Читать книгу High-Stakes Holiday Reunion - Christy Barritt - Страница 13

FIVE

Christopher stared at the alarm clock on the nightstand beside his bed. The red numbers stared back at him. Six-twenty, and he was wide awake.

He’d been wide-awake for a long time.

For most of the night, for that matter.

He tossed toward the other side of his bed, trying to grab a few more minutes of rest. Back at home, there was a bottle of sleeping pills lying on his nightstand. He’d refused to take them, despite his doctor’s encouragement. He liked to think he was strong enough to weather the storms of life without the help of any medication.

Even if he’d had the pills with him now, he wouldn’t have taken any last night. He wanted to be on guard.

Between his return home, the unexpected reappearance of Ashley in his life, and the danger surrounding her, sleep had just been a dream.

He should be used to it. He hadn’t had a good night’s rest in months. Too many images from Afghanistan haunted him.

He’d gone to counseling all of four times, and it hadn’t done him any good. All the counselor had wanted to do was talk about things. He was tired of talking about things. He just wanted to move on.

Being back in the States was an entirely different kind of battleground.

Hang on to the good memories, he reminded himself, punching his pillow with his fist.

He was thankful that Jack had given him a job at Eyes as a Training Specialist. He hoped his soul would have time to heal away from the battleground. But now he’d been thrust into the face of danger again, it seemed. But how could he turn Ashley away? He couldn’t.