Read The Heart of a Hero for Free Online Page B

mustered her best desperate expression. Not all that hard to do, seeing as she was desperate.
    “Can you help me?” she asked him. “Please?”
    The sigh Jake gave this time held an additional note. One that she swore sounded a lot like defeat. Zoe watched as he opened his mouth to speak, stopped and then looked down to where he still held her arm. The awareness flared anew. When he finally spoke, his voice was flat.
    “I’ll have to let you know.”
     
    She was waiting for a better answer; Jake could tell. But he was purposely ignoring the flash of orange perched on his ladder. If he looked, he would only find himself staring. It’d been happening all day. As long as she was near his line of sight, his eyes would find her. It was driving him mad. And the way his skin felt whenever he touched her, like it was alive… Well, he didn’t like that, either.
    So instead of looking, he forced his attention ontothe chimney. What he should have done was go home after that debacle in the store, but home would have only made his mood worse. When working he could bury the thoughts for a little while, ’til he collapsed in a heap of numbness and exhaustion. At least he used to be able to, before bright orange T-shirts and bouncy ponytails got in the way.
    Why did he have to bring up the bats? Or the fact he was the only handyman on the island for that matter? Now, he was stuck. Only a coldhearted bastard could look at her face, with that quivering lower lip of hers, and say no. He had no choice but to help her now.
    From below he could hear that damn dachshund yipping, followed by Zoe’s admonishment to be patient. Sounded like the dog needed centering, too. Imagine thinking you could find peace by staying here on Naushatucket. If only it were that simple. Someone needed to tell her the truth: once you step on the wrong path, no amount of “balance” or redirection will make up for the distance you’ve already traveled. You can’t go back. To use her word from this morning: life didn’t come with do-overs.
     
    Surprisingly, it wasn’t the potential bat infestation dominating Zoe’s thoughts the rest of the day, but the man sweeping her chimney.
    On second thought, maybe it wasn’t so surprising. After all, he’d been stuck in her head before thebat news; why wouldn’t he stay there? Especially after hearing that long, sad sigh. The sound was now permanently merged with the memory of his expression outside the hardware store. So much pain and so many impenetrable layers. She wondered if anyone could ever get through them all to help.
    “He’s definitely a puzzle begging to be solved,” she remarked to Reynaldo as they snuggled on the sofa later that night.
    You’re doing it again, the voice chimed. Getting sucked in. She couldn’t resist a challenge any more than she could a sad story. Maybe if she could, she’d have seen the truth about Paul a lot sooner.
    The fire in her newly cleaned fireplace crackled merrily, the flame painting the living room a soft orange. Yawning, Zoe tugged the comforter from off the back of the sofa and draped it over her and Reynaldo. A day of exertion in the sun had left her drowsy and more than a little stiff. She wondered how Jake’s hip was doing. He’d been limping pretty badly when she saw him finally drag that ladder across the backyard.
    Don’t start, Zoe.
    Her subconscious had a point. She had hundreds of readers looking for her advice. If she was desperate to solve other people’s problems, she should focus on them, not the neighbor who had quite clearly told her to butt out.
    Still, seeing the pain in those green eyes…
    At some point she must have drifted off because before she realized it the pillow beneath her cheek was buzzing. Her cell phone, she realized drowsily. Probably Caroline, calling to nag her about this week’s column. She never balked at calling at weird hours and the column was overdue.
    “I’m working on it, Caroline,” she barked into the