Free American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory by Kathryn Le Veque Page A

anything like it.
    Elliot smiled and cocked her
head. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
    He grinned, embarrassed he had
been caught daydreaming. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I rarely
get an opportunity to go out to breakfast that doesn’t involve work, and it’s
even rarer that I get to share it with a beautiful woman.  I guess I’m a little
giddy.”
    Elliot laughed softly. “There you
go, saying sweet things again. You’re going to give me a big head.”
    He laughed. “If anyone was truly
entitled to such a thing, it would be you,” he said, his smile fading. “But do
me a favor and don’t change. Stay just the way you are.”
    She grinned, modestly, not sure
how to reply.  He had such a gentle, unassuming manner about him, something
that she was coming to like a great deal.  She could feel herself relaxing in
his comforting presence, allowing herself for the first time in over a year to
think of a man in a non-platonic sense. 
    In fact, she could get very used
to having Nash around but simultaneous thoughts of Rob made her feel torn,
almost as if she was betraying the man’s memory by even thinking such a thing. 
But she had to move on, didn’t she? As she wrestled with her conflicting
thoughts, the old man brought around water and coffee, and the two of them
prepared their coffee in warm silence.
    “So,” Elliot began, just to break
the silence. “Did you find anything last night?”
    He took a healthy sip of coffee.
“No,” he said. “Not a thing. No footprints, no car tracks, no fingerprints…
nothing.  I’m really sorry about that.”
    She shrugged. “I’m just grateful
that you tried.  And I’m really grateful that you were there when it all went
down.”
    He sighed faintly, toying with
his coffee cup. “We need to get that front window fixed.”
    She shrugged again, stirring the
creamer in her coffee. “I have a contractor coming tomorrow.  I supposed I’ll
just have to cover the window with plastic until I can get it fixed.”
    He gazed at her a moment and she
could literally see the wheels turning behind the smoldering hazel eyes.
    “I have a better idea,” he said
softly.
    He pulled his cell phone out of
its case and hit a few buttons on the touch screen. As Elliot listened with
increasing curiosity, he contacted someone he apparently knew very well,
explained the situation, and then listened to the response.  After a few more
exchanged words, he hung up the phone and smiled at her.
    “My brother will be here in a
couple of hours,” he said.  “He’ll take care of the window for you, and
probably the rest of the house if you want him to.”
    Elliot’s eyebrows lifted in
surprise. “What?” she gasped. “Why? Who is…?”
    He reached across the table,
gathering her hand in his big, warm mitt. “My brother is a general contractor,”
he told her.  “Well, he’s actually the CEO of a general contracting business so
he doesn’t actually do hands-on work, but for you, he’ll make an exception. He
mostly does the big hotels along the gulf coast and things like that. He’s got
legions of guys at his disposal.”
    “Seriously?” she said, awed. “I’m
really flattered. And grateful. But how much is this going to cost me?”
    He smiled at her, squeezing her
hand but not letting it go. He was trying to see how long he could get away
with holding her hand before she pulled it away.
    “Don’t worry about it,” he told
her. “You’ll get the special family discount rate.”
    She laughed softly and he
squeezed her hand again.  Surprisingly, she didn’t pull away. “Thanks,” she
said. “But… well, I have to ask. If your brother is a general contractor, why
is the house in such bad shape to begin with?”
    Nash’s smile faded and he sat
back in his chair, very discreetly toying with her fingers. “That’s a long and
sad story,” he admitted, using his other hand to pick up his coffee cup. “The
truth of the matter is that