The Difference a Day Makes (Perfect, Indiana: Book Two) by Longley Barbara

Author:Longley, Barbara [Longley, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Published: 2013-04-22T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

RYAN CONTEMPLATED HIS REFLECTION IN the mirror while he shaved for his date with Paige. Was it his imagination, or did he look healthier, more human? Naw. Looks could be deceiving, and he no longer had a face covered in fur, that’s all. Besides, if the way his stomach tied into knots at the thought of running into his uncle or cousins tonight was any indication, he hadn’t gotten any closer to healthy in the past week.

His first appointment with the army shrink was coming up next Thursday, and that got him thinking. He’d been through the obligatory therapy sessions after the suicide bombing in Iraq, and he knew how it worked. A shrink would draw him into open-ended questions to imply that avoiding his family was not in his best interest. They didn’t come right out and say those kinds of things. Nope. Head doctors loved to lead conversations around in circles until you eventually came to the conclusions they wanted you to come to in the first place. Shrinks were good at that kind of thing. In this case, maybe they were right.

If his uncle and any of his cousins were in Evansville for the rodeo—and more than likely, they were—he’d be an ass not to at least stop by and say hello. Maybe he’d even screw up the courage to call his parents next week. His folks would appreciate knowing where he was and what he was doing. Hadn’t Noah as much as ordered him to call his mom?

The thought of reconnecting with his family, facing them after all this time, sent a tremor of dread sluicing through him. He tensed for the onslaught of memories sure to follow. They didn’t come. Instead, a gut-wrenching longing to see his brothers, sister, and parents brought a hollow ache to his chest. Blowing out a slow breath, he snatched the clean shirt from the hook behind the bathroom door and put it on.

He needed to ground himself in the green of Paige’s eyes and hear her voice. He needed to have her beside him with her hand securely gripped in his. Shaking off the melancholy thoughts of family, he grabbed his cowboy hat from its peg on the wall and headed for the big house. He took the veranda steps two at a time and knocked on the front door.

Lucinda opened it and leaned her head back to stare into his face. Sweet Pea stood beside her with his tongue out and saliva hanging in slobbery strands from his huge jowls. “Hey there, Lucinda, is your aunt Paige ready to go?” He leaned down and scratched the dog behind his ears. “How’s ol’ tubba-ugly today?”

“You saved Sweet Pea.” The little girl looked far too serious for her age.

“He would’ve made it through all right on his own, Luce. I’m just glad everything turned out the way it did.” The storm had raged by them. Hail had flattened some of the smaller bushes out front, and a few tree branches had come down, but that’s all the damage they’d suffered.

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