A Crazy Kind of Love by Maureen Child

Author:Maureen Child [Child, Maureen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2007-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

Lucas dropped her off at the hospital.

He watched her drag her suitcase behind her as she walked away without a backward glance. His chest tight, he thought about following her. Grabbing her. Making her listen.

But what the hell could he say?

“No.” Better this way. Better that they both back off and try to get a little perspective.

Steering the car back out onto the street, he headed through the quiet town of Chandler, which was just beginning to wake up, and tried not to think. Hell, it’d be best if he could just wipe the last twenty-four hours from his memory.

But somehow, he couldn’t make himself want that.

What he’d found with Mike in those few hours had been better than anything he’d experienced in the last four years. Hell. Five years.

He drove down Main Street and noticed the lights on at the Leaf and Bean. He almost stopped for coffee, but he’d have had to be civil and, at the moment, that was asking for a little too much.

Damn it.

He shouldn’t have shut Mike out like that.

But it was instinctive.

He’d been keeping his life his life for so long now, he didn’t know if he could let anyone else in. Because the last time he had, tragedy had taken a chunk out of him that he’d never really gotten back. And because he was so busy pulling back from her, he’d damn near sent them both over a cliff.

“Good job,” he muttered and scraped his hand over his face.

Once off Main Street, he made a left and passed the darkened movie theater on the way to the lake road. Lamplight glimmered in a few of the houses he passed and he welcomed each one. Nothing worse than feeling completely alone in the dark.

But then, hadn’t he chosen to be alone?

“Too damn early for self-examination,” he said firmly and squeezed the steering wheel tight enough to break it in two.

He worried about Mike.

About her father.

About what he’d done to her with a few harsh words.

But he quashed the beginnings of guilt. He’d already done enough of that to last a lifetime and he was done with it.

Above him, dawn lightened the sky into pale shades of rose and gold. On either side of the road, trees loomed close like silent sentinels watching him pass. He pulled the car into his drive, drove straight to the side of the house, and turned off the engine. Leaving his bags in the trunk, he headed around to the front door, steps dragging, mind racing.

All around him, nature was waking up.

He heard the ducks on the lake.

The birds in the trees.

The lap of the water against the shore.

And a too familiar voice.

Cold splintered inside Lucas and the jagged shards sliced at him. He felt as though he were breaking into pieces. He almost expected to rattle as he took first one step then another, forcing himself to move forward even when everything in him was telling him to leave. Get back in the car and drive away.

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