Missy's Moment (The West Series Book 4)

by Jill Sanders

  “No. Of course not. It’s just a date.” She brushed her brother off, but she was worried herself.

  It wasn’t as if she hadn’t dated before. She’d been in a long-term relationship during her first year at college. But compared to Reece, Bret had been a boy.

  When she’d seen Reece standing across from her in nothing but his boxers, her mouth had watered. She’d never seen a man look so good in boxer briefs before. His thighs were thick and his dark skin was covered in a light dusting of dark hair. The scars that marred his skin weren’t bad, but noticeable. His green eyes had been something to see, and she’d been drawn in the second he’d opened them. She couldn’t explain it, but somehow they were familiar to her. Like a memory pushed to the back of her mind.

  When she walked down the stairs with Grant behind her, she was shocked to see how handsome Reece looked in dress pants and a button-up shirt. His hair was darker than she’d first thought, possibly because last time she’d seen him he’d had a layer of dust covering him. It was brushed back away from his face, setting off the West green eyes. The fact that he looked just as good wearing torn jeans and a mangled shirt with a layer of dirt covering him as he did in dress pants and a starched shirt didn’t go unnoticed.

  “Evening.” She watched his eyes heat when he noticed her on the stairs.

  “Hi.” She smiled and felt like a teenager going on her first date.

  “You look lovely.” He walked over to her and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. That’s when Grant cleared his throat.

  “Evening, Grant.” He walked over and shook her brother’s hand. Grant shifted his daughter and easily took Reece’s hand.

  “Evening. I heard you had some excitement with my wife’s horse the other day. I’ve been telling her since she got that horse that it wasn’t meant for riding.”

  He smiled. “I think we got it all worked out.” He winked at Alexis.

  “Reece has purchased Ralph from me. He’s going to ride him for busting.”

  “You’re what?” Melissa said before she could stop herself. “Are you just plain stupid?”

  Reece laughed. “Some days.” He took her hand and started walking towards the door. “Evening.” He dipped his head towards Grant and Alex and continued to walk with her out the front door.

  “Well?” She pulled him to a stop just before his truck.

  “Well, what?” he asked, taking a step closer to her.

  “Are you really going to continue bronc busting?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I am. I’ll get back to it as soon as my doctor and nurse clear me.” He smiled and ran his finger down her cheek. She tried to hide the shiver of excitement that ran through her. “You must have a death wish.” It came out as a whisper.

  “Nope, just a powerful urge to be bucked off something.” He smiled and stepped back to open her door for her.

  She glared at him as he helped her up into his truck. While he walked around the front, she tried to mentally switch gears. It wouldn’t do any good to be angry at him all the way through their first date.

  “How’s the leg?” she asked as he got behind the wheel.

  “Pretty good. I changed the bandage the other day without passing out.” He smiled over at her.

  “That’s always good. How long have you fought with vasovagal episodes?”

  “Vaso…what?”

  “Fainting at the sight of blood?” She smiled.

  “Oh, since I was a kid, I guess. My brother got thrown off a buck once, skinned his back up pretty good. Since our pa wasn’t too keen on fixing us up, I had to do it. I remember standing over him with a washcloth in one hand and medicine in the other. Next thing I knew, Ryan was kicking me in my ribs and yelling at me. I never lived it down.” He shook his head and smiled as he drove out of town.

  “You two must have been close.”

  “Yeah,” he shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Alex told me that no one has heard from him in a few years. It must be hard being away from him for so long.”

  “I guess.” He glanced over at her. “What was it like going to school in Houston?”

  It was her turn to shrug her shoulders and glance out the window. “It had its ups and downs. I interned at Children’s for a semester.” She closed her eyes and remembered some of the better moments she’d had. She chose to think about those rather than the harder times, the times she had to say goodbye to children so small, so helpless.

  “I don’t know how you all do it.” He shook his head. “Staying calm as someone’s bleeding out.”

  “I guess it’s the same way you can square off with a very angry thousand-pound beast.”

  He shrugged. “I guess so.”

  During their drive into Tyler, there was never a lull in the conversation, and Reece enjoyed every minute of their time together. She made him laugh and think, which no other women he’d dated had been able to do.

  He’d dated a lot during his travels. Most of the women had been buckle bunnies, and he had always enjoyed the pick of the prettiest ones. But he hadn’t wanted to spend time with any of them the way he did with Melissa.

  He listened to her talk about her experiences at the hospitals in Houston and about things she’d done as a child. When she asked him questions, he tried to avoid giving up too much information, since there wasn’t anything really exciting about his life. But when he started to talk about his time at the rodeo, she leaned forward, her plate of food completely forgotten as she listened to every word.

  “That’s how I ended up with the pins in my foot.”

  She shook her head at him. “What did you do with the horse?”

  He laughed. “A year later I got right back on him and rode him across the field then sold him immediately to the man down the street.”

  She nodded her head. “Good move.”

  “What about you? Do you ride?”

  She shrugged her shoulders then picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. “I’ve ridden, but I’m not very good at it.”

  He leaned back in his chair and looked at her. “I doubt that. You have grace about you. I’d bet you’d be good in the saddle.” Her face turned a light shade of pink and she smiled.

  “My brother is the one that likes all the animals.”

  “What do you say I take you riding next week? That is, after I clear it with my nurse.”

  He was dying to see her in tight jeans and boots, bouncing up and down in a saddle.

  “Well…”

  “You’re bound to have a day off from work.”

  She nodded. “Oh, yes, of course. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are all mine. At least most of the time.” She smiled.

  “Good. Then it’s settled. What do you say to a picnic next Friday?”

  She thought about it for a moment and then nodded her head.

  The drive back to Fairplay was a quiet one. Not the scary silent type where he felt like there should be something said, but instead a peaceful one where nothing needed to be said. He enjoyed the rolling hills as he took the curve towards town.

  “I talked to a realtor the other day about finding a place,” he said out of the blue after seeing a for-sale sign for some land.

  “Oh?” She sighed and looked out the window. “I’ve been putting off moving out of my brother’s place since I got here. What kind of place are you looking for?”

  “Something with some land. I want to continue breaking horses. I’ve been doing it since I was twelve.”

  “Twelve?” She glanced over at him.

  “Yeah. My father thought that we should start earning our keep early on.” He wanted to change the subject quickly, so he asked, “What kind of place are you looking for?”

  “Just an apartment. There are a few places in town, but so far I haven’t found anything I like.”

  “I saw a sign at the big white house right inside of town.”

  “The Nolan place?” She squinted. “Yeah, I guess they have an apartment above their garage.”

  “That’
s the Nolan place?” He remembered how Mrs. Nolan had shot Melissa’s brother and kidnapped his cousin Alex.

  “Yeah, but Patty is still locked up. Roy used to be the mayor. Maybe I’ll stop by and take a look at the place.”

  “Really?” He glanced over at her. “You’d rent a place from the man whose wife almost killed your brother?”

  “Roy has nothing to do with the sickness his wife has,” she said, glaring at him.

  “No, of course not, but…” He shrugged his shoulders. If she could get over something like that than she was a better person than he was.

  “What?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for him to speak.

  “Nothing.” He smiled over at her.

  “Besides, I know for a fact that it’s a pretty good-sized apartment.”

  “How do you know that?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and looked out the window. “I went out with their son once.”

  “You went out with Travis? Alex’s ex-fiancé?”

  “Sure, it was during one of their break-ups. Alex knows all about it.” She looked out the window again.

  The thought of Melissa and Travis together had his stomach turning for some reason.

  When they finally pulled up in front of her brother’s place, he desperately wished she had a place of her own so she could invite him in. The front porch light was on, but the rest of the house was dark.

  “I had a really wonderful time,” she said as she started to reach for the door handle. He stopped her by putting his hand on her arm and pulling her towards him. When he took her mouth, he thought he heard her moan. Maybe he had made the sound, since her fingers were digging into his shoulders and holding him close.

  When he finally pulled back, he smiled when he heard her breathing hitch a little. She reached for the door again.

  He stopped her a second time. “My mother died when I was young, but she still taught me some of the more important values in life.” When she tilted her head and looked at him questioningly, he laughed. “Missy, let me open the door for you.” She smiled and nodded. He got out and walked around his truck and helped her down. He held her close until her feet hit the dirt driveway. Her body felt so good up against his, he didn’t want to let her go.

  “I’ll see you next Friday,” he whispered before giving her a light kiss.

  She nodded and smiled back, and he watched her walk up the porch and into the house.

  When he got back in his car, he couldn’t have stopped the smile on his face if he’d wanted to. For the first time since his brother had left him, he was feeling like he had someone he could talk to, and it felt great.

  Chapter Four

  “Why do I have to have a new cast?” Libby Jackson, one of Melissa’s favorite patients, was asking. The little girl was holding her right arm against her chest and frowning up at her through thick glasses.

  “Because your arm isn’t healed yet.” She leaned down and looked the little girl in the eyes. “But, this one you can pick the color of.”

  The girl’s eyes got a little bigger. “You mean it won’t be white?”

  Melissa shook her head. “I have six colors you can choose from. Would you like to see them before the doctor comes in?”

  Libby nodded her head.

  Ten minutes later, as the doctor wrapped the little girl’s arm in a bright green cast, Melissa stood by and talked to Libby’s mother, Cara.

  “Thank you. I didn’t know how to tell her that she’d have to have cast on for a few more weeks. She hated the last one so much.”

  Melissa smiled. “I remember having a cast on when I was about her age.” She shook her head remembering the nuisance. “This one will be lighter and a lot smaller than the first one. Maybe it won’t be so bad for her.”

  “I hope so. It’s hard enough that she’s hasn’t gotten to play with her brothers in the last few weeks, but now that school has started, she’s not allowed to play on the playground until the cast comes off.”

  “Oh, well, that doesn’t seem fair.”

  Cara shrugged her shoulders. “School rules. Until she gets a clean bill of health, they don’t want her re-injuring herself.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Melissa said, frowning down at the little girl. Still, part of her thought it was unfair to keep the little girl inside while all her friends got to play.

  Then she remembered Reece. Hadn’t she just told him the same thing a few days ago? No riding horses until his leg was healed. It was just a scratch. A scratch that had to have nine stitches. She shook her head clear and tried to concentrate for the rest of the day. She’d found herself thinking about Reece a lot in the three days since their date.

  In those days, she’d finally settled on a place of her own and had signed the lease on a small green house just a few blocks from the clinic. The place belonged to Sheriff Miller, but ever since he’d moved in with Jamella, the place had sat empty. He’d overheard her making a call from the diner about an apartment for rent and had told her right there that she was welcome to his place for whatever price she could afford. She’d been hesitant at first until he’d told her that the place was already furnished and that she could do whatever other decorating that she saw fit.

  After getting a quick tour of the house, she’d given him a check and had settled on moving in the following day.

  When she’d asked Dr. Conner for the day off, he had quickly replied yes and asked if she needed help moving in. She’d told him no, since all she had were a few items that she’d put in storage in her brother’s garage. What she really needed was someone to do some shopping with her at the secondhand store, since she needed a few other amenities.

  Since Alex was busy that day, she’d called Haley and asked if she wanted to do some shopping.

  The next morning when she walked downstairs, she was happy to see Haley and the twins in the kitchen eating breakfast already.

  “Good morning.” Her friend looked up at her with a smile. Haley hadn’t changed in years. Her long dark hair still hung below her shoulders with a light wave, and her rich green eyes still sparkled with mischief. And even after giving birth to two very healthy boys, she still had a figure Melissa would have killed for.

  “Morning. How are my two favorite boys this morning?” She walked over to the highchairs and kissed both of the chubby cheeks as the boys plowed Cheerios into their mouths.

  “Well, Conner decided he was going to spill all his juice instead of drink it, and Cooper thought it was great fun and joined in.” She stood up and Melissa saw the large stain on Haley’s shirt. She tried not to laugh, but since Haley had a large smile on her face, she couldn’t help it.

  “I’m sure I have a shirt that would fit you upstairs.”

  “Don’t worry.” Haley bent down and pulled out a shirt from the enormous baby bag sitting next to her on the floor. “I come prepared. Would you mind watching them while I run up and change?” She looked down at the soaked shirt, sniffed, and frowned. “Maybe I’ll shower while I’m at it.”

  Melissa laughed. “I’d love to. Take your time.” She leaned over and picked up one of the boys. She thought it was Conner, but she had a hard time telling them apart.

  Haley started to walk out of the room, but looked back over her shoulder at her. “That’s Cooper.” She nodded to the boy in Melissa’s arms and then smiled and left.

  “Well, Cooper.” She looked down at the boy who was trying to pull her earrings out of her ears. “What do you say we see about cleaning you two up?”

  It took longer than she thought possible to get both the boys’ hands and faces cleaned from the gummy Cheerios.

  “How is it”—she blew a strand of her blonde hair out of her face—“that you two can make such a huge mess with just Cheerios?”

  She was sitting on the kitchen floor. Cooper was cleaned up and playing with a stack of blocks while she tried to clean up Conner. But the second boy was having none of the warm washcloth. The chubby kid could fight li
ke a pro. His little legs and arms flailed about, causing her to almost drop him several times. That’s when she sat on the floor, just in case.

  “Awww, is there a price of admission for the show?” someone said from behind her.

  She gasped and looked quickly over her shoulder to see Reece standing in the back doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and his boots resting against the door frame.

  “Don’t just stand there.” She turned back to the wiggly kid in her arms. “Come give me a hand.” She heard him laugh as he sat next to her on the kitchen rug.

  Upon seeing Reece, Conner quickly threw his hands up towards him and started begging. Melissa let the kid crawl across her lap towards Reece, where he plopped down in his lap and leaned his messy face on Reece’s clean shirt.

  “There,” Reece said, stroking the kid’s dark hair. “The torture ends.” He smiled up at her as Conner’s big eyes looked at her with distaste.

  “Well, really.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll have you know that Cooper cooperated just fine. Didn’t you?” She leaned over and picked up the happy kid who was now chewing on a large block.

  “Maybe all he needed was another man,” Reece said, rocking the kid gently back and forth in his arms.

  “You would think that he’d take a hint from his brother.”

  Reece shook his head. “Conner is his own man.” He smiled down at the boy’s face. “He’s shy and doesn’t like to be forced, whereas Cooper is more relaxed and just goes with whatever is going on.” Reece looked over at the boy in her arms. “They’re as different as Ryan and I were.”

  “How can you tell them apart?” she asked looking between the boys. “Other than the fact that Conner won’t let me touch him.”

  “Cooper has a small freckle on his chin. Ryan had a scar above his left eye that I was told I gave him when we were in diapers.” He reached over and brushed the small spot on Cooper’s chin, which Melissa wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. “Conner here”—he rubbed the little boys legs—“is a daddy’s boy and is always wearing Cowboy socks.”

  Melissa looked down and noticed the Dallas Cowboy socks on the boy. When she looked down at Cooper, she noticed he was wearing red and blue Houston Texans socks.