Read Online Where Angels Tread by Clare Kenna - Free Book Online

‘cause arthritis set in after the injury and that I’ll have it for the rest of my life. ‘Course, that doesn’t bother me; it’s dead useful to tell you the truth.”
    “But do you blame me?” Shane pressed on. No matter what Buddy had to say, Shane needed to hear it.
    Buddy traced his finger along the tankard, which was wet with condensation. “No,” he said. “I don’t even know why you’re asking me that, to tell you the truth. I told you that I didn’t blame you right after it happened, even when the doctors weren’t sure if I’d ever be able to walk again.”
    Shane’s face crumpled at the memory; the terror he had felt, standing at Buddy’s bedside with Maribel, whose face was frozen in terror, was something that had stayed with him all these years.
    “It was an accident, Shane, and nothing more. It could have happened to any one of us. But I can tell you that until I’m blue in the face; you won’t believe me until you’re ready to.”
    “If no one blames me, why won’t they look at me? I’ve practically been shunned by everyone else on the force.”
    “That,” Buddy said, a shadow crossing his face, “is entirely in your head. You isolated yourself from all of your friends, myself included. The guys just don’t know how to treat you anymore, so they started tiptoeing around you. You’re like a ghost. Anytime you’re ready to rejoin the land of the living, we’ll be waiting for you with open arms.” He glanced at his watch and groaned. “I gotta run, sorry. Maribel’s visiting her mother today and asked me to pick Henry up from daycare.” He stood up and clapped Shane on the back jovially. “It was nice to see you again, man. Think about what I’ve said. When you’re ready, we’re waiting.”
    As he watched Buddy walk away, an almost imperceptible limp in his gait, Shane clutched the handle of his tankard so hard that his knuckles turned white. “I’m ready,” he growled. “Damn it, I’m ready!”
    The pair of women seated at the stools next to Shane glanced his way in alarm, then shifted their bodies ever so slightly away from him. But Shane, too preoccupied with his thoughts, barely noticed. He was done being a martyr, he thought fiercely. It was time for him to get on with his life, make up for lost time. And that involved getting to know a certain woman named Heidi.

    Heidi patted her hair nervously, feeling slightly ridiculous. Usually more of a wash and wear kind of girl, she had spent more money than she cared to admit on a sleek new curling iron that promised to make her look like a million dollars. Which, she thought, was practically what she had to fork over for it. Heidi studied her reflection in the mirror critically. It did have a nice effect, she had to admit. Rummaging around in her bathroom drawer, she dug out a battered tube of shimmery lipstick that she kept around for special occasions and swirled it over her mouth.
    “Mom?” Zachary called.
    “In here.”
    He appeared at the door, watching her suspiciously. “What are you doing?”
    “Just getting ready,” Heidi said, ignoring his questioning eyes. “Officer Kensington is going to be here in a few minutes.”
    Her son continued to stare at her. “Why are you wearing lipstick? You never wear makeup.”
    She glared at him. “Why don’t you go outside so you don’t keep Shane waiting?” He frowned, then swung around on his heels and slouched down the hall. Heidi turned back to her reflection, then opened up a pack of tissues and rubbed one vigorously over her mouth to remove the lipstick, chiding herself for acting like an excitable teenage girl. Shane, she reminded herself, was not coming to see her.
    After smoothing her hair one last time and tucking her sleeveless blouse into her jeans, she switched off the bathroom light and walked casually into the living room. She chose a seat by the front window, grabbed a magazine, and pretended to read, all the while peering eagerly outside and waiting