A Hero to Come Home To by Marilyn Pappano Read Free Book Online Page A

Lowry.” Hesitation held her motionless a minute before she followed Jessy’s lead from the weekend and extended her hand. “Nice to see you again.”
    His fingers were long, strong, callused, the nails clipped unevenly, and heat emanated from his skin. How could men’s hands, so similar to women’s on the surface, feel so different to touch? There was strength in his hand, solidity, control, and just holding it briefly sent a hint of a shiver along her arm.
    It was just a handshake, one that he ended a few seconds too early, a few seconds too late. Her fingers tingling, she drew her hand back when he released it, then didn’t quite know what to do with it. Finally, she wrapped her fingers around the cool metal of the machine.
    “Where’s Trista?” Justin asked, twisting to look over one shoulder.
    “She is…” Carly scanned the room, locating the girl against the far wall, her own hesitant gaze sweeping around, dropping, then sweeping again. “There. Looking for you.”
    Justin slid to his feet, steadying himself for a moment, then Dane handed him the crutches that had leaned against the wall. “See you guys.”
    “Abandoning me for a younger woman?” Carly teased.
    “Aw, you’re sweet, but Trista’s got my heart.” Using the crutches with ease, he waited until he’d reached the middle of the room to call the girl’s name. A smile swallowed her entire face as she launched herself toward him.
    Smiling, Carly leaned against the wall. “Trista is as timid as a mouse. Justin paid attention to her the day they met, and she’s been attached to him ever since.” She gestured toward the machine. “You waiting to use this?”
    “Nah. Just talking to Justin. Go ahead and hop on. But I’ve seen your legs. I don’t think you need it.”
    Did Caveman just compliment her? It was impossible to tell from his expression. He wasn’t looking at her—his attention was directed toward the room—but there was a faint hint of pink tingeing his cheeks.
    He did compliment her—her legs, at least. That was the first time a man had said something flattering to her in…Carefully avoiding the natural thought of Jeff, she finished: in a long time.
    She continued to gaze at him long enough that his eyes flickered her way once, then twice. He shifted to lean against the wall as she did and indicated the room with a sweep of his water bottle. “What’s the deal with the kids?”
    “We come over every Tuesday afternoon to visit. At any given time, half of my class has one parent deployed—a few mothers, mostly fathers. This gives them something to look forward to, a little time with someone like their daddies, and the soldiers enjoy it, too.”
    “It doesn’t scare them?”
    “Maybe a few, but we assure them the kids don’t bite. Though there was that time JayLo took a nip out of Hannah for making fun of her name. The joys of being named after a celebrity.”
    He gave her a dry look. “The kids.”
    “Do the injuries and scars scare them? Not at all. Does it worry them that the same could happen to their dads and moms? On occasion. But they’re young. They have blind faith in their parents, in the Army. In their eyes, you guys are heroes who can do anything.”
    Another bit of pink colored his cheeks. At being called a hero? She believed in heroes—not the popular version of celebrities or athletes, but everyday heroes, who saw a job that needed to be done and volunteered to do it, even when it meant facing danger and death every day. People willing to die for their communities or their country, because someone had to do it.
    Because the subject seemed to make him uncomfortable, she changed it with an obvious look at his clothes. “You been PT-ing?” Physical training was a daily part of practically every soldier’s life, though in the past few years, it had become just as common for the abbreviation to refer to physical therapy—a daily part of her soldiers’ lives.
    “Yeah. I, uh, just stopped to talk to