Some Bright Someday (Maple Valley #2) - Melissa Tagg Page 0,1
why Flagg hadn’t called him in yet. Usually by now he was back in D.C., readying for his next assignment with the team of elite citizen specialists he served alongside. But then, the last mission—a raid on a drug cartel down in South America—hadn’t gone according to plan. There’d been that incident with his teammate Courtney, and right before that, he’d taken a pesky bullet to the thigh. Barely more than a scratch but it’d been enough for Flagg to send him home earlier than usual for his annual leave. Four months had stretched into six, and he’d begun to feel like he was in timeout.
On the other hand, there were days when he caught himself imagining what it might be like to stay here in Maple Valley, to have some kind of normal life. Sometimes it almost felt like the past couldn’t touch him here, like he might have a future as wide open and golden as the rolling hills beyond the groves of sun-glazed apple trees that once belonged to his grandparents.
If he did stay, if he actually settled down, maybe he could muster up the nerve to have that conversation with that girl. The one with the dark hair and midnight blue eyes and—
“Why are you smiling like that, Mr. Lucas?”
“Because sometimes long shots are worth smiling about.” He couldn’t help reaching out to ruffle Haddie’s hair. “You can call me Luke, by the way. Now, what do you say you let go of the wall and hang on to me instead?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Hmm, what’s the problem? Do I smell?”
Her giggle drifted on the breeze. “No.”
“It’s my hair, isn’t it? You don’t like long hair on dudes, huh?”
“I like your hair.”
“You do? Then let’s stop stalling.” He shifted, his harness digging into his thighs. He almost felt silly wearing the thing. This was an amateur climbing wall, after all. Nothing compared to the grueling, muddied courses he’d barreled through in boot camp.
“I can’t. I’m too scared.”
“Oh, I think you can. I have a theory that all of us are a little braver than we think. Sometimes we just need another person to notice it.” He waited until Haddie looked up to go on. “So let me be the one to point out that you are a very brave girl. Lots of other kids have come by the wall, taken one look at it, and scurried off to the hay-bale maze instead.”
“Really?”
“Really. All you have to do is let go and hang on to me.” A better option than forcibly prying her loose. “You’re already hooked to me, so you won’t fall. Promise.”
She took a ragged breath, her shoulders lifting, and . . .
Two skinny arms flung toward him, wrapping around his neck as he got a mouthful of hair. “Easy, kid, don’t strangle me. Can’t rappel us down if I can’t breathe.”
She only tightened her hold, and he found himself laughing, strangely exhilarated. He gave a quick glance over his shoulder to Beckett, his brother-in-law, down on the ground, holding the line. “All right, Beck. We’re—”
A whoosh of shock stole his next words as a figure winding through the orchard grounds seized his attention. Lucas twisted his body sideways, pulling Haddie along with him, gaze straining. He couldn’t see the man’s face, but that imposing, rigid stature—ever a soldier’s gait—and that sharp profile . . .
No. Flagg wouldn’t come here. Not when he knew how carefully Lucas separated his two worlds. If Kit knew where Lucas really was all the months when she thought he was down in Mexico working on a fruit farm, nursing his wounds—
“Luke?” Beckett’s voice rose from below. “You ready?”
He took a breath and tore his focus away from the man who wasn’t Flagg. He patted Haddie’s back with one hand and, with his other, released his hold on the wall to cling to the cable. “Here we go.”
With a huff, he pushed away, his palm scraping against the line as his weight sent him gliding until his feet hit the wood planks once more. Beckett slackened the rope and Lucas pushed off again.
Moments later, he landed in the grass. He unclipped the carabiner from Haddie’s harness then crouched to let her slide free. But she lunged for him all over again, kissing his cheek and squeezing his neck.
“Someone has a fan club.”
He glanced up to meet his sister’s smirk. “Well, I did rescue her.”
“Didn’t mean her.” Kit folded her arms as Lucas rose and Haddie skipped away