Escaping the Past

“Do you run every day?” Brody asked between breaths.

“Five days a week,” Lou replied shortly, still timing her breaths to her coincide with her footfalls. “You?”

“Every day, if I have an opportunity. I am on a tight schedule at the hospital.”

“You’re a doctor, right?”

“A surgeon.”

“I thought so. When I called, they said you were in surgery. How did you get here so fast?”

“They interrupted me during a procedure. I caught the first plane out. Sorry about catching you in your undies with John. I didn’t mean to ruin the moment.”

“What moment?” she asked, nearly tripping over an exposed root.

He reached out to catch her fall and her eyes met his. What she wouldn’t give to know what he was thinking.

“You were in your underwear and John was shirtless so I just assumed.” He shrugged.

“You know what they say about people who assume, right?”

“They make an ass out of you and me?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

She did not reply but merely picked up the pace of their run, making it harder to talk. The path became too narrow to run side-by-side so he dropped in behind her. She was almost relieved, until she realized he was in a perfect position to watch her butt muscles flex with every step. She winced at the very thought. And wished she hadn’t had ice cream two nights the week before.

The path widened and he moved back up to where he could run beside her. She tried not to look when he grabbed the tail of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. He then pushed the tail of the shirt into his waistband. Lou turned her face to him and couldn’t draw her gaze away. It moved as though of its own accord from his steely gray eyes to his neck. His strong jaw was clenched with concentration. Her gaze stopped when she met the hair on his belly that dipped into his waistband.

“You want me to remove those, too?” he asked with a smirk.

“Suit yourself,” she said, as heat crept up her cheeks. Damn him for noticing her appraisal.

A small chuckle was his only response. “You can take yours off, too, you know.”

“You couldn’t pay me enough,” she replied.

“So mone

y is a motivator? Is that why you have attached yourself to John? You think he might be worth part of the farm some day?”

Her breath stopped in her throat as she realized his meaning. She stepped in front of him and stopped abruptly. He stopped short, nearly knocking into her as she blocked his path. Her back straightened as though her five foot eight inch frame could meet his six foot two. She poked a finger in his chest and forced herself to speak around heaving breaths.

“How dare you! You don’t even know me! How dare you make an assumption about my motives?”

He placed two hands up in mock surrender. “I just know I saw you almost naked. You’re living here with your child who has no father, freeloading off my mother. You have Sadie and Jeb wrapped around your pretty little finger.” He held his little finger up in the air and swirled it like a lasso. “What else am I supposed to think?”

Tears pricked at the backs of her lashes. She turned from him quickly and resumed her run, the pace becoming faster and faster until she left him far behind. He was just out of her eyesight as she turned the corner at the pasture fence and slowed at the back steps. She did not stop to stretch again but blasted through the screen door, heading for her room and a shower. The door slammed behind her.

****

“What’s wrong with Lou?” Sadie asked, rising from her chair when Brody walked into the kitchen

“Who knows, Sadie? I guess I offended her,” Brody replied, shaking his head. “All I did was ask her some questions. About why she’s here.”

Jeb rose from his chair and crossed the room to stand before Brody. “What do you mean, boy?” he asked, his brow drawn together.

“I already told you, Jeb, I left the boy back on the farm twelve years ago.” Brody couldn’t help but bristle.

“Then I suggest you act like the man you claim to be and tell me why Lou just flew through here like a cat with her tail on fire, and about as mad, too. What did you do?”