by Kara Lennox
“Pretty good for five minutes, huh?”
Cal tried to swallow, though his mouth had gone dry. “Excellent.”
They drove all the way to Tyler to eat at Bremond’s Steakhouse. It was the nicest restaurant in three counties, and the most expensive. If you had a special occasion to celebrate or you wanted to propose marriage or tell your husband you were having a baby, Bremond’s was the place to do it.
“Isn’t this a little extravagant?” Willow said worriedly as she studied the menu.
“No. I have money, you know.”
“I know. The dairy farm in Lancaster.”
“I also have some savings and investments. Wealthy grandparents on both sides, you know. So stop feeling guilty for one special night out. Anyway, we have reason to celebrate.”
“It’s not every day you get a fancy new truck,” she agreed.
“There’s that, but there’s something else. I got fired today.”
Willow set her wine glass down with a thunk. “You what?”
“This is a good thing. Let me explain. When I told Jonathan about my new business, he went ahead and hired someone to replace me. He said he figured I’d be gone by the end of the month anyway, and he didn’t want to be caught shorthanded with fall coming up.”
“So he fired you?”
“Yeah. With a month’s severance pay. He figured if I could devote myself full-time to the venture, I could be up to speed in no time. He and Wade are going to put me on retainer starting in October, which will ensure at least some regular income. So as of September first, you’re looking at a full-time Animal Analyst.”
“Wow. That’s like…walking down a tightrope without a net.”
“It’s not, though. Jon said if I want to come back to work for him I can, at least through October and November. He always needs extra hands then. But I won’t. I’m sure I won’t need to, the way things are going.”
Willow gave him a trembling smile. “It’s really working out for you.”
“For us,” he reminded her. “You’re my partner, remember? Which brings us to this.” He produced a thin sheaf of papers from his back pocket, slightly bent but still serviceable. He’d left them in his truck earlier, and had tucked them in his pocket when they’d arrived at the restaurant. “Anne drew this up for us. It’s a partnership agreement.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t have to read it or sign it right now. You might even want to have another attorney look it over—”
“I’m sure Anne did a fine job,” Willow said hastily. “But I do want to read it.” She unfolded the document and glanced at it, then tucked it into her purse. “Thank you, Cal. I know you’re doing this to make sure I feel secure—”
“That’s not it at all. I only took a couple of business classes in college, but one thing I remember clearly is that, when you go into business, you always protect your most valuable assets. You, my dear, are my most valuable asset. If you hadn’t brainstormed with me, I never would have started this thing. And if you weren’t keeping me on track, I’d still be floundering around. I couldn’t have gotten this far without you, and the future would be a little dicey without you, too. That’s why I’m going to start paying you a salary. It’s not a fortune, but I can’t keep expecting you to work for free, even with the promise of future profits.”
“Oh, Cal—”
“It’s the same thing I’ll be paying myself. I have savings I can dip into until we’re turning a profit. At first, I was leery of dipping into my savings to finance a pipe dream. But, baby, it’s not a pipe dream anymore.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
Was Cal imagining things, or was her smile just a little bit tepid? He’d thought he was offering her a safe haven, but maybe he was throwing too much at her all at once.
Well, it was done now.
WILLOW DID HER BEST to tamp down her anxiety and enjoy her salad. Without realizing it, Cal was pushing her into a decision sooner than she would have liked.
A partnership agreement? Salary? This was sounding more and more like a real job, a real commitment. He’d come to depend on her. If she made the decision to go to med school, she wouldn’t even be able to give him two weeks’ notice.
“I’ve been talking your ear off,” Cal said self-consciously. “Tell me about your day. Where were you when I got home?”
“Doctor’s appointment,” she said, her gaze sliding away from his. The waiter chose that moment to bring their steaks. Cal waited until they were alone again.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Fine, actually. It was just a follow-up visit.” That wasn’t really a lie, she reasoned.
“Oh. Don’t scare me like that.”
Willow quickly changed the subject. “Anne Hardison called earlier today. Her parents are having their annual fish fry this Friday, and we’re invited. Do you want to go?”
“Sure. Those parties are always fun. Last year, Jonathan and his brother Jeff got into a fistfight over Allison.”
“I guess Jeff won, huh?” Jeff and Allison had gotten married last December, as had Jonathan and Sherry. The double wedding had been the talk of the town for months.
“I don’t think Jon had any serious interest in Allison. He was just goading Jeff, trying to make him jealous. It worked a little too well.” He paused. “Oh, but you don’t really enjoy parties that much, what with having to figure out who everybody is.”
“I’m learning to cope,” she said, again skirting the edges of lying. “I can’t become a recluse just because I have trouble remembering names and faces.” Besides, I’m much better now. Dr. Patel says I’m close to a hundred percent. But she couldn’t make herself say it.
Just a little longer, she promised herself.
Chapter Thirteen
The Chatsworths’ fish fry was in full swing by the time Cal and Willow arrived. They had discussed strategy ahead of time, so Willow could avoid awkward moments. He would stick to her side like glue, whispering names of anyone they approached or who approached them. And if Cal didn’t know them or couldn’t come up with a name, he would quickly introduce himself first.
Anne greeted them at the door of her parents’ fancy lake house. “Oh, I was hoping you two would make it.” She gave Willow a quick hug. “I’m Anne,” she whispered.
“I know,” Willow said a little self-consciously. “But thanks.”
“I have something for you.” She took Willow’s hand and started to lead her into a study that was right off the foyer. But someone called to her. “Oh, shoot. Don’t let me forget to show you later. Come on in, make yourself at home. Beer, soft drinks and dancing out on the patio. Fish is on the grill, boat rides a little later when it cools off.”
A crowd greeted them when they entered the cavernous living room.
“Willow, good to see you up and around. You scared the heck out of us at the rodeo.”
“Sherry,” Cal whispered.
“Hi, Sherry,” Willow said warmly, giving her a hug. “I was in good hands.”
As they passed into the living room, a short, stout man in fancy Western duds approached, hand extended. “Cal. Hey, did I hear you’ve gone into the horse training business full-time?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” He shook the man’s hand. It took him a few moments to come up with a name. By the time he recognized Bud Atkins, a local rancher, it was too late to whisper his name to Willow without being obvious. “Mostly horses, Bud, but I’m working with all kinds of animals, actually.”
“Hi, Bud, it’s good to see you again,” Willow said smoothly.
Bud smiled at Willow, then returned his attention to Cal. “Hey, I got a hinky horse you should take a look at. Damn thing bites anything that moves.” Bud tried to cut Cal out of the crowd as he would a steer from a herd, obviously intent on talking turkey, but Cal resisted. He didn’t want to abandon Willow. “Could you give me a call tomorrow? Or Monday, whatever’s convenient.” He handed Bud a card. Willow had convinced him to put som
e in his pocket. He didn’t like the idea of using a social occasion to drum up business, but he also didn’t want to discourage a client like Bud who just fell into his lap. He was glad Willow had pressed the cards on him.
They wandered outside, got some cold drinks, then settled onto a porch swing. Mick and Tonya soon joined them, as well as Mick’s sister, Amanda, and her fiancé, Hudson. It would be easier for Willow to sit with a more static group, Cal reasoned, than to mix and mingle.
But she seemed to be handling everything just fine. He recalled that even at Mick’s and Tonya’s wedding, when she was first learning to cope with her impaired memory, she had everyone fooled. So he tried not to worry about her too much.
“This is a great song!” Tonya announced when a rollicking disco tune from the 1970s started up. “C’mon, Mick, let’s dance.”
Amanda grinned and stood also, trying to pull Hudson to his feet.
“No, no, no,” Hudson protested. “I don’t dance.”
“You do now. It’s aerobic exercise. Don’t you want to set a good example for your patients?”
With a groan, Hudson stood. “Dirty pool, Amanda.” But he smiled indulgently.
Cal couldn’t help it—he envied their marital, or soon-to-be marital, bliss. He’d heard Tonya was pregnant, that that was why their wedding had been rushed. But Mick sure didn’t look like a man who’d been trapped. He was gazing at Tonya as if she were his own personal goddess.
Hudson and Amanda were an even more surprising couple. Hudson, a blue-blooded millionaire heart surgeon from Boston, had given up his lucrative practice and moved to Cottonwood so he could be with Amanda.
Couples who’d struggled with incompatible careers, children from previous marriages, disapproving relatives, were all around them. Anne had given up a future partnership in a huge Dallas law firm to open her own storefront office in Cottonwood and marry Wade.
Seeing all these couples so happy gave him hope.
He stood and took Willow’s hand. “Come on, let’s dance.”
A slow song was starting up, and Cal was grateful for the opportunity to take her into his arms and hold her tight. He wanted to stake his claim, show everyone that they were a couple.
She squeezed him tightly, and there was something almost a little desperate in the way she held him, as if she were afraid he’d slip away from her.
“Willow, honey?” he murmured in her ear.
“Yes?”
“I think I made a mistake, asking you to move in with me.” He wasn’t sure where the words were coming from, only that they were true and pure, and he was letting his instincts guide him.
She stiffened slightly, so he hastened to add, “Or rather, I left some things out. I don’t want to just shack up out of convenience. I love you. I’m committed to you, to us. I want us to get married. And I should have just said that to begin with. But I was afraid of rushing you. I still am.”
He pulled away so he could see into her eyes. They were filled with tears.
“Oh, baby, don’t cry. If it’s too much, too soon, just tell me. I’ll back off.”
“No, it’s—Oh, Cal, I think I love you, too. It’s just so confusing.”
He pressed her head against his shoulder. “If it was easy, anybody could do it.”
“Everybody does do it,” she countered. “Sometimes with terrible results.”
“Well, that’s because they don’t do it right. Granted, our track record is a little shaky. But you know what I think we need?”
“What?” she asked, slightly suspicious.
“We need to sit down and brainstorm all the elements of a perfect relationship. Then we’ll work up some goals, pick some target dates, do a timeline—”
She punched him lightly on the arm. “Cal, you can’t do a relationship like a business plan. It doesn’t work that way. Love can’t be analyzed and quantified and date/time-stamped. You are teasing, aren’t you?”
He laughed. “Only half. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with telling each other what we both want. Even writing things down. Maybe if you saw it in black and white, you wouldn’t worry so much.”
She said nothing, so he just held her, savoring the fact that she hadn’t thrown his marriage proposal back in his face. And she’d said she loved him—or she thought she did. He felt definitely optimistic.
WILLOW DIDN’T KNOW whether to laugh in ecstasy or burst out crying. She would suspect Cal was making her choices more and more difficult on purpose, except she knew he had no idea the choice of medical school was even on the table.
He loved her. He wanted to marry her. Could she really walk away from that?
What she had with Cal was special. She’d tried to tell herself for years that it wasn’t, that it was just the intensity of her first love that made her memories so poignant, so beautiful. But she hadn’t met anyone else who did to her what Cal did. And the moment she’d let him slip past her defenses, all of her youthful love, lying dormant all those years, had burst into life, only better than before—more mature, more ripe, deeper, more complex.
And just like that, her decision was made. She would not leave him. She would not go to medical school, become a doctor. For once, she was going to think about someone besides herself. She couldn’t bring herself to hurt Cal, to toss away what he was offering her. Together, they would make something wonderful. She would help him become the most famous, the most successful, the best animal trainer in the world. And they would have a strong, beautiful relationship—or rather, marriage, she corrected herself. All she had to do was say yes.
She would carry on with her face-blind act a bit longer—just until it was absolutely too late to return to medical school.
She felt instantly relieved that the decision was made. Lighter. Happier. She could make this life work for her. She could. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to open a clinic or find a cure for cancer. But she would have a purpose, she would be contributing to society, and that was something she could get excited about.
“Uh-oh,” Cal said. “Parent alert, two o’clock. Heading this way.”
“Mine?” Willow’s heart hammered against her ribs. She swiveled around.
“Your mom, in the long white shirt and checked pants.” He was getting really good at cuing her, Willow realized. Too bad she didn’t need his help anymore. “Your dad in the green golf shirt, just behind her.”
Willow groaned. “I didn’t even know they knew the Chatsworths.”
“You still haven’t told them we’re dating?”
“No,” she said miserably.
“Well, then, let’s go talk to them, get ’em used to the idea. Then it’ll be easier when…if we tell them we’re moving in together. Some time. In the future.”
He tried to lead her in the direction her parents were heading. It looked as if they were getting themselves drinks from a cooler.
Willow resisted. “Can we just hide instead?”
“And you think I’m the one who needs to grow up?”
“Oh, okay. I just hope we don’t create a scene and ruin the Chatsworths’ party.”
“I don’t think we can top the Hardison brothers’ fist-fight from last year.”
Willow wasn’t too sure about that. Her parents had made it pretty clear how they felt about Cal. Maybe he’d provided them with an excuse to keep her home with them another year, but that didn’t mean they approved of his seducing their teenage daughter.
The terrible thing was, she was still mad at them, she realized. Cal was right. She did need to grow up and let go of the past. They were her parents, and they’d done what they’d done out of love, however misguided.
If they couldn’t see their way clear to be happy that she’d found love, that she’d found an alternative to her dream career, she would just accept it and move on. They couldn’t control her anymore.
She pasted on a smile. “Hi, Mom, Dad.”
Marianne Marsden looked up, startled, then smiled. “Oh, I was hoping you’d be here,” she sai
d. “We decided to come at the last minute. It’s such a nice evening.”
Willow gave her mother a dutiful hug and a kiss on the cheek for her father, who grunted a greeting. He wasn’t much for parties.
Now came the hard part. “I’m sure you all remember Cal.”
Cal stuck out his hand to Willow’s father. “Mr. Marsden. Nice to see you again.”
Dave Marsden stared at Cal’s outstretched hand, finally taking it and giving it a quick, grudging shake. “Oh, yeah. Didn’t recognize you with your clothes on.”
“Dad!” Willow was horrified. She’d expected maybe a snub, not an outright attack.
To her surprise, Marianne elbowed her husband in the ribs. “Behave. Cal, it’s…surprising to see you again. At one time, Willow had a Cal Chandler voodoo doll she stuck pins in.”
“Mom, I did not!”
Cal just smiled. “Oh, so that’s why I got that attack of appendicitis.”
“So,” Dave asked with a slight sneer, “are you a vet now, Cal?”
Willow could have strangled her father. He knew damn well Cal had dropped out of vet school. Or maybe he didn’t. She had never vented her frustration over Cal’s aborted veterinary career to anyone except Nana. Maybe her father really didn’t know what Cal had been up to.
“No, sir,” Cal replied affably. “I’ve gone into a different area of animal care. I’m a trainer. Horses, mostly, but other animals, too.”
“He does a form of behavior modification,” Willow supplied.
“Remember, dear?” Marianne said. “Pat Patterson told us he’d helped that little pony of theirs.”
“I’ve become Cal’s partner, actually,” Willow said.
“His partner?” Dave repeated. “How can you do that and go to medical school, too?”
“Dave!” Marianne elbowed her husband in the ribs again.
“I’m not going to medical school,” Willow said flatly. It was still hard to get those words out and mean them, but she was getting better at it. “It’s pretty obvious my memory impairments aren’t going to clear up any time soon.” Big lie. Her conscience needled her. “I have to do something else with my life.”
