Page 17 of Tormented Hearts
He started for the door.
Gray tapped a pen against the table. “Meeting’s not over.”
“Text me anything else you find.”
He’d told Sinead he’d only be a few minutes.
He didn’t question the instinct to find her.
He just followed it.
* * * * *
Sinead expected a dining hall in a veterans therapy lodge to feel like a holding pen. Instead, it was filled with sunlight and low chatter. Soothing music played in the background, and the dinner buffet smelled nothing like a cafeteria and more like a bistro.
She balanced a tray in one hand and shuffled through the line behind Willow Malone. The striking woman chatted while filling her plate with herb-crusted chicken and rice pilaf.
“I can cook at home, but I don’t always have time. Besides, I can’t pass up Chef’s chicken. You should try his fried chicken sometime.” She rolled her lovely gray eyes upward as if swooning.
Sinead smiled. “Everything looks delicious.” She avoided the chicken but filled her plate with roasted vegetables and rice.
Around them, men sat in small groups. A few ate alone, but once in a while another resident would call out a greeting, including them even if they chose not to socialize.
“I’m really impressed with this place.” Sinead added fresh fruit salad to a bowl and grabbed a bottled water.
She and Willow crossed the hall to a table near the tall windows. “The therapy program is my brother Oaks’s pet project. He had a friend in the military who didn’t adjust so well.”
They traded a knowing look.
Willow took a deep breath. “Actually, my husband Decker was also in the program.”
Sinead couldn’t conceal her surprise. “How amazing that the program helped him through a rough time.”
They settled into seats.
Willow opened her water and took a long drink. “They don’t tell you that being pregnant makes you so thirsty. I feel like one of my horses—I could use a trough.”
Sinead laughed. “Congratulations to you and your husband.”
Willow beamed and they began to eat. Sinead asked more about the program and learned it was funded by government programs, various charities and by the Malone family.
She also learned Willow provided horse therapy to the vets, and some of the women in the Malone family gave classes as well.
“What type of classes?” She took a bite of sweet honeydew and chewed.
“My sisters-in-law are so talented. Honor hosts an art therapy class. When Juliette’s not performing to some packed arena, she gives violin concerts for all of us here.”
Sinead straightened. “Juliette? As in the Juliette?”
She smiled around her bite of chicken. “The very one. She’s a delight. She and my brother Theo just eloped.”
She leaned in, intrigued. “You’re telling me your brother married Juliette? I saw the headlines about their elopement!”
At that moment, another woman approached the table. “Mind if I join you?”
Willow waved at the chair beside her. “Of course. Sinead, have you met Rhae? She’s our resident therapist, and she’s married to my brother Denver.”
The little girl who’d pushed her way into the infirmary when Sinead and Hawk were there earlier marched up to the table carrying her own tray with a single fat blueberry muffin in the middle.
