Sweet Home Colorado (The O'Malley Men)

by C. C. Coburn

  “Are you making the sandwiches in the fridge? You’ve had your head buried in there long enough.”

  He grabbed mustard and mayo and closed the door with his foot. You’d think at thirty he’d be able to control his baser urges, but no, whenever Grace was near, he was aroused!

  He sliced the multigrain loaf, then piled the slices to the side of the cutting board.

  “I can help,” Grace said, brushing against him and picking up a knife. “Mayo, mustard or both?”

  “Both,” he said, not thinking. They needed to leave the confines of the cabin. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, bringing Grace here. It was too isolated, too intimate.

  Jack wasn’t convinced that Grace simply wanted to avoid another relationship. There was more to it than that, he was sure.

  If he was going to get her to marry him, he needed to take it slow, let her fall in love with him again.

  Chapter Sixteen

  So many people had dropped by the house on Monday morning—including Sarah—that Grace was wondering if she’d ever get a chance to relax.

  Exhausted after the picnic hike with Jack, the Saturday evening concert and Sunday with the O’Malleys at Adam and Carly’s house, Grace wanted nothing more than to pull up a deck chair and have a snooze on the porch.

  The latest visitor was someone she’d never met before, although she knew the woman’s brother.

  Grace had stopped sweeping up yet another pile of sawdust and plaster when she heard the front gate squeak.

  A tall, fair-haired woman strode up the path and mounted the few steps to the porch. She held out her hand and said, “Hi, Grace, I’m Lucy Cochrane, Mike’s sister and an old school friend of Matt’s.” Mike Cochrane was the lawyer who’d sweet-talked Jack into taking on this project.

  Grace dusted her palms on her jeans and shook Lucy’s hand. “I’ve heard of you. You’re the local OB/GYN?”

  “That’s right. And that’s what I’ve come to talk to you about.”

  Grace frowned slightly. She didn’t need an OB/GYN. She crossed her arms and leaned against the railing. “I have a gynecologist back in Boston and I’m not pregnant, so I don’t really need another.”

  Lucy laughed and leaned against the railing, too. Grace noted her height—she easily topped six feet. “No, I came to offer you a business proposition.”

  “Oh?” Grace had never had one before and she wasn’t sure how to proceed. “I’m a pediatrician, not a businesswoman,” she said.

  Lucy’s eyes twinkled. “You’re a woman who owns a large house on prime real estate.”

  “Sorry, the house isn’t for sale.”

  Smiling, Lucy said, “I didn’t expect it to be. Can I take you to lunch at Maria’s and outline what I have in mind?”

  Intrigued, Grace could only accept the invitation. “Okay,” she said. “Just let me wash up and let the boss know I’m leaving for an early lunch. Would you like to come in?” she asked, leading the way to the front door.

  They stepped inside and Lucy gasped. “Wow! I always wondered what this place looked like. It’s even better than I imagined.”

  Grace glanced around, mystified. “They’ve ripped out the kitchen and the interior walls in order to insulate them, and torn up a lot of the flooring. Trust me, it looked a whole lot nicer last week, even though it hadn’t been lived in for years.”

  Lucy grinned and said, “No, I meant the space!” She indicated the two-level foyer, the wide staircase and the size of the downstairs rooms.

  “Do you mind if I take a look upstairs?” Lucy asked.

  “Be my guest,” Grace said. “I’ll wash up and meet you back down here.”

  She watched as Lucy dashed up the stairs. The woman had an athletic body and a fluid grace. She could’ve been a professional athlete, Grace decided as she entered the downstairs bathroom and washed her hands.

  It was a good few minutes before Lucy joined her again.

  “It’s perfect!” she said as she came downstairs and into the foyer.

  Lucy had obviously been impressed with the capacious rooms upstairs, as well.

  “Ready?” Grace asked.

  “Sure. Want to walk? Nothing’s far from this place.”

  Grace nodded. As they left the house, she said, “It’s one of the reasons I decided to get rid of my rental car. I figure I can walk anywhere I need to from here.”

  She spotted Tyrone coming around the side of the house and said, “Tyrone, would you mind telling Mr. O’Malley I’ve taken an early lunch? I looked for him but Buzz said he’s gone out.”

  Tyrone’s smile lit up his face. “Sure, Ms. Grace. See you later.” He rubbed a hand along the railings she’d been sanding. “Boss won’t like the job you’ve been doin’ here. I’ll fix it before he finds out, okay?”

  Grace laughed. “You know his exacting standards too well! Thanks, Tyrone, I owe you.”

  Tyrone gave her a little salute, and set to work on the railings.

  “Nice kid,” Lucy said as Grace held open the gate. “Jack does wonders with all the kids who come here. I have to admit, Tyrone scared me when I first met him—a kid with too much attitude and a bad reputation. But Jack seems to see through all that. He gives the kids respect, somewhere safe to live and an honest day’s work. It doesn’t take him long to turn them around.”

  The two women spent the short walk to Maria’s diner discussing Jack’s program for disadvantaged youths. Lucy obviously admired Jack for what he was achieving with the kids. It made Grace glow with prided.

  At Maria’s, Lucy picked a table that looked out on the street, but was farthest from other patrons and any potential interruption.

  Almost before they’d sat down, Maria was at their table, pouring glasses of water. “Dr. Lucy, Dr. Grace! How nice to see you. Can I get you something else to drink?”

  Lucy looked up and smiled at Maria. “How are your children, Maria?” To Grace, she said, “I delivered all three of them. Each one an angel!”

  “Hah!” Maria scoffed. “I don’t have enough hours in the day to complain about what rascals those boys of mine are. They all take after their father!”

  The three women laughed, then Lucy said, “I’ll have the usual, Maria. Chocolate milk shake and your delicious wilted spinach salad with goat cheese.”

  Grace hadn’t had a milk shake since she was a teenager and it sounded appealing. So did the salad. “I’ll have the same,” she said, handing her menu back to Maria.

  She crossed her arms and rested them on the table. “So, what’s this about a business proposition?”

  “Well,” Lucy said, mirroring her action, “I need space for my practice. So do some other professionals in town, and I’ve been thinking your house is the perfect location for a clinic that offers family medicine, medical specialties, physical therapy and so on.”

  Grace was dumbfounded. Finally, she found her voice. “My house? You want to convert my house into a medical center?”

  Lucy nodded. “That’s the idea.” Taking advantage of Grace’s lack of response, she plowed on. “I live in town, but my practice is in Silver Springs. And I’m paying a fortune for the space! My patients will follow me if I relocate. And it would be a whole lot more convenient to be closer to my kids and their school.”

  “But...you deliver babies at the hospital,” Grace pointed out.

  “True, but we all know babies don’t arrive as quickly as they do in movies. And if they come quickly, like in under thirty minutes, I’ve never actually made it to the hospital to deliver them, anyway!”

  Grace laughed at that. “Granted, but why my house? Why not anywhere in Spruce Lake? There’s parking to consider, as well.”

  Lucy held up her fingers and counted off the reasons. “It’s the perfect size—large reception area downstairs and treatment rooms upstairs. It’s in a great location, just off Main Street but an easy walk to everything. It’s got historical charm that screams Spruce Lake—rather than a purpose-built brick box in another area. I think pati
ents and clients will feel more comfortable somewhere homey. Parking? There’s a big backyard. We could even make the house wheelchair accessible with a ramp out back. Plus, there’s a wide laneway out back and a vacant lot that no one wants to build on because it’s cut off from everything else. We could buy it and turn it into the patients’ parking lot.”

  “We?” Grace squeaked. “All my spare cash is tied up in that house and the renovation.”

  Undaunted, Lucy said, “I’m positive we could sort something out. The street in front of the house is extra-wide, so maybe the town would be amenable to angle parking—”

  Grace made the time-out sign, thankful that it halted Lucy’s speech. “There’s an awful lot of ifs, buts and maybes involved in this. That’s a historically listed house. I’m not actually sure it could be converted into a medical center.”

  “But are you amenable to my ideas?”

  “Amenable! I don’t know if your ideas are even sane,” Grace said, then softened her words with a smile.

  Lucy laughed and said, “I can’t blame you for thinking I’m a bit crazy. Jack said you were going to renovate the house but didn’t intend to live in it.”

  “I can’t see myself staying here, especially all alone in that big house,” Grace said.

  “Wouldn’t you live there with Jack?”

  “Now, why would I live there with Jack?”

  “Because he’s the most eligible bachelor in town—if not the entire state of Colorado. And he’s in love with you.”

  Grace could feel her face heating. “And you know this because...?”

  “The whole town knows! No one around here can keep a secret and when word spread that Jack’s old girlfriend was back—the one who broke his heart and...” Lucy’s words trailed off.

  “Gee, thanks. Next they’ll be blaming me for global warming.”

  Maria arrived with their salads and milk shakes. “Thanks, Maria,” Lucy said. “Looks delicious, as usual.” Once Maria was gone, she launched back into the conversation.

  “Global warming? Hadn’t thought of that one, maybe you did cause it?” She winked and picked up her fork.

  “I think I’ve lost my appetite,” Grace said, staring at the plate piled with spinach, caramelized walnuts, goat cheese and other goodies.

  “You don’t like the salad?”

  “No, it’s fine. I don’t like the thought of everyone talking about Jack and me. Poking their noses into our business.”

  “So you are an item!” Lucy said, apparently latching on to the words our business.

  “No, we’re not.” Grace dug into her lunch. She finished the mouthful and said, “You’re right. This is a great choice.” Sipping the milk shake she closed her eyes in bliss. “This, too. Now, can we drop any reference to Jack and me and get on with your insane idea for my house?”

  “Will you consider it?”

  The idea was so new to Grace, so unformed, that she hadn’t had time to process it. But since she had to keep the house in the family, maybe repurposing it wasn’t such a bad suggestion. “I think we need to do a whole lot more research. For instance, it could take years to find tenants for all the treatment rooms. If the council even lets us turn it into a clinic.”

  Lucy swallowed some of her milk shake and said, “Not so. There’s me, you, Harley James the physical therapist, Suze Wilson the counselor and Carly O’Malley the massage therapist.”

  Apart from Carly O’Malley, the others’ names blurred together as Grace focused on one word—you.

  “Hold it! What do you mean you? As in me?”

  “Yes, of course, I mean you! I know you’re a pediatrician, but this town needs a really good family practitioner and you’d be great in that role.”

  “What about Doc Jenkins?”

  “He’s retiring at the end of the week. Thank goodness! Should’ve been put out to pasture long ago.” As if sensing Grace’s hesitation, she pushed her plate away and rested her forearms on the table. “This is a growing town, Grace. You could make a good living here. I heard what you did for Sally’s son Aaron. If you weren’t there, he might not have made it. We need good doctors. If we set up this clinic, we will attract more good doctors. We have orthopedic guys who visit during the winter, but they work out of the emergency center. And they need somewhere to refer patients for physical therapy. Harley wants to move his practice here. Susan needs space for her clients. Same with Carly.”

  Grace shook her head. “I can’t believe you’ve rounded up all these people so fast.”

  Lucy smiled. “It’s not as shocking as it sounds. We’ve been discussing for months that we wanted a clinic in Spruce Lake, but there’s nowhere big enough for all of us to rent. But your house is. Picture this, Grace.” Lucy gestured in the air. “Patients and clients come into the foyer to a front desk. They have a lovely, big, light-filled waiting room—where the present living room is. The dining room can be converted into office space for the staff. The drawing room could easily be converted into a couple of consulting rooms and then upstairs are more exam and treatment rooms, as well as bathrooms. We can all share in the front counter staff, thereby cutting costs. Can you imagine people gathered on the front porch during the summer, enjoying the fresh air, relaxing before their appointments? The older patients waiting in a safe environment to be collected by loved ones or the staff from the Twilight Years? That big eat-in kitchen would be ideal as a lunch room and even for staff meetings. It’s a no-brainer, Grace!”

  Grace held up her hands. “Stop!”

  Lucy halted and Grace said, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s all starting to sound like it could work.”

  “Yay!” Lucy cried, causing several customers to glance in her direction.

  “Not so fast,” Grace said. “First, we need to secure parking. And find out if we can get permits to run a medical center there—and even if we’re allowed to convert the house into something other than a residential building, then we need to talk to Jack.”

  “I don’t see that as a problem.”

  “What? The permits—or Jack?”

  “Either. The town wants a medical center that caters to a range of issues. And a renovation is a renovation to Jack. Doesn’t matter if it’s a house into a house or a house into a medical center.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  Lucy had the grace to flush. “Uh, I saw him last night and ran the idea by him.”

  “I see.” Grace felt strangely betrayed that Jack hadn’t mentioned it this morning. Still, Lucy’s idea was growing on her. “How soon do you think we can talk to the town about this?”

  As Lucy nearly leaped over her seat to hug her, Grace waved her back down. “Just so you understand, agreeing to talk to the town doesn’t mean I’ve agreed to this, okay?”

  “You will,” Lucy said, looking far too pleased. She slurped the last of her milk shake. “Harley and Suze would love to meet you. Carly, of course, you already know. And once word gets out, I don’t see any problems filling the other rooms.”

  Grace liked Lucy and liked her energy and enthusiasm. With friends like her, Sally and the O’Malley women, she could almost see herself settling in Spruce Lake. And perhaps even being happy here.

  * * *

  HAVING LEFT LUCY with the task of arranging meetings with the relevant authorities, Grace walked through the front gate and up the porch steps, deep in thought. So deep, in fact, that she slammed smack into Will O’Malley as he came out the door. He grabbed her arms before she fell backward.

  “Whoa there!” he said. “Where have you been all day? I hear Tyrone’s fingers are sanded to the bone.”

  Grace laughed and offered her cheek for a kiss. Lily was in a toddler carrier strapped to his back. She held out her hand and Grace smooched it, making noises that had the toddler giggling. Then she felt a wet tongue on her leg and looked down. A dog that was mostly black Labrador gazed adoringly up at her, then wagged her tail and rubbed her face against Grace’s leg.

  “
Hello,” Grace said, kneeling to pet her. “What’s your name, girl?” The dog tried to lick her face and Grace leaned back. She loved dogs but wasn’t fond of doggie kisses.

  “How’d you know Millie was a girl?” Will asked.

  “The pink scarf around her neck? The fact that she has teats, meaning she’s nursing or has recently weaned a litter?” Grace said as she stood. Millie continued to lean against her.

  “She your dog?” Grace asked.

  “Nope, she’s yours,” Will said, handing the leash to her.

  “Mine?” Grace knew Will was a little eccentric, so she played along.

  “Millie’s puppies have all been adopted from the animal shelter and she needs a loving home now.”

  “And naturally your first sucker was me?”

  “Yup. First and only.”

  “That’s pretty presumptuous of you.”

  Will held up a hand as if taking the oath. “Guilty as charged.”

  “She has three legs.”

  “You noticed that, too?”

  Will was incorrigible. Grace couldn’t help smiling. “What I mean is, if she has three legs, then someone must’ve loved her enough to pay for the surgery.”

  Will shook his head. “She was found beside the highway—we think she was dumped because she was pregnant. And she probably got hit by a car because her front leg was so badly mangled it had to be removed.”

  “We?”

  “The animal shelter and me.”

  “You found her?”

  “Yup. Since Becky wasn’t partial to having another dog in the house—we’ve already got two—I took her to the shelter, paid for the operation and promised to find homes for her and the pups.”

  Grace shook her head. Will really did have a heart of gold. Tears burned her eyes at the thought that others could be so unkind to animals. To hide them, she knelt so her face was at Millie’s level. This time, she allowed the dog to lick her. Then, feeling overwhelmed with emotion, she hugged the dog to her, burying her face in the soft black fur. Millie whimpered and leaned even closer to Grace.

  “I’m not sure Mrs. C. would let me keep her in the apartment,” Grace said into Millie’s coat, hiding the catch in her voice. And trying for one last feeble excuse not to complicate her life by allowing an animal into it.