Chapter 15

Fifteen

Isla

At the end of my shift, Mrs. Friendly encouraged me way more than I deserved. “You are so amazing. You’re picking it up so easily. I’m so grateful you’re here.” She surprised me and took me into a hug.

This woman lived up to her name. I hugged her back. “Thanks for all of your training and encouragement.”

Suddenly, Damon was there, grinning at us. “Everything is going well?”

Mrs. Friendly spent the next few minutes going on and on about how fast I was picking things up.

Finally, I said, “She’s an amazing teacher. She deserves the credit.”

At this time, Fred stood up, looking bored. “I think if anyone deserves the credit, it’s me, because I filled in during the break.” He had a deadpan look on his face.

Mrs. Friendly laughed. “I forgot to mention that Fred is the star of the show.”

I grinned and got my things.

Damon and I walked out together.

Suddenly, the door to a black SUV opened and I heard, “Dad!”

I looked over and then two towheaded blond boys were running toward him. They weren’t very big boys. One was wearing little cowboy boots, jeans, a flannel shirt, and a cowboy hat. The other wore a similar outfit, but with tennis shoes instead of the boots.

Damon bent and picked both of them up, saying, “Who is ready for the carnival?”

They both screamed, “Me!”

My heart softened. He was a good dad.

The SUV’s driver’s side door opened, and I saw Nora Armstrong heading my way. “Isla!” She had her arms open.

I hugged her back. “Hey. Good to see you again.”

She pulled back, smiled, and then gestured to the boys. “You’re brave to go to the carnival with these guys.”

Damon moved forward, still holding one of them. “Yes, she is.” He ruffled the boy’s hair. “This is Trent.”

The little boy put his hand out so officially. “Nice to meet you.”

I grinned at him and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Isla.”

“My grandma told me,” he said, all matter-of-fact.

The other boy said, “I’m Jason. I’m the older brother. I’m the boss.”

I had to laugh as I shook his hand. “That’s good to know. Because older brothers are important. I know your dad’s older brother, Noah. He’s definitely the boss.”

Damon rolled his eyes. “Noah is not the boss.”

I just laughed at that.

Nora kissed each of the boys’ heads and then kissed Damon’s cheek. “I’m going to head back. I’m not sure your dad and I are going, but we might see you guys there.”

Both boys said, “Bye, Grandma.”

Damon waved. “Thanks, Mom, for everything.”

She got in the car and waved as she took off.

Damon gestured to his SUV. “Shall we go?”

The boys rushed to the car. “Yeah! The carnival!”

The older one, Jason, got in by himself, but Damon helped Trent up on the other side and got him buckled. Then he opened the passenger side door for me. “You ready?”

It was surreal how good this felt to be with him and the boys. “I’m ready.”

I got in the car, and we took off. The fair was only ten minutes away, and we listened to pop songs the boys called out. Damon would reluctantly put on the next one, and finally we settled for a country music station.

The whole situation made me laugh. Seeing Damon with his boys was priceless.

We parked. The boys were very excited.

Jason pointed to the Ferris wheel. “Dad. Can we go there first?”

Trent ran around in his boots and pointed to the cotton candy place. “Can we eat that?”

Damon gestured for them to stay by him. “We have to pay to get in. I will buy some tickets to do some rides. Maybe we’ll get a hot dog first. I’m kinda hungry. Anyone else hungry?”

I nodded, but the little boys called out, “Me!”

I had to laugh at their exuberance and excitement.

Damon wrangled them and held their hands as we walked in. He gave me a look. “You think it’s funny?”

I giggled and nodded. “They’re so excited.”

He rolled his eyes but looked so happy. It hurt my heart a little bit to think about what would’ve happened if things had been different. If I could have been different. I had been so lost in thinking that I could never have a relationship, that I could never be a mother, and that what my father had done to me had scarred me too much. Then, Kyle had done a number on me.

I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about that tonight.

We got to the hot dog stand, and everyone ordered. Damon turned to me and asked if I wanted my usual. Which was funny to me, but I nodded. He ordered me a hot dog with sauerkraut, relish, mustard, and ketchup. I couldn’t help but think about all the times we’d come to these types of things together while we were growing up.

I didn’t have much time to think about it, because soon I was helping carry drinks and hot dogs over to a little table. We sat with the boys and ate; their legs were kicking the whole time. They kept asking about different rides to go on.

Jason asked me what my favorite ride was. I said it was the Ferris wheel.

“What is your favorite ride, Jason?” I asked.

With a big grin, he said, “The tumbler. Because it makes you so sick you want to barf.”

Damon said, “Maybe we shouldn’t do that first.”

I laughed again.

Trent pointed to the Ferris wheel. “Let’s go, Dad. It’s her favorite. Let’s go; there’s no line.”

I had only eaten half my hot dog, but the boys were already done and hopping off the chairs.

Damon scarfed the rest of his food and stood. “You ready?”

I was swept away in being part of this little family. “Let’s go.”

We went to the Ferris wheel. Trent couldn’t get on with Jason, since both of them had to be with adults because of their height.

Damon turned to me. “Are you good to go with one of them?”

I grinned. “Of course. Who wants to go with me?”

To my delight and surprise, both of them ran over to me. “I will!” they shouted at the same time.

Damon laughed. “Hey, you can’t ditch your dad.”

Trent moved over to his dad and took his hand. “I’ll go with you, Dad.”

We got to the line, and Damon handed them tickets. When we got on, Jason sat by me, asking a bunch of questions about how the ride worked and how it all stayed together.

I was at a loss. “I’m not sure. I’m sorry.”

Then he shouted to Damon, who was in the seat below us. “Dad, how does this work? How is it staying together?”

Damon started to shout out answers, but he finally gave up and said, “Jason, just enjoy the ride and then we’ll talk about it after, okay?”

Jason sighed. “Okay.”

I turned to Jason and smiled. The boy looked a lot like his mother. I knew Missy, and I wouldn’t say that I liked her much. She had been one of those girls in theater classes during high school that always acted a little bit snobbish. It hadn’t really surprised me when she’d gone for Damon, because I knew she’d always had a crush on him. But it had surprised me and everyone else when they had decided to get married.

But it was my fault. He was right. I had said I couldn’t do marriage and kids.

No, no, no. I didn’t want to think about this.

The Ferris wheel took off and gained speed.

Jason looked up and screamed. “Oh!” It made me laugh, because it’s something his father would’ve done when he was younger.

On impulse, I put my hands up and yelled, “Wahoo!”

Jason laughed. He turned to me and smiled. “You’re fun.”

His small words of praise made me happy. “You’re fun too.”

He giggled, and then we both put our hands up and yelled again.

Damon called out, “Hey, you guys are having too much fun up there.”

Jason laughed and yelled down. “Dad, you and Trent need to yell too.”

Suddenly, Damon and Trent yelled out like we had done.

The whole thing was fun, and when it was over, we got off, laughing and yelling, “Wahoo!”

We went on the tumbler ride, and I was pretty sure I was going to barf, but we all came out laughing about that ride too. Then we went on the swings, and we grabbed on to each other as we flew around. Truly, I felt like a part of this family in so many ways.

When we got done with that one, I suddenly saw someone I hadn’t seen in a long time: Damon’s brother Canyon. He was with a girl I didn’t recognize, but he stopped and called out to us. “Damon! Jason and Trent!”

Suddenly, the boys took off toward him, and just as Damon had greeted them earlier by picking them up and spinning them around, Canyon did the same thing. He bent, took each of them in one of his arms, lifted them up, and twirled them.

They giggled and told them about all the rides we had been on.

Canyon turned to me. A grin washed over his face. “Hey, welcome back to town. I heard you’re working dispatch.”

Once again, I thought that small-town news moves fast. “Thanks. Good to see you.”

He turned to the girl I didn’t recognize. “This is Jane. She works search and rescue.”

We shook hands.

Canyon looked between Damon and me. “What if I take the boys for a little bit? I will give you guys some time.”

Suddenly, it felt like we were put on the spot, like this was some official date or something.

Damon gave him a questioning look. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to,” Canyon laughed.

Jason and Trent were grabbing his hands and jumping up and down. “Dad, can we go with him?” Trent asked.

Damon laughed. “Sure.” He turned to Canyon. “Just so you know, I just fed them hot dogs and we’ve gone on a lot of rides. But here’s the money for some cotton candy.”

Canyon put his hand up and refused. “If I get my nephews cotton candy, I’ll pay for it.”

It looked like Damon wanted to argue, but he put the money back in his wallet. “Thank you.”

Canyon, Jane, and the boys walked away from us. Suddenly, I was left alone with Damon. It could have been awkward, but somehow it wasn’t.

Damon took my hand and grinned at me. “Thanks for coming and putting up with those two crazies.”

His hand was warm, and it felt intimate. I looked down at our hands. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

Damon shrugged. “If you don’t want me to hold your hand, I won’t.”

My heart raced, and I stared into his glorious green eyes. They were the kind of green that you see in a pine forest. The man reminded me of a large tree, so steady and secure. He always had been. I felt so much attraction to him.

Suddenly, he moved his hand and shrugged. It was almost like I’d rebuffed him. “If you don’t want to hold my hand, that’s fine, but let’s do more rides.” He started walking over to one of the other rides.

I grabbed his hand. “Wait. Can we go—I don’t know—to the pier and just sit by the water and talk for a minute?”

He hesitated and then nodded. “If that’s what you want.”

The sun was setting as we walked onto the pier. I recognized some people, but we didn’t stop to chat. They were all busy with their own lives, and I was grateful for that.

At the end of the pier, there was a bench we used to sit on all the time. There were some people already sitting on it, so I just moved over to a different railing, and we looked out over the lake. The falls were to the left of us. We were just in time to watch the sun go down.

Damon stood next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. He was probably five inches taller. In this moment, I felt another wave of so much attraction. I took a step back.

Damon reached for my hand. “You good?”

It was something we used to ask each other all the time.

I glanced down at our hands. “Damon, I feel all of these things for you.”

“I feel all these things for you, too.”

Nervous butterflies filled me. “I think we should take it slow.”

He seemed to tamp back on his feelings, and he nodded. “Okay. That’s okay.”

I looked around and put a hand through my hair. “It’s like this place has never changed.”

“It’s a good place. I hope that you can find refuge here again. And I know that I’m going to do everything I can to keep your dad in jail.”

My heartbeat kicked up a notch, and I felt confused. “Tell me about this thing you were talking about where my mom testifies.”

“The parole hearing? Yeah, you could testify too, if you wanted.”

I startled a little bit. “What would I say?”

Damon’s eyes bored into mine. “The truth. You would just say the truth.”

I shrugged. “I haven’t seen my dad in almost ten years.”

Damon sucked in a long breath and then let it out. “Do you want him out of prison?”

“No,” I said instantly.

“Then you probably need to tell them that.”

I turned away from him again and clung to the rail. “I don’t know if I can face him.”

Damon moved beside me and put his arm around me. “You’re shaking.”

I hadn’t realized that I was, but it didn’t surprise me. “I haven’t seen my father, and I still feel like that little girl. That teenager who got the crap beaten out of her. The one who didn’t know what to do.”

As if the universe wanted to play some horrible joke on me, right then I heard a familiar voice. “Isla? Is that you? My baby? I heard you were home.”

We both turned to find that my mom was rushing toward me. She wore heels, a tight skirt, and a tank top that showed way too much, especially since her body did not look at all good in those clothes. Her face looked more haggard than it used to be, and her makeup was thicker. Her long black hair hung around her face and looked disheveled. Her eyes were black with thick eyeliner and mascara.

I was in shock.

“Come to Mama.” Suddenly, my mother fell on me and wrapped me in her arms. The smell of smoke and booze and everything I remembered from growing up assaulted me.

I pulled away from her. “Don’t.”

Her hands jerked back, and her face looked like I’d slapped her. “Isla. You’re back. I’ve had people telling me they saw you. Someone even said you were working as the dispatcher. Where’s Kyle? Where’s that baby? Doesn’t a grandma get to meet her baby?”

I pulled away and started running. “Stay away from me! Just stay away!”

I ran as fast as I could, hating myself and second-guessing why I’d come back here. My mother had tried to keep my father out of prison, and she was going to testify that he should get out. She blamed me for him going to prison. Now she was acting like she cared about me?

I could hear Damon behind me. “Isla. Slow down.”

I got to the parking lot and stopped, putting my hands over my head and breathing hard.

Damon came to my side, breathing hard as well.

I turned to him. “Listen, I’ll just walk back to the station and go home.”

Damon took my hand and started pulling me toward his SUV. “I’ll give you a ride.” He opened the door for me.

I hesitated. My mind spun. “You have your kids still here.”

Damon pulled out his phone. “I’ll text Canyon, and I’ll come back and get them. It’s fine.”

We got into the car and buckled up. Damon took off quickly. He was speeding, so I was startled when he suddenly stopped and turned to me. “Are you okay?”

I thought of the way my mother looked, and it fully dawned on me that now she officially knew I was here. “I shouldn’t have come here.”

We got back to the police station, and I got out of the SUV and rushed toward my car.

Damon was hot on my heels. “Wait.”

I got inside the car and started it. Since he was there, I rolled the window down.

His face was troubled. “Let’s talk about this.”

I shook my head and hated the fact that tears were streaming down my cheeks. “I have to go. Thanks for this evening.” My hands were shaking, and all I could think about was the fact that there was no way to get away from my mother. What had I been thinking, coming back to Refuge Falls?

“It’s going to be okay.” Damon reached inside and put his hand over mine on the steering wheel. “We can work this out together.”

I felt like a caged animal. “Damon, let go. I have to go.”

He pulled back and looked uncertain as I drove away.

When I got back to the ranch, I was still trembling. It was dark, almost ten o’clock at night. I needed to run. My body needed a release.

I put on my running shoes and my AirPods and ran out the door. I ran down the gravel road to the main street. I stayed to the side of the road, keeping up a good pace. It was easy for me to run. It was a way for me to get out all my anxiety and stress. True, it was slightly creepy out here since it wasn’t a highly used road, but I kept track of where I was. Then, after about forty minutes, I turned back.

When I got back to the house, I was surprised to see Damon’s SUV parked out front. I started walking on the gravel road and put my arms over my head to give myself a cooldown. Where was he?

I didn’t have to wonder very long, because I saw the hulking man sitting on the stairs on my front porch. Damon looked dejected and angry. He stood and moved toward me. “Where have you been?”

I was surprised by his anger but matched it with my own. “Why are you here?”

He got to me, coming to a stop about a foot away. “You went running? In the dark? You know I’m having your house patrolled, right? Because you have some psycho ex out there. Why would you go off running by yourself?”

I got angrier. “News flash: I’ve been doing this by myself since I left town. And I’ve been dealing with my mother my whole life. I needed to run. I’m careful. I even try not to go into areas where there’s no cell service. I have to run.”

“It’s dangerous.” His face was stern.

“What am I doing here, Damon?” My voice broke. “Why did I come to this town?” My mind raced with thoughts of my mother and my father’s possible parole. I moved to the front door and unlocked it, walking inside and turning on the lights.

Damon followed me inside. “Talk to me. Let me be here for you.”

I went to the kitchen and filled up two glasses, trying to get a handle on my emotions. I handed one of the glasses to Damon. “Drink,” I commanded.

I drank my water, and he took the other glass to drink his. He had always suffered from passing out when we were kids because he wouldn’t drink water all day. It was sort of funny that I was making him drink water now.

My heart rate started to slow. “I should just leave. Go somewhere else.”

Damon crossed his arms. “You can’t leave.”

I moved past him and back to the front door. “Damon, I’m going to pray about this tonight. I was thinking about it during my whole run. Maybe it would just be easier to go to another town, to put down roots there where no one really knows me. Maybe it would be better.”

He surprised me by stopping beside me and taking my hand. “I don’t want you to leave, because things were never done between us.”

I stared at our hands, feeling so many things about this man. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“I think you came back because there was unfinished business between us.”

Once again, my heart raced. There were so many things I wanted to say. My mind felt clearer regarding Damon, much clearer than it had earlier when I had been accosted by my mother.

Damon pressed both of my hands between his. “Of course, I will respect what you decide to do. But there’s something I have to tell you that’s been on my mind since you’ve been back.”

I gazed into his beautiful green eyes and thought about how he looked so different when he didn’t have his police chief hat on. His blond curls were a little bit longer on top. His frame had filled out, and he was handsome. There was so much regret from the past and so much need and want for the present. “What is it?”

He stared at my lips, and I felt butterflies kick up. “I need you.”

Those were simple words. A simple statement with so much meaning, laced with so much need.

I felt that need too. I felt this desire to be in Refuge Falls, and even more so to be with Damon. I could see how my life could be with him. Working dispatch and then afterward going home together. Helping take care of his boys and maybe some children of our own. I cast the thought away. How did I even know he wanted more children? This was happening so fast, but it felt so right. I thought about how it had been happening my whole life. It was like the train for my life had gotten off course, and the truth was that it was my own fault. My own fears and insecurities.

“Damon?” I asked, feeling myself weaken.

He gently put his hands on my face. “Can I kiss you?”

He didn’t ask twice, because I put my hands over his and then leaned into his lips. They were soft and tender. I pulled him closer and deepened the kiss, wanting more, needing more in this moment from this man who I trusted and loved. Did I love him? Yes, I did. The truth finally came to the foreground. I had always loved him, but I hadn’t been with him because I’d been afraid I would lose him. And ironically, I had.

His hands went to my waist, and mine went into his hair, into those curls and the scent of soap and leather. My face pressed into the stubble on his face, and so many feelings washed over me. So many wants and desires mixing from the past and now in the present. It was like one of those romance movies when the girl’s knees go weak and he holds her tighter. I was stuck inside his strong arms. I didn’t know how long we made out for, because we hadn’t formed any muscle memory of kissing before. We’d been best friends. All the emotions and attraction from before hit in this moment.

He kissed my cheeks, my eyes, and my forehead, before leaving a trail of kisses back to my mouth. I pulled him closer, and it almost seemed like nothing else mattered in the world for these few seconds.

Suddenly, Damon pulled back. He kept his hands on my face as he grinned at me. “Wow. Just wow. That’s what we’ve been missing out on all these years.”

I nodded and then felt tears come again. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

He pulled me into him, bringing my head to rest on his shoulder. “It’s over, but it’s beginning. It’s a new beginning, if we want it.” He pulled back and stared into my eyes. “Do you want it?”

I sighed. “Do you want it?”

“Since the moment I heard you were back in town, I might’ve blamed it on my family, blamed it on trying to do the right thing, but the truth is that I need you. I’ve always needed you. Being with you feels right. I don’t care about all the things that we have to face together. I want to face them with you, if you’ll let me.”

My heart silenced, and there were no more tears, only certainty. “I want that too.”

Damon held me for a long time, and I felt my very soul quiet.

“I may not have realized it,” I said into his chest, “but you have always been in the back of my mind. When I finally figured out I could not stay where I was because of Kyle’s threats, it was like a remote setting was activated. I had no choice but to come here. Even with all the crap in my past, all I could think about was you. Of course, I didn’t want to think about you. I couldn’t expect that things would work out. I didn’t know how they would. But here I am.”

Damon pulled back and smiled at me. “I’m so grateful that you are.” His phone buzzed, and he checked it. “Shoot. This might be the worst timing, but I have to go. My kids.”

I shook myself. It felt like I was being pulled from a dream. “Right. Go to your kids.”

He waved a hand through the air. “They are at my parents’ house. But I need to go to them. Plus, we have work tomorrow, remember?”

I laughed, and it was weird that the statement sounded so normal. “I guess we do.”

He kept my hand but walked toward the door, leading me outside and toward his SUV. When we got there, he paused and kissed me again. This time it was almost a reverent kiss.

My heart was happy, and though I didn’t know how this would go, I knew I didn’t want to stop. “Hey, your mom and Willow have given me a lot of food. I mean, it’s just basics, but how would you and your kids like to come over for dinner tomorrow?”

Damon cocked an eyebrow; then his face was filled with a soft smile. “You want to cook for us?”

My heart warmed at the tender way he asked. “I’m not great, but I’ll try.”

Once again, he wrapped me tightly in his arms and rocked me back and forth. “I would love to have you cook for us, Isla.” He pulled back, and I thought I saw tears in his eyes. He gave me a kiss on my head, squeezed my hand, and then got in his SUV. “But I have a business conference in Denver for two days.”

“What?” I didn’t like hearing that he was going to be gone.

He nodded. “That’s part of the reason the kids are staying with my parents anyway. I have to leave early tomorrow. But I’ll be home Friday afternoon.”

“Good.”

He pushed a lock of hair out of my face. “Would you want to cook for us Friday evening?”

My heart raced. “Absolutely. Plus, it will give me more time to figure out what to cook.”

Gently, Damon leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. “Okay. See you Friday.”

Part of me wanted to hold him tighter, not let him go. The other part worried that this couldn’t be real.

He pulled back. “You’ll be here, right?”

“Yes, I’ll be here.” Only minutes before, I’d thought I might have to leave this town, yet now I was certain I’d stay. I squeezed his hand.

He frowned and looked at the house. “You need security.”

“What?”

“A security system.”

I probably did, but I didn’t know the first thing about that or how to pay for it. “I’m good.”

His frown deepened. “I’ll continue to have the patrol cars drive by, but please be careful.”

“I will.”

I stood there watching him as he drove away. Damon Armstrong. Dang, the man was a good kisser.

I woke the next morning and felt different. I had kissed Damon Armstrong. Longing entwined with happiness filled me, and suddenly I felt bad about that. I knew that was stupid, and I didn’t need to dwell on those thoughts of feeling unworthy to be with someone like Damon.

After all, my ex had said so many things about Damon. He knew we had been best friends, and he knew how much I’d been hurting when Damon wouldn’t take my calls. Of course, I hadn’t told Kyle about it, but he had looked through my phone and found that I had tried to call Damon, and then Kyle had demanded to know what we’d talked about. When I’d told him that we hadn’t talked—or rather, that Damon hadn’t even answered—he’d used it as a weapon against me. When he’d get mad at me, he would throw it in my face.

I didn’t want to think about my ex. I got up, sucked in a deep breath, and then knelt and said a prayer. I asked the Lord to help me have good thoughts, to help me do a good job today, and for protection on Damon and his family while he was gone. Hope for a new love flowed through me as I quickly got ready and headed into the police station.

Today was a good day, filled with the same things from yesterday except I was getting better and faster. By the time it hit six o’clock at night, I was ready to go. Mrs. Friendly gave me so many words of encouragement, and I was grateful.

As I exited the police station, I got a text from Damon. How did your day go?

I got inside my car and texted him back, my heart beating quickly. It was a good day. I’m learning. How was your day?

Immediately, he responded. I wish I was there. I wish you were cooking for me today.

I texted him back, feeling like a teenager with her first crush. I wish you were here too.

I drove home and put on my running clothes. I had taken a sandwich for lunch, and I wasn’t really hungry. I guess it was the first-love jitters. During my run, I kept thinking about how differently I felt and how just today I was trying to face my past, my mother, and even my father.

I’d been pushing away the fact that I could go testify against him at his parole hearing coming up. Did I want to do that? Did I want to face him? Did I want to get into what I knew would be some type of argument with my mother? I probably had to if I was going to stay in this town.

I got back to my house. Even if it was a rented house, it felt good to have a place of my own. I decided to make myself some tacos. I was grateful to Wendy for leaving some packages of hamburger. I could use the other packages for the spaghetti I would make for Damon and his children. My mind raced as I made the tacos for myself. I needed to get things in shape in the house.

I quickly said a prayer and then ate my tacos. There wasn’t much for me to clean up, but I washed the dishes and then decided I would put together the furniture first as much as possible. I rearranged the dining room and slanted the table. I went to the front room and rearranged things in there, and when I stepped back and took it in, I realized it actually looked pretty good.

I needed some things on the walls, but of course I didn’t have money for that. The paint can in the corner caught my eye, and I decided to try something.

I went to the barn, where I remembered seeing a bunch of old furniture. I picked through some of the wall hangings and paintings. I knew I could get rid of the stuff if I wanted to, but maybe I could reuse some. There were some other oil paints, canvases, and a bunch of paintbrushes. I carried them back to the house and set up as best as I could. Then I took some of the old canvases, took the primer paint, and painted over them. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, because Wendy had mentioned I could do anything with the stuff in the barn.

I relaxed and turned on some eighties rock. I didn’t know what I was going to paint at first, and then the idea hit me. The falls. Luckily, I had some variations of blues and whites.

I started with the falls in the corner and took time creating the mist that floated around them. I used different blues that I felt matched how it looked, including a deeper blue in the water below. Then I took time to paint the rocks red and add some greenery throughout the scene.

By the time I was done, I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost nine p.m. I’d painted for almost two hours, but I loved how the picture had turned out. I was never formally trained, but I knew my grandmother had painted. I remembered that when I was growing up, we’d had a lot of her paintings on our walls. Too bad my mother had been too drunk most of the time to care about things like art.

Irritation coursed through me. My mother.

I pushed that thought away and grabbed a few other wall hangings of various sizes. I primed all of them and let them dry. I figured I could put different sayings on them. Possibly my favorite scriptures. Then I took all the brushes to the sink and washed them out. I felt blessed to be here in Refuge Falls, to have sorted out some major things, and to have somebody by my side. I wondered what Damon was doing.

I got ready for bed and lay down, and then my phone buzzed. I grabbed it and saw it was a text from Damon.

Can you talk?

My heart skipped a beat as I entered the call. “Hello,” I said slowly.

He let out a light laugh. “Hello. I didn’t realize you had a radio DJ voice.”

I had to quietly laugh. “I feel like we’re teenagers.”

“All I could do was think about you today.”

Maybe it was stupid, but his admission felt like a big deal. “I may have thought of you a little bit.” I couldn’t help but smile because I liked to tease him.

“Oh, okay. Play it cool.”

I giggled.

“Did you just giggle?”

I giggled again. I turned on my side and kicked at the air, feeling so happy. “I guess I did.”

“It’s good to hear that.”

For a couple of seconds, we were quiet.

I asked, “So what do you do at the fancy police chief trainings?”

He let out a long sigh. “There is nothing fancy. It’s just hearing new policies for the state and different things we should implement into our station culture. Obviously, I wasn’t paying very good attention today. Though it is good to see friends from around the state and hear different things that might be working for them in their stations.”

I hadn’t thought that much about what went into his job. “You have a lot of responsibility. I bet that’s overwhelming sometimes.”

He sighed. “Actually, work has always been a constant. Ever since I graduated from the police academy and went to work being a police officer, it’s been constant. And then two years ago I became police chief. It was kind of crazy, because it was about the same time Missy left me. Yet it was the thing that kept me grounded. That and my children, of course.”

“Hearing you talk makes me feel so young. Because you have this amazing career and those cute boys.”

He seemed to hesitate, and then he said, “You have been through a lot. I think in some ways you’ve gotten a lot of wisdom that most people don’t have.”

I sighed. “I guess that’s true. I have really loved being trained as a dispatcher. We had a couple of calls today that ended up not being a big deal, but it’s giving me experience and making me feel more confident. Plus, everyone is pretty cool. Most people have stopped by to check in on me. McCrae comes in to tell me jokes.”

Damon sighed. “Of course he does. He should be doing his job.”

“Hey, I didn’t tell you that to get him in trouble. I told you that because he’s trying to be sweet to me and I really appreciate it.”

“Okay. He’s not in trouble. He’s actually a good policeman.”

I lay on my back and thought of everything I’d missed. “Catch me up on your siblings. I don’t know that much about them. Ella and Kayla and your mom are so sweet, but I wasn’t in the mood to catch up the other day.”

Damon spent the next fifteen minutes telling me all about what his siblings were doing, including Noah getting married to Ella, their whole story, his father’s heart attack, Kayla’s plan to expand the cabins, and McCrae and his policing. Of course, he told me about Canyon and the search and rescue. He mentioned how Dylan was an attorney in Denver, but he came back pretty regularly.

“That’s awesome,” I said. “I always admired the way your parents tried to keep you guys close as a family. Those Sunday dinners …”

“Right.” Damon snorted. “On that topic, my mom wanted me to ask you if you wanted to come to family dinner after church on Sunday.”

My heart fluttered, and I wondered about being thrown in with all the Armstrongs at once. “Are you sure you want to do that? It just feels a little fast.”

Damon laughed. “Is our relationship fast or far too slow?”

I grunted. “Well, I guess when you say it like that … How about we see how Friday goes? I’m kind of nervous to feed you guys spaghetti. I want your boys to like it.”

“Don’t worry. My boys like spaghetti.”

For a few seconds, both of us were quiet.

“Are you there?” he asked softly.

I kept my eyes closed and smiled. “I was just thinking how great it was to talk to you like this. Just talk.” We used to do that when we were growing up.

“I agree,” Damon said softly.

“But I’d better get to bed. Gotta get up and be there at six. Don’t want to let down the boss.”

Damon chuckled again. “Good night, Isla.”

“Good night, Damon.”

I hung up on the call and turned onto my side. I closed my eyes, but all I could think about was his lips on mine and how good it felt to have him hold me in his arms.