“On a Saturday?”
She nodded as she pulled the phone from her side pocket. “I’m the boss. I’m on call twenty-four/seven.” She held up a finger. “This is Lexy.”
“It’s me, boss,” Genean whispered, as if they were on some spy mission.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Um…nothing? Hello, you told me to call in two minutes, remember?”
Lexy sighed. Genean, bless her heart, did not have a future in covert operations. “How many times did you get the failure indicator?”
“Huh?”
“Okay, yeah, that’s not good. Hang tight and I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”
“Oh, I get it.” Genean giggled. “Roger that, double-O-seven. Over and out.” The phone went dead.
Lexy made a show of groaning as she put her phone away. “I’m really sorry, Drew. They’re having a problem with some of the equipment in the comm center. I have to head over and take care of it.”
“Of course. I understand.” He held up his palms. “And lunch is our treat, remember.”
“Thank you. I had a nice time.” She glanced over at Ian, and an unexpected lump rose in her throat. She had to swallow several times to strip the emotion from her words. It all felt so damned final. “Will you tell him I said goodbye?”
“I will. He’ll be sad he missed you.”
She wanted to say she’d miss him, too. That she’d see him soon. But she couldn’t lie. She glanced up at the man who’d been her big fantasy for a week. Fun while it lasted, she supposed. Fun and turbulent. “Goodbye, Drew,” she said. Meaning it more literally than he knew.
Days melted into weeks, and before Drew realized it, a full month had passed. A month where he’d neither seen nor spoken to Lexy. Maybe that whole thing had been a stupid fantasy, but he had a niggling fear that he’d said or done something to send her running, and he just couldn’t figure it out.
He’d spent the lonely month focused on unpacking his belongings, on turning their little ranch house into a home he and Ian could be proud of, but he never stopped thinking about Lexy.
He’d left her a few messages after their apparently disastrous lunch, none of which she returned. He’d sent her and the whole emergency communications center monthlong free passes to his gym under the half guise of thanking them for their work. Well, he did appreciate the work they did, but really, he’d hoped to lure Lexy there. A few of the dispatchers had come by. But no Lexy.
Even Ian had stopped talking incessantly about her, but Drew could tell the boy was forlorn, missing her, feeling that pain of loss all over again. It killed Drew. Ian had a picture of himself with Lexy from the hero ceremony propped up on the little table next to his bed, and every time Drew saw that, it chipped a little piece of his heart. That made his need to reconnect with Lexy even more important. If she had no interest in him, he would learn to deal with it. But Ian adored her, and he was too young to understand why Miss Lexy wasn’t their friend.
Drew stood out on the back deck, sipping coffee and looking out over the Rocky Mountains range that cupped his property. He had made a promise to Ian to throw a housewarming party, and he meant to keep it. If any house needed to be warmed, it was this one. But he had to make damn sure Lexy would show.
So, he decided to call in reinforcements.
Brody’s business card was in the outside pocket of Drew’s backpack, just where it had been since the day on Deer Track Trailhead. He fished the slip of paper out and studied it. Wrinkled, tattered, but an invitation nonetheless, and one without an expiration date.
The phone rang three times before Brody picked up.
“Hey, it’s Drew Kimball.” He could hear Brody’s baby daughter crying in the background. “Is this a bad time?”
“No, not at all. Let me just step outside to get away from the noise. Hang on.”
Drew listened to heavy footsteps, a door creaking open, and then the sounds of the crying ceased. “Drew, man. Good to hear from you. I wondered where you’d up and disappeared to over the past month.”
“Believe it or not,” Drew said wryly, “I was under pressure from a six-year-old to finish unpacking our boxes so we could throw a party for our new friends. A housewarming party.”
Brody laughed. “Hey, I understand. When I moved here, I bought a furnished house. Nothing special, but fine for a guy alone. Lived in the musty, old, decrepit place happily until Faith came along and forced me to redecorate. Actually, she did it herself.”
Drew’s thoughts drifted to Lexy. What was her house like? “Bet it was nice to have a woman’s touch.”
“That’s the truth.” Brody paused. “So what’s up?”
“Well, it’s about the housewarming party. I want to set a date, maybe get your help inviting some people? You and Faith, the others.”
“Sure thing. Our circle would love to come.”
“But before that, I’m wondering if you, Nate and Jonas would have time to help me build a ramp to the front door. I’d like the place to be accessible—”
“For Lex.”
He blew out a breath. “Yeah.” He wasn’t sure whether or not to show his hand here. “Ian would be crushed if she couldn’t come.”
A beat passed. “And what about you?”
“Me?”
“I gotta say, the rest of us thought there might be something brewing between you and Lex.”
Screw it. He needed to confide in someone. “The truth? I’d be crushed, too, if she didn’t show. As for the rest, Lexy made it pretty clear she has zero interest in any sort of relationship with me.”
“How so?”
“Bailed on a lunch, hasn’t returned a single phone message. Never used her free pass to the gym. I haven’t seen her once around town.”
“Don’t take that to mean anything. These Gulch women, bro, I have to say.” Brody whistled low. “Tough cases. Except for Faith. She took the lead in our relationship. But, Cagney? Erin? Lexy? Expect some resistance.”
Their whole circle of friends, Drew realized. It wasn’t the women in Troublesome Gulch, it was the women who made up Lexy’s closest friends. But why? He’d mull over that later. “Resistance I’d take. She flat out hasn’t spoken to me in a month.”
“Well, we’ll fix that. I’ll gather the guys. How about we start this Saturday? We ought to be able to knock out a ramp in a few sessions with four of us working.”
“Sounds great. Food and beer are on me.”
“Say no more. As for the party, I know for a fact Lexy is off work a month from Saturday, because we’re all going to Cagney’s for her monthly dinner party.”
A deep yearning coiled around Drew. After living as a loner for so long, it surprised him how much he’d love to be included in their inner circle.
Oblivious to Drew’s turmoil, Brody added, “But I’m sure I can convince Cag to divert next month’s party to your place. It’s for a good cause, a housewarming. Plus, we’ve been trying to pull Lexy out of her shell for a long time now. She’s something special.”
“Definitely special.” Drew frowned. “But she doesn’t strike me as the type to have a shell.”
A pause stretched and crackled over the phone line. “How much do you know about the accident? The one where she was injured?”
“Not much. Just that it was a car accident.”
Brody pulled in a long breath and blew it out. “Well, I’ll let her tell it when she’s ready. It’s her story, not mine. But trust me, there are all different kinds of shells.” He cleared his throat. “So, Saturday works?”
“We’ll plan on that. Hey, Brody?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“What are friends for?”
The two best things about swimming laps in the morning? No one else was at the pool, and the water masked tears. She’d been shedding a lot of those over the past month. Lexy thought she’d get over the dream of Drew and Ian immediately, but the more she avoided them, the sadder she felt. How had a little boy
and his widowed father managed to affect her so deeply?
Her tears had mixed with the chlorinated water for the last four laps. As she turned and sliced her way through the water for the final lap, unfamiliar underwater sounds caught her attention.
Splash! Splunk! Splash!
She lifted her head as she reached the wall and came face-to-face with none other than Cagney, Erin and Faith. Grappling through the water, she white-knuckled the wall.
“God, you scared me. What on earth are you guys doing here?” she asked, breathing heavily. She pushed wet locks of hair away from her forehead.
“Lex,” Erin said. “You’ve been avoiding everyone. You need to talk about this.”
The other two nodded.
Lexy’s heart thrummed. She’d been on the other side of these friend-interventions before, but never the subject of one. “Talk about what? Swimming? I swim every day. You know that.”
“You’re so distant, and we understand it’s probably because we’re pushy and nosy. But why are you acting like you never met Ian? Or Drew?” Cagney asked softly. “He really seems to like you.”
“I’m not avoiding Drew,” Lexy sputtered, looking away. “I hardly know the man. Just because of…of the hero thing. He’s not a part of my life.”
“But that’s your choice,” Erin said.
Water lapped against the blue tile of the pool as the four of them bobbed in the shallow end.
“He’s called you several times. You told me,” Faith said. “But you haven’t called him back.”
“How do you know I haven’t?” she asked, narrowing her gaze and looking from friend to friend. They exchanged knowing glances with each other.
“Because Brody, Nate and Jonas are all at his house right now,” Faith said.
“They are?” Surprise blew through Lexy like a cool wind. It felt almost awkward that her friends had all welcomed Drew in while she’d done just the opposite. But it shouldn’t have. It wasn’t as if she had any claim over him. “Why?”
The three friends encircled her. Faith shivered and ducked down to her neck to grow accustomed to the temperature. Cagney splashed water on her shoulders.
“They’re having a housewarming party next month—Drew and Ian,” Erin said. “And Drew wanted help building a ramp so his place is accessible.”
A little part of Lexy melted. Another little part died and blew away like so much ash. She couldn’t keep her tears back. “Oh. Oh, no. Please tell me he’s not.”
“Why is that a bad thing, hon?” Erin asked.
But Lexy couldn’t say. She shook her head.
“You have to go to the party,” Cagney said. “That’s the thing. We’re all going there instead of to my place for next month’s dinner party, so I know you’re not working. But, let’s face it, he doesn’t truly care if all of us go. He wants you there.”
“Ian does, too,” Faith added. “He showed Brody a photograph of the two of you at the hero ceremony. He keeps it by his bed. So whatever it is, spit it out. You’re our friend. We’re here for you.”
Lexy sucked in a sniffle. “You guys just don’t understand. I’m not right for Drew and Ian. It’ll never work and I’m…I’m not ready.”
Faith clucked with sympathy, then swished through the water next to her and wrapped her arm around Lexy’s shoulders. “What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid. I’m realistic. I don’t want…to hurt them.”
“Now, how could you possibly hurt them?” Erin asked, confusion in her eyes.
Lexy gulped back a sob and shook her head, her lips pressed together. “I don’t…need—I don’t want to date. Please understand. It’s too much. Too terrifying.”
“But how could you hurt them?” Erin insisted.
“If it’s not right, Erin, that little boy will lose another female in his life. I’m not sure I want to be responsible for that kind of pain.”
“You know we just want you to be happy, Lex,” Cagney said. “Whatever that means. If that means you’re alone by choice, we honor that. Right?”
Erin and Faith nodded.
“But it needs to be a choice for a good reason. I mean, look at us.” Cagney lifted her arms wide in the water. “We all went through hell to get where we are now. I never thought I’d have Jonas back.”
“But she does,” Faith said. “And I have Brody. Erin has Nate. Love isn’t always easy.”
“I’m not in love!”
“Maybe not, but you have to put yourself out there if you ever want to find it,” Erin said. “You’re an amazing woman, and you have a six-year-old boy attached to you. Wondering why you’re not a part of his life. We’re just saying, you should talk to Drew. At least help him understand why you disappeared from his and Ian’s world for no reason they can figure out.”
“And you should come to the housewarming party,” Cagney added. “You can’t miss that.”
Lexy sniffed, wiping ineffectually at her tears with her wet hands. “He’s seriously building a ramp?”
“Right at this moment.” Cagney lowered her chin.
“Why would he do that?”
“Wow, this chick needs stuff spelled out. Speak slowly, use one-syllable words. Because, doofus, he wants you to cross it and enter his house. His world,” Faith said. “He’s reaching out, Lex.”
“You really think so? It’s worth the risk?”
“Yes. But the next step’s up to you.”
Chapter Eight
Lexy arrived in the rehab room at the hospital twenty minutes early for her regular session with Kimberly. This place felt like a second home to her, and she used the downtime to think, to listen to her saved messages from Drew. To try and figure out what exactly she’d say when she called.
Her friends said he was worth the risk, but she needed to figure out how to make things up to him before she ever made that leap. If she intended to go to the housewarming party next month, she needed to make amends long before that. Only, she couldn’t come up with a great way to bridge that gap between their lunch and all the weeks she had ignored him.
How to explain?
Her friends had been right. But she was done lying to herself. She did want to get to know Drew, but thanks to her fear, she’d really screwed things up. “Such an idiot,” she muttered, shoving her hands into padded workout gloves and pressing them closed over the backs of her wrists.
She stretched, then warmed up with some overzealous, lightweight lat pull-downs. After that she moved toward the wall mirrors and rolled one shoulder, then the next, to loosen them. Her muscles were soon warm and relaxed, but inside tension coiled as tightly as a spring ready to break.
How long had she been this way?
So tense? So afraid of risk?
Since the accident? And how much longer could she stand it? She reached for her Lofstrand crutches propped against the wall, secured them on her arms, then pulled herself into a standing position. She stared at herself in the mirror, scrutinized the image before her. Strangely enough—or not—she looked no different to herself standing or sitting. She was the same Lexy she’d ever known, walking or not. None of that made an impact on who she was, what she’d done. Blowing out a breath, she closed her eyes, and her stomach fluttered with the single thought…
Drew built a ramp.
To his house. His life.
The man built a ramp.
And after that she’d basically blown him off.
How could she let him know how touched she was by the gesture when she was so…scared? Scared of what he’d think when she told him about her past? Scared he’d be okay with it. Scared he wouldn’t.
Scared she could really fall for the guy….
And ashamed because she’d been too damn scared to show him even common courtesy.
Just then, Kimberly bopped into the room, a whirlwind of healthy energy, and shrugged her duffel bag off her shoulder. It hit the hard rubber floor with a soft thunk. “Hey, sweetie! You’re here early. And you’re up! Good. Let’s get y
ou on the treadmill. You want to walk there, or—?”
Lexy shook her head in amusement at the perky, ponytailed blonde. “I’m a little tired today. I think I’ll conserve energy and use my chair if that’s okay.”
“Whatever works.”
Kimberly bounced over to the LiteGait partial-body-weight treadmill, a training gem Jonas had purchased for the rehab room. She set things up while Lexy returned to her chair and made her way across the room. Lexy had always wished for a LiteGait, which was doing wonders for her strength and stamina. She couldn’t ever thank Jonas enough. Sometimes, with all the access she had to therapeutic equipment and a trainer like Kimberly, she felt like she actually might walk again someday.
If she wanted to.
But she’d begun to realize her heart needed healing more than her limbs.
This room, and Kimberly’s diligent study of spinal cord injury research, made her feel as if she could accomplish anything. Anything, that is, except forgiving herself.
And accepting love.
But Drew had built a ramp. A ramp! That truly meant something. He might not have meant it this way, but she took it as an acceptance of her different abilities, and she appreciated it more than she even knew how to express. She had the opportunity to reach out toward romance, toward Drew, and maybe eventually find love, if only she could master the self-forgiveness part.
She sighed as Kimberly helped secure her into the harness, then engaged the hydraulic lift to raise Lexy gently upright and into a steady position. Lexy braced herself on the arm bars.
“Comfortable?” Kimberly asked.
“Yep.”
Kimberly pushed some buttons and Lexy’s body started walking, in spite of its limitations. The magic of technology. “The speed good?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Any pain anywhere?”
Just my heart. “Nope.”
“So, what was the big sigh about, Lex?”
Lexy cast her a sidelong glance. She should’ve known better than to sigh in front of Kimberly. “You caught that, huh?”
Kimberly crinkled her face into an expression of sympathy. “Kind of hard to miss. Also out of character for you. And it seems as if you’ve been this way for a few weeks now, if you want the truth.”
Lexy’s Little Matchmaker Page 9
