by Liz Isaacson
But there was one more piece he’d kept to himself.
He pushed away the last meeting he’d had with his captain as he traded his cowboy hat for a helmet and straddled his bike. Cy had built it for his height, painted it Ames’s favorite color—black—and put the Texas star on the side of the gas tank. If Ames put a Texas flag on the back and drove down the street of Three Rivers, he’d fit right in with everyone else who lived here.
He wasn’t a born and bred Texan, but he did like it in Three Rivers. It was so much easier to breathe, for one.
At least when he didn’t think about the farm and family he’d left behind.
He’d always been so adamant that someone needed to stay in Ivory Peaks, because that was where the Hammond heritage came from. Wes, Colton, and Cy had all relocated to Coral Canyon. Gray lived there in the summer.
Ames didn’t want to march to the same beat, even though he hated be the odd man out too.
He sighed as he hit the highway and really opened the throttle. He couldn’t have it both ways, no matter how hard he tried.
When he got home, he checked his text, and the one from Cy wasn’t asking about Sophia. Thankfully.
No, this one was about his wedding.
“Shoot,” Ames muttered under his breath. He hadn’t forgotten about his twin’s wedding—not exactly. He just hadn’t remembered it either.
Of course I’ll be there, Ames typed out. Saturday. I’m planning on coming up on Saturday. Do you need me earlier?
Cy started typing right away, and Nope came through. You’re staying for a while, though, right?
For their honeymoon, Cy and Patsy were taking an RV up to Glacier National Park and then into Canada. They wanted to see the Rocky Mountains, the touristy town of Banff, and all the bluer-than-blue lakes up northwest of Calgary.
Ames wasn’t sure why he needed to stay for a while.
Yes, he typed out anyway. Two weeks while you’re gone. Blue Velvet will be well-taken care of.
Colton or Wes—or even Gray—could take Cy’s dog.
At the same time, Ames needed to go. He’d stay in Cy’s house with the dog—and his parents and Grams. Gray was taking them up to the wedding, and then he and Elise weren’t going back to Ivory Peaks. They’d stay with Ames until Cy and Patsy returned, and then Ames thought the plan was for them to stay with Wes and Bree for the summer.
Ames would be returning to Three Rivers and his job at Seven Sons Ranch, he knew that.
He showered and surveyed the progress he’d made on installing the kitchen cabinets. Not bad. As he picked up where he’d left off the night before, he thought he probably shouldn’t bother with the summer dance this Friday. Even if he did meet someone, he’d be leaving town for a couple of weeks the very next day.
“Seems pointless,” he said to himself as he hung the cupboard where he’d most likely put his drinking glasses.
An hour later, things were humming along nicely when pain shot through Ames’s fingers and hand. He yelped and looked at his thumb—which he’d literally just nailed to the cabinet and the wall.
He hadn’t even been paying attention.
His vision swam, but Ames gritted his teeth and pulled his hand free. Hurrying, he moved to the sink and flipped the water on. He got the nail out, and realized it had just gone through the side of his thumb, not straight through.
Pain radiated up his arm with every pulse of his heart, and Ames grabbed the nearest thing—a washcloth, probably filled with germs—and pressed it to his hand. He leaned against the sink as he closed his eyes, fighting the vertigo and swimming waves in his vision. He couldn’t pass out. He lived alone, and literally no one ever came over.
His phone. Where was his phone?
He drew in deep breath after deep breath until he knew he wasn’t going to pass out. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. As he peeled the cloth away from his thumb, he realized it had stuck, so it had obviously been a while.
He didn’t have the medical supplies to deal with an injury of this magnitude, but he strode into the bathroom and started digging under the sink to see what he had that he could use while he went to the pharmacy.
His mind raced through what time it was and when the corner drugstore closed. It was a Sunday. He better hurry.
He found only Band-Aids under the sink, so he pulled a clean, dry washcloth from his linen closet and wrapped his thumb in it. “It’ll have to do for ten minutes,” he told himself as he left the house and got behind the wheel of his truck.
Though his street was residential, it was only a few minutes from downtown, and relief poured through Ames when he pulled into the parking lot at the drugstore and saw a couple of other cars.
The black lab in the back of someone’s truck made him smile despite the urgency of his situation. He should’ve taken his money and opened a dog training facility, because Ames did miss working with his K9 companions. Surely someone had to train those police dogs. Why not him?
Inside, he kept his hand pressed to his chest above his heart, his uninjured one holding the cloth tightly against his thumb. He scanned for the first aid sign, and quickly headed to the back corner of the store.
He wasn’t sure if there were other people in the store or not. His focus was on one thing—getting painkillers and the biggest, baddest gauze wraps he could find.
He found the gauze and tape and more Band-Aids. Ointment and painkillers—but he hadn’t grabbed a basket. He had no idea how to get it all to the register while keeping the cloth over his thumb. And he certainly couldn’t reveal his wound in the store. Not with the possibility of dripping blood all over.
And passing out, he thought.
“Ames?”
He turned at the voice, something triggering in his memory.
A woman stood there, and he knew her. Her hair was shorter now, and a slightly darker color of brown.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, scanning the floor where he’d dropped all the stuff he wanted as he’d taken it from the shelf.
Ames’s brain didn’t seem to be working. But his voice said, “Sophia?”
Chapter Three
Sophia clutched the handles of the basket she’d been filling. Ames Hammond in Three Rivers had thrown her for a complete loop. The shock running through her echoed on his face, as he obviously hadn’t been expecting to see her either.
He held a white cloth to his hand, and it wasn’t hard to see the blood staining it. She put her basket down, her instincts kicking in. She could text Marcy from the hospital. Nothing the woman needed was critical—and getting Ames to the emergency room was.
“Come on,” she said, stepping over to him. Her foot kicked a box of gauze, but she ignored it. “We’re going to the hospital.”
“I just need some….” His voice trailed off as if he didn’t know where he was and what he needed.
“How long ago did this happen?” she asked, linking her arm through his elbow as he had both hands pressed to his chest, above his heart.
“I don’t know,” he said, moving easily with her.
“What happened?”
“I was hanging cabinets in the kitchen,” he said. “I nailed my thumb to the wall.”
Concern spiked inside her, but Sophia kept her composure. She only increased the speed of her step. She’d been in Three Rivers for a few weeks, so she knew where the hospital was. Only a few minutes from this corner store. She reached her car and opened the passenger door.
“In you go,” she said, glad Ames didn’t argue with her.
She got behind the wheel and hurried toward the hospital. Ames sat in the passenger seat, his head leaning back against the rest, his eyes closed. “What are you doing in Three Rivers?” she asked.
“I work here now,” he said, opening his eyes. He blinked and turned toward her. “What are you doing here?”
“Marcy Walker asked me to be her nanny,” Sophia said, trying not to feel too proud of herself. But since she’d never been able to get any of the Whittaker kids to li
ke her, she was dang proud of herself. “Just for the summer. They’re coming up to Coral Canyon—like your brother.”
Wyatt and Marcy had bought a home in Coral Canyon in the woods, exactly like Gray. She’d just had another baby at the very beginning of January, and she and Wyatt had three little boys under the age of four. Marcy wanted help for summer activities, and Sophia had talked to Graham, Eli, Andrew, and Beau, and they’d decided she could easily do breakfast and dinner at the lodge five days a week and nanny for Marcy during the day.
She’d been putting together summer outdoor activities for the boys for the past two months since Marcy had first called her, and she’d been in Three Rivers for a few weeks to help Marcy get everything prepped and packed. They were leaving in two days to return to Coral Canyon.
Two days.
Her heart pulsed out a few extra beats. Why did God keep bringing Ames into her life when he clearly didn’t want to be there? When she had no time for him?
He’d never called over Christmas. He hadn’t even texted back.
Sophia had gotten the message loud and clear, though it had come cloaked in silence. He wasn’t interested in her. That was fine. She hadn’t been out with anyone new, but she’d started to talk to Emily and Eden, Annie’s daughters, about the dating apps they’d used in the past.
She hadn’t quite signed up yet, but her mind was open to new possibilities for meeting men.
Ames had fallen silent again, and Sophia glanced at him. She was trained in first aid, due to her job around so many other people. Marcy had wanted her to be trained as well, and Sophia was glad to say she already was.
“Ames,” she said, maybe a little too loudly. “Tell me about your job.”
“Hmm?” His head sort of rolled as he turned toward her this time. “I work on a ranch.”
“Which one?” There were at least a half-dozen ranches surrounding Three Rivers.
“Seven Sons,” he said.
“Oh, that’s the Walker’s,” she said, glancing at him. Did he see all the similarities in their lives? It was like they existed on two roads running parallel to each other. “I’ve been out there. It’s really nice.”
“Yeah,” he said.
Sophia turned into the emergency room parking lot, barely watching where she was going so she could keep her eyes on Ames. The last thing she needed was for him to pass out. “What do you do?”
“Ranch stuff,” he said, his voice quiet.
“Do you work with Jeremiah?”
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t you a cop anymore?”
“I worked too much,” he said. “No one would go out with me.”
Sophia was well aware that he wouldn’t be saying any of these things if he wasn’t one breath away from losing consciousness. The truth surprised her, though. “So you thought being a cowboy would be less work?”
“I’m only part-time,” he said.
“What do you do in your spare time? Hang cabinets?”
He looked at her, surprised. “How did you know I was hanging cabinets?”
“You told me,” she said, forgoing finding a parking spot. He was in bad shape, and she pulled right up into the circle drive and said, “Stay. I’m coming around.” She jumped from the car and dashed toward the bell to call for help. Then she jogged back to the car and opened his door. “All right, Ames. Up and out.”
He stood, but he swayed, and he flung his hand out to steady himself against the top of the car. Two women came outside, one pushing a wheelchair. “What’s the situation?” the first one asked.
“This is Ames Hammond,” Sophia said. “I found him in the drugstore, trying to buy medical supplies. He said he nailed his thumb to the wall, but he doesn’t know how long ago.” She eased him into the wheelchair. “I think he’s lost a lot of blood. I’ve tried to keep him conscious.”
“Date of birth?”
The other nurse turned Ames around and headed for the entrance.
“Uh.” Sophia watched him go. “May something. He just turned forty.” She knew that from Cy’s birthday last year. Patsy had refused a gift from him that day, and she’d spent plenty of time telling Sophia about it.
“Are you his girlfriend?”
Sophia turned toward the other woman. She couldn’t lie about this. She didn’t even know Ames’s address, and wouldn’t his girlfriend know where he lived? Not if it’s new, she thought.
“Sort of?” she guessed. “We just started seeing each other.” That was also sort of true. She knew who he was. She’d kissed him plenty of times. She had been his girlfriend, once.
Maybe. She wasn’t even sure about that, though Sophia didn’t normally go around kissing men she wasn’t dating. Ames seemed to be an exception to everything in Sophia’s life.
“Come on in then,” the nurse said. “Does he have any family to call?”
“Not here,” she said. “They’re either in Colorado or Wyoming. I can call them.”
“Lora.” The second nurse poked her head out of a room down the hall. “He fainted. I need help.” A moment later, a red light on the wall above the doorway started to flash. Several people hurried into the room, and Sophia was one of them.
Watching four men and women lift Ames from the slumped position in the wheelchair to the bed made her heart hurt and her fingers shake.
“Let’s see what we’ve got,” Lora said, and she peeled the white washcloth away from Ames’s hand. The amount of blood there made Sophia’s stomach lurch. She couldn’t really distinguish his fingers, and she turned away and covered her mouth.
“You can wait outside,” someone said, but she shook her head.
“I’m okay,” she whispered. “I just don’t want to see it.”
“This needs stitches,” someone behind her said. “It’s just the thumb, though. The rest of this is just blood.”
“Let’s get him cleaned up and sutured,” Lora said. “Ivy, the IV. Push a thousand milligrams of ibuprofen. Fluids.”
Most of the people cleared out of the room, and when Sophia turned back, she found a woman putting an IV in Ames’s arm and another nurse cleaning his wounded hand. It took shape, and Sophia could see the damaged thumb.
Lora re-entered the room pushing a tray. “He’s going to be okay,” she said, glancing at Sophia. “Probably eight or nine stitches. Doctor Willis is finishing up with one patient, and then he’ll be in.”
“How long until he wakes up?” Sophia hugged herself, because she had other things to do that day. But Ames should not have to wake up alone. She wouldn’t want to, and she didn’t want to leave him here by himself.
“We’ll wait to get the stitches done,” Lora said. “And then Doctor Willis will probably try to wake him.”
“He’s not drugged,” the other nurse added. “He could wake up any time.”
Sophia nodded, and she stayed out of the way as the three of them got him ready for the stitches. They all left the room, and Sophia migrated over to his side. She reached up and brushed his hair back off his forehead. He’d let it grow out since the last time she’d seen him, which admittedly was months and months and months ago.
Nine months.
He’d been a cop then, and he kept his hair shaved and short. Now, it had definitely grown out a few inches, and he was still the sexiest man she’d ever met. Easily.
“Ames,” she said. “It’s Sophia, and you’re in the hospital in Three Rivers. Can you wake up?”
He stirred, and she pulled a chair closer and took one of his hands in both of hers. “Ames, wake up.” She squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back. His eyelids fluttered open, and Sophia’s heartbeat increased. “You nailed your thumb to the cabinets, and I found you in the drugstore.”
Those dark, beautiful eyes found hers, and something powerful hooked them together. “The drugstore?”
“You were trying to buy gauze and Band-Aids,” she said with a small smile. “You need stitches, Ames.”
He looked around then, more of his awareness ret
urning with every passing moment. “You brought me to the hospital.”
“That’s right,” she said.
“How long was I out?”
“Maybe ten minutes?” she guessed. “Not long. But we barely made it here.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought I could just patch myself up.”
“You’re pretty amazing at a lot of things,” she said with a smile. “But even you can’t will your wounds to miraculously heal.”
He managed a smile in return, and just then, the doctor came in. “Ames Hammond? Good to see you awake.”
Sophia pulled her hands away from Ames’s and backed up, putting the chair back against the wall where it had been.
“So I heard you nailed your thumb to the kitchen cabinets.” The doctor wore a big smile to go with his big personality. He grinned around the room, his charisma palpable. “I’m Doctor Willis, and I’m going to get you put back together right.” He stepped over to Sophia. “You’re the girlfriend?”
She pulled in a breath, glad she couldn’t see Ames past Dr. Willis. “Sophia,” she said without confirming. “I’m going to go call his brother.”
“Probably best if you’re a little squeamish,” Dr. Willis said.
Sophia was, but not about the stitches. She stepped past him, unable to make eye contact with Ames.
“Sophia?” he asked behind her, and she turned in the doorway.
“Yeah?”
“You’re not leaving-leaving, right?”
“No,” she said. “I’ll just go call Cy for you.”
“Okay,” he said. “But maybe try Colton. Cy’s getting married in a week.”
“Colton,” she said. “Got it.” Then she got the heck out of there so she wouldn’t have to watch the doctor put Ames back together—or face him and admit she’d told complete strangers she was his girlfriend.
A couple of hours later, Sophia had made multiple phone calls, sat with Ames for a while, and driven him back to the drugstore. She’d stayed with him while he bought a few things inside, and she turned into a long driveway that led to a home that sat back from the street and parked behind his truck.
