Taken With You (27 page)

* * *

M
ATT
WOKE
SLOWLY
,
not wanting to open his eyes. For a few seconds, he wondered why Bear hadn’t nuzzled him to unlock the dog door, but then he remembered.

He was in Hailey’s bed, with her soft, sweet-smelling sheets. He was on his back, while she was on her side, her butt pressed against his hip, but he remembered holding her tightly as he drifted off to sleep.

Emotions churned in his gut, and he sighed as he stared at her ceiling. The last couple days had been an emotional rollercoaster and he wanted off the ride. Thursday night had sucked. He’d let what had happened with Ciara screw with his head and he’d treated Hailey like crap.

Yesterday had been one of his worst days on the job and he’d almost lost a good friend, but then he’d seen Hailey. And being with her—taking her into his arms for comfort—had felt so right.

Now that he’d felt that, he couldn’t stand the thought of her walking away from him again. When she woke up, with the emergency over, she’d remember what an asshole he’d been and throw him out. She’d said herself they could go back to being a bad idea in the morning, and now morning had come.

Sliding out of bed, he gathered his belongings and went down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible. In the half bathroom off her kitchen, he took a leak and, after splashing cold water on his face, debated on getting dressed.

In the end he stayed in his boxer briefs. The idea—or more accurately, the
need
—to get away and take refuge at camp took hold in his mind. He needed time to let his feelings settle so he could take a good look at them and figure out just what he wanted going forward and that’s where he’d always done his heavy thinking. He wouldn’t be able to do that here. Not with Hailey so close.

He brewed a pot of coffee for her, then found a junk mail envelope in a pile on her counter and a pen. He wrote her a note and then, feeling like a coward even though he felt it was the right thing to do, he gathered his stuff and let himself out, walking to his house in his boxer briefs.

After taking a shower and getting dressed, he grabbed his keys and jumped in his truck. He knew they were early risers at the Northern Star, so he wasn’t surprised to see Josh and Bear outside when he pulled up the long drive.

Bear ran in excited circles, waiting for Matt to get out of his truck. He crouched down and let the dog give him a few happy licks to the face. “Hi, buddy. I’m glad to see you, too.”

He walked over to Josh and shook his hand. “Thanks for taking care of Bear. It was nice to know he was in good hands.”

“The most important thing is that you’re okay. And the other guy? I heard he’ll recover?”

“Yeah. He’s going to have to take it slow for a while. Not only did he have the heart attack, but his arm’s broken and he fractured his foot. But he’ll bounce back.” Bear jumped up, something he rarely did, and put his front paws on Matt’s chest. He staggered back a step, then ruffled the dog’s fur. He figured the dog was picking up on the turmoil he felt inside. “Down, boy.”

“By the way, the women in this house have now decided we need a dog. I’m not sure when or what, but there will be payback, my friend.”

Matt laughed. “Sorry. He has that effect on people sometimes.”

“How’s Hailey?”

“Probably still sleeping. She did a lot of driving last night, but I’m glad she was there. Sleeping on cots in the ER sucks, though I’ve done it before.”

Josh looked at him for a few seconds, as though he could see that Matt had deflected to matters of practicality when he knew Josh wanted to know her emotional state. “Yeah, she left town in a hurry.”

“Speaking of leaving town, Bear and I are going to head to camp, so I’ll be out of town. Maybe through the weekend.”

“Heading out of town while she’s still sleeping?” Josh shook his head. “You
want
her pissed off?”

“It might be easier that way. It’s...complicated. But hey, thanks again for taking Bear.”

“We’ve got some airtight containers we use for storage in the cellar and the barns, so I’ll probably hold on to the bag of dog food I got from Fran. That way if you get in a jam again, we’ll already have some. And no, I don’t want your money. You can pay for lunch sometime.”

“Sounds like a deal, though I hope you having to rescue my dog won’t become a habit.”

“We don’t mind and chances are, at some point we’ll need a favor from you. This way you can’t say no.” He grinned, then patted Bear’s haunches. “Rosie’s making breakfast. You want to stay?”

“I’m going to hit the road, but I appreciate it.”

He let Bear into the truck, but Josh said his name before he could climb in himself. “Did I forget something?”

“No matter what happens between you two when you get back, make it right with Hailey. Whether it’s over or not, you need to own it and talk to her. She deserves that.”

“Yeah. She does.”

He got in the truck and headed back toward his house. Reaching over to scratch Bear’s head, he turned his options over in his head, but he kept coming back to the same one. “Hey, buddy, you want to go to camp?”

* * *

H
AILEY
OPENED
HER
eyes, trying to focus on the clock. At first she thought it said six o’clock, but then she realized it was an eight. The realization she had to open the library in two hours made her close them again.

She stretched her leg out and her foot eventually reached the other side of the mattress. Matt was already up, which surprised her. He’d been as beat as she’d ever seen another person.

Maybe he was making coffee. She inhaled deeply, but didn’t smell fresh brew. But, then again, she probably wouldn’t be able to smell it all the way up the stairs and in her room, anyway.

When she heard Bear barking, she opened her eyes. Bear was supposed to be at the Northern Star. She slid out of bed and pulled back the curtains, but she couldn’t see what was going on.

After pulling on a pair of sweats and a hoodie, she went downstairs, the aroma of coffee hitting her about halfway down the stairs. There was a note next to the coffeemaker.

Thank you for coming after me last night and for letting me stay. I’m going to camp to get my head on straight. I hope. Matt. P.S.—I made you a pot of coffee. It was the least I could do.

She wasn’t sure what the hell that was supposed to mean, but she didn’t like it. He was running. Whether from her or from what had happened, she didn’t know. But this smacked of a man who didn’t want to stand up and face feelings that had gotten messy when he wasn’t looking.

Since he was right about it being the least he could do, she poured a cup of the coffee he’d brewed and added some milk and sugar. She wouldn’t chase after him. If he wanted to run, he was free to go.

But as the caffeine kicked in, so did her annoyance. He was free to go, but that didn’t mean she was going to give him a pass or make it easy. She topped off her mug and took it outside. Sitting on her front step, she could see everything that went on next door.

Bear spotted her and ran over to say good morning. She gave him a good scratch and his tail thumped in happiness. “He went and picked you up early, huh? Guess he must have missed you.”

Matt walked out and tossed a duffel bag into the backseat of his truck, then went back into the house. A couple minutes later, he reappeared carrying a bag of Bear’s food and a cooler. Those went in the bed of the truck, and he used bungee cords to secure the cooler.

Bear seemed to know they were going to the cabin. He was almost quivering with excitement and he stared at Hailey, his tongue hanging out, as though he was willing her to be excited, too. “Sorry, buddy. I’m not invited.”

Matt looked over at her house, no doubt looking for his dog, and his gaze zeroed in on her. She just looked back, not giving him anything to go on if he was trying to gauge her emotional temperature. Obviously when he wrote the note, he’d intended to get out of town before she woke up.

Since she wasn’t doing anything interesting, Bear left her and went running back to Matt. Then he ran to the truck door and did a couple of tight circles. Obviously the Lab loved going out in the woods and he was ready to hit the road.

And so was Matt, judging by the fact he wasn’t carrying anything else and had his keys in his hand. She saw his hesitation, but in the end he walked slowly across the yards to talk to her.

“Heading to camp, huh?”

He nodded slowly, his mouth set in a grim line. “I need to think. Get my feet back under me.”

“Good luck with that.”

“I figured after you did all the driving last night and getting in so late, I’d let you sleep in, so I tried not to wake you.”

She smiled then, but it wasn’t a happy smile. “That’s what you’re going with? Rather than, I don’t know...emotional chickenshit?”

“I’m afraid if I don’t go off by myself and figure out what’s going on in my head, I might say or do something even more stupid than I already have and make things worse.”

It was an admission, she supposed. An admission he’d done and said stupid things and that he didn’t want it to happen again. It wasn’t an apology and it said nothing about his feelings for her, but it eased the pain in her heart a little knowing he wasn’t leaving just to avoid a really awkward morning after scenario.

But she didn’t think running away was ever a good solution to a problem. “I wish you’d stay, Matt. We need to have a conversation.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not ready for that yet. I don’t know what to say.”

She stood and opened her door. “Have a nice time.”

He didn’t call after her, but she wouldn’t have turned back if he did. If he didn’t want to talk, she wasn’t going to waste her time. She was going to take a shower, throw her sheets in the washer, and then get ready for work.

Saturdays weren’t often very busy, but she knew today would be unusually so as people came in hoping for details about the accident. She would simply smile and assure them their game warden was unhurt and his partner would recover. Nobody, not even Fran, would guess her heart was breaking.

TWENTY-ONE

M
ATT
WASN
’
T
SURPRISED
to hear the crunch of tires coming up the narrow dirt road to the cabin. It was his dad, by the sound of the engine. Again, not a surprise. His mom had been shaken up by Pete’s accident and had called him several times, so they knew he’d been at camp almost two days now.

He stayed in his chair and waited, though Bear couldn’t stand the anticipation and ran off to meet their company. A few minutes later, a chair thumped down next to his and his old man sank into it with a groan. He popped the top on two beers, setting one in his cup holder and handing the other to Matt.

“Catching anything?”

Matt lifted a shoulder. “I’m not sure I even put a worm on the hook, to be honest.”

“Did that once, when your mom and I were going through a rough patch. Couldn’t even stand the sight of each other. I came up here and probably sat here for five or six hours without ever baiting the hook.”

“I’m only at two hours today. Got a ways to go yet. Caught a few yesterday, though, so I must have used bait.”

“I heard your friend’s going to be okay. That’s good.”

“Yeah, I called a little while ago and spoke to his wife. He’s doing great, actually, considering. And I didn’t get too much grief about taking a couple of sick days.” Bear finally settled between the chairs and Matt reached down to scratch the top of his head. “Long drive just to check on me. Did Mom put you up to it?”

“Let’s just say she thinks it was her idea, but I was coming anyway. So, son, is this about the accident, or is there a woman?”

He could lie, but his dad had driven two hours to offer a shoulder. The least Matt could do was lean on it. “Little bit about the accident. A lot about the woman.”

“Hailey?”

“I think I started falling for her when I found her breaking into my house through the doggy door to make sure Bear was okay.” It felt good to say that out loud. Scary, but good.

“But, being you, you made sure she didn’t know it, right?”

“We’re different, Dad. Like
really
different. And right now we can joke about it a little, but over time I don’t think we’ll joke about it any more.”

“You and Hailey have been dancing around this for quite a while now. What happened? What drove you up here this weekend?”

Matt took a long sip of beer and then told his dad how Hailey had rushed to the hospital after making sure Bear was taken care of. And how she’d waited for him, brought him home and took him to bed. “She was just...there. She didn’t care that I didn’t take my boots off at the door or that I smelled like dry stress sweat and who knows what else. She made me hot cocoa and then let me hold her until I went to sleep. I don’t know what to do with that.”

“I’ll tell it to you straight. Walking out and coming up here was the
wrong
thing to do with it.” His dad shook his head. “She doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman who makes a four-hour round trip to a hospital and hangs out in the waiting room to bring a guy home and into her bed just because she’s a nice girl. She has feelings for you, which means right now she’s probably the most pissed off woman in a hundred mile radius.”

“I have a knack for ticking her off, for sure.”

“This one’s a doozie, son. But I guess that just sets up the make-up sex to be all the sweeter.”

Matt almost choked on his beer, and it went down hard when he managed to swallow. “Thanks,
Dad.
”

“Hey, good sex has a way of soothing a woman’s ruffled feathers.”

“If I have sex with Hailey again, it has to mean she’s willing to go all in.” Matt took a deep breath and blew it out in a rush. “I can’t do casual anymore. If she doesn’t want me, I’ll have to walk away.”

“Why wouldn’t she want you?”

The words stuck in his throat, giving Matt time to figure out a way to spit them out that didn’t make him feel stupid. “She likes finer things. She has nice sheets and likes to dress up and go out. She wants a guy who...you know, like a magazine ad guy.”