Alpha Billionaire Series
Coming Home Chapter 12

HOLDEN

Immediately following the funeral, I returned to base and began my recovery. Regaining my ability to move and walk had been more brutal than the accident. At least I didn't remember the accident.

When it was obvious that my injuries were going to impact my ability to fly, the Army decided to let me go. I had a discharge in one hand and a stack of legal documents for dealing with my father's death in the other hand.

I couldn't do anything about the discharge. I hadn't fully recovered my stamina, and I wasn't physically able to take on what I needed to do. It was a clear case, and I was out.

My physical therapist said my strength would return in time, and that I needed to take it slow, but I needed to continue working. Even if it was a tortoise's pace. A tortoise's pace still wins the race.

My physical therapist released me from care with a long list of instructions on how to continue my recovery on my own. I needed to expect to not be able to run or lift weights for quite some time. But I didn't need some medical professional with a clipboard telling me how to walk or hold a pencil.

I headed to Nantucket to open up the summer house for the season. I hoped it would give me the time I needed to get situated, both mentally and physically, without the added stress of having to be physically present at Dad's business offices.

Mom wanted me to go through dad's things. She didn't think she could face up to it herself. That meant I was going to be on the island alone. As an adult, it would be the first time I'd been alone for any length of time since I joined the Army straight out of college. I would have to manage on my own clearing out my father's estate and saving what I thought Mom would want to keep. Her memories were hers and not mine to sort out, but I could go in and take care of some of the more obvious things of Dad's that would only cause her pain. I could easily clean out his old office and get rid of his summer clothes and golfing equipment.

It had been years since I was back, and after a week of rattling around the old house, I decided it was time to get out. I headed into town where someone walking slowly wasn't all that uncommon.

Nothing had changed. I didn't think anything on the island ever changed. I now mostly walked with a cane. My physical therapist back in Connecticut had warned me about becoming too reliant on one and wanted me to wean myself off. The plan was to start taking short walks cane-free, and gradually build up to longer and longer walks. Walking in town helped. The blocks were short, and I didn't want to be seen walking with a cane like some old man.

I had my driver park at the end of the block, planning a short walk, about halfway up the block and back. I moved slowly and took my time. It was still early in the season for there to be too many tourists as expected.

What wasn't expected was the woman at the end of the block coming out of a store. She was an angel and even more beautiful than the last time I saw her if that was even possible. Her long flaxen hair was pulled back into a half ponytail half-bun thing on the back of her head. She slid large, lensed sunglasses onto her face. She turned her head as if she was scanning the street. She hadn't seen me.

Disappointment lingered at the back of my neck as I realized I had wanted Makenzie to see me. Even though her brother had threatened me with bodily harm, as well as financial ruin if I so much as spoke to her. I knew that he was more full of shit as an adult than

he had ever been while we were friends. An empty threat from Travis wasn't going to stop me. Not after what I had already been through.

I sucked in my core muscles, gritted my teeth, and walked with the smoothest gait I could possibly muster, trying to hide my obvious limp.

"Makenzie, I can't believe you're here."

She turned and her perfect mouth made a little O. I was flooded with memories of kissing that perfect mouth. Would I ever be allowed to kiss her again? I suddenly missed Makenzie in a way I hadn't realized I had been hiding from myself for years. The pain of it was practically physical.

"Holden? Oh my God, it's you. What are you doing here?" She reached out and leaned in to give me the most perfunctory of courtesy hugs that I had ever received. There was no crushing of her body to mind as there was no tilt of her chin seeking out a kiss. It was the hug of old friends. And that's it.

"I'm on the island to clean out my parents' house and go through my dad's things."

She rested one hand just below her clavicle and grabbed my hand with the other. She tilted her head, and if I could see her face behind those sunglasses, I would have seen concern in her eyes.

"I am so sorry about your father, Holden." She squeezed my hand. "I am so sorry I wasn't brave enough to walk up and say anything to you or your mom at the funeral. I didn't know what to say. I didn't think you needed someone else crying all over you when you were already hurt and grieving yourself. It's a decision I truly regret."

I tried to look into her eyes but all I could see was my own grimace reflected in her sunglasses. Maybe she really was sorry.

Makenzie had always been a girl with a big heart. She took on other people's pain too easily. As the young woman I had loved, that was one of her most endearing traits, her ability to have compassion for others. It wasn't hard for me to accept that she would have been too upset to speak to me at the funeral as she was doing now.

"I asked Travis to give you, my condolences. I hope he wasn't too much of a jerk about it."

I chuckled. Travis had indeed been too much of a jerk. "Travis did pass along your condolences and then he threatened me. Yeah, so I take it some things haven't changed, right?"

Makenzie shook her head. "I'm so sorry about that. Travis excels at getting more unlikeable every year."

I wasn't sure what to say next. I was okay just to stand there and look at her for a while. It had been far too long since I had seen her.

There was a clamor behind her, and she turned, dropping my hand like a hot potato. A young man wrestled a stroller through the door.

I couldn't tell how old he was. He could have been an old-looking nineteen or a young-looking thirty. Considering he was pushing a stroller and appeared to actually know what he was doing, I decided to err on the latter side. "Mommy," the little girl in the stroller said. She was dressed in pink and frills. Makenzie stooped down and adjusted the child's hat.

She had the same little pointed chin and button nose Makenzie had. This was clearly her kid. I looked back at the man pushing the stroller and noticed he had similar fair coloring. He must have been the father, so older than he looked.

Cold water ran through my veins. Any thoughts that might have tickled the edges of my brain about pursuing her again retreated hard and fast. I needed to get out of there.

"Have a nice vacation," I said and lifted my hand in a half-assed wave.

"Oh, I'm not vacationing. I live here now. I moved to be here full time. If you're back on the island, I guess we'll be running into each other again, at least for the summer."

I nodded. I didn't know how I'd handle seeing Makenzie for the summer after so many years of trying to forget her. "Maybe we'll run into each other again."

I should have turned and walked away, but the muscles in my left leg started to quiver with fatigue. I needed her and her little family to walk away first. She handed something to the little girl in the stroller and muttered something to her husband, pointing down the street, away from where my driver waited in the parked car.

"I'll be seeing you around," she called out after me.

Standing in place, I nodded as she walked away. I fought for control over my muscles. I refuse to let her see me limping.