Page 15 of Wrecked By You

I pulled up to the old ranch house and took out the stack of pizzas. When I walked to the door, all I could hear was country music blasting. I knocked on the door but got no response. Feeling awkward, I glanced around at the property. The house looked just like it had years ago when I’d been a boy. I thought I remembered coming out here to buy a horse with my dad.

I knocked again and waited, my heart racing.

Finally, the door flew open, and there stood the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Today, Isla was wearing a tight T-shirt, spandex shorts, and tennis shoes. Her blonde hair was pulled up on top of her head in a bun. She had a paint smudge on the side of her face, and she was holding a paintbrush.

“Damon?” She didn’t sound happy when she said my name.

I flashed a grin. “Hey, I didn’t just bring the pizza. I brought these too.” I lifted up a bag of gummy bears.

She stared at the gummy bears like they were poison. Gummy bears used to be the way we’d apologized to each other while growing up. She shook her head. “No. I’m not taking a peace offering.” She stood there and didn’t back up to let me in or acknowledge my gesture of pizza.

I really didn’t have anything else to work with. “Isla, can we just talk?”

She shook her head. “You know, I’ve been thinking about how I could go back and get back that job all day. And you obviously know that your mom and sister and Ella came over today.”

I nodded. “They just told me.”

She sighed. “I don’t want to be the pity case. I don’t want to be the person everyone is offering things to. Yet here I am, painting Willow Harrington’s home because I need a break on my rent. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to cover the rent. But the more I thought about that dispatch job and working with you, the more I realized I couldn’t.”

I found myself focusing on the fact that she’d been thinking about me all day. “I don’t understand,” I said with a frown.

Her face hardened. “Damon, maybe it’s not fair to you, but you hurt me. I thought you were my best friend. I needed you.”

She couldn’t have said anything that would be more like a knife through my heart.

“It’s been a rough couple of years, and I don’t know why I came back to Refuge Falls.” She flung a hand into the air. “Actually, I do. Since you’re the police chief, I might as well just tell you.”

More adrenaline filled my veins. “What is it?”

“My ex, Kyle, is crazy. I feel threatened. I don’t think he knows where I am, because he wouldn’t think I would ever come back here, but he’ll probably figure it out. I might have to deal with you as the police, but I can’t deal with you as a friend. Because I needed you and you weren’t there. I can’t forget that. You hurt me.”

Every part of me felt blindsided, and suddenly I felt like I would drop the pizzas.

“Tell your mother and your sister and Ella thank you for the food, but I’m just going to have to figure something out. God has always shown up for me, so I will. But I don’t need Armstrong charity.” With that, she shut the door.

My heart pounded in my chest, and I didn’t know what to do. Slowly, I put the pizzas on the porch with the gummy bears on top. I wasn’t hungry anymore. I walked away from the house, wishing so many things in my life had been different, especially how I’d dealt with Isla when she’d told me she was pregnant and eloping.

Nine

Isla

I puttered around the house, painting for another ten minutes. I was angry that Damon had come out here. Angry that he’d brought pizza and gummy bears. Angry that I had told him I hadn’t forgiven him. That was stupid. It was a long time ago, and none of it was his fault. It was my fault. Hadn’t the therapist been telling me to take responsibility?

Frustrated, I finished up painting the last wall in the living room and moved to the front door. I had put a bucket full of water outside, and I needed to clean the brush.

When I opened the door to go to the water spigot, I noticed the two pizzas and the gummy bears resting on the porch. Annoyed, I put the paintbrush in the bucket, and then I picked up the pizzas and the gummy bears and moved into the house. I didn’t want hungry animals to start raiding the place.

I brought the food into the kitchen and looked at the pizzas. My annoyance grew when I saw that they were pepperoni and extra meat. I loved those kinds, and I knew Damon did too. Then I realized that he’d probably gotten the pizzas to feed his children. Why had he left them?

I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to ignore all those questions. I put two pieces on a plate and then microwaved them. Then I said a prayer over the food and started eating.

As I enjoyed the meal, I thought about how I had told Damon I didn’t need charity. I’d told all of them that. Seeing him show up here had angered me and made me not want to do the dispatch job. Even the little bit that Mrs. Friendly had shown me made me want the job, though.

I thought about the night everything had happened with my father. I knew this job was the one for me because of that night. Because the voice on the line had talked me through what to do when my whole body was a bruised mass, all beaten up. The fear and the panic that had assaulted me had been made easier by the dispatcher’s voice.

I wanted to be that voice for other people. I wanted to help others. I hadn’t really felt called to anything until now. Right or wrong, even if it would be hard to go in and face Damon, I wanted that job. That’s the only thing I knew.

Ten