Healing Her Soul (Mayflower Series #2)

Chapter 9

Ryder stood across the street from the bakery, watching the rest putting the final touches, as he puffed on his e-cigarette. His eyes slowly lingered on Julia. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Of course she would decline a man like him, because she was perfect. However, he had hoped that one day she would say yes to a date with him.

The crunching of boots drew his attention away. He looked up to see Max approach him with two halves of a sandwich in his hand.

“Maria made them for us,” Max explained as he handed half to Ryder.

Ryder uttered his thanks and took a bite of it. The salty taste of ham mixed with the juiciness of the fresh tomato slices beneath it awakened his taste buds. He eyed the sandwich in his hands. It had cheese and lettuce in the mix. It was a simple recipe yet somehow Maria always knew how to make anything with bread taste like heaven.

“I assume you’re sending Julia back later?” Asked Max. Ryder snorted.

“If that firecracker would let me. But I’d like to believe I’ll be convincing enough,” he replied. “Why?”

“Could you do me a favour and send Maddie back too? It’ll help with your…convincing,” Max responded, earning a chuckle from Ryder.

“Don’t need no help, but sure,” Ryder smirked.

“Thanks. Ashley’s back and she insists I need to help her later,” Max sighed.

“Big brother to the rescue,” he commented as he took a final bite of his sandwich.

“As always,” Max sighed. He leaned against a nearby lamp post. Ashley is Max’s younger sister. She transported horses for a living although her main client was the Smiths. Even though Max claims she annoys him a lot, Ryder knew Max would never say no to his little sister. After all, she was the reason he came back to Mayflower and met Maddie. He had been in a dark place after the military, and she practically dragged his ass back to town and set him up to work at Smith’s farm.

“How’s Maddie holding up?” Asked Ryder as he took in another puff.

“Staying strong for Julia, mostly. The bakery means a lot to her too.”

“Yeah. They’re a strong bunch.”

Ryder’s eyes lingered back toward Julia. Somehow, he always wandered back to her. The need to protect her grew every day, and he could not explain it. That kiss that they had shared had ignited a spark in him, and he simply could not draw his attention away.

“What are your thoughts on what happened?”

He knew he shouldn’t be discussing cases, but Max was as observant as him, if not more, due to his military background. On top of that, he was also always straight with him. Perhaps he could give a different perspective on the case.

He glanced over at Max who, too, was watching the bakery.

“I think… Normally nothing like this happens around here. The other side of town, maybe, but not here.”

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”

A silence hung between them, each in their own world, probably watching the girl that affected them the most. He watched as Julia observed the rest at work, a look of sadness befalling her. An ache formed in his chest as he watched her, because if he looked closely, it looked as though she was saying goodbye.

“Does Julia seem a little off to you or Maddie today?” He asked. If anyone could help him decipher her, it would be Max for sure.

“Hard to say. Everyone is quite affected by this incident,” Max replied as he glanced over at Julia.

Seeing the time on his watch, he turned toward Ryder and spoke in a low voice, “But I will tell you this. Between Maddie and her, she seems like she’s got a whole lot more on her shoulders than she lets on.”

With a reassuring pat on his shoulder, Max headed back into the bakery.

Ryder took another puff, keeping his eyes fixed on Julia. He watched as her concentration broke away from everyone. She reached for her phone, but the moment she unlocked it and read whatever message was on it, something felt wrong. Her eyebrows furrowed while her eyes held an intense, troubled story. As she slowly lowered her phone, her face looked as pale as a sheet of paper.

Warning bells immediately rang off in Ryder’s head. He quickly slid his e-cigarette into his pocket as he made his way back to the bakery.

The jingle of the door bell seemed to pull her from her trance, and her eyes flickered toward him. Instantly, she knew that he had noticed. Her hand that held her phone quickly darted behind her. Her eyes shifted across the room, and his eyes followed their direction. She was checking to see if anyone else had noticed. No one had paid much attention to his entrance, and no one had noticed her other than him. Good. It was just him and her.

He made his way over to her with intent in his stride.

“What’s wrong?” Ryder spoke in a low tone, keeping their conversation private.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Julia replied, the smile she wore was as fake as they came. Ryder hated that look on her. He hated that she needed to pretend.

She grabbed the rag she had been using and resumed wiping the counter, ignoring him in the process.

“I know something’s bothering you,” Ryder pressed, moving with her along the counter. “You can tell me.”

“I’m fine, Ryder,” She whispered harshly, annunciating each word, warning him to drop the subject.

Over the years, Ryder learnt how to deal with all sorts of people. The one thing he prided himself on was his patience to pull out information from them. With Julia, however, somehow all those years of training seemed to go out the window. She always tested his patience, yet he couldn’t control the undeniable need to protect her. He couldn’t control the emotions that she seemed to bring forth. Worst of all, he couldn’t stop himself from needing to know.

“What you read on your phone a minute ago, did it have to do with what happened here today?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ryder,” Julia snapped, “I said it’s nothing.”

She glared at him from across the counter. Her eyes held a ferocious intensity. It pierced right through him. He had seen that rage once before, said with the exact same words. She may never know it, but it gutted him. It brought him back to a day in the past that he had tried for years to escape, but never could.

He clenched and unclenched his fists and kept his mouth sealed shut as he faced her glare head on. He did not trust himself to speak. Instead, he turned right back around and made his way back to his smoking spot.

He puffed away angrily as he kept watch outside the bakery, trying to calm himself, but his thoughts kept pulling him back to the past. His thoughts kept pulling him back to that day many years ago.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ryder. I said it’s nothing.”

Ryder had spent his entire childhood clinging onto his mother as his abusive father took aim at her. When he got a bit older, he spent most of his adolescence taking the brunt of the hits trying to protect her. It had been rough.

When Ryder got accepted into the police academy, his father seemed to have toned down, becoming a model citizen. A year later, he realised it was all just lies.

“I’ve got a good job now, Ma. Come with me. Leave him and come with me.”

Ryder sat on the kitchen island pleading with his mother, who had her back towards him. She stood by the sink, eyes never leaving the soapy dishes as she rinsed them.

With her head down, she responded, “It’s fine, dear, everything’s good here, so there’s no reason to leave.”

“You know as well as I do, Ma, those bruises aren’t from an accident,” Ryder pressed on, agitated that after so many years she still wanted to stay and protect the monster that was his father. He rose from his seat and slowly moved toward her, because the distance between them seemed to grow greater at each passing second.

“Yes they are, and they don’t hurt so really, it’s nothing,” she responded, sounding as though his worries were nothing but silly children's stories. But he could hear it as clear as day, the false pretence. He hated it when she went into that mode, because it meant her wall was getting higher and higher.

“You don’t want to report him, fine, but at least leave with me,” Ryder urged. It was his desperate attempt to get her to agree. He would let that filthy man go if it meant she would be safe. He was willing to push aside his hatred for her sake. He would protect that man with his silence in order to protect her.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ryder. I said it’s nothing,” she snapped, dumping the newly rinsed dish into the drying rack with force. The action caused a loud piercing sound of porcelain clanking against metal, cutting through the air.

For the first time since he had entered the house that day, she finally looked him in the eye. The intensity of her glare shook him. His mother had hardly shown an ounce of anger toward him in all his years growing up, yet here she was, with such intensity in her expression. It was a warning, a warning for him to drop the matter. And he did.

Thinking back, his mother had snapped at him the same way Julia had. At that age, he had silently accepted it. She was so sure it was a one-time thing, a small accident. He hadn’t believed her, but he had let it go. He had accepted that it was out of his control and left. It was one of his biggest regrets, because it had been the beginning of everything after.

Now, he was faced with Julia. Could he let the matter go and just leave like he did all those years ago? Would he regret accepting her answer like he did his mother?