Page 32 of Her Summer Hope

It was time for Kyle to say something…anything to diffuse the tension. He felt Aiden roll up behind him, catching Jace’s eye.

“I’m Kyle,” he said, reaching out with his opposite hand.

Jace stared at it, then shook.

“Welcome home, Jace.”

∞∞∞

“Aiden’s room is there and yours is right next door. I’ll leave you to settle in. There’s food down in the kitchen if you get hungry. There is always water and other drinks available, whatever you need just ask.”

Jace was standing at his window, staying slightly to the side, and Kyle knew why. Sniper fire.

It would take him a while to become accustomed to being out of immediate danger. Sometimes that adjustment came later than others. No amount of telling him that he was safe would help.

His friend, a man named Dave, came back with his luggage and set it just inside the door. Kyle gave them some privacy. Jace looked spooked and he didn’t want to cause him any more stress.

Sometimes just being around strangers was stressful enough.

Back downstairs, he saw John and Aiden leaving for Aiden’s appointment in town. They’d be back later for supper, though Evans had been trying to lure him out to the little bar. Murdock seemed reluctant to go, but he’d never let Evans go alone, and if John and Aiden were going it was likely that they’d all want to eat here first.

Kyle was wary about Evans taking Aiden out to the bar.

Sure, he was a grown man and he wasn’t a prisoner here. He could come and go as he pleased and he could always have one of the guys take him wherever he wanted to go, but he didn’t think ready access to that much alcohol was a good idea for anyone recovering from a near-fatal injury.

It was too easy to lean on it as a crutch and it could very quickly become an addiction.

They had neither the training nor the resources to help anyone battle an addiction and part of the paperwork they’d signed had informed them that any substance abuse would be grounds for removal from the program.

They needed a safe place to recover, not a party house to wreck their lives.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. It was clear that he needed to have a chat with Evans.

Kyle left the window and went to the desk, where several days' worth of work awaited him.

He went through some paperwork and bills as he waited. He skipped lunch and found himself triple-checking figures that he’d already double-checked before. He decided to put it on hold for a while and check his emails.

He was very surprised to find seven more inquiries for beds. He’d go through and look at the details of each case. It would have to be first come, first serve, but he had to make sure they only accepted cases they were equipped to handle.

They did not offer nursing care or round-the-clock assistance, though if any of them needed help Kyle would be more than happy to assist. They didn’t dispense medication and were not set up to care for extensive cases of paralysis or severe behavioral issues.

As much as he wanted to help everyone, they simply couldn’t.

Looking over the initial inquiries, he was upset that he had to reject two cases right off because they fell outside the parameters of their facility. He recommended that they reach out to a long-term care facility an hour away. He resolved to follow up with them and make sure they were taken care of.

He’d been working for several hours by then, and his eyes were hurting from staring at the computer screen for so long. He leaned back and closed them, hoping to stop the headache that was trying to develop.

He needed to start finding places in town that might take on those who still needed or wanted to work.

He didn’t know about Jace yet, but Aiden might want to branch out eventually and meet new people. Kyle didn’t think he planned to live with his parents for the rest of his life.

In his opinion, Endurance, North Carolina was the perfect place to live, raise a family, settle down, and eventually retire. They had plenty of places for local shopping, a supermarket, and the mountains, and the cost of living was cheap. Crime was practically nonexistent and there was no bad side of town that he could recall seeing.

There were plenty of jobs in the larger towns down the road, plus superstores, and nightlife too…but Endurance was the best for those who wanted a quieter life.

It couldn’t be too quiet for him.

He’d stumbled on the place years ago when he’d been traveling from Raleigh to Chattanooga in the few months between his first and second deployments. At the time, he’d had a powerful compulsion to just stop and stay forever.