The accusation froze Beth, but Chase kept moving. She jogged to catch up to him. “I wasn’t mean to him. I was angry at him.” And with good reason.
Chase stopped. “He helped you with the restaurant, and you dumped him. Then he takes me on his motorcycle, and you embarrassed me in front of him.” Chase started moving again, pushing the bicycle beside him.
Beth’s feet had to move twice as fast as Chase’s long legs to keep up. “It’s not that simple. He brought you home late, and Brendan and I have a lot of history.”
“In high school,” he said sarcastically. “That was forever ago.”
Chase had a way of making her feel ancient. “Thanks a lot.”
Another burst of thunder rolled through the sky and vibrated the ground under her. Beth snapped her mouth closed. She shouldn’t be defending herself to a fifteen-year-old.
Chase stopped again, and Beth tripped on the grass beside him. “You used to be fun. Now you treat everybody like you’re mad at them. Brendan didn’t do anything to you.”
Dumbfounded, Beth crossed her arms. She opened her mouth to argue, but every hurtful thing she’d said to Brendan raced through her mind.
The rain started falling in fat drops. “Come on, Chase. Let’s get in the car.”
“I’ll see you at home,” he said, and he pumped his legs on his bike.
At the top of the rock face, Brendan looped the rope through his figure eight and locked it into his harness.
One benefit of growing up in Wyatt Bend was all the hiking, rock climbing, and rappelling available to him. His risky hobbies threatened to give his mother a heart attack, but he reveled in the rush of energy he got from descending backward down the canyon wall with only a rope and a harness. He could have searched for someone to go rappelling with him, even asked Connor, but he needed to get away and clear his head.
Beth’s reaction to yesterday’s ride with Chase had left Brendan’s mind in a spiral. The harder Brendan worked to break down his walls and do the right thing, the more it backfired on him. Sure, he should have had the kid home on time, but he’d felt like he was helping him. Beth wouldn’t even give Brendan a chance to explain.
Brendan pushed through the limbs of the bushes and stepped over the grass toward the edge of the cliff. The hike up to the canyon had been far more overgrown than when he used to rappel here. When he lived in Wyatt Bend, this had been one of the most popular rappelling locations in the area. This time he had to search for the metal bolts and anchors drilled into the rock.
Brendan double-checked his setup and his knots. As he stepped backward off the sloping edge of the canyon, his eyes pointed up toward the gray clouds. He didn’t have a television in the apartment at Beth’s and hadn’t had a chance to watch the weather. The morning dew made the rocks slicker than he’d expected. His stiff, cold hands repositioned around the rope. It was late in the season and not the ideal conditions for rappelling, but he had to get at least one rappel in before he left Wyatt Bend.
As he lowered himself from the cliff, the rope held his weight. The wind picked up, and he steadied himself by pressing his climbing shoes against the canyon wall. There was no turning back at this point, but he would have to use caution making his way down the canyon.
He slowly let the rope slip through his hand at his hip as he moved down the canyon wall.
Brendan stopped and tilted his face up at the smooth wall of the cliff. The summit towered above him. He lowered himself down the canyon farther from the soft gray sky.
Brendan thought he had changed. He believed God had made him new during his time taking photos in Bolivia, but now he was back in Wyatt Bend where everyone reminded him he was still the same guy who had made so many mistakes.
A cold drop of water landed on the hand holding the rope at his hip. His eyes searched the cliff above him for the source of the water, but before he let more slack from the rope, another drop came. Then another. He was halfway between the summit and the base of the canyon wall, which was now slick with rain.
His muscles tightened as he assessed what adjustments he’d need to make. With the drops rolling down his forehead and into his eyes, he tightened his grip around the rope. He pushed his feet against the rock face, but they slid under the slick rain.
He would have to rappel down as quickly as he could. The rain promised no quick relief and continued to pound on him, quickly soaking through his pants and T-shirt. As he made his first move to push himself from the wall, the rope jerked, and he dropped several feet. His heart raced in his chest.
He lifted his head up, his pulse beating as rapidly as the rain on his face, but he was too far down to see anything. He feared one of the anchors drilled into the stone at the top of the canyon had broken. Now the second anchor would be supporting all of his weight. He had to get himself safely to the ground in case the second anchor also failed him.
He held his breath as his muscles fought to keep the rope flowing through his hand as steadily as possible as he made his way down. Adrenaline coursed through him, and he fought to block out any fear about what could happen. Right now he could only concentrate on lowering himself to the canyon floor.
A vibration ran through the rope to his fingers, and he froze. He was fifteen feet from the bottom of the canyon with a patch of vegetation below him. If the anchor could hold for a few more seconds, he would be able to make it to safety. He loosened his hand on the rope, letting it lower him farther, praying the anchor would hold.
He felt a snap, and the red rock wall rushed by him.
Chapter 15
Beth pulled a pie from the oven and took in the sweet smell. She couldn’t wait for the diners to try her newest creation of apples with a granola crumb topping. She placed it on the counter and put her hands on her hips.
Tammy’s face appeared in the pass-through window. “Oscar, I need two sides of gravy.”
Oscar feverishly flipped burgers at the grill.
“I’ll take care of it,” Beth said as she hurried to the stove to spoon out the gravy. She plated it and walked through the swinging door. Tammy nodded her head toward the table with two older women huddled over their chicken tenders.
The woman with the spiky white hair shook her head. “Poor Sharon. After all she’s been through with him, now she has to deal with this.”
Beth slid the gravy in front of the two ladies. “Here you are, ladies. Is there anything else I can get for you?”
The woman with the zebra-print scarf smiled at her. “No thank you, dear. It’s wonderful. Just like your grandmother used to make it.”
As Beth turned to leave, the woman leaned toward her friend. “I heard Brendan was still unconscious when a couple of hikers found him.”
The beating of Beth’s heart froze. She spun around. “Excuse me. I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but did you say, ‘Brendan’?” Her voice shook.
The woman laid her hands flat on the table and leaned in. “Brendan Overman was rock climbing in the rain, and someone found him after he took a terrible fall. He’s in the hospital.”
Panic rose in her chest.
“Do you know him, dear?” the woman asked.
Beth nodded, and without a word she backed away from the table. The dining room spun around her. When she hit the kitchen, she jogged to her office for her car keys. “Oscar, I need you and Tammy to handle things here until I get back.”
Oscar held his spatula in the air. “What did Chase do this time?”
Beth ignored him and sprinted out the back door.
Brendan attempted to sit up, but something as heavy as a piano lay on top of him. He opened his eyes to a squint but clamped them shut when the light overhead glared in his eyes. His head throbbed. Where was he?
He struggled to push away the fog that hung over his memories and thoughts. Something touched his hand. He opened his eyes, braving the glaring lights again, and focused on a face. “Mom?”
“It’s all right,” she said with a buzz of panic running through her voice. �
�Everything is going to be fine.”
He shifted his eyes, the only thing he could move, down to his body. There was no piano on top of him—only a hospital gown and a bedsheet.
Brendan’s eyes moved around the room to the long wall of curtains and the machine with a tube leading to the needle in his arm. “What happened?” he asked. He could hardly swallow, and his mouth felt full of cotton. He licked his cracked lips.
His mom knelt beside him. “You had an accident.” The image of the car upside down in the creek flooded into his mind, but that was years ago. What was he doing back here?
She squeezed his hand. “You fell while you were rappelling.” Frustration slipped out between her words.
The rain. The snap of the harness. The gurney two men used to carry him to the flashing lights of the ambulance. It all came back to him. He closed his eyes. “When can I get out of here?”
The machine beside him beeped steadily. “We don’t know yet. You get your rest now. We’ll figure it all out as soon as we can.”
He lay helpless in the bed—again. He hated his mom seeing him like this. He hated the worry lines around her eyes. He hadn’t been there for her when she’d fought breast cancer. Now here she was nursing him, a grown man, back to health.
A tapping at the door opened his eyes. His mind still foggy, he searched for a face. The sight of Beth lifted the blurriness from the room. She wore an apron around her waist and clutched her purse in front of her.
His mother stood from her chair. “Hello, Beth.”
“Hi,” she said breathlessly. “I heard Brendan was here. I hope it’s okay that I came.”
Brendan couldn’t have seen a more welcome sight. He tried to sit up a little, but the weight held him down.
“I’ll give you some time alone.” Sharon ducked out of the room.
Beth stepped closer, and her eyes bounced around his face, followed with a wince. “Does that hurt?”
Brendan managed to reach an arm up to his face, the tubes coming with it. His fingers ran across the bandage on his head. “I’m okay.”
She sat in the chair beside him still clutching the bag. Her beautiful face was drawn tight with worry. “Were you really rock climbing in the rain?”
Hearing it out loud, especially from Beth, made it sound so foolish, like he was asking to end up here like this. “The weather snuck up on me,” he said. He left out the detail that it was the bad decision to use the old anchors, not the storm, that caused his fall.
Her eyes shone.
“I’m fine. Really,” he said to convince her and himself.
She stood and paced toward the curtains. “Why do you do stuff like this? Why take all these risks?” Quivers of anger shook her voice.
Brendan didn’t know what to say. He opened his mouth, searching for the words.
“You come back here,” she said with her gaze over his head. “You say you’ve changed, but then you go rappelling down the side of a rock face in the rain.”
Brendan’s eyes closed. He was hurting her, hurting his mom, hurting himself. A sharp pain shot down his spine. A groan escaped his lips.
Beth’s footsteps shuffled to the side of the bed. “Are you okay? Should I call a nurse?”
“Beth.” He opened his eyes and stared at her until she stopped and took a breath. “It’s okay.”
She pressed her fist over her mouth. “I’m so sorry. You don’t need to deal with all this right now. We need to focus on getting you better.”
A nurse wearing scrubs with suns and moons on them walked into the room. “You’re awake.”
“Barely,” Brendan said.
The woman checked the machine beside him and wrote on the chart. “Oh that’s because of all the pain medicine you’re getting.”
Brendan leaned his head back on the thin pillow. “So what’s the damage?”
The nurse looked at the chart, and her eyes landed back on him. “No one has told you?”
If this much pain shot through his body after the heavy pain medication, it couldn’t be good. “I just woke up,” he said.
Beth’s gaze dropped to the floor.
The nurse inspected the bag of fluids connected to the IV. “Three cracked ribs and a concussion.”
Brendan sucked in a hard breath, and the cracked ribs made themselves known. “Ouch. No wonder I feel like a train hit me.” He suspected the bushes and shrubs under him had been responsible for the injuries not being any worse than they were.
She nodded. “That will do it. We’re also keeping an eye on you to make sure there isn’t any internal bleeding. Is this your wife?”
If he and Beth were married, he’d announce it to everyone he met. “This is Beth. We’re friends.”
Beth’s eyes met his and lingered.
The nurse reached between the bed railing and the mattress and pulled out a plastic remote. “Well, if the pain gets worse, you hit this button here for more medication. If you need a nurse, press this button here.”
He hoped his hand had enough strength to work the buttons. “Thanks.”
The nurse scribbled something else on his chart and dropped it in the plastic tray by the door. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake. She’ll be by in a bit.”
The door clicked closed behind the nurse, and Beth’s shoulders crumpled. “I’m so sorry. You woke up, and I came in here yelling at you. I didn’t mean to be so selfish.”
Brendan swallowed. His head was getting cloudy again. “Beth, you don’t have a selfish bone in your body. I’m proud of you.”
She scrunched up her face. “For yelling at you?”
His heavy eyelids momentarily blocked his view of Beth. “You spoke your mind. Good for you.”
“How can I make it up to you? How can I help?”
She looked gorgeous with her rosy cheeks and her smooth skin. “Coming by was enough.”
She smiled, her lips still pressed together. “There has to be something I can do.”
With the light behind her, Beth looked like an angel. He took a hard blink. These meds were making him sappy. “You could make me a pie.”
The corners of her mouth snuck into a smile. “Really? A pie?”
He closed his eyes. “It would make me feel better.” He opened his eyes enough to see her face. “Coconut cream.”
Beth nodded. “A coconut cream pie. I can do that.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “And a hug.”
She leaned down to him. Her chin rested on his shoulder, and her arms pressed against his. “I want you to be okay.”
He couldn’t pick his arms up again, but he squeezed his eyes closed and drank in her sweet smell. “I couldn’t be better.”
She pulled away. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“With my pie.”
She pointed at him. “With your pie. I promise.”
Brendan’s tired eyes refused to cooperate any longer. He leaned his head against the pillows stacked behind him.
Chapter 16
Brendan’s mother bounced into the hospital room. She’d been a saint the last couple of days, spending her time helping Brendan and talking to doctors. Connor, his sister, and his dad had even stopped by to visit, but there hadn’t been any mention of Will.
“Good news,” his mom said. “Now that they’ve ruled out internal injuries, Dr. Hertz says you can go home.”
Brendan leaned his head back in relief. Being in this little room staring at these gray walls was making him nuts. “Finally.”
The last two days had been a blur of doctors, nurses, and tests.
Sharon rolled the tray of food he hadn’t touched to the wall by the door. “I’ve already set up your old room for you.”
Brendan held his ribs and did his best not to laugh. “Mom, I appreciate that, but I can’t live in your house.”
Her face drooped. “Of course you can. Your father has already agreed to it.”
“I figured I’d move back into the apartment.”
The lines on his mother
’s face creased. “Above the café?” His mom stuffed a shirt into the duffel bag. “Is this about Beth? It seems you two have gotten pretty close.”
Beth had come by to visit him. She couldn’t stay long because of the restaurant, but she brought the pie she’d promised. Brendan cared about Beth, but she said herself she only wanted to be friends. She couldn’t deal with his life of moving. He couldn’t expect her to, but knowing he could never have a future with Beth hurt worse than all the injuries in his body.
His mom picked up a T-shirt Connor had brought him from the apartment above the restaurant. “You’re not going to be able to walk up and down the stairs at the café with healing ribs.”
As much as he didn’t want to give up more of his independence, his mom was right. He needed her right now. She wanted to help, and he didn’t want to take that away from her. “You’re absolutely right, Mom.”
She grasped her hands together, her face beaming. “It will be so good to have you home.”
Later that day, the nurse rolled a wheelchair into Brendan’s room.
Brendan shook his head. “I’m not riding in that.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Doctor’s orders.”
After the days he’d spent giving this nurse a hard time, Brendan knew arguing wouldn’t change anything. He held in his frustrated breath as he moved from the bed into the wheelchair.
The nurse patted his back. When did he go from being a grown man to being a child again? He couldn’t stand this much longer.
The nurse rolled him down the hallway. The glass doors at the front of the hospital opened automatically as they approached, and the sterile smell of the hospital was replaced by fresh air. Brendan took a deep breath. The pain of his bones and the pricks of the needles had been nothing compared to being stuck inside the hospital.
His mother pulled her SUV under the awning and hurried out of the driver’s seat.
Brendan groaned as he stood from the chair. The nurse and his mother both reached for his arms. “I’m fine. I’m fine,” he said, swallowing the pain of standing up too fast.
Canyon Weddings Page 40
