Melissa: A Hathaway House Heartwarming Romance by Dale Mayer (surface ebook reader TXT) 📗

He chuckled. “I haven’t been doing very much at all,” he said. “I’ve been burying myself in work, helping as many people as I can. So maybe it’s something I need to look at. I’m not avoiding relationships but haven’t left a whole lot of room for one either.”

“And maybe it’s something you need to just let go and let happen,” she said with a cheeky smile.

As it was a repeat of earlier words spoken, he immediately caught her intention and laughed. “Very true,” he said. “Very, very true.”

The next half hour they spent in peace, as they watched the animals and talked about all things minor. But it was also a milestone that she felt was important, something so very personal and private, almost intimate, about the two of them as they moved outside.

Finally he looked at his watch and, with a heavy sigh, said, “I have to head back. Do you want to come back with me, and I’ll make sure you get there safely, or are you okay out here on your own?”

“Well, I’d like to say I’m okay on my own,” she said, “but that pathway has a bit of an incline to it.”

He chuckled. “There absolutely is. Why don’t I escort you to the main grounds, and then you can go where you want to from there.”

As soon as they got to the pool area, she said, “If you want, you can leave me here,” she said. “I think I’d like to just sit and enjoy the sunshine for a bit.”

“Perfect,” he said. “Just remember not to get sunburned.” And, with that, he gave her a quick smile and disappeared.

Shane headed back to his office, knowing he had spent way too much time with her than he should have, but it was hard not to. Something was very special about her that brought out the protectiveness in him, and whether that was good or not, he wouldn’t analyze it. It was just nice to think about her on a completely different level than as a patient. Something about her just brought out a completely different set of feelings inside him. And it was about time.

He smiled as he headed to his office.

The smile was instantly caught by Dani, walking down the hallway. “Wow,” she said. “Wonder what woman put that smile on your face?”

He stopped, looked at her, and said, “What?”

She burst out laughing. “Just teasing you,” she said, “but obviously someone has put that smile on your face.”

“Yes,” he said. “I was just outside, showing Melissa the animals, and we went for a walk up and down on the pathway.”

“Perfect,” she said with a cheeky smile. “Sounds like you two are getting along famously.”

“She’s lovely,” he said, “and obviously has been through a lot in her life.”

“She has, but more than anything,” Dani said quietly, “it’s made her more isolated and fearful of getting hurt again.”

“I think almost everybody who’s been through some relationship trauma, whether it’s a death, a loss, or abusiveness,” he said, “it’s a similar issue, isn’t it?”

“It is, indeed,” she said. She walked past him, heading to her office, and said, “But as long as she’s putting that smile on your face, I’m all for it.”

In his office, he sat down, wondering at her words. He didn’t look any different, but he felt different. And, with that same smile on his face, he got to work.

As Shane headed down to the hot tub with Keith at the end of the day—to work on some of his sore muscles that he still struggled to control—Shane wondered where and how long Melissa had stayed out in the sun. He hoped not too long because her skin was supersensitive, being as fair as she was. He looked when they arrived at the pool, thankful she wasn’t here. He would have felt guilty for leaving her here when he should have taken her up himself.

“You seem distracted,” Keith said, looking up at him. “Something wrong?”

“Not at all,” Shane said. “I had a patient out here earlier. Just making sure that she’s not still here.”

“I guess it’s hard to turn off, isn’t it?” Keith asked.

“It can be,” he said. “You know how we invest in you guys. We invest our hearts, our hopes, our energies to try and get you as good as we can, and we don’t want to see anything happen to derail your success.”

“What about emotionally?” he asked. “Now that I’ve found somebody, which I still don’t quite believe, how do you handle relationships here?”

“Well, it hasn’t been an issue before,” he said. “It might be now though.”

“Ah-ha,” Keith said with a chuckle. “It’s nice to see that it’s not just me who got caught.”

“I’m not sure exactly what it is,” Shane admitted, “but I’m definitely interested in someone.”

“Good,” he said. “In that case, you should go after it, if that’s what you want.”

“Oh, she’s not ready,” he said.

“You know what? That’s what I thought about me, but I was wrong too.”

“You think so?”

“Absolutely. Being here, the things we’ve been through, it’s not a case of not being ready. It’s not a case of needing more time. It’s usually that most of us don’t even see what’s in front of us. We don’t think it’s possible. We don’t see that relationship or that anybody will even want us. And that’s something that I had to get past.”

“But you did get past it,” he said.

“I did. It took a bit, and that’s only down to Ilse that I made it that far,” he said, chuckling. “She’s been very, very good for me.”

“You two do look great together,” he said.

“I appreciate that. I still worry that I might be a burden for her, and I know, if she ever heard me say that, she’d trounce me hard for it,” he said, chuckling. “And now that I’m getting so much better, and I can see that the improvements will continue, it’s just