Free A Soldier's Promise (Crystal Lake Series Book 2) by Laura Scott Page B

doctor Gabe Allen stopped by with his fiancée Larissa and took the catheter out.”
    She vaguely remembered Gabe offering to do that when they were in the hospital yesterday. She shouldn’t have been surprised, Gabe was a great guy and this is exactly something he’d do. How had she missed seeing Gabe and Larissa at church? “Really?”
    “Yes, and he gave me some water-proof dressings to put over the small incision while swimming. So you see? There’s nothing to worry about.”
    She scowled and planted her hands on her hips. “I highly doubt he meant for you to swim in the lake. Those dressings are for showering with clean water.”
    “I promise, he really did say I could swim in the lake,” Derek insisted.
    “Okay, okay.” Was she overreacting? Maybe. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take a look at the wound after lunch. Just in case.” She turned and walked back up to the house, belatedly realizing that she’d left the rest of the groceries in the car. Never before had a man sent her from exasperated to happy within five minutes. Andrew had mostly made her sad. She shrugged and brought in another bag of groceries.
    “Would you like some help?” Derek asked once he’d dried himself off with a towel.
    “I’m fine,” she said, knowing that Derek would only get in the way since he didn’t know where everything went anyway. “I bought cold cuts and Italian bread to make sandwiches for lunch.”
    “Sounds good.” Derek stood near the door, and the minute she’d emptied the last grocery bag, he took her hand. “Come on, I want to show you something.”
    Far too conscious of his hand wrapped around hers, she curiously followed him outside to the set of patio doors leading into the other side of the townhouse. And when she walked in, she gasped in surprise. All of the drywall had been taken down off the walls of the living room and kitchen area, while the floor had been swept clean.
    “You did all this today?” she asked in awe.
    He nodded. “I still need to do the ceiling, but taking old drywall down is a lot easier than putting new stuff up. Although I should be able to get to that in a couple of days.”
    “I...don’t know what to say,” she murmured, her cheeks pink with gratitude. All this time, she’d feared that Derek and Lexi were leaving, when in fact, he’d been working as a show of good faith in keeping up his end of the bargain.
    And in that moment, she grimly realized that, despite her best efforts, she’d grown far too emotionally attached to Derek and Lexi.
    A path that would surely lead to heartbreak.

Chapter Seven

    As Julie fixed lunch, she couldn’t help noticing how Derek was moving slowly and carefully again as he crossed the patio and sat down at the table. No doubt the physical work he’d done earlier, tearing down most of her old drywall, had been too much.
    Granted, she very much appreciated the work he’d done, but at the same time, she didn’t want him to hurt himself again, either.
    She brought out the sandwiches and chips she’d picked up at the store and then went back inside for soft drinks. She chose iced tea for herself and Derek, and a tall glass of ice-cold milk for Lexi.
    Both Derek and Lexi sat with their hands together, as if waiting for her to pray. Once she’d taken her seat, she bowed her head and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Dear Lord, we thank You for the food You’ve provided for us today, and we ask for Your wisdom in guiding us on the path You want us to take, especially Derek, who seems intent on working too hard when he’s still in pain. We ask this in the name of Christ the Lord. Amen.”
    She heard a choked laugh as she opened her eyes to find Derek fighting a smile. She pinned him with a stern look. “I’m not kidding,” she muttered. “You need to listen to what your body is telling you.”
    “I know, but I’m fine.”
    “Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” she said wryly. “You always say that, no matter how much