind. He was always up to some do-gooder thing but yet he had his secrets. After all she still didn’t know what he did for a living, and why did he come into the clinic? It seemed, after running into him the last few days, that he really didn’t work at all. Kari put the toothbrush into her mouth and vigorously started to brush.
What was she doing? Things were going too fast and not fast enough all at the same time. Spitting into the sink with force she decided the thinking was over for tonight. Staring into the mirror she decided all she was doing right now was making a new friend. As she lay down in bed she couldn’t get it out of her mind that he was a very sexy new friend.
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