The Cowboy's Healing Ways (Cooper Creek) (13 page)

“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

L
aura 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.

They both studied the moon. He told himself to take a step away. He needed to let this go. Over the years he’d gotten good at letting things go. He knew how to keep a relationship easy and uninvolved.

Or he
had
known, until now. Man, he wasn’t a kid. He knew all about high school romance and crushes. He knew how to be an adult and just take a woman for dinner. Laura was teaching him a new lesson.

Now he knew for the first time what kind of woman it would take to change his ways. The woman who didn’t seem to want to stay in a man’s life seemed to be the one. This woman who needed to protect her heart and her child.

He pushed his hat back and turned to face her. Her pale gray eyes were smoky in the dark of the porch with just the glow of a lamp behind her. Her lips parted, as if she meant to say something.

He’d kissed her one other time, on impulse. He could do it again. At that moment he figured he could take one step and she’d take the other. But looking at her standing there, vulnerable in a way he’d never seen before, he knew better.

He knew she needed exactly what she’d said she needed. She needed a friend, not someone complicating things.

“Jesse.” His name was soft on her lips and she looked up at him. He took off his hat and backed a step away.

“Laura, I’m going to leave now. It isn’t what I want to do.” He touched her cheek and she shivered. “I don’t know if it’s what you want. But I know one thing—it’s what I have to do to keep this uncomplicated. I brought you out here to give you a job and make your life easier. I didn’t plan on making it harder.”

“Thank you.” She stepped away from his touch and he let her go.

“Good night.” He had a feeling it would be anything but good. He smiled and pretended. “Call me if you need anything.”

“Jesse, I’m fine. I’ve been alone a long time. I’m not afraid of the dark.”

“Of course.” He walked out to his truck and when he got in to start it, she had stepped back into her house. She stood at the door and watched him go.

He’d been alone a long time, too. It no longer appealed to him.

Chapter Twelve

L
aura stepped out of the little blue sedan Myrna had had delivered for her that afternoon. A replacement, Myrna had called to inform her, and would brook no arguments. Laura would argue but not now. Now she had only one thing on her mind—Abigail.

Laura’s daughter stood on the front porch of the Cooper home, Angie Cooper holding her hand. As Laura crossed the yard, Abigail rushed to her, throwing her arms around Laura’s waist and hanging on tightly. Laura lifted her daughter to hold her close. She inhaled her presence and her softness. They were both crying. Laura wiped at Abigail’s tears.

“I love you,” she whispered close to the little ear.

“I love you, too, Mommy.” Abigail sobbed hard against her, breaking Laura’s heart again. Since all of this had started, Abigail had been strong. They’d probably both worked too hard at not crying, not showing the other they were hurting. Both had tried too hard to be strong.

It came out in that moment, in tears and sobs.

“I think we should go inside.” Laura carried Abigail up the steps. “You’re getting big. I think you might have to walk.”

Abigail shook her head against Laura’s shoulder. “Not yet.”

“Okay, not yet.” Laura kissed Abigail’s cheek. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I missed you, too.” Abigail leaned against her. “Can I show you my new room?”

“Of course you can.” Laura smiled at Angie Cooper, who waited inside the door for them. She mouthed the words, “Thank you.”

Angie nodded and rested a hand on her back. “I think she’s excited to show you her room. I told her she’s going to have a very nice room at her new house, too.”

“I was up all night cleaning it,” Laura admitted, avoiding the details of why she’d been up all night. What would she tell Angie Cooper?

She could tell her the obvious—that Jesse was one of the most decent men she’d ever met. She could tell the easy truth—that it felt good to be in his arms and to pretend that she could be the woman he wanted in his life. But the reality was he was considering a year in the mission field and Laura had to protect Abigail.

She needed stability for her daughter, not a relationship that lasted a few months and ended with her losing her job and her heart.

She shifted Abigail to her left side as they walked up the stairs to the room Angie had opened to her daughter. It was the type of room every little girl dreamed of, with white furniture, a lot of pink and a basket of toys and stuffed animals.

“What a great room.” Laura hugged her daughter. “I’m going to let you walk now so you can show me everything.”

The minute Abigail’s feet touched the ground she became animated, leading Laura around the room and showing her every amazing thing. Laura swallowed the lump that slid up her throat, swallowed the jealousy and the regret. So many people were contributing to her daughter’s happiness. So many people had helped them.

Focus on the good,
Laura told herself. Be thankful for the people God had sent into their lives to help them. She had to remind herself again as Abigail pulled out new dresses for church.

Angie Cooper walked up behind her, resting a hand on her arm. “You’re all she needs.”

Laura swallowed and blinked away tears that stung her eyes.

“I know. Well, I think I know.” She laughed a shaky laugh.

Angie reached for Abigail, and Laura’s daughter looked up, her eyes wide. “Abigail, let’s go down and we’ll show your mom the pizza crust we’re making.”

Abigail found something new to be excited about. They were going to make pizza. Laura followed her down the stairs and to the kitchen.

“The crust is in the fridge. It’s rising,” Abigail explained. She opened the refrigerator door and pointed to the bowl with the mound of pizza dough covered with plastic wrap.

“We’ll have to get Mrs. Cooper’s recipe so we can make this at home.”
Soon,
she wanted to promise.
Very soon.
But she couldn’t because she didn’t want either of them to get their hopes up and then find out that it wouldn’t happen for months.