by Amanda Renee
“I’m just showing Evan the ranch today. We’re not working, so I can wait until you get home. I have nothing after this.”
“Okay, I won’t be long. Meet me at the house?”
Delta nodded before returning her attention to Evan.
Garrett had a sinking feeling when he walked away from her. It wasn’t just the hair and her complexion. That special spark she’d always had in her eyes was missing. And maybe it was because of what happened between them, but instinct and experience told him it was much more.
Less than a half hour later, his SUV had barely stopped in front of the house before Kacey was yanking off her seat belt and attempting to open the door to jump out.
“Delta!” She dropped her backpack in the snow and ran into her open arms. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too. I’m sorry I wasn’t around, I had to take care of something back home.”
“I thought this was home.”
“I have two homes, sweetheart. One here and one with my parents. I go back and forth between the two.”
“Your hair looks pretty,” Kacey said. His daughter had just confirmed his suspicions.
“Thank you.” Delta ran her hand over the back of it. “I had it done when I was visiting my family.”
Garrett furrowed his brow. Could he possibly be reading too much into her absence? It wasn’t unusual for a woman to get a cut and color. And he hadn’t been around her long enough to know what her usual style was.
“Did you bring the guitar?” Kacey attempted to look behind Delta.
“Yes I did. I know you were expecting it last week, but I had to leave for a few days.”
“Can I see it?”
“Why don’t we all go inside first?” Garrett held Bryce’s hand as his son climbed the stairs.
He unlocked the door so the kids could go in ahead of them. “Delta.” He reached for her arm before she entered the house. “I know it’s none of my business, but are you okay?”
“Everything is fine, Garrett.”
“I’m not asking you about everything. I’m asking about you.” The closer he got to her, the more he was almost positive she was wearing a wig. The average person wouldn’t have noticed it. But he’d had his hands in her hair before. He knew what it looked like. He knew what it smelled like. He knew how it fell across her shoulders. He knew the way she wore it parted. Everything he knew wasn’t what he was seeing. “Despite what did or didn’t happen between us, I’m still your friend. I made you that promise and I won’t break it. If you want to talk, I’m here.”
“I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary. Thank you anyway.”
“Delta! Are you coming?”
She looked to him for permission. “The question is, are you still okay with me spending time with your kids?”
“As long as you don’t break their hearts.”
“I wouldn’t think of it.”
“Just so you know, Dylan had tried teaching her to play and it didn’t go so well.”
“Why not?”
“He wasn’t you.”
* * *
“KACEY, WHAT DO YOU say to Delta?” Garrett asked after her lesson.
“Thank you. I will take very good care of it until I get my own guitar.” Kacey looked up at him with her big doe eyes. “I will get one, won’t I?”
“Maybe Santa Claus will bring you one.”
“Santa? Christmas is a long way away.”
“You don’t want to wait that long? Hmm.” Garrett tapped his temple. “I wonder what kind of occasion would call for a gift like a guitar.”
“Kacey’s birff-day!” Bryce shouted from the kitchen table. “Right, Kacey?”
“I don’t know what he’s talking about.” Kacey feigned innocence. “But maybe that’s a good idea.”
“We’ll see. You have to be a good girl in the meantime.”
Delta closed the guitar case and stood it against the fireplace before grabbing her tote bag. “I hate to cut out on you already, but Jake and I have to get to a birthday party at the convalescent home.”
“Can I go with you?” Kacey asked.
“If it’s okay with your father.” Delta looked over his daughter’s head at him.
“Thanks for putting me on the spot.” He narrowed his eyes. “I think there’s too much sadness there.”
“Daddy, have you been there before?” Kacey asked. “How is a birthday party sad?”
Delta crossed the room to him. “It might be good for her to see that not all sick people die,” she whispered.
“Yeah, sometimes they just struggle silently without realizing there are people around them who truly care,” he bit out in return.
Delta’s body physically stiffened at his remark.
“Kacey, honey.” Garrett refused to break eye contact with Delta. “Go clean up if you’re going to a party.”
“Yay, I’m going to a party! I’m going to a party!” Kacey sang as she ran out of the room. “I’m going with you, Jake.”
“You can take her with you.” Garrett leaned closer to her. “But if I lower my guard for you, then I expect you to do the same. You can hide your secret from everyone else...not me. I know. And I’ll wait patiently for you to tell me the entire story. I’ll wait.”
“You don’t know a thing about it.”
“I know everything about it. I know the devastation. I know the pain. I know the sickness. And I know you need support now more than ever.”
“I washed my hands and face, Daddy.”
“Did you brush your teeth?” he asked. Bryce climbed off his chair and ran into the bathroom.
“I’m going to the potty,” he mimicked his sister and slammed the door.
“Bryce, let your sister in there. She needs to go.” Garrett chased after him and jiggled the doorknob. It was locked.
“I’m going to the potty,” Bryce continued to sing from the other side of the door, followed by the sound of trickling water and a flush. He heard the wooden step in front of the toilet scrape across the floor, and then the basin faucet turn on.
“Apparently I have one going to a party and the other going to the potty.” Garrett leaned against the doorjamb waiting for his son to emerge.
The knob jiggled and then the door opened. “I went to the potty.” Bryce shuffled past the three of them in stocking feet and climbed back into the chair.
Garrett clapped his hands loudly. “Good job, buddy, but stop locking the door. Kacey, teeth, now. Delta, we’re talking later when you return.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
* * *
DELTA FELT PHYSICALLY sick during their drive into town, but it wasn’t from the chemo. Cooper had driven her home Sunday morning and had stayed until early Monday before heading straight to work. Out of the three of them, her older brother was the most even-keeled and self-disciplined. As a former marine, he didn’t back down from a fight. His oorah battle cry had carried her through her last trip to hell and back and she welcomed it again this time. She needed to call on that battle cry tonight to get through her talk with Garrett later. She was a fool to think she could hide her diagnosis from someone who had lived with the scars it left behind.
Sensing her anxiety, Jake rested his head in her lap the entire way there. They pulled into a full parking lot and circled twice before finding a spot large enough for her work truck. She wished she’d had a chance to go home and change first, but she’d only worked on one horse earlier. Evan had done the rest under her supervision.
The bone pain that accompanied the after-chemo injection made working almost unbearable. When her father’s connections had led Evan to her door Monday morning, she welcomed his assistance. He was just what the doctor ordered. Literally.
Delta clipped a leash on Jake and held the hand loop open for Kacey. “Slip th
is over your wrist and hold on to him tight. You wait for me while I get my stuff.”
Guitar in one hand, bag over her shoulder, kid with dog in the other hand. How did parents do it when there were other children added to the mix? She was out of arms and so was her assistant kid. She couldn’t even fathom how Liv would manage three infants at the same time. But her friend was making sure she was prepared for every possible scenario. If there was a class, video or book about multiples, she had it.
The party was in full swing when they entered the home’s dining area. Parties usually occurred on the weekend, but today was Ralph’s hundred-and-second birthday. He refused to have it on the weekend for fear he wouldn’t live long enough to make the celebration. Every year, he threw himself a party, invited all the residents and staff, and footed the catering bill.
“Happy birthday, Ralph.” She gave the man a hug as she walked in the room.
“My precious Delta.” He held her face in his hands. “I’m so happy you joined us tonight.” He bent forward and petted Jake before smiling at Kacey. “Who is this beautiful princess?”
“I’m Kacey.” She hugged the man. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” Ralph hugged her in return. “Oh, to be young again.”
Kacey talked to everyone. It didn’t matter if they acknowledged her or not. She smiled and introduced herself around the room with Jake close by her side. Delta wanted to believe Kacey was babysitting her dog, but the way Jake constantly kept her eyes in his line of vision told her he was the primary caretaker.
Delta had her guitar out when Kacey rejoined them carrying two paper plates full of food. “Mr. Ralph gave these to me. He’s a hundred and two. How many times older is he than me?”
“Almost thirteen, I think.” Delta helped her set both plates on the table.
“Wow.”
Wow was right. Hopefully they’d all live to be that age and still be happy. “Thank you for bringing me dinner, sweetheart. You’re a terrific little helper.”
“I thought Jake was gonna eat it before I got to the table. Who is that man?” Kacey looked toward the sunroom entrance. “He keeps looking at you and smiling.”
“That’s Joe. He’s one of the permanent residents here. Funny as the day is long. He’ll have you rolling on the floor laughing at his stories.” Delta lowered her voice and leaned closer to Kacey. “He thinks he’s God’s gift to women, though.”
“Isn’t he a little old for you?” Kacey wrinkled her nose.
“In his mind, he’ll always be in his twenties. He’s harmless.” Delta took a bite of her chicken-and-grape-salad croissant. Her appetite had returned yesterday, but her taste buds were still a little off.
“He walks like Aunt Belle’s rooster.”
Delta almost choked on a grape. “That he does.”
“Daddy’s been really sad without you around. He misses you.”
“I was only gone for a little while.”
“Almost a whole week.” She pouted. “He had to work on that Valentine’s Day thingy by himself.”
With all the cancer crap going on, she had completely forgotten about the couples-only retreat. She’d given him all the information she’d had, but it was a huge undertaking for one person. The event started in four days and she hoped he’d used all her contacts.
“I’ll see if I can help him when we get to the house.” If he still wanted her help after the way she’d treated him.
“I’ll help, too.” Kacey nodded her head matter-of-factly. “You and Daddy need all the help you can get.”
If that wasn’t the truth, Delta didn’t know what was.
* * *
“THANK YOU FOR coming over.” Garrett greeted Dylan on the front porch two hours after Delta had dropped off Kacey. “They are already in bed. I’ll be back before they ever realize I’m gone.”
“Take your time and don’t race over there and get yourself killed along the way.” Dylan didn’t ask why he needed a sudden babysitter, but he had rightfully assumed it was because of Delta. “Emma and Holly are already asleep, too, so it’s not like anyone’s missing me. And if you don’t come back tonight, I’ll just tell the kids you had an early errand and I’ll drive them to school.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Garrett clapped his brother on the back. “But thanks for the offer.”
He descended the porch steps two at a time, almost slipping on the last one.
“I hope you’re planning on driving better than you walk,” Dylan called after him. “You have two kids counting on you to return in one piece.”
Garrett hesitated before getting in his SUV. Was going over to see Delta the right thing to do? She had refused to talk to him with the kids in earshot and had promised to discuss it later. He couldn’t wait for later. He needed to know what she was hiding, although in his heart he already knew her cancer had returned.
Fifteen minutes later he idled to a stop alongside her Jeep in front of her house. The dashboard clock glowed quarter after ten. Okay, so it was late, but not exactly super late. The lights were on inside her house, and if he saw movement, then he’d knock on the door. If he didn’t, then he would head home.
His phone rang loudly in the darkness of the truck, almost causing him to jump out of his seat. It was Delta’s number.
“Hello.”
“Are you just going to sit out there all night, or are you going to come in?”
“I guess you heard me pull up.” Garrett’s gaze moved from one window to the next, expecting to see her watching him.
“It’s a quiet ranch in the middle of the night and your truck has an exhaust leak,” she ground out through what sounded like clenched teeth.
“It does not.”
Delta sighed. “Are you going to argue with me or are you going to come in?”
“I’ll be right there.”
Garrett’s hand rested on the door handle as he braced himself for whatever she had to tell him. No matter how bad it was, he could handle it.
Delta wordlessly opened the door as he reached the top step and Jake ran out to happily greet him.
“I’m sorry for coming over here so late.”
She patted her thigh and Jake immediately returned to her side. “No you’re not, but if it makes you feel better to say that, then so be it.”
“Wow, okay. You don’t mince words, do you?” Why was he the one getting attitude? She was the one who’d disappeared and then ended things abruptly. Not him.
“No, I don’t. I have cancer again.”
Garrett grabbed the door frame to steady himself from the onslaught of her words. He hadn’t even made it all the way into the house. “I thought so.” His legs felt like they were weighted down with cement as he finished stepping over the threshold and closed the door behind him. “How bad?” His heart thumped so loud in his ears he doubted he’d hear her response.
“Nowhere near last time.” She turned and trudged into the living room, motioning for him to follow her.
For the next hour, Delta painstakingly described the events of the previous week. When she finished she waited in silence while he processed the information.
Hearing the words come out of her mouth made it all that much more real. It bothered him that she had thought he was so damaged from Rebecca’s death that she had to hide the truth from him. He respected her reasons for not wanting to tell anybody else. While he would never deem her less capable of doing her job, he could see where others might.
He wanted to ask how this could happen again, but he already knew the answer. He wanted to ask how she was feeling, but he already knew that answer, too. Despite the defiant tilt of her chin, her delicate features screamed loneliness and fear.
“I wish you had trusted me enough to tell me sooner instead of trying to hide it from me.”
“I didn’t want you to go through this
again.”
“Sweetheart, it’s not the same thing. You don’t have pancreatic cancer. You have a ninety-five percent survival rate. It’s going to be okay.” He drew her into his arms and held her close. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
* * *
INSTEAD OF LEAVING like she had expected him to, Garrett had lit a fire and they watched the flames dance in the darkness while they snuggled together beneath a tangled mass of blankets from the couch. Jake stretched out on the floor beside them, lifting his head only when he heard the rustle of the snack-chip bags they had dug out of the kitchen pantry an hour ago.
Somewhere between channel surfing and mischievous childhood stories, they had settled into the most passionate make-out session of her life. Which Garrett had abruptly ended fifteen minutes ago. He had checked the time on his phone no less than ten times since then.
His body became more rigid with each passing second, making her more nervous. “Okay, cowboy.” She flipped the blankets off them and stood in front of him. “It’s time to call it a night. And don’t argue with me. I know you need to get home to relieve Dylan.”
“I don’t want to go.” He tugged at the hem of her flannel shirt. “My brother’s okay with watching the kids all night. He said so before I left. But I should at least text him and let him know I’m staying. Unless you want me to go.”
“You’re sure he doesn’t mind?” Delta couldn’t deny wanting him to stay. Now that she had told him the truth, she felt a thousand times freer. She had suspected Garrett would be understanding, she just hadn’t wanted to put him through the agony of watching another woman fight for her life.
“Absolutely.”
“So why don’t you send him that text, then.”
Delta began slowly unbuttoning her shirt as he typed out his message.
“What are you doing?” His eyes grew wide in the firelight as he watched her.
“I’m waiting for you to hit Send and put your phone away.” She slid the shirt from her shoulders, leaving her wearing only a pink satin bra and black thermal leggings. “Do you want me with or without?”
“With or without what?” He perched on the edge of the couch.
