by Mary Leo
He held up a hand. “You don’t have to go any further. It wasn’t your fault. I know exactly what happened and why.”
Jet had forgotten the bond Coco still had with Russ. He never thought she would tell Russ so soon about the details of Jet’s recent discovery. Jet knew couples told each other everything, but he simply didn’t realize the speed with which “everything” flowed.
Well, maybe not everything. He had a hunch, from the way Coco talked about her relationship with Russ, that she didn’t know about the blonde in Jackson Hole, but Russ seemed to know everything about Coco. She was more like an open book, whereas Russ only told her what she needed to know.
Jet decided he would have to keep that in mind while they were still living together. He could understand why Coco liked to keep the channels of communication open with Russ, and Russ was apparently like a conduit to the folks in town, especially when it came to gossip about the sheriff, who he seemed to dislike almost as much as his rival, Mayor Sally Hickman, one of Jet’s few personal friends.
“In Russ’s defense, I wasn’t as clear as I should have been.”
“You should know up front, in my view, there is no defense for Russ Knightly’s actions. I’m not fond of the man, and I’m sure the feeling is mutual. If that’s a problem, I can take Lily and get a room in a hotel.”
She didn’t respond right away, and Jet braced himself for a negative reply. He thought for sure she’d tell him that it might be better if he did just that.
“That’s not necessary. I would like you and Lily to stay. I’m sure this was simply a misunderstanding that Russ and I will sort through. In the meantime, you and Lily will always be welcome to stay right here... not here in my bed, but in my apartment.”
He liked her response and how she got all flustered qualifying her invitation. “Hmm. I liked the first offer better, but I’ll take the second. Thanks.”
She glanced at the clock and threw off her comforter. “Is that the time?”
It was going on six o’clock.
“Yes. Why?”
She slid out of bed and stood, a little shaky at first, but then she put her hands on her hips, looking determined.
“I have a date with Russ that I intend to keep.”
“You’re kidding, right? Just ten minutes ago you were near death.”
“Ten minutes ago I thought you were mad at me.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t. Exactly.”
“Well, then, how about I simply move forward with my plans?”
“Are you saying you weren’t as cold as I thought you were? That you were playing me to keep me from giving you a piece of my mind?”
“And what piece was that?”
“The angry piece.”
“Didn’t we just cover that? Keep that anger for your criminals and speeders and whoever else you have to arrest. Right now I need to get dressed before Drew brings Lily back.”
“And when will that be?”
The doorbell rang. “That’s probably her. Or it could be that Russ is early.”
“I can’t believe you’re still going out with that guy.”
“In case you didn’t notice, Russ is my boyfriend.”
“You mean the man who betrayed your trust? That man is your boyfriend?”
“It was a mistake, I’m sure. The Knightlys have done a lot for this town and for my brother. I refuse to believe Russ would purposely do anything that might hurt me or you or an innocent baby. Russ is a hero.”
“By whose standards?”
“Just about everyone’s in this town, including mine.”
Jet had heard about Russ saving those trapped mustangs in the mountains, but he’d also heard that it was in fact Coco’s brother, Carson, who got those horses out. Apparently, for some reason, Carson had given all the credit to Russ, who couldn’t even make it up the mountain.
But the sheriff couldn’t validate that rumor because Carson wasn’t the type of guy to blow his own horn, nor was he the kind of guy who would try to undermine someone else’s glory.
She went to take a step and staggered.
He bolted out of the bed and gathered her up in his arms. She willingly went along with it.
“Jet, I...” she began, then stopped.
This time when he looked into her eyes he saw something more than mere gratitude. He saw affection, and as soon as he recognized it, she pulled back.
“It’s okay. I understand,” he said. “But you’re in no shape to go anywhere or do anything. In fact, you’ve been doing too much. Maybe you should take a break for tonight. I’ll care for Lily and those remaining critters downstairs. You get some rest. There’s nothing pressing me to go back into work. I can stay right here.”
He gently put her down on the bed and covered her up again, but with fewer blankets this time.
She didn’t argue.
“I’d like that,” she told him, smiling.
The thing about it was, whenever she smiled at him his whole world lit up. He had it bad for Doctor Coco Grant, who just happened to be in love with another man. That was the story of his life. Why should this woman, this situation, be any different?
The doorbell rang again and Jet went to answer it. He assumed it was Drew. He hadn’t seen Lily all day, and found that he missed the little darlin’. He knew he shouldn’t allow himself to get attached to her or to Coco, but he couldn’t help it.
“But what do I tell Russ?” Coco shouted from the bedroom, fracturing Jet’s pleasant thoughts. Just the mention of Russ’s name soured his stomach.
“That you’re sick,” he shouted back over his shoulder as he opened the apartment door.
“This will be the third date I’ve broken with him. He’s going to think I’m avoiding him.”
Jet liked that scenario, but he didn’t want to make waves between himself and Coco. He descended the stairs and swung open the door as he quickly turned back to say, “I’m sure Russ will understand.”
“Understand what?” Russ asked, standing in the doorway, carrying a dozen red roses and a bottle of wine.
“That Coco isn’t feeling up to going out with you tonight.”
“What are you, her doctor now?” Russ gave Jet a dismissive look, then brushed past him and hustled upstairs.
Jet followed close behind the arrogant sneak, wishing he would simply go away, but knowing the man was probably here to stay.
“Hey, babe, where are you?” Russ shouted while standing in the living room. Jet walked up next to him and gathered up his things off the hook next to the door.
“In here.” Coco’s voice echoed through the apartment. She sounded as if she was feeling much better. Still, Jet wanted to make sure. He trailed Russ back to Coco’s bedroom.
As soon as he saw the blissful look on her face when she saw Russ, Jet knew he was the odd man out in this situation.
Russ entered the bedroom. “Oh, babe. We’ve got all night to make you well again,” he said, shutting the door in Jet’s face.
Chapter Eight
“You’re early,” Coco said as Russ sat down on the bed next to her.
“What are you doing under the covers?” he asked.
“I got a little too much cold weather and Jet... I’m going to have to break our date tonight. Again. I know you had a fund-raiser for us to attend, but I can’t go.”
“No worries. The fund-raiser was canceled because of the weather. They’re forecasting more snow. We can order in and watch a movie, or...” He leaned over to kiss her and for the very first time, she pulled away from his kiss.
“I’m sorry, I really don’t feel well, and I don’t want you to catch anything. But maybe if I eat something, I might feel better. I’m in the mood for some hot soup from Sammy’s. What about you?”
“I’
m in the mood, all right, but it’s not for soup.” He crawled up on the bed after he put the roses and the wine down on the trunk. As strange as it now seemed, all she could think of was how much she didn’t want him to be there.
She wanted Jet, not Russ.
She tried to laugh off his advance. “I am sorry, but we need to wait on this. I want to be at my best.”
He stared at her for a moment and then moved away. “Okay. I understand. I’ll order soup for you, and some ribs for me. We’ll have a picnic in bed.”
Truth be told, she didn’t want Russ in her bed, or in her apartment, for that matter. And she especially didn’t want him there with Jet in the other room.
The doorbell rang again. A second later she heard Drew’s voice.
“I haven’t seen Lily since this morning. Do you think you could ask Drew to bring her in here?” Coco asked, hoping he would at least do that much. What if Jet was going out for the evening?
“Babe, I haven’t seen you for way too long. Can’t we have some time to ourselves?”
Coco knew he was right. They needed their own time alone. To talk about their relationship and about what had happened at Holy Rollers when he’d revealed the news about the sheriff.
She’d reacted to what Russ had done more strongly than she would have thought possible...but still, they needed to discuss it. Yet, the more she heard Drew and Jet laughing in the other room, the more she wanted to be out there, instead of in the bedroom with Russ.
She slipped out of bed. Russ got up and said, “I thought you didn’t feel well.”
“I don’t, but I want to see Lily.”
She entered the living room just as Jet left.
“Where’s the sheriff going?” she asked Drew, who stood, holding Lily comfortably in a sling resting on her chest.
“He went over to the station. I have a date with Nash, and my parents have a dinner party to go to at my cousin’s house, so if you want them to take Lily along, they will, but I thought I should ask you first.”
“Yes!” Russ said without hesitation, leaning on the bedroom doorjamb.
Coco looked at Russ. “Um, I haven’t spent any time with Lily since this morning and I’d love for us to keep her right here.”
“But Sheriff Wilson said that you and Mr. Knightly might want to be alone,” Drew countered.
“And we do,” Russ chimed in, grinning.
“Actually, what Mr. Knightly really means is that he and I would be happy to have some alone time with Lily.”
“You would?” Drew asked Russ. “Even now, when you know that Lily might be Sheriff Wilson’s daughter? Wow! You are a great man. What other guy would want to do that? I wasn’t going to vote for you, but now that I know you’re so nice, I may change my mind.”
Russ smiled and Coco knew Drew had caught him by complete surprise. He needed every vote that he could get. “Certainly I want to spend time with the sweetheart. Little Millie means the world to me.”
“Lily,” Drew corrected.
“That’s what I said. Lily.”
Then he went over and tried to take a sleeping Lily from Drew, who wouldn’t let him. “I fed her about a half hour ago and finally got her to sleep. We shouldn’t wake her up just yet. She’ll be mad.”
“Let’s put her in her bassinet, Drew. It’s on the floor in my bedroom. Please pick it up and put it in the middle of the bed before you put her down. Thanks so much.”
“You got it,” Drew said cheerily and went off to take care of Lily.
“Did you mean that? That you do want to spend time with Lily?”
Russ busied himself playing with his phone. “Sure, but I just got a text from Ben Cartwright and he has some news that he can only tell me in person. So I have to jump, babe.” Ben was Russ’s campaign manager and best friend. The two of them were like brothers.
Russ gave Coco one of those air kisses and rushed for the door. “Tell you what, babe. You call me when you’re free for a real date. I have a lot going on, and this, whatever this is, can’t work right now. Once the campaign is over and I’m the mayor, things will calm down, but for the time being, with the sheriff moving in with you, it doesn’t look too good. Besides, I don’t like the guy and I’m not crazy that you asked him to move in without asking me first. You know how this town is. The rumors are already flying about you and the sheriff having an affair.”
Wait. She couldn’t believe that he just told her she needed his permission to ask someone to stay in her own apartment. She wanted to tell him what she thought of his small-minded opinion, but Drew was close by in the other room.
Instead, she held back and said, “You know none of those rumors are true.”
“I know and you know the truth, but the townsfolk only know what they perceive to be the truth. So until it’s just you and me again, we should cool it.”
His words swirled around in her head until she landed on a thought that caused her irritation to escalate.
“Are you breaking up with me?”
“Absolutely not, but you can’t have it both ways. It’s either him or me. This town and clearly this apartment aren’t big enough for the both of us. I gotta run.”
And with that, he left, slamming the door behind him. Lily immediately woke up and had no problem wailing her disgust at Russ Knightly’s ultimatum.
* * *
IT HAD BEEN more than three days since Russ had walked out and Coco still didn’t know exactly how she felt about the situation.
She’d started to call him a couple of times, to try to sort out the situation between them, but then never went through with the call. Something always stopped her. She didn’t like ultimatums and she especially didn’t like Russ’s temper...a side of him she’d never seen before, and hoped to never see again.
Her feelings for Russ were all jumbled up, she knew that much, so rather than make any sort of decision about their relationship, she decided to let it be.
In the meantime, she, Jet, Lily, Punky and the critters that needed homes who still lived in her clinic had all become good friends. She’d been too busy during the day at the clinic to spend much time with anyone. On the days when he could, Jet volunteered to take Lily with him, assuring Coco that her instincts about the sheriff were good. He’d make a fine dad. So it was the evenings when she and Jet were able to spend time together with not only Lily, but the entire group of friends from downstairs.
On her ranch rounds she’d managed to get the piglet adopted by Travis Granger, and the puppy, Mister Wiggles, seemed to love his new home with old Mr. McGregor, who’d been looking for a companion pet. That left Tortie the tortoise, and the two kittens, Garth and Reba, who rolled around on the kitchen floor while Jet tried his best not to step on a tail or a paw as he finished frying the chicken. He’d already whipped up a pot of Idaho’s finest Yukon Gold potatoes along with boiling some frozen sweet corn. Tortie wanted nothing to do with the kittens and instead made his way back and forth through the apartment, trying to find a good hiding place.
Coco had put together a mixed green salad about an hour earlier, before Lily had needed a bottle and a diaper change.
Garth and Reba no longer lived down in the clinic once Coco closed up shop for the day. She couldn’t seem to get them or Tortie adopted out, despite the cute posts she’d left on Cindy Whipple’s community bulletin board in her store. Coco took the critters up to the apartment, and of course, just like Lily, into her heart, a vice she knew she needed to work on.
“Sorry about these little guys having to be with us at night, but I just don’t have the heart to leave them down in their cages. They need to be around people.”
The problem was, the more time she spent with Jet, the more he made inroads into her heart, as well. Ever since Russ had left her place, she found she hadn’t really given him much thought...which told her a
lot about her own emotions.
How could she have gone from thinking Russ Knightly was the man she wanted to marry, the man she loved, to having feelings for Jet Wilson, a man who annoyed her so much? A man who did everything by the book...or at least he used to.
She couldn’t figure out how one tiny baby could have changed him so quickly.
Jet, who had told her that he wasn’t used to kittens or puppies or critters of any kind, had apparently decided to simply go along with all of it.
And the thing that truly set her mind spinning was that he seemed to enjoy coming home to the chaos.
“Not a problem,” he’d told her as the kittens ran between his feet. “I’m sure you’ll find permanent homes for them soon.”
“I’m trying, but finding somewhere for two kittens at once can be a challenge. I don’t want to break them up. They love each other and it would be traumatic for them to be separated. And finding a home for a tortiose is next to impossible, although the 4-H Club might have a few members who may be interested. Tortie certainly qualifies as an interesting pet.”
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before, but you can petition the town council to change the law. They can make it so if any kind of livestock is abandoned on your doorstep, you have a predetermined length of time to find homes for them outside city limits. That way, you can avoid all the fines.”
“That’s a great idea. Sounds like a win-win.”
Just then, the kittens and Punky ran past Coco. Barking ensued, startling Lily, who began to wail in Coco’s arms. Coco gently bounced her, telling her that everything was all right. It didn’t take long for Lily to begin to settle again, almost as if she was beginning to adjust to Coco’s voice, and her touch. Coco tried not to think about Lily’s future, and instead concentrated on giving her all the love she could right now. She’d learned to move past her emotions when it came to all the animals that had been left on her doorstep, but doing the same for Lily seemed impossible. Whatever happened, she knew she was headed for heartache, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d fallen in love with baby Lily and all her nuances. Especially the way she looked up at Coco, eyes bright, little fists punching the air, and the sweetest of smiles creasing her delicate lips whenever Coco sang to her.
