“Not good. I’m not sure what will happen, but I’m glad she’s close to her mom.”
“I’m sure that will be good for them both.”
“I got a call from Jeremy,” Jesse said as they walked out the door.
“And?”
“He’s moving ahead with his idea for a clinic.”
“He doesn’t take no for an answer, does he?”
Jesse walked next to her. “Not at all. That’s the Cooper in him.”
“Maybe when you get back from South America?”
“Maybe. It’s just a matter of blocking all of the voices trying to persuade me to go the way they think I should go.”
Laura kept quiet. She didn’t want to be one more person with an opinion about what she thought he should do. And she was the last person to really have a say in the choices he made.
* * *
Jesse opened the gate to the corral and walked up to the mare he’d been watching the past few days. Heavy with foal she stood in the corner of the white fenced enclosure, her head down, her sides heaving.
“Not much longer, Fancy.” He ran his hand down her side. He didn’t think she’d foal tonight, but she might. He’d moved her to the barn and this corral weeks ago to get her off the new spring grass.
He turned and walked back to the gate. Laura leaned on the top rail of the white vinyl fencing, her gray eyes settled on the mare, not him. He knew where her mind had gone. From that faraway look, he guessed she was thinking about Abigail’s arrival at Cooper Creek and about their first overnight visit this coming weekend.
He stayed inside the enclosure, watching the mare and then turning to look at Laura.
“What?”
He turned back to the mare. “Just thinking that we shouldn’t cook or mess up either house. I’ll take you to the Mad Cow.”
“You don’t have to do that.” She stepped back, allowing him to push the gate open. “I have chicken thawing. I don’t mind cooking.”
“You’ve been cooking for me all week. Let me feed the horses and I’ll take you out.”
“Jesse, really.” She bit down on her bottom lip and then met his gaze. “I don’t think we should. I’m not even sure about dinner.”
“We have to eat.”
“I don’t want to mess up. I want to be able to work here, stay here. More than that, I have to protect Abigail. Once I get her back, I want her to feel safe. I want her to know that I’m here for her and she’s the most important thing in my life. And—” She smiled weakly. “This is embarrassing...”
“Go ahead.”
“I don’t want her to think you’re more than my boss. She’s a little girl and at this foster home, for the first time really in her life, she’s had what she’s always wanted. She’s had a dad.”
He whistled at the revelation that came from left field. He’d expected her to say she wasn’t interested or she didn’t want to be used. But she had a whole other list of reasons not to get tangled in a “going nowhere” relationship. And for the first time in a long, long time, maybe ever, he thought he’d met the kind of woman he would want to go places with.
That was about the last thing he needed to tell her when her eyes were full of doubt.
“I get that.”
He did. He should agree. She was making it easy, the way he’d always liked relationships. Instead he wanted to convince her why dinner together made sense. When he looked at her, he knew that the choices they made now would have a serious impact on both of their lives.
“It’s just dinner, Laura. I know you work for me. I know you need this job. I really get that you want to protect Abigail and that you don’t want her to think there’s something between us.” But what if there was?
She followed him into the feed room.
“Jesse, I don’t want to let myself believe there’s something between us. I’ve got a record. I have a child to raise. I’ve been through a lot and I don’t think I can deal with anything else.”
“What if we go out as friends, no promises, no expectations?”
“My brain says no.”
“What do you say?”
“It’s been a long time, maybe forever, since I’ve had a friend.”
It had been a long time since Jesse had wanted to hold on to a woman the way he wanted to hold on to her. And friendship was only the beginning. But he knew her boundaries and the reasons for them.
Her phone rang as they walked back to her place and his truck. She looked at it and didn’t answer.
“Problem?”
She shook her head but the tense line of her mouth said otherwise.
“Laura?”
“It’s Ryan. He’s still trying to get me to give him money. It isn’t easy, telling him no. He’s my stepbrother, but he was just a little boy when our parents got together and I’ve always felt responsible for him.”
“He’s an adult now and his actions put you in jail.”
“I know.” She stopped at the door of the truck. “I’m afraid of him,” she whispered.
“He isn’t going to touch you here. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Thank you.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
“No problem.” He pulled the keys out of his pocket. “Dinner in town?”
She nodded and he opened the door of his truck for her to climb in. She stopped short of getting in. “Jesse, don’t hurt us.”
“I won’t.”
* * *
When they got to the Mad Cow, it looked as if half the town had decided to let Vera cook for them. He spotted his brother Reese’s truck. He and Cheyenne must have decided to eat out. And Blake was there, too.
No backing out now. He’d deal with his siblings and the town.
“Second thoughts?” Laura paused with her hand on her seat belt.
“We should be prepared for the looks, the speculation and the inevitable gossip.”
“You mean it hasn’t started yet?”
He pulled the keys from the ignition. “Not even close. At least two of my brothers are here.”
“We can handle it.”
When they walked through the door all conversation seemed to halt. Jesse knew it had to be his imagination. Laura stepped close, nearly shrinking into his side. Yeah, not his imagination. A few people greeted them, two or three smiled knowing smiles and a few went ahead with the gossip.
In a booth on the back wall, Cheyenne nudged Reese and whispered something. Reese turned, his dark glasses covering his sightless eyes. He smiled and raised a hand in greeting.
“Sit with us?” Cheyenne moved the baby’s seat off one of the chairs and put it next to her in the booth.
“Yeah, Jesse, join us. We need to catch up.” Reese grinned like a cat with a mouse cornered in the barn. “I haven’t talked to you in weeks.”
“Last Sunday at church,” Jesse corrected. “And you aren’t going to talk to me now. We’re going to have dinner without a game of twenty questions.”
“We?”
Jesse held Laura’s hand. “Laura White, my brother Reese and his wife, Cheyenne.”
“Laura, good to meet you.”
Reese reached for her hand. “Jesse, maybe give me a call soon. We should at least get together before you leave the country.”
“I will.” Jesse led Laura to a corner booth that had just been vacated by a young couple. He didn’t see Blake.
“You should have let me fix the chicken,” Laura leaned to whisper after they were seated and the table had been cleared.
“I’m starting to think that might have been smarter. But Dawson gets kind of boring and people need something to keep them entertained. Eventually they’ll figure out we’re just friends.”
“I have a feeling you typically aren’t the Cooper they’re talking about.”
“I do try to fly under the radar.”
“Which will make this even more interesting for them.”
He started to reach for her hand but knew that would be a mistake in this crowded room. “It will
.”
They were eating fried chicken when Jeremy walked through the door and straight to their table.
“I’ve been trying to call you.” Jeremy pulled up a seat and sat at the end of the booth. He reached for one of the rolls still in the basket. “Man, I’m starving.”
“Help yourself.” Jesse handed him a leftover chicken leg. “No, really, I’m done.”
Jeremy grinned and took the leg. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
Jesse felt his pocket and shrugged. “Left it in my truck, I guess. What’s up?”
“Two things. I have a building going up and donors for a clinic. I think we could do one day a week and not overwork you. Right?”
“Jeremy, I’m not committing to something I might not be here to do.”
“Right, yeah, I know.” Jeremy put the chicken leg on a napkin. “Listen, you have to do what you have to do. But I really feel like this is something I have to do. If it works out that you can be involved, then that’s even better.”
“I get that. I can check around and see who might be able to help. You might be able to find more than one doctor, maybe even a physician’s assistant, and that would mean being open more than one day a week. Or alternating doctors so one guy isn’t pulling the whole load.”
“Right, good idea. And while we’re on the subject...”
Jesse interrupted his half brother, who had taken a bite of chicken and reached for a napkin. “Were we on the subject? Because the last time I checked, I was having dinner with a beautiful woman and you were interrupting.”
Jeremy smiled at Laura and then smirked at Jesse. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize this was a date. I thought maybe this was a business meeting.”
Behind them a few people chuckled.
Jesse leaned toward Jeremy. “I’m going to take you outside and...”
Jeremy, not at all offended, leaned in and whispered, “And lose your Christian witness?”
“Yeah.”
Jeremy wiped his hands on a napkin and stood. “I have a kid at Back Street with some pretty nasty poison ivy.”
Jesse glanced from his brother to Laura and she gave a slight nod.
“Let me pay for our dinner and we’ll be up in five minutes. Are you happy?”
“Mucho.”
“Don’t speak Spanish, please. You always end up butchering the language.”
“Right, okay.” Jeremy grabbed the bill that the waitress had left on their table. “I’m buying. Unless you were going to write it off as a business meeting.”
“No, Jeremy, I wasn’t. Go!”
Jeremy walked away, still laughing. Jesse leaned back, wishing he had time for a cup of coffee and a slice of Vera’s pie. A minute later the waitress was back with two pieces of pie in takeout containers.
“Your brother said to bring you this. You don’t have time to eat it, he said, but you can have it later while you enjoy your view of the lake from your deck.” She turned pink as she set the containers on the table. “And he left me a tip. But he said not to tell you that.”
She went from pink to red as she relayed the message.
Jesse pulled out his wallet and left the girl a second tip. He stood and waited for Laura to slide out of the booth. “I guess we should go.”
That was the way a guy started rumors in Dawson. But right now, Jesse didn’t care.
Chapter Eleven
Laura watched Jesse with the little boy Jeremy had asked him to examine. She guessed Teddy to be about eight years old. He wore jeans shorts a few sizes too large and a pajama top for a shirt and his bare feet were cut and blistered.
She found a towel in the kitchen of the Back Street Community Center and while the little guy sat on the table waiting for Jesse to finish the examination, she wiped off his feet and applied salve and bandages to two of the cuts. He smiled at her and didn’t look at all upset by his condition, even though his left eye had swollen nearly shut due to poison ivy and he couldn’t stop scratching the sores on his arms.
His mom stood behind the table, her smile hovering between gratitude and tearful embarrassment. Laura offered her a smile of encouragement. Moms had to stick together. Laura knew from her own experience that everyone judged, everyone speculated, and people didn’t always want the whole truth.
“You’re going to have to learn the difference between poison ivy and mint, Teddy.” Jesse wrote out a prescription for the mom. “He needs to take this entire prescription. Even if he looks better, he has to take every pill exactly the way the pharmacist tells you.”
“I can do that.” Her cheeks turned pink and she looked from Laura to Jesse. “How much do I owe you?”
“Nothing.” Jesse helped Teddy off the table and ruffled the boy’s curly brown hair. “Stay out of the poison ivy, Teddy.”
“Okay, Doctor.” Teddy saluted and laughed before he turned and ran from the room. His mom apologized and ran after him.
“Cute.” Laura watched them run up the stairs together and her heart ached because it had been months since she’d had such normal moments with her own daughter.
But it wouldn’t be much longer. Tomorrow she’d be allowed to visit Abigail at the Coopers’.
“Ready to go?” Jesse walked over to the sink and turned on water. Laura joined him because just the thought of poison ivy made her itchy.
“I’m ready.” She waited until he reached for the towel to wash her hands.
They flipped off lights and headed up the stairs. Jeremy was waiting for them in what was once the church sanctuary but now served several purposes, Laura had learned. They sometimes had music, sometimes plays or special speakers.
“Looks like Teddy will live.” Jeremy walked next to Jesse as they left the building. “You two make a good team.”
Jesse shook his head. “Jeremy, stop trying to help God. If this clinic is supposed to happen, it will. And God will supply the medical staff.”
“Right, wait on God.” Jeremy pulled keys out of his pocket. “I need to head home or I’m going to have a wife praying the wrath of God down on me. But thanks, Jess. All kidding aside, I appreciate you doing this. Even if you’re not the guy, at least you helped me to see the need.”
“I didn’t help you see the need—you latched on and refused to let go.”
“Yeah, some people think that’s a good quality. You make it sound like an insult.”
Jesse shook his head. “Not at all. To show you I’m not upset, I was thinking you could be my partner this Saturday at the arena.”
“Team roping?” Jeremy reached for the helmet on his motorcycle.
Laura walked away as the two brothers finished their conversation. She headed for Jesse’s truck, eager to get home and work on Abigail’s room. Not that she had a lot to do. She’d been working on the room since she moved in. She’d hung posters on the walls, put away the clothes they’d been given and found a few new dolls because most of Abigail’s toys had been boxed up and disappeared during the months Laura had spent in jail.
Jesse got in the truck and waved to Jeremy one last time. The Coopers were a close family. She wanted that for Abigail. A real family that held on to each other and helped one another. She’d tried to be that for her brother.
Her phone rang as they were heading for Jesse’s place. She glanced at the number and let it go to voice mail.
“Was that Ryan again?”
“Yes. I’m not sure what he wants me to do for him. He’s left a few messages saying that he needs my help. I’m the only person he can count on.”
“Do you think changing your number would help?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know how he found this number. I’ve thought about giving him money. Maybe he’d leave me alone if he had the money to go away.”
“That isn’t the way it works, Laura.”
“I know. He’d just be back for more.”
“Exactly.” He stopped at the gate to his place and punched in the code. “I don’t know if I’ve told you but the gate is monitored by
an alarm company. I want you to know that so you won’t be worried out here alone. There’s an alarm on your place, too. I’ll get it activated tomorrow.”
“Jesse, you don’t have to. I’m not worried about Ryan.”
“It’s for more than Ryan. I’ll feel better about leaving you and Abigail if the alarm is activated. I’m sure you’ll sleep better at night.”
She smiled at him in the dusky interior of the truck. “I have slept pretty well until now, thanks.”
He tipped the brim of his hat a little and smiled. “Glad to oblige. What do you think about coffee to go with our pie? The lake is beautiful this time of night.”
Coffee on the deck overlooking the lake. Sitting with Jesse in the stillness of late evening. Dreaming of something she should know better than to dream of.
She shook her head. “I need to get a few things done at my place.”
He eased into her driveway. “Is there anything you need for Abigail?”
“No, I’m good.”
She had expected to get out and walk up to her front porch. In her mind she would wave goodbye and go inside alone. She’d been alone a long time.
Jesse turned off his truck. “I’ll walk you up to the door.”
He didn’t have to. The words were on the tip of her tongue.
But she let him.
* * *
Jesse opened the door to the little cottage. She had turned off all the lights. He flipped on the living room light and walked with her through the house to turn on lights in the kitchen and hall.
It made him feel better, to walk through the house and see for himself that Ryan hadn’t managed to get inside.
She set her container of pie on the counter. Her hair hung loose tonight, framing a face that was no longer pale. Her smile radiated, touching her gray eyes with warmth. This place suited her, he thought. The house, the garden, even the horses.
“Thank you for dinner.” She met his gaze, her lip between her teeth in that shy way that did more to a man than she realized.
“I think that’s my cue to go.”
“I’m really okay. I promise.”
He knew she was.
“Call if you need anything. I don’t go in to work until eight in the morning.”
“If there’s a problem, which there won’t be, I’ll call you.” She walked with him to the door, even stepped out on the porch with him. Jesse stood on the porch, his keys in his hand, Laura next to him.
The Cowboy's Healing Ways (Cooper Creek) Page 10
