Epilogue
Knox stood at the periphery of his family with a smile on his face. He loved them all like crazy, wouldn’t have moved back to Maine if he didn’t. But there were times, especially now, when he felt like an outsider.
He didn’t have any big traumas in his background, like his brothers.
He’d gotten out of the Coast Guard because he realized he could make more money pursuing basically the same career as a contractor.
Thankfully, he’d been able to seamlessly transition from his job in Florida to one here, doing the same thing.
He lived in town, not far from Zach and Marit, in a two-bedroom, one-bath place in a house that had been remodeled to include several apartments.
He worked hard, checked in on his mom, and went home.
Now he had a niece to spoil. And an almost-teenage nephew as well.
Soon, his other niece or nephew would be born.
It was a lot of new beginnings for the Young family . . . and Knox felt a little like he was being left behind.
Despite that, he had no desire to date anyone, himself.
To marry or start a family. He was only thirty-three.
He had lots of time for that kind of thing if he changed his mind, but right now, he enjoyed living a bachelor’s life.
TV, microwave dinners, and doing what he wanted, when he wanted, without having to check in with anyone.
He made good money he didn’t have to share and was investing like crazy, so he could one day buy his own waterfront home.
He had no time for a woman in his life.
When his phone rang after he’d been at the hospital for a couple of hours, and after he’d peeked in on Carleigh, his new niece, through the window of the nursery, where he’d oohed and aahed and said how beautiful she was—even though she was a tiny, wrinkled raisin at the moment and couldn’t possibly be considered beautiful, or even pretty—he answered.
Wondering vaguely who it could be, since pretty much everyone who called him regularly was with him at the moment.
“Young here.”
“Knox?”
He frowned. Knox had no idea who was on the other end of the line. “Who is this?”
There was silence for a beat, then the woman began to speak quickly. “I’m so sorry to have called you like this. I didn’t know who else to call. It’s Jordan.”
Knox racked his brain to try to place the name, without luck. “Jordan who?”
This time when the woman spoke, she sounded embarrassed, and for some reason knowing he’d made her feel that way, even inadvertently, didn’t sit well with Knox.
“Jordan Ward. I work with you.”
It hit Knox then who she was. She worked in the same building as he did.
Was one of the admins in his department.
He was employed as a contractor for the government in maritime inspection and port/dock security and inspection.
Knox wasn’t in the office much, but he still had contact with the admins for things like getting his assignments, scheduling, paperwork, and accounting.
She was a fairly recent hire, within the last six months, if he remembered correctly.
Aware of the awkward silence, Knox said, “Of course. What’s up?”
“Um . . . are you busy?”
“No.” The lie came out without him even thinking about it. He was curious as to why this woman was calling him when he couldn’t remember having any kind of meaningful interaction with her in the past. “What’s up?”
“I need help. I’ve called everyone I know, which admittedly isn’t a ton of people, but I can’t get a hold of anyone.
I didn’t know who else to try, and I have your number because I put all the contractors’ numbers in my phone so if any of you needed anything, your names would come up on my caller ID, and I’d be sure to answer because I’d know it wasn’t a spam call or anything. I wouldn’t have called but—”
“Breathe, Jordan. It’s fine. What’s wrong?” Knox interrupted.
“I hit a deer.”
“What?”
“With my car. I hit a deer!”
Knox could hear her crying, and he hated the sound. He might not know this woman, but the distress in her voice was clear as day. He was on the move before he even knew where she was or if she was injured. Motioning to Linc that he was headed out, Knox headed for the door.
His brother lifted a brow, asking if everything was all right. Knox loved how he and his brothers could communicate nonverbally.
He nodded and gestured to the phone still up to his ear. Linc nodded, and, satisfied his brother would let everyone know he’d left, Knox turned his concentration back to the woman on the other end of the phone.
“Are you okay?” he asked, as he walked through the parking lot toward his truck.
“Yeah. But the deer isn’t!”
“What?”
“The deer! It’s hurt bad.”
“It didn’t run off?”
“No. It’s lying just off the road and . . .” Her voice hitched. “It’s bleeding. It’s awful, and I don’t know what to do!”
“Tell me where you are. I’m on my way.”
“Really?”
She sounded surprised, which was weird, considering she’d called him for help. Did she actually think he was going to say he wouldn’t help her?
“How long will it take for you to get here? I don’t know what to do. It’s breathing funny.”
“Get back in your car, Jordan. It could hurt you, especially since it’s probably in pain,” Knox ordered.
“I feel awful! I tried to stop but it ran right in front of me. I think it might have babies too.” She was full-on sobbing now.
Everything she said made Knox a little more alarmed. “Seriously, get back in your car now. A mama deer with babies nearby, and hurt, is unpredictable.”
“But I want to do something to help it!”
The woman was exasperating. But Knox couldn’t deny her tender heart was a welcome change from dealing with the assholes he usually came into contact with while doing his job.
People who lied their asses off trying to get away with whatever illegal cargo they were hauling, or who came up with excuse after excuse for why their boats weren’t legal in one way or another.
“What you can do is, get. In. Your. Car.”
“Are you going to shoot it?” she whispered.
Knox sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’m gonna hang up and make some calls while I’m on my way to you. We need to contact a game warden, or at least the local sheriff’s department. Can you tell me where you are?”
He heard a car door shutting, which was a huge relief. She didn’t have an exact address, but she gave him directions to her general location.
“I’m probably about fifteen minutes away. If you need me, or if anything in your situation changes, call me back. Okay?”
“Okay. Thanks a lot, Knox. I know this is a pain and you were probably busy. I didn’t know who else to try, and I didn’t want to just leave the poor deer out here.
I mean, I know I could’ve called nine-one-one, but I didn’t want to bother them since it’s not a people emergency . . . if you know what I mean.”
Yeah, more proof that this woman was different from most. Knox was intrigued.
“How’s your car?”
“Um . . . smooshed?”
“Are you hurt in any way?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“I’m sure. I had my seat belt on.”
It had been a long time since Knox had met anyone who was more concerned about an animal than they were about their car or themselves.
“Okay, hang tight. Stay in your vehicle. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Drive safe, don’t need you hitting a deer too,” Jordan said.
“See you soon.”
“See you soon,” she echoed.
As he sped toward Jordan’s location, Knox tried to tell himself that he’d be driving as fast as he was right now no matter who’d called him. But he couldn’t deny that he was moving with a bit more urgency than he might otherwise.
He wasn’t interested in her as anything other than a coworker, but he was mildly curious about the woman. Probably because she kept to herself. Because he knew next to nothing about her. Seemed to be kind of a loner, like he was.
So that she’d called him for help? He instinctively knew it was a big deal. He had a feeling she didn’t ask for much from anyone. She did her job, did it well, and didn’t go out of her way to interact overmuch with the guardsmen she came into contact with, or the contractors like him.
She didn’t bring any attention to herself, as if she was happy with fading into the woodwork.
He guessed Jordan was younger than him by just a few years, yet based on their call, she seemed .
. . na?ve. Granted, he hadn’t had a ton of contact with her.
He tried to pay careful attention to those around him, but he didn’t beat himself up for not recognizing her voice when she called. They simply hadn’t talked often enough.
But now she had his attention . . .
Maybe he was bored. Maybe seeing all his brothers suddenly so happy in their new relationships was getting to him, and he needed a distraction.
He wasn’t sure. But Knox could admit that part of him was pleased she saw him as someone she could turn to in a crisis, even if, at the same time, he understood she didn’t know who else to call.
He was flattered she’d thought of him at all, considering their scant exchanges at work.
No, he wasn’t looking for a relationship . . . but Jordan Ward intrigued him. Anyone who seemed more worried about an injured deer than their own personal property was someone he wanted to know. And it looked like he was going to get that chance.