by Linda Wisdom
Keely chuckled. “That’s my Steffie.” She studied the woman and gauged her to be several years old than her.
“Have you lived here all your life?”
Melanie shook her head. “Only for the past few years. My husband had a dream of opening a medical clinic that he could run his way. He put the word out and Echo Ridge was willing to go halfway.” Her smile looked wistful. “Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor a year after we moved here.”
“I’m so sorry.�
She shrugged. “It’s gotten easier. What I wanted to say was, if you ever want to sit back and down a bottle of wine, give me a call.” She picked up a business card and jotted down a number on the back before handing it to Keely. “I can usually be found here. I live over the clinic.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m always open to making new friends.”
“Such as good-looking single sheriffs?” Melanie raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not in the market for a new man,” Keely explained. “Right now I’m going to concentrate on getting my graphic arts business on track and making sure my daughter doesn’t hurt herself anymore.”
“Well, if I was you, I wouldn’t keep myself closed off so much that I find myself locked away without a chance of getting out.”
Afterward, Melanie directed Keely to a room down the hall. Steffie was lying on her stomach on the examination table while reading a book. She looked up as Keely entered the room.
“Hi, Mom.” Her words were garbled as if she’d just had dental surgery. “I did it up good.”
Keely winced at the red dots of blood dotting Steffie’s shirt and the black thread marring her chin. She took several deep breaths. The last thing she wanted to do was pass out in front of her daughter.
“I thought your strength was the balance beam?”
She used her finger to hold her place in her book as she sat up, crossing her legs in front of her. “It is, but I don’t know what happened. First I was doing this great split on the beam, next I was rolling on the floor.”
“Maybe if you knew what this did to me, you wouldn’t put me through all of this hell.” She picked up Steffie’s book bag. “C’mon kiddo, I’m bailing you out.”
As they walked out to the waiting room, Keely observed that Steffie’s usual bouncy walk was more subdued than usual.
When they approached the waiting area, Keely noticed Allison was deep in a low-voiced conversation with Sam.
“I can’t believe she doesn’t remem—” she quickly broke off when she noticed Keely approaching them. She conjured up a bright smile that looked just a trifle strained.
“All ready?” she said brightly, bustling back to her desk and shuffling through paperwork before pulling out the required forms for Keely. “Since the accident was on school property, they’re handling the medical bills. But you’ll need to sign here for her release to confirm that you understand any instructions given to you.”
Keely nodded and quickly scribbled her name where indicated. “Thank you.”
“I guess you’ll have to be more careful when running around on that beam,” Sam teased Steffie as they walked out to his truck.
She started to grimace then changed her mind when the stitches in her chin reminded her that her movements would be curtailed for a while.
“These stitches really pull,” Steffie muttered, climbing into the back seat. She sank into the scarred vinyl upholstery.
“I need to stop by the pharmacy and get this prescription filled for her,” Keely told Sam.
“No problem.” He drove toward the center of town.
Steffie closed her eyes. “Please tell him to fill it fast I think that shot the doctor gave me is wearing off.”
“I’ll stay here with her while you go in,’” Sam offered as Keely hesitated. She nodded jerkily and jumped out
John looked up from his position in the rear of the store when she stepped inside. “Well, hello, Keely, is there anything I can help you with?”
“I need a prescription filled for my daughter.” She walked back to the pharmacy counter and handed him the paper.
He scanned it and nodded. “Tell you what. I can take this out to you within the hour. That way you don’t have to wait around and you can get Steffie into her bed.”
“Sheriff Barkley brought us over,” she explained. “So I can wait if it won’t take too long.”
Since she was looking toward the window where the sheriff’s vehicle was parked, she didn’t see the dark expression cross the pharmacist’s face.
“Did your daughter have an accident or something?” he asked, stepping back to the shelves holding various drugs. “I see it’s for a painkiller and an antibiotic.”
“She had an accident at school and cut her chin open,” Keely replied, walking over to the bath products aisle and studying various bubble baths. She settled for a citrus fragrance.
John shook his head, clucking under his tongue. “Kids can really do a job on themselves, can’t they? But I guess you’re grateful it wasn’t anything worse.”
“Actually, I consider her lucky this time. She usually breaks a bone.” Keely set the bubble bath bottle on the counter along with a variety of teen magazines in hopes they would occupy her easily bored daughter until she turned into a human being again. Keely was the first to admit her darling child wasn’t the best of patients.
“So, are you and the sheriff seeing each other?”
John’s casual question and curious expression set warning bells off in Keely’s head.
“He was just kind enough to drive me to the medical clinic,” she replied.
“Then maybe you’d be interested in going out for a meal and movie some evening,” he suggested.
“I’m afraid my time is going to be tied up for a while between getting my house set up and catching up on my workload.” She hoped to let him down carefully without coming right out and saying she’d rather eat dirt than date him.
“Some other time then.” He took it as her giving him a rain check.
Keely didn’t correct him. She wrote out a check and accepted the small white paper bag he handed her. When she returned to the truck, she found Steffie curled up on the back seat while Sam was half turned in his as he talked to the girl.
“Are we going home now?” Steffie whined, shifting in her seat.
“Yes, sweetheart, we are.” Keely buckled up.
“Hey, slugger, you’ll be back to yourself in no time,” Sam assured Steffie:
“Oh, sure, just as soon as Mom gives me my pills,” she moaned, starting to touch her injured chin but stopped in time.
Keely and Sam shared a smile that only parents could understand.
“She’ll be playing the role of the suffering saint for a few days,” Keely said in a low voice. “She’ll alternate between that of the dying heroine and the stoic woman who can bear anything.”
Sam grinned. “Lisa’s good at that, too.” He realized Keely’s exotic fragrance would probably linger in his vehicle for several days. Each time he climbed in, he would be reminded of her. His daughter had been hinting he should ask Keely out. But he hadn’t missed the Keep Off signs the lady had posted the few times he was around her.
“Can Lisa come over?” Steffie asked when Sam pulled in front of their house.
“I thought you felt terrible and just wanted to collapse in bed,” Keely reminded her as Sam helped her and then Steffie out of the truck.
She wore her most morose face. “Yeah, but she could’ cheer me up and make me forget about my pain.”
“If your mother doesn’t mind, I can drop Lisa off after school.” Sam looked to Keely for confirmation.
She gazed into his eyes and wondered why she had never thought all that much of brown eyes before. She was used to people wanting to look unusual by having brilliant green eyes, blue, aqua or even lavender. They would opt for colored contact lenses if necessary. But there was something about Sam’s steady gaze that seemed t
o reach out to her. To give her the peace she hadn’t felt since she first heard about Steffie’s accident.
“That’s very nice of you,” she said softly.
His face split in that grin that Keely was finding unsettling to her mental balance. “It’s either that or they’ll be tying up our phones for hours.”
“And she won’t drive me crazy every five minutes wanting something.”
“M-o-m!” Steffie wailed, hopping up and down by the front door.
“There are days when I hate that name,” she told Sam. “Obviously, she’s forgotten she has her own door key.”
“The name Dad can be just as bad sometimes,” he said.
“Parents with these inside jokes are so lame,” Steffie huffed.
Keely started for the door. She wished the pain shot Steffie had been given had lasted longer. She waved as Sam drove off. She wondered if she should ask Sam and Lisa to stay to dinner, then she hoped she had something appropriate in the house to offer them.
Once inside, she urged Steffie to lie down while she fixed her tea.
“Do we have any straws?” the girl asked, snuggling under the rose-blue-and-green afghan one of Keely’s coworkers had made and given her for her birthday one year. “It really hurts to move my jaw.”
“How sad. You won’t be able to talk,” Keely murmured, setting a cup in the microwave and punching buttons. “I think we have some. Anything else you wish, Madame?”
“Didn’t the doctor say I should use an ice pack to take down the swelling?”
Keely thought of the list of instructions Allison had handed her. “I’m sure she did. I’ll fix one for you.”
She settled Steffie down with warm tea and a straw dangling out of the cup before she handed her some medication.
The girl examined the pill, then looked up. “Don’t I get water?”
“Why?”
“To take the pill!”
“You have tea. It’s a liquid and will work very nicely.”
She screwed up her face. “I can’t take a pill with tea! I need water, Mom. Please?”
Keely returned to the kitchen, pulled a glass out of the cabinet and turned on the tap.
“Can’t I have some of the lime seltzer water instead?” Steffie called out
“I thought you wanted real water.”
“It’s water!”
“My fifteen-year-old daughter just regressed to age six,” she muttered, using more force than necessary to open the refrigerator door.
When Lisa arrived a few hours later, the girl was overwhelmed by Keely’s enthusiastic welcome.
By the time Sam showed up that evening, Keely was already showing signs of strain.
“You’re invited to dinner,” she stated without preamble when she threw open the door.
“I wouldn’t want to put you out,” he said, stunned by the glazed look in her eyes.
“You’re not putting me out In fact, you’re doing me a favor because as long as your daughter is here, my daughter acts almost human and I don’t want to throttle her,” She grabbed his arm and almost pulled him off his feet as she dragged him inside. “In fact, I may not allow Lisa to leave until Steffie is fully healed.”
“Hi, Dad.” Lisa appeared at the end of the hallway. “Keely, Steffie wants some more tea.”
“Sure. More caffeine on top of the pain pills. Just what every teenager needs,” she grumbled, gesturing Sam toward the kitchen.
Sam stopped to examine the painting propped against the wall. He gathered the bold colors were supposed to be some kind of flower although he wasn’t positive about it While he had never purported to be a fan of modern art, he found himself liking what he saw. He decided it suited Keely’s energy. Maybe that was why he liked it
“I finally found my hammer so I can hang it,” she admitted, coming up behind him. “I found it at an art fair in Laguna Beach. To this day, I have no idea why I like it, but when I look at it I always feel as if I’ve just gotten a shot of energy.”
Sam nodded. That, he could understand. “Tell you what. Get the hammer and hooks and I can hang it for you now,” he offered.
“I didn’t ask you over here to hang paintings,” she protested.
He looked at her over his shoulder. “I know that. But there’s no use in my not doing something that’s probably easier for me to handle than for you. That’s a pretty big painting.”
“With my token protest over, I’ll get the hammer and hooks.” Keely disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared with the necessary tools.
She stood back and offered a comment only when he asked if it was where she wanted it.
As Keely watched Sam stretch upward to hammer the nails into the wall, her gaze kept drifting downward to where the khaki pants tightened across his rear. Her mouth suddenly grew dry as she wondered what he did to keep his body in such good shape. She couldn’t imagine him going to a health club on a daily basis. She continued to stare at him as he picked up the painting and laid the wire across the hooks. She had to shake herself back to normal when he turned around.
“It looks great Thank you,” she managed to say as she led him into the kitchen. “Ah, would you like something to drink? Tea or something stronger? I have beer and wine.”
“Beer is fine.” He took the chair she pointed him toward.
She nodded and pulled a can out of the refrigerator as she popped a water-filled mug into the microwave.
“Unfortunately, when Steffie was younger I worked outside the home and I wasn’t able to be home with her when she was sick,” she said, pausing to open the oven and check the contents of a large casserole dish. “We had a wonderful housekeeper at the time, but the woman always prayed vigorously every time Steffie was sick. Now I know why. It wasn’t that she wanted Steffie to get better. She didn’t want her to get sick again!”
Sam nodded. “Lisa had the measles when she was ten and in the beginning she was so sick she just wanted to be left alone, but when she started feeling better, she had me hopping. I was worn out by the time she was well enough to go back to school.” He chuckled, popping the tab on the beer can.
“Didn’t Echo Ridge feel unprotected while you played nurse?” Keely teased.
He looked down at his hands cupping the can. “I wasn’t working up here then.” He looked up at her. A hint of pain clouded his gaze. “When I graduated from high school, I attended college in Sacramento and went to work for the police department there. I worked my way up to detective and spent several years in Homicide. A few years after my wife died, I moved back up here. I felt both Lisa and I needed a change of scenery and a slower way of life. My dad wanted to retire and said I’d be the perfect replacement for him.”
“Ah, connections,” Keely murmured with a teasing grin.
He grinned sheepishly and shrugged.
Keely ignored the microwave’s insistent beeping in the background.
“How did your wife die?”
At first, he didn’t seem to hear her soft-spoken question. When he did speak, his raspy voice was so quiet, Keely couldn’t hear him at first
“At the age of thirty-two, my wife, who belonged to a health club and religiously worked out four times a week and ate so much of that health food that I used to accuse her of turning into a plant, just keeled over. The autopsy showed she’d had a massive heart attack. It was so sudden she didn’t have a chance. At least, that’s what the doctors told me. Even they couldn’t figure it out, but they say it sometimes just happens. At least it’s not genetic, so I don’t have to worry about Lisa.”
Keely couldn’t ignore anyone’s pain. She dropped her hand on his shoulder and pressed her fingers into it. She didn’t speak the words, but Sam knew them all the same.
“I hope you don’t mind casseroles,” she spoke in a neutral tone. “I find they’re handy when you need something in a hurry. I made an old standby that Steffie’s always liked. It’s like lasagna but it’s composed of layers of chicken, salsa, corn tortilla pieces and grated cheese.�
�
Sam was grateful for that normalcy and for the fact that Keely didn’t offer comfort at a time when he had worked his way past that point. He took those minutes to bring himself back under control.
“It sounds like a lot of work.”
She shook her head. “Not really.” She poured herself a glass of wine and sat down across from him.
“You’ve fixed this place up nice,” Sam said, pointing his thumb toward the whimsical plaques decorating one wall. “Your philosophy?”
She turned around to look at them. “Pretty much, although I feel ‘So this isn’t Home Sweet Home, Adjust’ describes me the best.”
Sam braced his arms on the table and studied Keely with an even stare she returned.
“Do I pass whatever test you’re giving me?” she asked with an impish grin.
“I just wonder if you’re going to be able to settle down up here after all the bright lights and entertainment you’ve been used to,” he said honestly.
“Believe me, the quiet life is just what I want,” she said fervently. “As far as I’m concerned, the world can keep L.A. I’ll take Echo Ridge, thank you very much.”
Sam’s smile was slow in coming but when it did Keely felt as if it created magic. And she felt that slow warming deep inside her that told her she might not have completely sworn off men….
Chapter 4
Keely stared at the computer monitor as if it held all of life’s answers. She studied the intricate design she’d created to grace announcements for a specialty boutique’s private sale. Once she had the design the way she wanted, she would write the copy and soon have a camera-ready sheet for the printer.
She resisted the urge to rub the sand she was confident had been poured into her eyes. Catching up had never been easy, and with Steffie home her time had been even more limited. She also had the sneaky suspicion that before too long she was going to need glasses while working.
“That looks really pretty,” Steffie said, setting a glass of iced tea on the desk within Keely’s reach and remaining there to peer over her mother’s shoulder. “Too bad we don’t live close enough to take in the sale. They have such hot clothes.”
