Chapter 12

Twelve

Damon

Saturday morning, I asked Mom to watch the boys and went to Isla’s place to help paint. After knocking many times, I heard the radio blaring. I decided to go around the back of the house. I saw the back door was open, so I walked inside, feeling slightly like I was intruding. I tried to dismiss it.

“Hello?” I called out, raising my voice over Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer.” I wandered into the front room. “Hello?”

Suddenly, she appeared and screamed loudly.

I jumped back.

She was holding out a paintbrush as if she was going to kill me with it.

She dropped the paintbrush in a pan and gave me the most incredulous look as she took off her pink gloves. “What the heck, Damon? You scared me to death.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. The situation was crazy. “I’m sorry. I heard that you needed help painting, and I wanted to come.”

Instead of looking happy about it, she glared at me. “Who told you that?” She stuck a hand on her hip. “Wait, I don’t need you to answer. I know who told you that. One of your brothers. Probably McCrae. I ran into him yesterday getting coffee at Millie’s.”

I shrugged and picked up the paintbrush. “Where do you want me to start?”

“I don’t need your help.” She ripped it out of my hand and dropped it back into the pan.

I hadn’t expected this much resistance. I scoffed and looked around. “It seems like you do if you want to have those two hundred dollars taken off your rent.”

She glared at me even harder with those ice-blue eyes. “Who told you that?”

I shrugged and stared into her eyes. “There’s no shame in someone coming to help you put in a hard day’s work. In fact, I think you could just say thank you.”

Her eyes went wide. “Thank you? Thank you?” She took a step closer to me, and I suddenly wanted to kiss her. “Okay, Damon, thank you for icing me out of your life. Thank you for acting like I was some insane stalker because I still wanted to be friends with you. Thank you for making it really easy to leave Refuge Falls two years ago.”

I was flabbergasted. “What are you talking about?”

She dug her heel into the floor and pointed at me in a way that said I was about to have a major chewing out. “I thought we were best friends.”

My mind flitted through all the years. “We were.”

Her face suddenly turned sad. “You got married, and I was happy for you. But it changed things between us, and you know it. I’m not blaming you. That’s marriage.”

My heart thumped loudly, and without realizing how it had happened, we were facing the elephant in the room. The elephant that had been between us since she’d left this town. Hell, since I’d gotten married. She was right. But she wasn’t going to get away with acting like it was my fault. “You had just as much part in that as I did.”

She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “What are you talking about? You mean I tried to support you? Yes. I tried to be in your life and support you with your new wife.”

Unable to stop myself, I found myself saying, “You told me marriage would never work for you. You told me that with the past and your dad, you were broken, so you never wanted to get married and never wanted to have children. Do you remember that?”

Her face froze, and then she walked back into the kitchen. “Get out!” she yelled over her shoulder. “I don’t need help.”

She wasn’t getting off the hook. I followed her. “No. If you’re bringing up all the past, then we need to examine it, because there was a certain horse ride that I remember we had a pretty serious conversation. In fact, I had a ring in my pocket.”

We were going through the sliding glass door when she screeched to a stop. “What?”

I huffed in and out breaths and tried to figure out how to tell her this. “I wanted to marry you. Dang, woman, I wanted to marry you since we were five. You were my best friend. But if you remember that day, you’ll remember that I asked if you would ever want to settle down with me and have kids, and you said no.”

She took the painting gloves off her hands and rubbed her hand through her hair. “I didn’t know you were asking me to marry you,” she sputtered. “I thought we were just talking. Like could I ever handle that. I was kind of going through something big in my life. My dad was getting sentenced. Do you remember?”

I stared at her, and then I just felt sad. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. I shouldn’t have come.” I started walking back around the house toward the front. I didn’t know where this left things, but I sure as hell didn’t know why I felt like I was to blame for all of it.

“Wait, Damon.” Isla moved toward me, and the woman was prettier than she’d ever been. She looked skinnier and fiercer than when she’d left town. She blinked and seemed confused. “Damon, I’m sorry. I thought about those times so much, and I made a lot of mistakes. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that your wife left you. I truly am. You’re one of the good ones.”

Adrenaline spiked through me, but I didn’t know where this left us. Once again, attraction sizzled between us.

I did want to know about her and what had happened, but there were walls up, and there was a past to dig through. I lifted my hands. “I’m offering to help you get this place painted. We don’t have to talk. It’s your choice. I can walk away. Heck, I’ll go fishing.” I tried to make it a joke, but she didn’t really take it.

She sucked in a long breath and then said, “I need to apologize for all those years ago. Because I was messed up. I said I couldn’t ever get married. Then you got married and I was jealous. When Kyle came around and showed interest in me, I was flattered. And after I got pregnant, Kyle told me we should go to Texas. He had a job lined up, and it would be amazing. It sounded so romantic to just elope. Especially because I could not see my mother helping me with a wedding. But as you know, it didn’t work out with Kyle.”

My heart raced. “What did he do to you?”

She shrugged. “Got drunk often, blamed me … anything. Hit me. Pushed me.”

Anger shot through me like adrenaline.

She put a hand up. “I divorced him.”

“And I said very mean things to you when you told me you were leaving.”

She looked down. “You did.”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could have taken it back. It’s just … You acted like you couldn’t have a relationship, and then you told me you’re pregnant with Kyle’s child and getting married. I just felt hurt, and I was stupid.”

She nodded. “Well, you gave me gummy bears and I forgave you.” Her tone was soft.

I felt grateful. “Thank you. Can we start over?”

She looked tired but nodded. “If you want to be my friend again, then I can deal with that.” Her lip curved up. She was teasing me.

“I do.”

For a long time, neither of us said anything. I didn’t know how to navigate this situation.

A thought occurred to me, and I asked a question I’d been worried about. “You think he’s after you?”

“Not sure. He’s a tad crazy. Left a dead puppy on my porch the day before I drove here.”

The mental image made me feel sick. I wanted to teach this guy a lesson.

Her gaze drifted off into space. “I probably shouldn’t have even come back here. I don’t know. I had no idea my dad would be getting out.”

I wanted to hold her, comfort her. “Of course you should have come here. Hopefully, your dad won’t get out. If he does, we’ll deal with him.”

She turned back to me, and tears filled her eyes. “We?”

I wanted to hug her, but I didn’t think she would want that right now. “We. I’m in this.”

She sniffed, and a tear fell down her cheek. “Thank you.”

My heart fluttered. I knew that I was starting to feel all kinds of things for this woman again, and I didn’t know how to keep boundaries. I couldn’t tell her anything about my feelings. I had to be her friend.

“Sheesh, I hate being a charity case.”

“Stop it. You’re not a charity case. You’re an official dispatcher for Refuge Falls.”

She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

“You should.”

She blinked and then stepped closer to me, shaking her head. “I want to be a good dispatcher. I just … I don’t know why I’m admitting this to you, but I’m scared. I’m scared I can’t be good enough for this town, and I’m scared Kyle will find me.”

“Let’s get down to the station. I will figure this out.”

She shook her head and closed her eyes. I could tell she was scared. “Damon, I need a new life. Refuge Falls feels like the only place I could come back to and feel safe. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I’m not uncomfortable. In fact, I think I’ll set up a patrol to drive by here twice a day.”

“Damon, I don’t want everyone in this town to know. After everything that happened with my father beating me up and going to jail, I’ve always played the victim. I’m not the victim anymore, and I don’t want people thinking I am. I hate it.”

I hesitated. This was a lot to take in, and I wanted to protect her.

She cleared her throat and started moving back into the house. “Though I have to admit I wouldn’t mind an old friend taking a day to help me paint.”

My heart lightened a bit as I followed her. I had no idea what I was stepping into, and part of me didn’t care. Because it was her. I would step into anything for this woman. “All right let’s have a game plan. Show me what’s next.”

She laughed and cupped her hand around her ear. “I think Pat Benatar’s music is next, so you’d better get ready.”

I was so shocked that I laughed out loud. She knew I hated Pat Benatar.