The Reunion by Dan Walsh Read Free Book Online Page B

“Everything’s okay now. Just had to get rid of a troublemaker.” He waved, then backed inside Heather’s trailer.
    He turned and saw her sitting on a nearby armchair, holding her head in her hands. She was trembling. “You gonna be okay?” he said softly.

    A few hours later, Aaron was back in his place in the storage room, trying to calm down. Heather felt pretty sure Aaron had scared Ryan off for good. She gave him a big hug and said, “You saved my life, Aaron. Me and my baby.” She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do in the days ahead.
    Sue could tell he was pretty upset, and his knuckles were scraped up, so she’d given him the rest of the afternoon off. He’d taken a long, hot shower and was getting ready now to head out to his quiet place by the river.
    He needed some time out there after a day like today.
    His hands were still shaking. He didn’t know when that had started, sometime after all the fuss settled down. He wished he could make them stop. Probably just the adrenaline. Still it bothered him, the level of violence that arose in his heart while he was hitting that boy. Aaron hadn’t felt anything like that since Vietnam. It was like his training was right there below the surface.
    Along with the instinct to kill.
    He didn’t like how it felt. Not one bit. That’s not who he was anymore.

11
    T he next morning after his quiet time, one theme kept running through Aaron’s mind. It had started yesterday evening, out by the river. He kept dismissing it as just an aftershock from the tension he still felt over his confrontation with the boy. But the way it kept coming back this morning made him start to wonder if it wasn’t God trying to warn him about something. He needed to fix the lock on Heather’s door, so he made Heather’s trailer his first stop.
    As he stood at the base of the steps, he looked at his watch. Hoped it wasn’t too early. He knocked gently, just enough so she’d hear if she were in the kitchen or the living room. He heard footsteps.
    “Hi, Aaron.”
    He turned toward the voice coming out the screened window to his right. “I came to fix the lock on this doorknob.”
    “I’m glad. It sure needs it.” She unlatched the chain and opened the door.
    He stepped up inside, looked at her face as he walked by. The dark rings under her eyes told him she hadn’t slept much last night. “How are you making out?” Tess ran up to greet him, wagging her tail.
    “Not very well,” she said, relatching the chain across the door. She stepped into the kitchen, picked up a mug of coffee from the counter. “I don’t feel very safe in this trailer anymore.”
    “That’s really what I’ve come to talk to you about. Did you hear from that boy?”
    “Not yet. I know I was saying yesterday that I thought you scared him off for good. Last night and this morning, I’m not so sure.”
    “He’s an angry young man,” Aaron said. “I’d judge him to be real unstable.”
    “Believe me, he is.”
    “You know you can’t stay here, not in this trailer anymore.”
    She paused, took a sip of coffee. “I know.”
    “You have any place to go?”
    “I called a friend who works at my restaurant and explained what happened. She said I could stay with her a few days. I’ll probably go there. But I don’t know what I’m going to do with Tess.”
    “Then where will you go after a few days?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t even feel good going there. Ryan’s met her before. I wouldn’t put it past him to come looking for me over there.”
    “He knows where she lives?”
    “No, but it wouldn’t be too hard for him to figure out.”
    Aaron just needed to say what he came to say. He knew she hadn’t been open to the idea before, but it was what he felt God wanted him to say, the real reason he was there. “Can I sit down a moment?”
    “Sure.” She walked into the living room, sat on the edge of the sofa. Tess followed, jumped up beside her.
    He sat on the armchair nearby.