Ty's Heart: California Cowboys 3

by Selena Laurence

  He eased out of her and rolled onto his back, still panting, and so boneless he wasn’t sure he could have stood if he’d had to.

  Jodi wiggled her way up against him, her head on his shoulder, one arm slung across his abs. He could feel her breasts pressed to his side and knew already he was going to want to take her again very soon.

  “Wow,” she said, yawning. “Is it possible that it gets better every time? At some point, we have to top out, right?”

  “I vote we keep trying until we do—see just how spectacular we can be. We must be close to setting records at this point.”

  “What, like world’s hottest sex?” She giggled. “Do they have that in the Guinness Book of World Records?”

  “If they don’t, they should. We’d win.” He squeezed her waist, making her squirm.

  “Mm,” she answered. “For sure.”

  They dozed for another half hour until Ty had to get up to pick up Katie from her sleepover.

  “We should talk about what we want to do with her schedule from now on,” he said as he poured himself a glass of orange juice in Jodi’s quaint kitchen. “If you’re ready to have some sleepovers, I don’t mind. But I’m also wondering if you want to start getting her from school on ballet days and doing that whole thing. It would give me a few more hours to get paperwork done so I didn’t have to work on the weekends as much. Lynn does it sometimes, but I know she wouldn’t miss it if she didn’t have to.”

  “That’s Tuesdays and Thursdays?” she asked from her perch on the counter, where Ty had placed her because he liked looking at her bare legs dangling off the edge of the countertop.

  He stepped between those long beauties, running a hand up one of her calves. “Yeah, would that work with your client schedule?”

  She nodded. “Yes, it’s perfect. I’ve been leaving all my late afternoons open so I could see her whenever you wanted, but if I’m going to have Tuesdays and Thursdays regularly, maybe I could start scheduling some later appointments on Mondays and Wednesdays. I think I have the demand to do that.”

  He watched her face, glowing with the ideas she had for how to balance being a mom with being a successful business owner. It flooded him with pride. And hope. This was going to work. Him, Jodi, Katie. They were going to work, and maybe, sometime in the not so distant future, this little house would be Jodi’s office, but her home could be the ranch with him and Katie. Even a month ago, that might have seemed like an impossible dream, but now he was convinced it was something to strive for.

  “I think that’s a great idea. Maybe we could ask Lynn to do after-school duty on Mondays and Wednesdays, you’ll do Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I’ll stop work early on Fridays, pick her up and just do some father-daughter time. We’ve always played it loose, Lynn and I just figuring it out each day—sometimes we’d get Cade or Vaughn to fill in, but now that she’s getting older, going to school all day, and having her own activities, it would probably be better to set a schedule. She’ll know who to expect each day, and the rest of us can arrange our jobs around a predictable calendar.”

  “I would love that,” Jodi answered, kissing him on the cheek.

  “Good. Now, I have to run and pick her up. What’s your day look like?”

  “I have some research to do for a new client who starts on Monday, and then I want to visit another who’s had to go into a nursing home.”

  Ty saw the sadness wash over her eyes. “Is it tough having elderly patients?” he asked, leaning into her and caressing her arm.

  She seemed to consider it for a moment. “It can be sad, but I really love knowing I made their quality of life better, even if it’s just for a little while. In nursing, you don’t always feel like you had a real impact. You’re often caught up in the rigid routine of giving meds, and following schedules. This is more rewarding. I can really listen to what people need and do things that make them feel better for days at a time instead of hours.”

  “I’m proud of you,” he said simply. Because he was. “Have dinner with Katie and me tonight?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Good. We’ll pick you up at six. We’ll go to a place Katie loves in Monterrey.”

  Yes, Ty thought as he walked out of Jodi’s house and got in his truck, he’d give it a few weeks, let everyone adjust, but this house was meant to be an office. Jodi, on the other hand, was meant to be at the ranch. With him. With their daughter. With the family that had been waiting for her for five long years, even if they hadn’t known it at the time.

  It was three forty on Tuesday afternoon when Ty got the call. He’d left his phone on silent while he was meeting with the ranch’s new advertising firm in Monterrey, so by the time he climbed into the truck and switched it back on, ready to drive home, he’d missed three calls and the fourth was ringing.

  “Hello?” he answered, something in his gut telling him this wasn’t going to be a good call.

  “Hi, Ty,” a woman’s voice on the other end said. “This is Carol Riley, Katie’s teacher.”

  His heart raced that way parents’ do when they hear the school on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, of course, hi.”

  “So, there must have been some misunderstanding about Katie’s pickup schedule today. She said her mom was supposed to get her and take her to ballet, but Jodi hasn’t been by…” The teacher’s voice faded away as a buzzing sound built in Ty’s ears. He sat, frozen still in the driver’s seat of his pickup, panic racing through him at the speed of light. He couldn’t possibly process all the things jumbling in his head. But his protective instincts took charge. Sparing Katie became his only conscious thought.

  “Oh man,” he said to the teacher. “I am so incredibly sorry. This is all my fault. I got my days all mixed up—today’s Tuesday, right? I told Katie the schedule for Thursday. I’ve been off all day and went to the wrong meetings myself at work.”

  “It’s fine.” The teacher’s voice relaxed about ten degrees. “I was supposed to leave here ten minutes ago, but I can wait for you to come get her.”

  “Yeah, I’m dashing between meetings—” He looked at the clock in his truck. Even at life-threatening speeds, he couldn’t get to Katie’s school in under thirty minutes. “I’ll have Lynn come grab her,” he finished. “She’s closer right now than I am.”

  “That sounds great. Thank you,” the teacher said.

  “Sure, and thank you for staying with her. I’m really sorry about this. We’re still adjusting to have more people in the schedule, and I need to pay more attention.”

  “No problem, I’ll let her know, and we’ll see Lynn soon.”

  Ty called Lynn and arranged for her to get Katie from school, then ended the call and immediately punched the button for Jodi’s number.

  When voice mail picked up, he swore in frustration.

  “Hey, it’s me,” he said after the tone. “You didn’t pick up Katie. It’s okay, I have Lynn going to grab her, but I’m worried. Please tell me what’s going on so I know everything’s okay.”

  He disconnected, sent a text with the same message, then began the drive back to Big Sur, breaking the speed limit, his heart racing the entire time.

  By the time he reached the ranch at four twenty, he’d progressed from fearful to terrified with a dash of angry. Where the hell was Jodi and why wasn’t she calling him back? She was punctual to a fault, always returned his calls within an hour tops, and had claimed to be so excited about picking Katie up and going to dance practice.

  Before he got out of the truck, Lynn was there, waiting to talk to him in hushed tones.

  “She’s watching a movie and eating chocolate ice cream,” she said as he climbed out of the cab. “She’s trying to be tough, but she’s worried and confused. She doesn’t buy the excuse you got your days mixed up.”

  “Yeah,” Ty said as he slammed the door, his button-down shirt that he’d worn for the business meeting itching the hell out of him. “I said that to save face with the teacher. I didn’t wan
t her to think Jodi had flaked, but honestly, I’m getting worried.”

  “I’ve tried calling her twice,” Lynn said.

  “Yeah, and I have too. Texted, left messages. Nothing.”

  “Do you think she’s all right?”

  He pressed his lips together, his brow furrowing in frustration. “I don’t know what to think. But when I gave her those joint custody papers on Friday, she got pretty freaked out. Expressed a lot of concern she might not be ready or would make a mistake.”

  Lynn looked at him, her eyes sad. “I really thought she’d gotten past all that.”

  He sighed heavily. “I did too. But I’m telling you, if she hasn’t, there’s nothing more I can do. I can’t have someone in Katie’s life who flakes on her, no matter what the reasons. She needs to be surrounded by reliable people who will show up when they say they will, and take care of her like she needs them to.”

  “She might have been in an accident, though, had some emergency that’s keeping her from getting to us.”

  He nodded, a sick lump forming in his gut. “Maybe. But given her track record, I can’t dismiss the possibility she’s just panicked and taken off.”

  Lynn shook her head. “Poor Katie,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “She’ll be devastated.”

  “Which is why we won’t say anything until we know for sure. We’ll just go with ‘Mom had a work thing’ and leave it at that. Should at least buy us a few hours. In the meantime, after I talk to Katie, I’ll go to Jodi’s house and try to find her.”

  Lynn nodded. “Okay. And maybe I can see if Becca can come over and play. That should help distract her for a while.”

  They agreed on their plan, and Ty walked into the house to face his daughter, all the while his head and heart heavy with the pain of the most crushing disappointment he’d ever faced. And the fear that the woman he was coming to love could never love him and his daughter the same way.

  18

  Jodi paced the floor of the hospital room where she’d been for the last three hours. Mrs. Moore’s cell phone was pressed to her ear as she talked. “Yes, Doctor, I understand, but he’s mentally very sharp. I talk to him for several hours every week while we work on his pain management and flexibility. Studies have shown a strong correlation between a patient’s declining mental faculties and nursing home stays. He’s done one stint, he hated it, his wife hated it. Why should we jump to that as the default option here?”

  She gave a tight smile to Mrs. Moore, who sat next to the hospital bed holding her husband’s hand while he slept, hopped up on painkillers for the fall he’d just taken with his new hip. He’d suffered a dizzy spell, tumbled down a couple of steps, and landed right on the damn hip that they’d been trying to rehab for the last six weeks.

  Mrs. Moore had called Jodi in a panic, and she’d met them at the ER just as the ambulance pulled up. The last three hours had been nonstop arguing with paramedics, nurses, and now his orthopedic surgeon, while Jodi tried to get them all to stop the process that would place Mr. Moore in a nursing home for the foreseeable future.

  “Yes, Doctor,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I do understand that if they leave the hospital against medical advice, his insurance will decline any further payments for this injury.”

  She watched as defeat crawled across Mrs. Moore’s face and she began to cry.

  Jodi walked out of the room and across the hallway into a small niche where nurses stood to update charts.

  “Look, Dr. Revel, I know these people. They’re deeply attached. They barely made it through his last tour of the nursing home, and if you put him there again, it might not only kill him but her too. Do you have elderly relatives? Have you seen nursing homes? If we can come up with a plan to deal with his injury, including a way to keep it from happening again, will you at least consider a different course of action?”

  She waited, listening to the pompous surgeon’s speech about all the patients just like Mr. Moore he’d treated. Of course, none of them were just like Mr. Moore because none of them were Mr. Moore. It was one of the flaws of modern medicine—doctors and nurses saw symptoms and diseases, not humans. Mr. Moore had the same symptoms as lots of other patients, but he wasn’t lots of other patients.

  “Yes, sir, we can definitely live with that. We’ll give you another plan of treatment within the next twenty-four hours and then work from there. The family is very grateful. Thank you.”

  After the call ended, Jodi took a moment to breathe deeply and recenter her thoughts. It had been nonstop panic since Mrs. Moore had called. They were without a doubt her favorite clients, and without any children, they had no one to advocate for them. When they’d called, she knew she couldn’t let them take on the institutional medical community without her help. So, she’d jumped in her car, rushed to hospital, and done nothing but soothe tattered nerves and discuss treatment options with hospital staff ever since.

  She rolled her shoulders a couple of times before walking back across the hall and into Mr. Moore’s room.

  “They’re going to make him go, aren’t they?” Mrs. Moore asked, her entire body telegraphing how exhausted she was.

  “Not yet,” Jodi answered. “His surgeon has agreed to give us twenty-four hours to come up with an alternative treatment plan. I’ll put something together tonight, and discuss it with you first thing in the morning, then we’ll see what the doctor thinks.”

  “Oh!” Mrs. Moore stood and moved to Jodi, grabbing both her hands and giving them a squeeze. “I can’t thank you enough. You’ve been so good to us. I know this isn’t part of your normal services. I just…I’m not sure how we can ever repay you.”

  Jodi smiled down at the weathered face, thinking what a wonderful grandmother Mrs. Moore would have made. Maybe she could play that role for Katie since Jodi’s own mother certainly never would.

  Then everything inside her went dark.

  “Oh my God,” she gasped, flipping Mrs. Moore’s phone over in her hand. “What time is it?” She looked at the display that very clearly read five ten p.m. “Oh my God, oh my God, no, no, no.”

  She jammed a hand into her hair, nausea rolling over her in waves.

  “What is it?” Mrs. Moore asked, her eyes widening in concern.

  “I was supposed to pick up my daughter at school two hours ago. Oh my God.”

  “Okay, it’s going to be all right, sweetheart. The school won’t let children stand on the sidewalk alone for hours. They’ve certainly called whoever is on the contact list by now. I’m sure she’s with her father or someone else you’ve designated.”

  Jodi’s stomach roiled. Oh God, how could she have let this happen? She looked around frantically for her purse, but she knew her phone wasn’t in it. She could picture it exactly where it lay on her desk where she’d been working when the Moores’ call had come through. She’d set the phone on the desk, grabbed her purse, and run out the door, never once stopping to think about her five-year-old waiting on the front lawn of the elementary school.

  “I have to go,” she said hurriedly, shoving Mrs. Moore’s phone at her while she slung her purse over her shoulder. “Everything here is set for tonight. You make them get you a decent fold-out to sleep on, and I’ll be back in the morning.”

  “Of course, sweetheart.” Mrs. Moore put a palm alongside Jodi’s cheek to stop her for a moment. “It will all be okay. I promise. You made a human mistake. You’re a beautiful person, and you love that little girl. She’ll forgive you.”

  As she left the hospital, all Jodi could think was whether Ty would ever forgive her.

  Modern cell phones were a curse, Jodi thought as she sped toward her little house. They kept you connected with more ease and speed than anything in history, but they also kept you tethered to them, because if you didn’t have them, you had no memory of anyone’s phone number. She hadn’t bothered to memorize Ty’s or Lynn’s numbers, and so all she could think to do was stop off at her house, grab the phone, and then call them while she sped to the ranch,
praying the entire way they’d forgive her.

  When she pulled up to her house, however, Ty’s truck sat in her driveway and the man himself sat on her front porch. Even from the driveway, Jodi could see the dark look on his face, and she took a bracing breath before exiting her SUV.

  As she walked toward the porch, Ty stood, all six plus feet of him tense and vibrating.

  “Is she okay?” Jodi asked without any greeting. She stepped up onto the porch and faced him.

  “She will be. You want to tell me what the hell happened?”

  “I got a call at about two o’clock. My best client, an elderly man, had fallen on his new hip and was heading to the ER. It was an emergency situation. Everyone was in a panic. They want to put him in a nursing home, we don’t think that’s where he belongs. I left my phone here at the house. If you go inside, you’ll find it right on the desk.”

  “You could have borrowed a phone to call the school, me, Lynn. What the hell did you think would happen to her standing out on the front lawn waiting for her mother who wasn’t going to come?” The volume of Ty’s voice grew as did the furrow in his brow.

  “I didn’t, okay?” she answered in anguish. “I didn’t think about what would happen to her because I forgot until five ten this evening. I forgot I was supposed to pick her up. I was so distracted—”

  “You forgot.” His intonation was flat, cold, and final.

  “I’m so sorry, Ty,” she whispered. “It was a terrible mistake. I’ll explain it all to her. I’ll make it right.”

  “I’m not sure about all that, Jodi. I’m not sure you’ll be explaining anything to her. See, when you’re a parent, work doesn’t come before your kid. Friends don’t come before your kid. Your own needs don’t come before your kid’s. Barring you lying alongside the road unconscious, there is nothing that comes before your kid. You can’t ‘get distracted,’ you can’t forget, you can’t leave them standing alone in front of a school when they’re five fucking years old.”