Full Contact

She had bags of groceries, too, as always.

“Where’s the sheriff?” Joe’s gruff voice came from somewhere behind the one-room log cabin he had built by hand over thirty years ago.

Ellen and Greg usually made this trek up the mountain together. But not always.

“There was a traffic accident out by the highway.”

“You shouldn’t be here without him.”

“Of course I should be,” she called, completely without fear. “Sheriff Richards knows I’m here. And you need your groceries.”

Besides, Joe would never, ever do anything to hurt Ellen. Ever.

Now if she had been meeting Black Leather, as she’d come to think of the man she’d seen roaring through town the other day, she would have—

She simply wouldn’t have done it. Period.

“Can I come sit by the window?”

He’d built a seat for her there when she’d first started visiting him. Greg would sit in the cruiser and Ellen would counsel with Joe in plain sight but out of hearing range of the sheriff. Then somehow things had changed and Ellen and Joe had been more friends than social worker and hermit.

“Wait.”

She heard a rustle of grass then saw the thin, slightly stooped man, dressed in baggy overalls and a flannel shirt, skirt around the front of the house and inside. He promptly latched the door with the board Ellen knew he used to lock himself in.

“’Kay.” She only heard the word because she’d been waiting for it. Listening.

Leaving the cooler in the back of the Escape, Ellen grabbed the blue book bag she’d purchased at Walmart the same day she’d bought Josh’s and headed to the house.

With her back to the building, she pulled out a folder of papers and rested them on the windowsill.

Joe’s fingers didn’t come close to brushing hers as he gently tugged the folder away from her.

“It’s all there. Dr. Sheffield is glad you’re in her class. And she hopes she gets to meet you before the semester is through.” Classes didn’t officially start for another couple of weeks, but Phyllis had agreed to send along Joe’s work early. Ellen figured her mother’s friend shared her wish that the studies would interest him enough to get him off the mountain and into the classroom.

“If it was anyone else but you, I’d think there was a trick here. Psychology class. Like I need psychological help.”

“You probably do.”

“Not up here, I don’t.” It wasn’t the first time they’d had the conversation.

“I have an ulterior motive, Joe,” Ellen said, as honest with him as always.

Their ability to speak openly was one of the things she valued most about their peculiar relationship. Conversation with Joe was stripped of most social graces. Or pleasantries.

“I hope that you love the class enough that you’ll need to take more of them.” She chose her words deliberately.

Joe grunted. He didn’t believe himself capable of feeling anything as alive as love. “How’s Josh?”

“Lonesome.” Just thinking about her son hurt her heart. “But I think he’s having fun, too.” This was their first time apart for more than a few days.

“How are you?”

“Fine. Busy. Mom and David have had me over for dinner twice this week. And I’ve been going to work in the evenings. I’m helping some of the residents cheer up their rooms. We’re doing collages, mobiles and photo mosaics. I’d like to paint the multipurpose room, too.”

“How many dates have you been on?”

Josh was her usual excuse for not dating.

“None.”

“You’re not fine.”

She sighed. “Mostly I am, Joe. I’m busy at work. I love the center. How could I not? I get to spend my days helping senior citizens enjoy life. And Josh and I have a new house that I love. We even have a pool. And…” She fiddled with the hem on her shirt. “I’m really okay. I’m running every afternoon. I’m going to do a 10K with Randi Foster in November.”

“In Shelter Valley?”

“Of course. Montford is sponsoring it.”

“Is Randi training with you?”

“No. She runs at school.” Randi was the athletic director at Montford—and baby sister to the university president, Will Parsons, Mayor Becca’s husband.

“Who are you training with?”

“No one.”

“You’re running alone.”

“Yes.”

“You shouldn’t be running alone.”

“I’m careful. I carry pepper spray. And I’m not going to be held hostage to fear.”

“You shouldn’t be running alone.”

He wasn’t going to be convinced. She understood that. And even understood why. But she was still going to run.

Because it was something she had to do for her. Whether Joe understood that or not.

She could so easily end up like him.

“You should be dating.”

“You’ve done fine on your own.”

“It’s different.”