by T. L. Haddix
As Haley drove to her next errand, a visit to the drugstore for her grandfather’s medications, she chuckled to herself, imagining what Jenna’s reaction would be if Haley told her about Eli, about her attraction to him. No doubt it would be full of enthusiasm and very likely X-rated suggestions.
The sad truth, however, was that even if he weren’t her patient and there wasn’t an anti-fraternization policy in effect, Haley wouldn’t pursue him. She knew she wasn’t ugly, knew that she was in fact quite pretty and had a lot of appeal she underutilized, but she didn’t have the confidence it took to approach a man like Eli on a sexual or romantic level. And no way did she think he was interested in her….
She’d watched him closely in the clinic. Flirting was something he did without even thinking and with pretty much any woman he encountered. Harmless flirtation, the kind that charmed and drew women of all ages to him like flies to honey. So any warm glances or teasing he sent her way was meaningless as far as she was concerned.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it, right?” she mused as she waited in the drive-thru at the pharmacy. “That’s the kind of harmless fun I can enjoy. The kind that doesn’t cost anything or hurt anyone. It isn’t like I’d be flirting back.”
At the end of the day, nothing would change. She’d go home to Fred, to her books, her knitting, her TV shows, the garden that constantly needed tending, and the house that seemed determined to bankrupt her. Eli’d go home to his family, completing his recovery, and forget about a brown-haired therapist named Haley who maybe anticipated his visits a little too much. And the world would continue as it always had, at least until life threw another curveball in her direction, and when it did, she’d handle it as she’d handled everything else for the most part—alone.
Chapter Sixteen
Eli watched Haley cross the parking lot with unabashed curiosity. As she was parked near the back of the lot, he had a good view of the vehicle she got into—an ancient dark-green SUV that belched out a puff of white smoke when she started it. He grimaced.
“That’s not good.” The smoke was thick though it tapered off by the time she pulled through the empty space in front of her. He’d have to remember to say something to her Friday. That much smoke during the day when the weather wasn’t damp was a pretty good indication she had some engine issues. Given the SUV’s age, he wasn’t surprised. The thing was practically an antique.
A black pickup with an extended cab and camper covering the bed pulled in a couple of minutes after she’d gone. Noah.
Eli stood and made his way to the curb outside, a sense of unreality washing over him as he waited for the truck to reach him. Discretely placed lettering on the side acted as a subtle advertisement for Campbell’s Customs, the woodworking shop his brother owned and ran, though referring to the business as a “shop” was a bit of a misnomer—as far as he’d gathered, Noah was pretty much a one-man show, only hiring out work during his busy season or on large jobs.
The windows were down as Noah eased to a stop. “Need help getting in?” he asked.
Eli eyed the truck’s running boards and shrugged. “Probably.”
“This has to be a wild experience logistics-wise,” his brother said as he put the truck in park and got out.
“’Wild’ is one word,” Eli agreed. He opened the door and frowned. “I’m not quite sure how to do this.” He made the admission begrudgingly. Until he’d had to start learning to live without two good feet, he’d never appreciated how difficult life without that foundation could be.
Noah took in the situation. “We’ll figure it out.”
Part of what they’d gone over in therapy today was how to safely enter and exit vehicles. Since he’d not had to get in a pickup yet, he hadn’t even thought about asking for instructions.
“The seat hits me right at the hips. Let’s see if I can boost myself inside.”
His face felt as hot as the sun, and in that instant, he despised the stupid dog that had caused the accident for putting him in a situation where his brother had to see him in such a vulnerable position. Given everything that had happened between them, Eli could easily understand if Noah saw this as an opportunity to hit back at him.
Noah, however, was studying the situation like it was a puzzle to be solved. “I can block the crutches with my foot so they don’t skid out from under you, and you can push against them to boost. Or I can give you a shove.”
When he winked, Eli chuckled, his tension fading. “Not just yet, old man.”
Working together, they figured it out. The process wasn’t smooth, but it was sufficient. Eli managed to get in the truck with no damage and most of his dignity still intact. Once in, he closed the door with a sigh.
“Sorry about that,” he told Noah as he put the crutches in the backseat. “I didn’t even think about how hard it would be to get in the truck.”
“Neither did I. And quit apologizing already. You’ll know when you piss me off enough to warrant a mea culpa. So what next? Need to go anywhere? Hungry? What?”
“I’m starving though I’ll need to go home. I’m not fit for public consumption right now,” he said, gesturing to his sweat-stained shirt. “How about you?”
“I could eat. We can hit a drive-thru, then head back to Mom and Dad’s. What sounds good? I’ll get out of the way of traffic while you decide.” He moved the truck to a spot at the edge of the lot that overlooked several fast-food restaurants.
“Is there a Fazoli’s here? I could go for some spaghetti.”
Noah winced. “Dude. That’s not spaghetti.”
“I forgot—you’re a pasta snob.”
After he’d graduated high school, Noah had gone to Europe. While there, he’d met an Italian woodworker who’d taken him under his wing as an apprentice. For the bulk of the three years Noah had been gone from Hazard, he’d been in Italy learning the fine points of the art of woodworking. He’d also developed a deep love for the cuisine.
“It’s hard to go back once you’ve had the best. That’s all I’m saying,” Noah told him with a shrug and a cocky expression. “I can make you a plate of spaghetti that’ll bring tears to your eyes.”
There was that surreal feeling again. “It’s weird being adults, being back in Hazard,” Eli admitted softly.
Noah glanced at him, then away. “And not trying to kill each other or pretend the other doesn’t exist? Yeah. Long time past due, though.”
“Very. What do you recommend for lunch?”
Noah pointed in sequence to the restaurants below them. “That’s the best place in town for frappes—hell, the only place in town for frappes if we’re being honest. This one is the best place for fries, baked potatoes, and some damned good salads, and the third is the best place for dessert and burgers. They have decent sandwiches and salads, too. And their biscuits and gravy? Not like homemade, but damned close.”
Eli’s stomach growled. “I don’t think salad’s going to cut it. Let’s go for burgers and shakes.”
“As you wish. Thanks, by the way, for rescuing me today.”
“You’re the one doing me the favor here. What did you need rescuing from?”
Noah blew out a breath and rolled his shoulders as he backed out and headed for the place they’d chosen. “Let’s say Molly’s call was a welcome respite.”
Eli looked at him askance. “That’s mysterious.”
“That’s me, Mr. Mysterious. Ask anyone.”
The grin his brother sent him didn’t disguise his tension, but it did make Eli smile. It was the same grin he saw in the mirror and on Molly’s face. All three of them had gotten it straight from Zanny, and if the kids applied the expression just right, they’d always been able to melt their father’s heart. Everything but the most serious infractions could be lightened with that grin. He’d let Noah get away with being an enigma for n
ow, but he’d ask again later.
They joined the drive-thru line, and as they moved forward awaiting their turn to order, Eli glanced in the mirrors out of habit. When an ugly green SUV pulled in directly behind them, he laughed.
“I’ll be damned.” He turned to get a better look out of the back of the truck but couldn’t see through the camper.
“What is it?” Noah asked.
Eli leaned over, using the driver’s side mirror to see. Sure enough… “That lady behind us in the beater? That’s my therapist, Haley.”
Noah tilted his head to get a better look. “Huh. She’s pretty.”
“Yeah,” Eli agreed with a tiny scowl. “She’s nice, too. You’d like her.”
Even though he’d tried to keep his voice neutral, some of his displeasure at Noah’s noticing Haley’s attractiveness must have sounded. Noah turned to him. He didn’t say anything, just stared at Eli with that puzzling frown on his face for a moment, and then it cleared.
“You like her.” His smile widened as he pulled up to the speaker. “Oh, my God. You like her.”
“Shut up and order. My treat.”
Once they’d finished ordering, Noah eased the truck forward. “Is she single? Where’s she from?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t know. Around here somewhere, I think. She lives with her grandfather. It hardly matters anyhow. She’s my therapist. I’m sure there are rules.”
“She won’t always be,” Noah teased as they reached the window.
Eli handed him his debit card, then leaned down to ask the cashier, “Excuse me, but could you also put the order of the lady in the green SUV on this tab?”
The guy blinked, then looked from the card Noah handed him back toward Haley. “Sure. It was six fifty-eight. Is that okay?”
“That’s fine.” Eli straightened, resisting the urge to shoot daggers at his brother, who was laughing. But when they reached the second window and were waiting for their food and the loon was still chuckling, he gave in.
“What the hell is so funny?”
“Nothing. Thanks,” Noah told the lady handing the drinks over. Once they had their order, he pulled out and answered. “Does this make me your wingman?”
Eli flipped him off though he was chuckling now, too. “There’s nothing to wing here. Like I said, she’s my therapist. And even if she wasn’t… I’m not in a position where I can do a relationship right now.”
“Maybe not. But like I said, she won’t always be. And you’ll be back on your feet again before long if you’ll pardon an expression. Does it bother you, those sayings? I didn’t even think.”
“Nah. Hell, half the time when I think about standing up, I think about ‘getting to my feet.’” He grabbed a sleeve of fries from the bag, offering some to Noah before taking a couple for himself. “I don’t know what I want to do next, Noah. I still wake up most mornings and think I’m late for duty.”
“You’ll figure it out. Do you think you’ll stay in Hazard?”
Eli didn’t answer immediately. “I don’t know. I think I’d like to. The idea of being someplace that isn’t desert and sand and all the joy that particular setting entails does hold a lot of appeal. So does being able to fix things.” He wasn’t talking about mechanical items, either.
They exchanged a glance.
Noah nodded. “I think so.”
“There’s a lot to fix.”
“Not so much as you might think,” his brother said quietly as he took the lane off the bypass that led to their parents’ house. “You’ve been working on fixing things for a while now. That hasn’t gone unnoticed.”
Eli used the excuse of swallowing down some of his Coke to get rid of the lump in his throat. “Thanks for that.”
“Well, you aren’t the only one who screwed things up as you might recall. I have some fixing of my own to do, which is one reason I’m glad you’re here for a while.”
“I could use something to do in the meantime while I’m recovering. Hopefully, they’ll clear me to drive again when I go back to Lexington next week for the prosthesis fitting. Then I won’t have to bum rides to and from therapy.”
“Mind if I speak bluntly?” Noah asked.
A little surprised as his brother typically spoke and let the chips fall where they wanted, Eli shook his head. “I’d prefer bluntness.”
“I know you feel guilty about having all of us in a position where… I guess where we’re having to ‘do’ for you. But given what happened when we were kids, if there was a person in this family who didn’t want to help you, they wouldn’t. And if anyone helped out begrudgingly? You’d know without a doubt. Okay?”
Eli frowned. “I can’t help but feel guilty. It takes time away from your schedules.”
“Mom felt the same way when she had her surgeries. She had a lot of reconstruction that kept her from driving for several months. The muscle strength just wasn’t there. Tissues were damaged when they cut,” Noah said, gesturing at his own chest. Zanny had undergone a double mastectomy and reconstruction ten years earlier.
“It really bothered her that she had to depend on all of us so much. Now, what I told her back then was every time I drove her someplace, I was paying her back for wiping my ass or my snot-nose when I was a kid. And her response after that was maybe she should be asking me to drive her a lot farther.”
Eli’s bark of laughter surprised him as much as the quick tears that sprung into his eyes. “Sheesh, I feel like a fucking watering pot these days,” he said as he wiped the moisture away with a napkin from one of the bags.
“Anesthesia,” Noah promptly responded, though his own voice was thick. “That’s something else you get from Mom, apparently. She was as weepy after her surgeries as she was when she was pregnant with Molly. Remember that? She’d cry at everything.”
“God, yes. You started carrying tissues in your pockets it got so bad.”
“Yep. Anyhow, maybe you didn’t wipe my ass when we were kids. But regardless, this isn’t about keeping score. This is about being family. Okay?” They’d reached the house, and Noah pulled into the driveway. “If you really want to pay me back, we’ll figure something out. But it isn’t necessary. I mean that.” Noah gazed at him steadily for a long minute, then away. “Now, let’s get you inside and fed and showered. You stink, brother.”
Eli wadded up the napkin and tossed it at him. “It’s the anesthesia,” he called, half-joking. The surreal feeling was back but this time, as Noah helped him out of the truck, he wondered if maybe he’d been living on the surreal side of things for years now, and reality had been the vision that was occluded all along.
Chapter Seventeen
The simple meal of cheeseburgers, fries, and soft drinks was poignantly normal to Noah. As he and Eli sat at the small table in the kitchen at their parents’ house, there was no tension between them. They were even laughing and joking.
“So Aunt Rachel’s dating a state trooper? Really?” Eli asked. “Willingly?”
“Willingly,” Noah said, dragging a fry through the ketchup he’d placed on the wrapper his burger had come in. “I think she really likes him, too.”
“About time. God knows that shithead she was married to did enough damage. What does Easton think about him? And holy crap, he’s grown up since I saw him last.”
Noah nodded. “All the rest of the grandkids have. Can you believe Sydney’s engaged to Sawyer? Easton likes Lee, by the way. So do Sawyer, Burke, and Rick.” Burke was their cousin Michelle’s husband, also a state trooper. Rick was her brother, a retired deputy sheriff.
“It’s weird. I guess not so much for you because you’ve been here.” Eli frowned down at his burger. “Do you ever wish you weren’t?”
“Here in Hazard? I don’t know. It’s home. I don’t have this aching need to go out and see the world.
If I want to travel, I can. But I like my life, my home. Speaking of which, when are you going to come up and see the house?”
He quietly held his breath. Though Eli’d been to the farm, he’d not yet made it down to Noah’s, which was close by, just down the ridge on land Owen and Sarah had given to Rachel more than two decades before. When Noah had come back to Hazard from Europe, he’d bought it from her. He felt a little nervous issuing the invitation, half-afraid his brother wouldn’t be interested.
Eli shrugged. “I didn’t want to bother you at home. I know you’re kind of like Grandpa, and you feel like it’s your sanctuary. I didn’t want to intrude on that.”
“You wouldn’t be.”
“Okay.” Eli’s face was solemn. “Then whenever I can catch a ride. I look forward to it.”
To have something to do, Noah wadded up the empty food wrapper. “You have plans for this afternoon?”
“No.”
“Head up with me after you get cleaned up. I’ll give you the grand tour. You can meet your fur-niece.”
Eli grinned. “Fig? I hear she’s a sweet cat. The video Molly posted on Facebook of her knocking the books off the shelf as soon as you put them back up made my whole unit laugh. But don’t you have to go back to work?”
Just thinking about work made Noah groan with frustration. He scrubbed his face. “No. I’m finishing up a job on a kitchen, and it can wait until tomorrow. Or next week. Next month. Never.”
When he lowered his hands, he saw the incredulity on Eli’s face. “You may be Mr. Mysterious, but you’re also Mr. Reliable. What’s going on?”
Noah shook his head. “It’s embarrassing and stupid and about to drive me nuts.”
“Okay. What is it?” Eli made a rolling gesture with his hands. “Don’t leave me hanging here.”
