Read Online A Soldier's Promise (Crystal Lake Series Book 2) by Laura Scott - Free Book Online

rubbing a hand along the right side of his chest. There was nothing worse than feeling useless. He wished he felt strong enough to start working on the half-gutted townhouse. The sooner he could pay Julie back for her hospitality, the better.
    Lexi came back outside and climbed into the seat beside him. He opened his eyes, blinking against the bright sunlight. Thankfully, the umbrella overhead helped provide some shade, and he watched as Lexi pulled out her colored pencils and began to draw the lake.
    “Would you like some iced tea or a soft drink?” Julie asked as she walked up.
    “Sure. Tea would be great,” he said, even though he knew that he was already imposing on Julie far more than he had a right to.
    “Lexi, do you like root beer?” Julie asked.
    His daughter nodded but didn’t look up from her drawing. Once his daughter was preoccupied with something she liked to do, it was difficult to get her attention. He was about to apologize for Lexi’s behavior, but Julie was already disappearing into her side of the townhouse, the screen door sliding shut behind her.
    He allowed his eyes to drift closed, giving in to a wave of insidious fatigue. Why he should be so tired, he had no idea. It wasn’t as if he’d done much. And if he was this exhausted just from running a few errands and going for a boat ride, then how in the world was he going to do the construction work on Julie’s townhouse that needed to be done?
    “Derek, why don’t you go inside to lie down?”
    He pried his eyes open and summoned a smile. “It’s nice being out here like this.” He reached for the glass of ice-cold tea. “Thanks, again.”
    Julie gave him an exasperated look as she sat down beside him. “I don’t know what you’re trying to prove,” she muttered. “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since your accident.”
    He didn’t want to think about the crash. “Does your brother live around here?”
    “He lives about an hour away in Madison,” she said. “Unfortunately, Zack doesn’t get up here as much as he used to. Still, we’ve stayed close since our parents died.”
    There was a hint of sadness in her tone, but he held back from asking anything too personal. After all, it wasn’t as if he wanted to reciprocate. Julie seemed like the type of woman who’d feel compelled to report him to the authorities if she knew the truth.
    “This area looks like a nice place to live,” he said instead. “How many people are there in Crystal Lake?”
    “About fourteen hundred people live within Hope County, and over half of them live within a twenty-five mile radius to the lake. The people here either work at the medical center, for the government either in city hall or the sheriff’s department, or in the service sector, which depends a lot on tourism to survive.”
    “No manufacturing jobs, huh?” he asked.
    “No. We had a car manufacturing plant about thirty miles from here, but that closed down a few years ago, after the collapse of the economy.”
    He figured as much. Crystal Lake might be a great place to live, but he needed some sort of job that would support him and Lexi. He’d done some construction work prior to going into the service, but with the economy the way it was, no one was building new houses anymore.
    Eight years in the Army hadn’t exactly prepared him for the civilian job market. Of course, he’d planned to reenlist until Claire had told him about her cancer. The doctor had given her six months to live.
    She’d only lasted four.
    Seven years ago, when Claire had discovered she was pregnant, he’d asked her to marry him, but she’d refused. At least Claire had let him be a part of Lexi’s life, and not only had he sent most of his money to Claire, he’d spent as much time as he could with Lexi. But after Claire had found out about her cancer, she’d asked him to come back to care for their daughter. He’d jumped through yards of red tape before he was granted his honorary discharge, but