his life.
Helping Mort to overcome his dependence on alcohol had been fulfilling.
But laying himself bare to Laura that one night had upset and confounded and angered...and pleased him. It had given him a ridiculous amount of pleasure.
He was on a journey for which he had no road map, leaving him vulnerable but strangely unwilling to turn back and return to his starting point.
She sat back down on the bench.
“How much longer are you staying in town?”
“It’s supposed to be another couple of days.”
“Might as well stay until the end of the summer. It’s only another couple of weeks. Or you could consider moving here since your daughter loves it so much.”
After firing that salvo, she left.
He struggled to breathe steadily. Move here? Live here?
The woman was insane if she thought this was his destiny.
He might be on a journey, and he might be having fun here this summer, but surely the end of it wasn’t Accord, Colorado, the town he’d wanted to leave his entire childhood? The town he couldn’t wait to kiss goodbye after high school?
Weren’t journeys supposed to lead us forward, not backward?
The town had changed, yes, and so had he. It was pretty and popular with tourists, but, when it came down to it, Nick’s favorite view of it was still in a rearview mirror.
* * *
AFTER THAT, NICK PUT everything he had into resisting everything the town had to offer. There would be no more extensions of the holiday. The second Davis returned to Accord, he and Emily were heading home.
Move here, my ass.
It’s a nice place to visit, but I don’t want to live here.
When he set his mind to something, it was hard to shake him.
He coached basketball and encouraged his boys to give their all. He pushed himself on the court with them in drills. He shouted and supported and cajoled at the next game until they won.
The townspeople came out and supported the team and him as coach. That was all he would take from them.
Where a week ago, he’d reveled in the feeling of belonging, now he drew away, set himself apart again. He appreciated their support, but that was all.
Laura sat in the front row, cheering on Salem.
He refused to look at her, or to acknowledge her. Look at what happened when he had sex with her. She got pregnant, dragging him into a drama that would last a lifetime.
Look what a simple conversation with her got him—an exhortation to move here. To live here. To make Accord his home.
No way.
Never.
Wasn’t going to happen.
He was a man who looked forward, not backward.
His life was in Seattle, in the business he ran so well, and with the daughter he adored. He didn’t need this town, the townspeople or another child.
His life was perfect the way it was.
At their next practice, Jamie Cosgrove came to tell him he wouldn’t be able to finish basketball camp.
“Why the hell not?” Nick knew that Jamie loved it. The kid was damn good, too.
“I’m in summer school for math, but I’m not getting it. I failed during the school year, and I’m flunking out of summer classes, too.”
The boy looked miserable.
“My mom and dad said I could take basketball only if I passed math and I’m not, so I have to quit.”
“No way,” Nick said. “I’ll talk to your parents.”
Nick was good at math. It was one of his skills as a problem-solver. He loved the challenge.
The next day, he sat down with Jamie and reviewed everything that Jamie needed to understand to pass the final exam, went over it and over it again, spent hours with the boy, until Jamie understood enough to pass.
The kid did. He brought in sixty percent on the test.
And he stayed in the basketball camp.
Nick had loved helping out the kid. He resisted yet another pull toward staying in town.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TAMMY STOPPED AT the fence to say hello to the bison. She’d missed them.
Hirsute ran over and shoved his head into her hands.
She scrubbed him and petted him and cooed, and he lapped it up like a big baby. “I missed you, too.”
Over her shoulder, she stared at the house. I missed him.
She knew that Ty was working and wouldn’t get home for at least another half hour. She had time to put her plan into action.
She’d heard through the grapevine that Ty had driven Ruby to the airport yesterday, sending her home for the coming school year. Nick, Mort and Emily had gone home last week. How was it