Chapter 12
Garrison
A piercing scream rips me from sleep. I shoot out of bed, adrenaline pumping through my system before my feet even hit the ground. I grab my gun and rush out into the living room, only to find it completely silent aside from the still-raging storm just outside.
Did I imagine it?
My breathing is heavy, my eyes still adjusting to the darkness, but—another scream.
Katelyn!
I yank my door open and run barefoot next door. “Katelyn!” I call out, my fist hammering against the door. “Katelyn! Thomas!”
I wait.
One heartbeat.
Two.
And then the door is pulled open by a wide-eyed Katelyn. She’s frantic. Wind whips at her hair, partially shielding her face. The patio doors are wide open, and the storm is battering the inside of her apartment.
“Did someone break in?” I push past her with my weapon raised, determined to find the threat and eliminate it before it can hurt her or her son.
Wet carpet squishes beneath my feet, grounding me in the reality of what I’m really looking at. Her apartment is wrecked. The patio doors aren’t open—they’ve been completely destroyed, and the harsh wind from the storm outside sends rain pouring into the apartment in thick sheets.
I lower my weapon and turn toward her. “What happened?”
“The windows just shattered. I think the patio table hit them.” Her hands shake as she moves past me and goes to work, picking up the broken glass. All while wind scatters her mail and some of the lighter things that had been on her counter.
“Extra blankets?” I ask her.
“Hall closet.”
“Grab them, and I’ll be right back.” Rushing back over to my apartment, I pull a t-shirt over my head, slip into some tennis shoes, return my firearm to the lockbox it stays in when I’m not carrying it, then retrieve my toolbox and a couple of the tarps I have left over from when I painted the kitchen.
By the time I get back, Thomas is coming down the hall with an armful of blankets. “Help me get these tarps up in place,” I tell him as I set the stack down.
“Garrison, you don’t have to—” Katelyn starts.
“Not a chance you’re getting rid of me, Katelyn. Let me help.” My tone is sharper than I meant, but she clearly needs help. Whatever walls she’s put up can be reinforced tomorrow. But tonight, I’m going to insist on stepping in where I’m needed. Even if I’m not necessarily wanted.
Thomas pulls a chair into the kitchen and takes the corner of the first tarp. Even before I’ve managed to get a nail into the corner to hold it in place, I’m soaked. The storm is unrelenting as it sends rain soaring into the apartment, drenching the both of us.
I don’t even want to think of the damage that will be done by the time it dies down.
With one tarp hung in place, we start on the second one.
As soon as it’s finished, I tie the two bottom corners together that I couldn’t secure with nails, then start piling blankets at the bottom.
They’ll be absolutely soaked tomorrow—likely ruined—but hopefully they’ll catch most of the water pouring in from the bottom.
Raindrops hammer into the tarp as the wind slams against it, billowing the paint-splattered blue plastic toward us.
I turn toward Katelyn, who is trying to gather as much broken glass as she can. Something that isn’t going well, thanks to the water all over the tile.
“If we wait until tomorrow, some of the water will have dried,” I tell her. “I can get a fan to dry the floor, then we can get all the glass up. Why don’t you guys go pack some stuff and stay at my place?”
“No. We don’t need to do that,” Katelyn says, her tone shaky.
“Mom, this place is soaked. You don’t have anywhere to sleep.” He gestures toward the living room, and for the first time, I notice the pull-out couch with a thin blanket over the top.
Is this where she sleeps?
Her cheeks flush with color, so I wipe the shock from my face. “I have a spare room, and I can take the couch. You guys can have your own beds. I’ll get help over here tomorrow, and you can call the landlord in the morning. I know Geoff will want to help, but he keeps his phone on silent at night.”
“I can sleep in the tub,” Katelyn says. “I’ve done it before.”
My heart drops at her confession. The tub? She’s slept in a bathtub?
“Come on, Mom. All of our blankets are on the floor. Please?”
She chews on her bottom lip but finally nods. “Okay. Thank you, Garrison.”
“Yeah.” Agitation laces my tone, but I can’t figure out why she’s so apprehensive around me.
I haven’t ever done anything to warrant it.
The fear on her face when we’d been on that beach surfaces in my memory, reminding me that I have no idea what this woman has gone through.
“I can help you grab some stuff if you want to make sure it stays safe.”
“We’ll just grab a set of clothes for tomorrow and his school stuff. We’ll be over in a few.”
“You don’t need help?”
She shakes her head. “Give us just a few.”
“Sure.” I run a hand through my now-wet hair as she and Thomas head down the rain-soaked hallway. The carpet is saturated with it, and I imagine there will be damage not just to this apartment but the one below it, too.
Since I imagine her sending me home was her way of getting some space, I don’t wait for them to get what they need before heading back toward my apartment. Quickly, I change into some dry clothes, then strip my bed, replacing my sheets with a clean set.
The bedding in the spare bedroom was changed after Zane’s wife, Tessa, stayed in it before they were married. But I still pop in and make sure there’s nothing out of place before tossing my sheets onto the couch for me to use.
I’m just about to head back over to Katelyn’s when there’s a knock on the door. I pull it open and step aside as she and Thomas come in. As soon as the door is closed, I engage the security alarm Elijah installed.
To be honest, I haven’t actually used it yet, but with them here, it’s not an option.
“This place is awesome.” Thomas moves over toward the pictures I have on the wall and points to one. “Is this from when you were in the Navy?”
I nod. “I was doing some training overseas, and those were the local kids. I still get letters from some of them.”
“Really?” he asks.
I nod.
“That’s so cool.”
“They’re great kids.” With the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, I know I’m not going to be much for conversation, but I force a smile anyway. “I can show you guys the rooms if you’d like.”
“Yes, please,” Katelyn says. Her face is pale, eyes still wide from the shock of having her windows shattered. Her hair is soaked, and there’s a bit of blood on her left cheek. Likely from a shard of glass hitting her.
Since it’s not too bad, I don’t bring any attention to it. The last thing I want to do is put her on edge.
“Whoa, is that where you—”
I glance back over my shoulder just in time to see Thomas point to the shadow of a stain on my floor.
“It is. Now come on. Bed.” Katelyn gently tugs him farther down the hall, following me, all while he keeps trying to look back at it. I face forward again and push open the door to the spare room.
“This is the spare.” I point inside, and Thomas goes in and sets his stuff down. “You can stay here,” I tell Katelyn, pointing to the room across the small hall.
She leans in, then looks back at me. “I’ll take the couch.”
“Not a chance. I changed the sheets so they’re clean. If either of you wants to shower, there’s fresh towels in the cabinets and soap in both showers.”
“I just need a bed.” Thomas yawns and pulls back the sheets.
Katelyn moves into his room and pulls him into her arms. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, Mom. I’m fine.”
Feeling like an intruder in a private moment between mother and son, I head back into the kitchen. The adrenaline still hasn’t fully left me, so I put some water in my electric kettle for tea. Maybe a mug of my aunt’s Calm Down tea will help me settle.
Because between her scream waking me up, the chaos that is her apartment right now, and the fact that she’s going to be staying here tonight—let’s just say my mind is in overdrive.
“You have enough for two of those?”
My heart jumps in my chest at the mere sound of her voice. Will I ever come down from it? From this high I get just by being around her?
“Absolutely.” Without turning to face her, I get a second mug and spoon some of my aunt’s loose-leaf tea recipe into another teabag.
Katelyn takes a seat at the island and runs both hands over her face before resting her elbows on the counter and remaining just like that. Expression guarded, shoulders slumped. How much of her life has she had to be on her own?
Is that why she’s so against me? Because she’s spent too many years relying on herself?
“Thanks for this. For letting us stay here.”
I look away as soon as she starts to uncover her face so she doesn’t catch me watching her.
“Of course.”
“We’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.”
Based on that damage? I doubt it. “You’re not in my hair. You guys can stay as long as you need.” Please stay. I never realized how lonely I was until I met you.
“I appreciate that, but you’re going to want your bed back,” she replies with a soft laugh.
“The couch doesn’t bother me,” I tell her truthfully. “I’ve slept in a lot worse places. Believe me.” Even the bathtub of a safe house a time or two. But, not wanting to pressure her, I keep that comment to myself.
“Yeah?”
My gaze locks with hers, and I can’t bring myself to look away even when the kettle beeps. “Yeah.”
Outside, the storm has slowed enough that the rain is barely audible through my patio doors, but the one within me? It’s only picking up steam.
She clears her throat. “When you were in the Navy?”
After a moment, I tear my gaze away and pour water into our mugs. “That and before. I told you that my aunt raised me?”
She nods.
“Well, after my parents overdosed, I was what the state called a ‘flight risk.’ I didn’t know my aunt even existed because my mom had cut her out of our lives when I was a baby.
Every group or foster home they stuck me in, I bolted from.
I can’t even count the nights I spent sleeping in alleys or on park benches. ”
“That’s horrible,” Katelyn breathes.
When I glance over at her, I see the pity in her gaze. “It wasn’t a shining moment of my life, that’s for sure. When they finally tracked down my aunt, she agreed to take me in without hesitation.” I laugh. “To this day, I’m pretty sure she had no idea what she was getting into.”
“I’m sure she loved every minute of raising you.”
I laugh, then slide her mug over toward her.
“I can recall more than a few moments where she struggled with me.” Those moments still weigh on me.
Even knowing how close we grew to be. “I was angry at my parents for putting me through what they did, only to die and leave me alone. And I was angry at myself for not being someone they were willing to change for.” I take a seat across from her.
“I’m sorry, Garrison.”
Wrapping both hands around my mug, I savor the heat.
Even that’s not enough to chase away the chill of my past. “If it weren’t for my aunt, I can pretty much guarantee I wouldn’t be sitting here.
She was patient with me. Kind. Everything I wished my parents would’ve been.
And she loved me a whole lot more than I deserved. ”
“I’d say she loved you as much as you deserved,” Katelyn replies.
My gaze lifts from the slowly darkening tea in my mug to the gorgeous woman sitting across from me. Tell me your secrets, and I’ll keep them safe.
How can I get her to open up and trust me?
How can I convince her that, whatever she’s hiding, it’s not worth the weight she carries?
“What about you?” I pry. “Are you close with your parents?”
“It’s just Thomas and me,” she replies.
Which is not a direct answer.
“That must get hard. Raising him alone.”
“You would think so,” she replies with a soft smile. “But God blessed me with such a wonderful son. Don’t get me wrong. There are moments where being a single mom is hard, but he makes it all worth it. Every single moment.”
“He seems like a great kid.”
She beams at me. The first real smile I’ve ever seen on her face…and it steals my breath. “He’s my everything.”
I can’t look away from her.
I know I should.
That harboring any feelings at all for a woman who seems intent to keep me at arm’s length is a risk.
But I can’t help myself.
Still, if I’m not careful, I’ll scare her away. So, even though it pains me to do it, I shift my gaze back to my tea and take a drink. The heat scalds my tongue, but the pain grounds me in the present.
“I cannot believe my apartment flooded.” She covers her face with both hands again.
“We’ll get it fixed.”
“It’s okay. I can handle it. You’ve done enough already.”
“I really don’t mind. I help Geoff with maintenance sometimes. So, technically, it’s kind of my job.”
“You still shouldn’t be doing anything overly physical.”
“Actually, I was cleared completely. I may not look it, but I’m feeling stellar these days.”
Katelyn laughs softly, filling my living room with the most beautiful melody. “I never doubted that there was anything about you that is less than stellar, Garrison Holt.” Before I can even respond, her cheeks flush with color. “I just mean, you seem like you’re in great shape.”
I can’t help the smirk on my face or the way my pulse kicks up a notch. So she does feel this, too. Whatever is building between us, Katelyn is not immune.
And that makes me far happier than it should.