But he squelched the notion as quickly as he always did, turning to look at his cousin, desperately needing the pep talk he was about to get.
“And I do. I do fuckin’ get it. Part of your life is over.” Cain snapped his fingers. “In the blink of an eye, it was gone. But Josiah? You are the same man who tore his ACL and was still voted co-captain of the goddamn football team! I was never even voted captain of my own jerkin’ off squad.”
“Oh, really?” asked Woodman. “You lost that one?”
Cain’s face shifted from serious to cocky. “Tied it up with Mary-Louise Walker.”
In spite of himself, Woodman chuckled, but his laughter tapered off as he stared out the window at the cheerful lights of his hometown in the valley below.
“I was so close,” he said softly, almost more to himself than to Cain. I was so close to having her, and now . . .
“What? To havin’ it all?” asked Cain, slapping Woodman on the thigh of his good leg. “Believe me, Josiah. You’re still goin’ to have it all. You’re the golden boy, son. The best man. If there is anyone on the face of the earth whose life I could safely predict would turn out a success, no matter what, it would be yours. So chin up, huh? You’re goin’ home. A whole new life is just beginnin’! And it’s goin’ to be great. I just know it!”
Woodman nodded gratefully at his cousin, and Cain released the emergency brake and pulled back onto the road.
The golden boy with a shattered leg.
The second-best man who still longed for the elusive hand of the princess.
The twenty-one-year-old cripple whose life had changed too swiftly to ever feel safe or predictable again.
Woodman’s fingers curled into the seat on either side of his hips as they pulled into town. Whatever life was beginning, its success and greatness depended on one person and one person alone, and Woodman silently prayed that his destiny was woven into the beatings of her heart.
***
He didn’t know that his mother had called Miz Magnolia until Ginger arrived, out of nowhere, standing in the patio doorway.
“Woodman,” she said, her voice warm and lush, as welcome as summer rain and the sweetest music he’d ever heard. “Woodman, it’s so good to . . .”
Her smile was huge, hurting him with longing just as much as it made his veins throb with pleasure. Sadly it only lasted a moment. Her eyes widened as she scanned his face and frowned.
“Where are your meds?”
“Hello to you too, Gin.”
“Hello, Woodman. Where are your meds?”
Just as he’d feared, she saw him as a patient right out of the gate. He concealed his disappointment by rolling his eyes. “Upstairs somewhere.”
Ginger turned to his mother. “Miz Sophie, would you be an angel and bring Josiah his meds?”
In addition to Cain, Ginger also used his given name from time to time, but almost always when she was scolding him, which he absolutely loved.
“You’re not takin’ them like you’re supposed to.”
He was so glad to see her, he grinned at her, shaking his head back and forth.
“Gin, for the love of God, would you just come sit by me and let me kiss you hello? Take off the nursin’ hat for one minute and welcome me home, dang it.”
“Welcome home,” she said softly, leaning over him. He caught a whiff of her lemon-scented shampoo and tilted up his face to meet her lips with his, but she disappointed him by kissing his forehead gently, like he was breakable. All things equal, he wished she hadn’t kissed him at all. As she stepped back, taking the seat across from him instead of the one beside him, which would have let him hold her hand, he felt a chill pass through him. It was as though his worst fears were being confirmed. Did she see him as less of a man now?
“Did your retirement come through yet?” she asked.
“Not yet.”
“But it will.”
“That’s what they tell me.”
“Then what?”
Bitterness and disappointment made his tone caustic. “Then I’ll be retired from the Navy at twenty-one.”
“No,” she said. “I mean, college? Work? What comes next for you?”
He shrugged, wishing she’d leave. He hadn’t been ready to see her—he hadn’t been prepared. He looked awful, felt awful. He wanted to look spit-and-polish for her, and instead he looked beaten and weak.
“Not college. I’ve had enough of takin’ orders for a while. I don’t know, Gin. Can I just get used to bein’