by Debra Webb
Caroline woke up with a new attitude Tuesday morning. She was determined to do right by her grandmother’s house. She would make sure a new owner, someone who would cherish and take care of the home, moved in and brought happiness to these walls once more. She’d cleaned downstairs all day the day before and all morning that very morning. Now she was ready to take a break from cleaning and paint the kitchen. Once the kitchen was done she could take care of the upstairs.
After lunch she decided to drive into town and pick out the lemon yellow paint that would brighten the kitchen and enhance the ivy decorating scheme. Chase had insisted that she keep his old truck while she was here. Though she could have done without being reminded of him in anyway, she was thankful for the transportation.
She smiled as she parked in front of the old hardware store. The place hadn’t changed a bit. The storefront window was still decorated with an antique tricycle and ice cream maker. The white lettering on the glass had long since yellowed, but still proclaimed “Henson’s Hardware” plainly enough. Stepping through the double wooden doors and onto the ancient oak flooring gave Caroline an overwhelming sense of deja vu. But it was the commingled smells that evoked the most memories. The scent of oil, gardening products, and linseed oil filled her nostrils as she headed for the center of the shop and the counter that stood there.
“Why, Caroline Gregory! Will wonders never cease?” A gray-haired, ample-hipped Mrs. Henson rushed around the counter and hugged Caroline fiercely.
“It’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Henson,” Caroline said, her voice muffled against the older woman’s broad shoulder.
“I’d heard you were back in town.” Mrs. Henson drew back, holding Caroline by the upper arms and surveying her with a discriminating eye. “If you ain’t about the prettiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
Caroline blushed. She looked a sight at the moment. Dusty and sweaty. “Thank you.”
“Where’s that good-looking sheriff?” Mrs. Henson winked. “Time was when you saw one of you, you saw the other. I knew it would be just a matter of time before the two of you came to your senses and did a little fence mending.”
Caroline produced a patient smile. “I’m only going to be here for a few days. Mr. Reems wants to show the house and I’m whipping it into shape.” She hoped her excuse sounded more convincing than it felt.
Mrs. Henson’s weathered brow furrowed. “Well, it’s about time that old place got itself a new owner. You wouldn’t need it anyway. Why, the Garrett place is one of the finest in the county.”
Caroline winced inwardly. How could she get the message across that she wasn’t here to reconcile with Chase?
“That child needs a mother something fierce.” Mrs. Henson shook her gray head. “Henrietta does the best she can, but she can’t be a real mother to the boy, not like he needs anyway. It’s a pure shame how that little hussy went off and left that little fella.”
Caroline stiffened. She did not want to hear this. “I just—”
Mrs. Henson made a tsking sound. “Never did see what Chase, or Slade, for that matter, saw in that no account Tiffany. She tweren’t nothing but trouble.”
Caroline blinked, surprised. “Slade?”
A heavy sigh blew past the woman’s lips. “Poor boy. He was running with her when he died. Such a shame. It just don’t seem right that a fine young man like that from such an upstanding family could get mixed up with drugs.”
Caroline and Slade had been best friends all through school. It had been Slade who’d told Chase how much in love Caroline was with him. She’d been furious with Slade. But he’d only done it, so he said, because he knew that Chase felt the same way about her. The rest was history. Caroline had gotten so caught up in medical school that she hadn’t realized how bad things had gotten with Slade until he was dead. No one, not even Chase, according to Henri, had seen it coming.
“The whole town’s talking about you,” Mrs. Henson said, dragging Caroline from her disturbing musings. “We haven’t been able to lure a doctor here since old Doc Bishop died.”
That announcement startled Caroline all over again. “Doc Bishop died?”
“About six months ago,” Mrs. Henson affirmed gravely. “We have to go clear into the city for a doctor. Folks are tickled pink that you’re taking over Doc’s clinic.”
“What?” How on earth had they gotten that idea? “Who told you—?”
“Never you mind.” She released her stout hold on Caroline. “Ain’t nothing around here kept secret for long.”
Caroline felt trapped like a rat in a maze of her own making. “But I—”
Mrs. Henson whopped her soundly on the back. “Now, what can I do for you this afternoon?”
Caroline left the hardware store thirty minutes later feeling confused and frustrated, and completely bewildered. At least she had her paint. She hefted the buckets into the back of the truck and tossed in the sack containing the roller, cover, pan and trim brushes.
She scanned the sidewalks and shops that made up Main Street in Lucy’s Branch. Was everyone around here under the impression that she was back to stay? Were they in such dire need of a doctor that they would fabricate such a tale in hopes that it would come true? Her gaze sought out and found Doc Bishop’s clinic. Once a lovely old home, the clinic was adorned with fretwork and decorative trim. Doc Bishop had kept the place in mint condition. His shingle stood hung on the porch. How sad that he was gone now.
Maybe she’d just take a quick look at the place. Peek in the windows. Sit a spell on the porch swing. Caroline was halfway there before she realized she’d taken a step. Another wave of warm and familiar memories flooded her as she settled into the ancient wooden swing. She could almost hear Doc Bishop’s gravelly voice as he told her stories to keep her occupied while he sutured her up close and personal encounter with a rusty nail. She still had the tiny scar on her left thigh.
Caroline smiled. He always made the necessary visits easier. As gruff as he appeared, he’d been a big teddy bear. All the kids had loved him.
A car skidded to a stop in front of the clinic drawing Caroline’s attention to the street.
“Dr. Gregory, thank God you’re here.” A woman, mid-fifties raced up the sidewalk, a screaming toddler in her arms.
Caroline stood instinctively. “What happened?”
The woman bounded up the steps and across the porch. “He broke a glass and cut himself. It’s bled something awful.” She turned where Caroline could see the arm wrapped in a kitchen dishtowel. Blood stained the towel. “I was afraid I’d have to drive all the way to the city with him bleeding like that.”
The boy needed immediate attention, but how was she supposed to get into the clinic. It was surely locked. “I’m sorry,” Caroline began, “I don’t have the keys to the clinic.”
The woman’s eyes widened in fear. “What am I going to do?” The child wailed in punctuation of her words.
Caroline had to do something. She couldn’t just let him go unattended. The closest medical facility was thirty miles away. “Give me a minute.” She tried the front door, it was locked. “I’ll go around to the back.”
Just as she’d feared, the back door was locked too.
After looking around for something handy, Caroline decided on a small clay flowerpot. She smashed a pane of glass in the door and reached inside to unlock it. Five minutes later she had the child on an examination table and was preparing to clean and suture his wound.
While his grandmother held him still, the child screamed at the top of his lungs. Caroline tried her level best to tune out his wailing, but she couldn’t. And she hated for him to feel such fear.
“Do you like stories, Kenny?” she asked over his sobs. He didn’t answer. The grandmother attempted a smile for both their sakes. “Well, let me tell you one that someone very special once told me. Once upon a time...”
By the time Caroline got to the part about the wolf chasing the grandmother around her cottage the little boy was listening i
ntently. The grandmother looked as relieved as Caroline felt.
When she had his wound bandaged and had scrounged up a lollipop from the drawer Doc Bishop had always kept them in, Caroline gave Kenny a pat on the head and told him what a brave boy he’d been.
“I can’t thank you enough, Dr. Gregory.” The woman, Mrs. Cooper, Caroline had learned, scooped Kenny up into her arms. “How much do I owe you?”
Caroline smiled. “It’s on the house.”
After Mrs. Cooper and Kenny left, Caroline cleaned up the broken glass, then drifted through the clinic, just remembering. She had cleaned up the exam room she’d used and decided she’d better walk over to the hardware and have a piece of glass cut. Maybe Mrs. Henson could get in touch with Mr. Hadley and have him hurry over to install it in the door. Caroline didn’t want to leave the clinic vulnerable.
“Breaking and entering is against the law.”
Caroline whirled around at the sound of Chase’s deep voice. He stood in the doorway watching her. The look of desire in his eyes burned wherever his gaze touched her. It wasn’t fair for him to let her see what he was feeling. She blinked to conceal her own wanton thoughts.
“It was an emergency.” She turned out the light in the exam room and waited for him to move out of her way. She wondered for two long beats if he intended to at all.
He stepped aside, allowing her to pass. “Mrs. Cooper told me what you did. It’s a worthy enough cause that I’ll overlook the broken pane of glass.”
“Anyone else would have done the same. I’ll replace the broken glass.” Ignoring him, she paused at the desk to jot down the patient’s name and the treatment she’d administered. The next doctor would need a proper record.
“It’s right, seeing you here like this, Caroline.”
She looked up just in time to watch him move deliberately toward her. “Don’t,” she warned.
He stopped right beside her, those deep blue Garrett eyes staring down into hers. “This is where you’re supposed to be. The whole town wanted you here. I—” He snapped his mouth shut before he said the rest.
“You haven’t been going around telling people that I’m here to stay, have you?” she accused. Surely he wouldn’t do that. What would he hope to accomplish? And what did it matter what he’d once wanted? It was over now.
He shook his head. “They just assume since you’re back that you’re here to stay. They’ve seen you at your grandmother’s house. They think you want to be here. They need you. They’ve always wanted you back here.”
Caroline summoned all her defenses. She would not fall victim to his numerous charms. The way he looked at her...the way he smelled...the way just being this close to him made her feel. He was everything she’d ever wanted. And he had broken her heart. He had ruined their lives. First by insisting that she go straight from medical school to being the doctor in Lucy’s Branch. He was unmovable on the issue. He would not even hear of spending a little time away before they became Mr. and Mrs. Lucy’s Branch.
Caroline had wanted more. To see the world...to be free for just a little while. Then Slade had died and she’d had to come back. She wanted desperately to make up with Chase. They’d been on the outs for almost two months. Slade’s death had only reinforced his stand on staying put. At the same time, it had reaffirmed what Caroline already felt. Life was short. She wanted to have just a little bit of time for the two of them to share alone. She’d left after the funeral, angry and frustrated. Three weeks later, when she realized that she loved Chase too much to give him up for anything, she came back to town to find out he’d just left on his honeymoon...with another woman.
Ire flamed inside her even now. “But you made sure that wouldn’t happen, didn’t you?”
A muscle started to tic in that handsome jaw. “I did what I had to do.”
Caroline threw the pen she’d been using onto the desk. “Oh, yes, I forgot. You had to get married. Your girlfriend was pregnant. How could I forget that little detail when you were supposed to be engaged to me at the time conception occurred? I’ve done the math, Chase. I know what you did.”
He snagged her by the arm and pulled her around to face him. “You don’t know anything about what I did or why I did it. You were already gone, remember?”
She glared up at him. “Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose,” she hissed. “Did your brother know you were fooling around with his girlfriend?”
Fire glittered in his eyes. “I didn’t—”
“Save it, Chase.” She tried jerking free of his iron grip. “I didn’t want to hear it then; I don’t want to hear it now.” Oh he had called. Had even hunted her up and practically beat the door down. But Caroline had called the cops. She did not want to hear his excuses. He’d hurt her far too badly.
“Then hear this.”
His mouth came crashing down on hers and all else ceased to matter. He kissed her until she couldn’t breathe. His mouth, his taste, engulfed her. He tasted like…home. His hard body drew hers like a magnet. She melted against all those hard contours. Every ripple and bulge sent shards of need tingling through her. She told herself to push him away, but she couldn’t. She could only cling to him as if he was all that kept her grounded to this earth.
His palms cupped her face and he deepened the kiss, stroking her tongue with his own. Making her long to feel the most male part of him inside her. She wanted to rip his clothes off and make love with him right here in Doc’s office. She wanted him to tell her that it had all somehow been a mistake. That he hadn’t meant to hurt her. That he still loved her as she did him. That he would always love her.
But he didn’t. He hadn’t eight years ago and he didn’t now. Caroline tensed. Her palms flattened on his massive chest and she pushed hard against him. “Stop,” she managed between savage kisses.
His breath was ragged when he finally drew his mouth from hers. “Caroline, I—”
She shook her head and backed away from him. “This isn’t going to happen, Chase. It’s over between us. It was over a long time ago.”
He stared at the floor for a long moment before he spoke. “I know it’s over. I just...I don’t know.” He looked straight at her then. “Seeing you here like this, it just made me wish things had been different.”
“But they’re not.” She wiped her mouth with a trembling hand and let go a shaky breath. “Lock up, would you? I have to go.”
She left the office without looking back. She couldn’t look back. There was no changing the past. She’d survived Chase Garrett once. She wasn’t about to go through that kind of pain again.
~*~
“To your last night as a bachelor,” Chase said as he lifted his mug of beer to his good friend Rob.
Rob bumped his mug with Chase’s; Zac followed suit.
“To wedded bliss,” Rob countered. “And to all that it entails.”
Zac remained suspiciously quiet. He looked like a guy who’d just lost his best hunting dog.
Chase swallowed a sip of beer and studied his two closest friends. Rob Benton was marrying Julie McGill at ten a.m. tomorrow morning. The chapel was back in working order and all was set. The image of Caroline instantly popped into Chase’s head and he immediately banished it. He would not think about Caroline or the stupid thing he’d done on Tuesday. Twice now he’d kissed her. Was he a glutton for punishment, or what?’
Rob’s expression suddenly turned almost as solemn as Zac’s. “I don’t know though, it may not be all blissful.”
Chase sat up straighter in his chair. They’d taken the proverbial room in the back at the pool hall. A three-man bachelor party had ensued. Jason Walker, one of Chase’s deputies, was coming by at midnight to drive them home. No drinking and driving in his county, Chase mused. His attention zoomed back to Rob’s remark.
“What do you mean by that? You and Julie have been dating for two years.”
Rob shrugged. He’d shed his jacket and tie. He was rarely seen without his financial armor. He claimed he had an image to ma
intain seeing that he was the bank’s president. People expected him to look professional.
“I don’t know,” he finally said. “Something just isn’t right between us lately.”
Zac kept his gaze fixed firmly on his sweating mug of beer and said nothing.
Chase frowned. This wasn’t right. “What kind of something?”
“Sometimes I think we just aren’t on the same court with this game.”
Zac grunted, but quickly cleared his throat. Rob glanced at him but didn’t seem to take offense. Chase looked from one to the other. Tension was there, but he wasn’t quite sure where it was coming from.
Chase produced a smile. “Hey, buddy, don’t sweat it. Everybody’s gets a little of the old cold feet.”
Rob took another hefty swallow of beer. “Of course you’re right.” He lifted his mug once more. “To my lovely bride.”
“Hear, hear,” Chase agreed.
Zac lifted his mug and tapped it to theirs. “Cheers,” he said sullenly.
Completely ignoring the lack of enthusiasm from his friend, Rob grinned at Chase. “So, what’s this I hear about you and the good doctor? Rumors are flying, my friend. They say—” he leaned forward conspiratorially “—the two of you might get back together.”
Chase took another swig of beer to wet his suddenly dry throat. “It’s just a rumor. Caroline will be leaving a week from Monday.” He hadn’t seen her since that crazy kiss he’d laid on her in the Doc’s office. He’d decided that if he couldn’t keep his head in her presence, he’d best keep his distance.
Rob sighed. “Too bad. We could have made it a double wedding.”
Zac pushed out of his chair. “Anyone want another beer?” He glared first at Rob, then at Chase. Both shook their heads. “Well, I do.” He left the room.
Rob frowned. “What’s eating him?”
Chase stared after his friend. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s had a bad week.”
“I don’t see how,” Rob retorted. “He’s in heaven working on that fancy sports car Caroline smashed.”
