More Than a Touch (Snowberry Creek #2) by Alexis Morgan Page A

his office, he slammed the door behind him.
    Parking his ass on the edge of his desk, he gave them each one of those looks that said he wasn’t going to put up with any more bullshit from either of them. “Which of you idiots wants to tell me what the hell happened out there?”
    The two of them hung their heads, not in shame, but to hide their growing need to laugh. Maybe it was time to give Isaac a break.
    “It was my fault, and I apologize to you both. Isaac, I’ll understand if you want to kick my ass to the curb.”
    “As tempting as that is at the moment, Corporal, I don’t have the time to fill out the paperwork required to ship said ass back up to the military hospital.”
    Then he rounded on the football player. “I don’t give a rat’s rear end what he said to you, Mitch. My schedule was already full when you called, but I made room because we were friends once upon a time. Lose the attitude or you’re out of here. Got that?”
    Mitch no longer looked as if he was fighting the urge to laugh. “Yeah, I’ve got it. I’m sorry I’ve put you in this position, Isaac.”
    “Okay, then. Both of you get back out there. Your time’s up, so we’ll ice your legs for a few minutes before you hit the road.”
    Leif started to push himself back up to his feet. Isaac opened the door for him. “I’ve got you both on the books at the same time on Wednesday. Let me know if that is going to be a problem, and I’ll change it around.”
    Leif looked past him to where Mitch was sitting. “It won’t be a problem for me. Can’t speak for him.”
    Mitch had made it back up to his feet, too. “I can stand it if he can.”
    “Go on out there, both of you. And I don’t want to hear any bitching about how cold the ice is. It’s supposed to be that way.”
    Leif got his book out of his pack and settled back to endure the cold burn of the ice pack on his leg. After the first few minutes, his leg grew blessedly numb enough to mask the pain. If only it had the same effect on his memories.
    •   •   •
    Zoe set a steaming mug of herbal tea down in front of Isaac. “I hear you had quite the morning.”
    He was usually a coffee drinker, but when either of them had a particularly rough day, Zoe broke out the soothing blend of tea that she purchased from Something’s Brewing, the coffee and tea shop in town. Her friend stared at the cup as if trying to decide if the day had been bad enough to warrant drinking it.
    When she added one of the blackberry muffins she’d also bought, his expression lightened up considerably. “It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”
    He took a big bite out of the muffin before continuing. “Your soldier boy and Mitch Calder almost came to blows, and I had to evacuate the other patients. I came this close”—he held up his thumb and forefinger indicating a space of about a quarter of an inch—“to calling the cops on them. I don’t need that kind of shit going on in my clinic.”
    Zoe’s stomach tightened into a knot. Mitch Calder wasn’t her patient, but everyone in town knew who he was. He’d been the star athlete at the local high school before moving on to college and then the pros. But her real concern was for the other man in the equation. If Isaac refused to treat Leif, he’d have to go all the way to Tacoma for his therapy. Chances were he wouldn’t stay in Snowberry Creek if that happened. All things considered, she’d really hate that for him, especially because he would need the emotional support of his friends to get through all of this.
    “How about Leif? Is he doing all right?”
    Isaac took a big sip of the tea. “I think so. As far as I could tell, they exchanged some heated words and glared at each other. I got there before it escalated beyond that point.”
    “What were they fighting about?”
    Isaac had finished his muffin and was eyeing the remaining half of hers. She pushed it across the table to him. She was no longer hungry.
    “They didn’t