Steve raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. He waited while she struggled with her thoughts for several seconds. Finally, she took a deep breath.
“David and I may have broken up a long time ago, but I still hear things about him. No matter how he tried to make it sound that day in the parking lot he hasn’t spent the last couple of years pining after me. In fact, he didn’t stay single for long, and he’s dated several girls then. Last summer while I was home, Navy Relief sponsored a blood drive. A bunch of us went on base to give blood. This tall blonde nurse hooked me up, and then she went on her break.
“Steve, while I was lying there, I saw David come in, and this nurse met him at the door and took him off behind the screen so it wouldn’t be obvious to everyone, but it was pretty clear that they were seeing each other romantically.”
Deborah paused. “He didn’t see me, and I am pretty sure she had no idea who I was.” She smiled up at Steve. “I didn’t really care anymore, but when you break up with someone in a town the size of Jacksonville, everyone seems to go out of their way to tell you what your ex is up to. Beth Stewart was the name of that nurse, and I had it from several sources that they were dating hot and heavy, right up until his deployment.”
Deborah gave Steve a rueful smile. “It’s no secret that I thought you and I would be together one day, but I swear Steve, this is not sour grapes! What are the chances that you would wind up dating the same girl that David was seeing?”
Steve was stunned. “You really are sure of this?” He asked
Deborah shrugged. “That’s one reason I didn’t want to say anything earlier. I guess I could be wrong, but I know that I’m not.”
Steve took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Okay, then,” he answered.
Deborah looked at him suspiciously. He was too calm. “What are you going to do?” She asked
Steve shrugged. “What can I do? If it is true, it’s a really ironic joke, don’t you think?
“Steve, how can you just dismiss this?” Deborah protested. “What if David finds out and does something stupid?”
“There’s no reason, Deb, to think that Beth knows anything about David and me. If she’s still dating David, then why would she risk messing around with me? They must have broken up after you saw them at the blood drive,” Steve told her firmly. “I can’t see how this is some kind of evil plot. At most it’s sheer coincidence.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Deborah could see that there was no point in saying more. Steve seemed determined to dismiss her fears.
Steve seemed to understand what she was thinking. “Thanks for telling me, though,” he assured her. “I promise I will be careful.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “At the least it will save us from an awkward moment in a parking lot.”
Deborah attempted to return his smile, but her breath caught in her throat in a tiny sob of regret. For just a moment, Steve could feel the stirrings of the old electricity between them, but just as quickly it faded into a ghostly memory. He gently touched her cheek. “You’d better go,” he reminded her. “Pete’s waiting for you.”
Still Deborah lingered. “What about your knee, Steve? Is it going to be all right?” She asked anxiously.
“You know me,” he answered back with bravado. “I overdid it at the beach – aggravated it some. But I’ll be fine. This is just a small setback. I’m coming back to Hanging Rock,” he said with absolute certainty.
“Right.” Deborah seemed slightly reassured by his assertion. She looked out the window in the door. Pete stood by the SUV, leaning on the door frame. Waiting for her. Her heart did a joyful flip when he looked up and caught her watching him. Her legs turned to jelly when he smiled. How had she been so blind to him before? She wondered again.
“Call when you get back tonight, okay?” Steve asked.
Deborah nodded, surprised to find she was still standing at the door. “Sure,” she replied a little distractedly. She kissed Steve’s cheek lightly. “See you soon, then. Let us know what the doctor tells you.” Then she turned and hurried down the steps to Pete.
A moment later Steve waved cheerfully as Chuck maneuvered the SUV out of the driveway, and disappeared around the corner of his subdivision. As soon as the SUV disappeared, Steve limped into the living room and slumped onto the couch, feeling completely drained. Deborah’s words had upset him more than he’d let her see. Once again, David was intruding into his life.
What if Deb was right about Beth? What were the chances of this being a coincidence? Steve rubbed his head. It was throbbing almost as strongly as his knee. Everything he tried to do seemed to bring him back to face David in one way or another. Would this nightmare ever end?
Ch 19
An X-Ray of Life
Steve stared glumly at the x-ray on the wall of the examination room. He barely heard Doctor Tate scolding him. The words were unnecessary. The x-ray laid the facts out in black and white. Despite his brave words to Deborah, Steve had known in his heart that he’d done more than simply aggravate the old injuries; he’d added a new one. The wave that had twisted and tossed him around had caused him to tear some cartilage. The bottom line was that he would need several more weeks of therapy and healing before he could hope to return to Hanging Rock. He would be very lucky if he didn’t end up having surgery to stabilize the region…
Surgery? Again? Steve groaned in dismay. He had had to have surgery initially, and he knew how long it had taken for him to really recover from it. After working so hard, and after being so careful, one careless afternoon had put him back almost to square one!
Thoroughly depressed, Steve thanked the doctor, picked up his cane and limped to the waiting room. Beth was there, paging through a dog eared copy of a travel magazine. She smiled as she caught sight of him, but sobered instantly as she read the taut expression on his face. Silently he followed her out to her car and collapsed on the seat.
“So?” She asked him as she turned the key and backed out of the parking lot.
Steve stared out the window gloomily. “I tore the medial cartilage around my knee,” he answered shortly.
Beth sighed. “I was afraid it was something like that. It’s so swollen.”
“Yeah, I’ve got some ‘scripts to fill, and I get to use a ‘state of the art’ cryogenically cooled wrap.” He gave a bitter laugh. “No simple bag of ice for me this time.
Beth’s blue eyes shadowed with sympathy. “How far does this set you back?”
Steve clenched the door handle in bitter frustration. “If I’m a good boy and do all of my exercises, and am very careful and extremely lucky, six to eight weeks. Maybe. He’s still threatening me with surgery.”
“Well, let’s hope your lucky then,” Beth replied grimly.
“Yeah, let’s hope,” Steve mumbled. For the next thirty minutes as Beth drove him to the pharmacy and back to his house, Steve studied her surreptitiously. Was Deborah right? Had she been the nurse that David got ‘hot and heavy’ with after breaking up with Deborah? What were the chances he would be involved somehow with two girls that had been in relationships with his former best friend? And Beth, what did she know? Anything at all? Steve wracked his brain but could not come up with a motive for Beth.
Steve shook his head. She was fun, good natured, sexy and sympathetic. They shared a lot of interests. Suspecting her of some sinister ulterior motive seemed ludicrous and ungrateful! No, Deborah meant well, and there was no doubt it was weird, but Steve was sure that she was wrong about Beth.
Beth followed him into the house, carrying his prescriptions and the cryogenic icepack. She collected pillows from his bedroom, spread out a clean sheet and made him a comfortable daybed on the living room couch. Chatting about simple things, she set up the cryogenic unit and arranged the pillows comfortably under his back and leg. After rummaging in the kitchen cabinets for a few minutes, she reappeared with a plate of peanut butter crackers and a huge glass of milk.
“Beth, you don’t have to do all of this,” Ste
ve admonished her, a smile coming reluctantly to his lips as she bustled around the house.
“Nonsense,” she told him airily. What kind of friend would I be if I just dumped you on your doorstep and left you to fend for yourself? Your mom won’t be home for hours yet!”
“You’d be a good friend who had already done more than was necessary,” he answered her seriously. “I could have driven to the appointment myself.”
Beth snorted in a most unladylike way. “Sure,” she agreed, setting up a TV tray by the couch and placing the snacks on it. “I’d feel really safe knowing there’s a crazy guy out there driving around with his leg so messed up he couldn’t possibly step on the brake in an emergency. This is self preservation, buddy.”
She fished the TV remote out from under a chair and added it to his table, then straightened up and placed her hands on her hips. Her blue eyes were teasing and absolutely guileless. “Anything else I can get you before I go?” She asked
Steve shook his head, his mood lightened by her kindness and care. “Nope. Thanks, mom.”
Beth grinned and rolled her eyes. “Fine. You be a good little boy, then, because ‘mom’ has to go to work in an hour.” She stooped and kissed him on the forehead. “Call if you need anything,” she told him, ruffling his hair. “Bye!”
Steve watched as she let herself out and shook his head again. Deborah must be crazy, he mused. At most this was all just a weird coincidence. He yawned hugely, feeling the medications beginning to relax his tense muscles. Beth was really a wonderful woman….
Ch 20
Just Gracie
Steve limped into the lobby of Doctor Tate’s office and looked around for an empty seat. The office waiting room was divided into two sections. Today the area to the left of the check-in window, where the adults normally sat, was packed. Strange, he thought, then glanced at the TV in the corner, and saw that someone had turned it on to a soap opera. A smiling blonde bride was poised at the edge of a rose garden. She leaned on the arm of a distinguished gray-haired man. No doubt, Steve surmised, her father. The groom was tall, dark and handsome, of course. No surprise there, Steve observed. He waited for his intended under a white lattice work archway.
Steve surveyed the room. Mostly women, but some men as well, were glued to the set. Even the receptionist, he noticed, was peeking from behind her glass cage. Steve grinned at the sight, and wondered if this particular group made their appointments to coincide with this show!
As he stood by the door, one lady sighed and muttered to no one in particular, “I can’t believe that Lindsey dumped Sergei for Ethan.” She sniffled disapprovingly of the whole affair.
Her neighbor responded in a tone of authority. “It won’t last a year,” she declared. “Once Sergei clears his name, he’ll come back for her, and Ethan will be history.”
Her husband shook his head in confusion. “I don’t see why she’s even getting married, anyway. She should give Sergei a chance at least.”
His wife rolled her eyes and explained as if speaking to a slow child. “Because she’s pregnant, of course! That grandmother of hers would cut her out of the will if she had a baby out of wedlock.” The man nodded in sudden comprehension and then refocused on the screen as Lindsey stepped out to the opening chords of ‘Here Comes the Bride’.
Steve grimaced and decided to try his luck at a seat on what was generally the children’s side of the waiting room. Fortunately, it was nearly empty. He sat across from a plump brown-haired mother feeding her newborn, while watching a toddler in a leg brace stack multi-colored cardboard bricks into a castle. A black haired girl of about five or six with her arm in a bright blue cast knelt on the chair next to the fish tank. She was making fish lips at a huge goldfish, which seemed to be watching her intently.
Steve wondered if she was here with the brown haired mother across from him, or with someone else. He thought it was strange that no one appeared to be watching her, but then he concluded that her mother was probably one of the ‘wedding guests’ on the other side of the lobby.
Steve pulled out a book of word searches that he’d picked up in the grocery store line on his way to the appointment. He’d become resigned to the sad fact that doctor appointments seldom occurred at the designated time. These ‘circle the word’ searches were a little too easy, but they helped to pass the time. He finished the first search and turned to the next page. As he did, he fumbled his pen. It bounced off the chair and landed about two feet beyond his reach. Steve sighed and reached for his cane.
“I’ll get it!” The little black haired girl said, and scrambled off of her chair. Steve smiled his appreciation. “Thanks, kid,” he said with a nod.
The girl handed him the pen with her good arm, but eyed him reproachfully.
“I’m not a kid,” she said clearly. “A kid is a baby goat.”
“Oh,” Steve replied, nonplussed. “Right,” he agreed and bent back to his puzzle.
“My name,” she announced, “is Gracie.”
Steve sighed. Solemnly he inclined his head in acknowledgement. “Thank you, Gracie.”
Gracie grinned in response. “You’re welcome!” She said airily. She looked at his leg, cocking her head to one side like a curious puppy. He was wearing shorts and his knee brace was an impressive black heavy duty thing. “How’d you hurt your leg?”
Steve looked up again from his word search and thought for a moment. Would a child this young even know what rappelling was? He doubted it.
“I fell off the side of a mountain,” he finally answered her.
Gracie frowned at him reprovingly. “You should have used a rope,” she told him seriously.
“I did,” Steve responded, surprised at her knowledge. “but the rope broke.”
“Oh,” Gracie nodded in understanding. “Me too.”
Steve’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “You were rock climbing with ropes?” He questioned her.
Gracie shook her head vigorously. “Huh-uh. My tire swing. I was twirling and the rope broke.” She held up the blue cast for his inspection. “I fell on my arm.”
“I see,” Steve said, nodding. They were silent for a minute. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Gracie,” Steve said into the silence. “Thank you for picking up my pen for me.”
He looked down at his word search, trying to regain his concentration on a ‘Thanksgiving’ word search.
Gracie, however, did not return to the fish tank. Instead, she climbed onto the chair beside Steve, leaning lightly against his shoulder as she peered at his word search.
“What are you doing, Gracie,” Steve asked carefully, somewhat uncomfortable with the child’s proximity. Apparently the girl did not know she shouldn’t talk with strangers.
“I’m good at word searches.” She claimed. “I want to help you.”
Again, Steve stared at the child in disbelief. “You can read?” he asked dubiously.
Gracie nodded vigorously. “For a long time. Except for really big words,” she amended honestly.
“Really,” Steve said, impressed. “How old are you?” Gracie held up her hand and spread the fingers wide. “Five, but I will be six in Febwrery,” she answered muffing the bru in February.”
“Five?” Steve repeated, unconvinced. He had no memory of actually reading at the age of five. She probably had just memorized her favorite story books and simply called it reading, he reasoned. Steve pointed to a word in the list. “What’s this say, then?” he asked.
“PIE,” she replied instantly. “That’s really easy.”
“How about this one?” Steve challenged her, pointing to another word on the page.
Gracie took a moment, sounding out the letters carefully before responding. “T,tur, TURKEY,” she announced with satisfaction.
“You can read!” Steve told her, impressed despite himself.
Gracie merely rolled her huge gray eyes. “I told you I could read,” she scolded him.
“I’m sorry I doubted it,” he answered sincerely.
Steve nodded in agreement at this statement. “Yes, I think you are,” he agreed.
She cocked her head again. ”What’s your name?”
“Steve,” he told her, amused by her abrupt changes in mood and topics.
“Would you sign my cast, Steve?” She asked him eagerly.
Steve blinked in surprise at her request, but demurred. He couldn’t get over the feeling that any minute now Gracie’s mother was going to come around the corner and get hysterical because some pervert was sitting with her daughter! “Umm, I don’t have a marker, Gracie.”
“I do!” she replied happily. She scooted off of the chair and ran back to the fish tank, where a small pink plastic purse lay beside the chair she had been kneeling on earlier. She had Steve hold the little purse while she fished around with her good hand. “My grandma got me silver, a black and a red marker, just for cast signing,” she confided as she dug through coloring pages, pencils, pens, and some hard candies wrapped in tattered cellophane that looked as if they had been buried and dug up again. “Here’s a black one!” she said at last holding it up for Steve’s inspection.
“Okay,” Steve said looking up and down the little blue cast for a clear spot to sign his name. Names and “get well quick” wishes covered the entire top half. There were even some illegible scrawls that Steve suspected were the pretend signatures of her little friends.
“How about on the bottom, Gracie? This side’s pretty full already.” Gracie lifted her arm obligingly, and Steve found an open area where he carefully printed his name. “There,” he said. “all signed.” Steve went to hand her back the black marker, but Gracie did not take it. She looked at him a little sadly. “Aren’t you going to ask me to sign your cast?” She asked him in a plaintive little voice. She pointed at his knee brace. “You must not have many friends. Nobody’s signed yours yet.”
Far Country Page 16
