Read Online Dorothy Garlock - [Tucker Family] by Come a Little Closer - Free Book Online

had once been as close as Dr. Barlow described, how many times Holden had rebuffed his brother to reach this stage of isolation. Tyler must have been the first bridge destroyed. Listening to his mother’s sobs, Christina had little doubt that more were coming.
    “He’ll never get better if he doesn’t talk about it,” she said.
    “ You and I know that, but don’t say it too loudly around these parts,” the doctor said with a glance at his sister. “There isn’t anyone living under this roof who wants to hear it.”
    Eventually, Christina had excused herself, refusing a ride back to her apartment by explaining that she needed a breath of fresh air. At the end of the street, she stopped and looked back at the Sutter home.
    Lights were on in one of the upstairs rooms. It was Holden’s; she was sure of it. Even from far away, she could see his silhouette standing at the window, pulling back the curtain, watching her.
    Christina turned and walked on.
     
    Holden Sutter watched from the window as Christina Tucker stopped at the end of the street and turned to look back at the house. For an instant, he thought of ducking behind the curtain, out of sight. But by then it was too late; he felt certain that she had seen him. To hide now would be childish. Instead, he continued to look.
    He saw her wipe a strand of dark hair from her face as the soft breeze stirred the fabric at the bottom of her skirt. He moved closer to the window, his hand pressing against the cool glass, fingers splayed; he wondered if she could see his movement, because of the light shining behind him, and imagine that he was waving to her.
    When she turned once again to walk away, Holden finally released the curtain and returned to the solitary sanctuary of his room.
    “Damn it all,” he muttered to himself.
    When she first walked into his room, Holden had been shocked and embarrassed. Certainly, he hadn’t expected anyone other than his mother, so to find someone else standing before him had momentarily stopped him in his tracks. The embarrassment had come soon after; he knew that his room wasn’t tidy, but in that moment he had seen what a mess he had allowed his life to become.
    He was not prepared for someone young and beautiful.
    Meeting Christina Tucker had set something stirring in Holden’s chest, a longing he’d never expected to feel again. There had been a time when he had believed he would meet a woman, fall in love, marry, and have a family. Everything would have been perfect, but then he had gone off to war…
    Since his return from France, Holden had been trying to convince himself that being alone was all right, that he could be happy without someone to share his days, but then she had opened his door, and in that moment he’d recognized the lies he had been telling himself. Her dark hair, sparkling green eyes, the warmth of her smile, even her scent, pulled at him, intoxicating him, making him that much more aware of what he still wanted but could never have.
    Angrily, Holden kicked at a pile of books, spilling them.
    Instantly, he regretted it. A slight twitch raced down one arm, causing his fingers to flex of their own accord. He’d found that his moods, particularly angry ones, triggered a spell of tremors. Most times, that first tingling was an unstoppable indicator of a full-blown episode, but there were other times he could hold it at bay, and he hoped that this one was containable. Patiently, he waited, every sense attuned to detecting another spasm. Seconds ticked by slowly, but eventually he felt certain he’d succeeded in not becoming a shaking mess.
    Why did she have to see me that way?
    Every time he suffered a shaking spell, Holden wished that he had died on that rainy day in France. He saw his tremors as a weakness, cowardice, a handicap. He could feel the leering eyes of everyone who saw him, their looks of pity, their offers of sympathy he did not want. In his worst moments, he still saw the woman on the train