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Josh looked at his watch. “We should probably go.”
As if on cue, their server appeared. “Dad said there’s no bill this time,” she said. She turned to Clint. “Welcome to Covenant Falls.”
* * *
STEPHANIE AND EVE met for their weekly luncheon.
“What do you think of him?” Eve asked.
Stephanie shrugged. “He dresses like an Easterner.”
“You used to dress like an Easterner.”
Stephanie tried to think of something bad to say. She couldn’t, and that was really annoying. He was annoying because he wasn’t annoying. Stephanie took another bite of her patty melt, one of her few food weaknesses. “What does Josh think?”
“You know Josh doesn’t say much, especially if he doesn’t know someone well.”
“He had to say something.”
“He went over to see him today, took Amos with him. I haven’t talked to him since. Nick is beside himself with excitement. A real live helicopter pilot. I kinda feel sorry for Clint Morgan.”
“Believe me, he can take care of himself,” Stephanie said.
“Do I detect a note of disapproval?”
“No. Yes. Maybe.”
“Are you the Stephanie I’ve known for five years?”
“That incoherent?”
“Yeah,” Eve said. “I can’t wait to meet someone who affects you this way. Josh is inviting him over for supper tomorrow night. You’re invited, too.”
“Why?”
“To protect him from the motley crew,” Eve said.
“I think he can handle himself,” Stephanie retorted.
Eve raised an eyebrow.
“Josh told you about the cow?”
“He did. He said Mr. Morgan called it a close encounter with the bovine kind. He’s still chuckling about that.” She let a few moments go by, then added, “I heard from others, as well.”
“Damn. What did you hear?”
“A bull attacked and crippled him.”
“Good lord!”
“Obviously, that is not correct or Josh would be more upset than he was last night.”
“He didn’t say anything to you?”
“You know Josh. He doesn’t say much. He considers a person’s privacy as inviolate.”
“I don’t.” Stephanie said. “We were rolling a heifer. Clint helped hold the hind legs. When he released them, the cow stepped on him. It’s happened to me a number of times. He has a bruise, nothing more.”
Eve’s eyes bored into her. She hadn’t meant to sound defensive, but she knew instantly she did.
Eve’s smile told her that much. “What about supper?”
Her friend was daring her. To refuse would only serve to raise Eve’s antenna higher. “Sure,” she said, hiding her misgivings. “Can I bring something?”
“Yourself is just fine. Josh is grilling steaks. I’m just popping potatoes in the oven and making a salad.”
“Sounds good.”
“Try not to have an emergency.”
That was exactly what Stephanie was planning: an emergency.
“Why me? Why not invite, say, my tech? She can’t wait to meet him.”
“Because he’s already met you,” Eve explained patiently.
“Why have anyone in addition to you and Josh? I would think the fewer the better. You know how Josh was.”
“If you don’t want to come, you really don’t have to,” Eve said. “I just think he probably needs as many friends as possible here.”
She was being played, and she knew it. Eve had been her champion from the moment Stephanie had appeared in Covenant Falls. Not everyone had wanted a woman vet. Some of the ranchers refused to use her and sent to Pueblo for a vet of the masculine variety. The West, particularly the rural West, was set in its ways.
Eve had browbeaten reluctant clients into going to Stephanie, as well as recommended her to everyone within a fifty-mile radius. Fine. She could do this dinner for Eve. One evening. Clint Morgan would be gone soon. Covenant Falls would be too quiet for him. He needed a large city with buses and taxis and people to charm.
“Okay. Unless there is an emergency.” She took a deep breath. Maybe yesterday was an aberration. “But I might be late. It’s super busy since I won’t be here this weekend for my Saturday hours. I’m participating in a search-and-rescue certification.”
“Whenever you can get there,” Eve said.
The devil danced in her friend’s eyes. Blast it. They had bonded over their aversion to marriage, although each had very different reasons for that aversion. She feared that since Eve had succumbed to the call of love, her friend had her sights on Stephanie. Hell, no.
“Have to go,” Eve said. “We’re still looking for a police chief, and I have an interview this afternoon.”
“Promising?”
“Unfortunately, no. But Tony took the job temporarily and has already stayed longer than he wants.” Eve paid her bill and stood. “See you tomorrow night.”
Stephanie rose with her. She had a heavy appointment schedule this afternoon, plus a meeting later with three people interested in search and rescue. She doubted they would be as enthusiastic after learning the particulars, but if she enlisted one, she would be happy. Training both handler and dog could take as long as two years, never mind the fact they were volunteers and incurred a lot of expense along the way. It was a calling, often without rewards when the result was bad. But those moments of success were worth every minute of time and every dollar spent.
At the very least it would take her mind off the town’s newest resident and what would be a very awkward dinner tomorrow night. For her, anyway. She suspected Clint Morgan would enjoy every moment of her discomfort.
Now Eve owed her.
* * *
AFTER JOSH DROVE him home, Clint sat on the porch, staring at the lake. He needed something. A purpose. A goal. Hell, a life. Rehabbing the cabin had helped his host. Maybe it would do the same for him.
A dock couldn’t be too difficult.
He walked painfully down to the lake and looked at the other docks along the lake. Two were rather elaborate with boathouses. The others just stretched out into the water. Several had fishing boats tied to them. Another had a canoe and a bench.
The afternoon was warm, even hot, although his idea of hot had changed after years in Afghanistan.
Clint could tell from the shoreline and the other docks that the water was lower than normal, maybe by a foot or more. Still, it was a rich blue, which meant depth, and he wondered whether it was fed by springs as well as snow from the mountains.
He went inside and searched websites dedicated to building docks and lost himself in going from one to another, gathering ideas. It was not, he realized, as easy as he’d thought, which was a good thing. He needed a challenge.
It was well past eight when he closed the laptop. He’d made several designs along with a list of needed materials for each. He would take them over to the Mannings’ the following evening.
He stood and the floor swayed beneath him. He grabbed the chair, knowing what was going to happen. He tried to concentrate, but the room was moving now. He needed to get to the bedroom, find his medicine. Lie down before he fell. The dizzy spells were almost always followed by a thunderous headache. He had hoped...
The hall swirled as he used the walls to steady himself. The foot, still sore as hell, didn’t help. He reached the bed. Medicine and a glass of water were on a table next to it. He always left it there.
He lay down on the bed and some of the dizziness faded. Not all of it.
The ceiling still moved. Then the pain started...
CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_38030072-f688-586a-8a56-1703ca2c5c8e)
CLINT WOKE FEELING as if he had been in a ten-hour battle. His head throbbed, his body too weak to reach the bathroom for a shower.
Light flooded into the cabin. Yesterday, before the dizziness came, he’d been feeling better about the cabin, about being here. He liked Josh. The man didn’t say much, but he didn’t have to.
He thought about Stephanie and wondered if she would be at dinner tonight. He didn’t know why he was so attracted to her. She was far too serious for him, too cautious, too...unreceptive.
Maybe it was the challenge. Or maybe it was the brain trauma. Whatever it was, she was back in his head this morning, crowding everything out but the residue of pain.
He forced himself to get up and walk to the bathroom. There was some good news. Despite the doctor’s warning that his foot would be worse today, it was better. Or maybe he was just putting it into context with the rest of his body.
He took a cold shower to wake up, then a hot one. He limped into the kitchen and poured a large glass of orange juice. He headed for the porch swing. The solitude was jarring. He recognized the irony of that, but since he was eight, he’d almost always been with others, first at boarding schools, followed by army training facilities and finally overseas. He was usually the center of things, something he’d learned in boarding school. To lead for fear of being left behind.
Now he was more alone than he had ever been and none of his mental tricks helped. Not the charm he’d developed, nor a nurtured optimism, nor an immediate goal. He had difficulty seeing anything but emptiness ahead.
He finished the orange juice, limped down the drive and crossed the road that ended in a little roundabout just beyond the cabin. He eyed the path up the steep slope of the mountain. Maybe tomorrow.
He went back inside, and for lack of anything else to do, he started checking out universities to finish his degree. His interest was in aeronautic electronics, but he didn’t find a program that he liked. Maybe his heart wasn’t in it. The thought of spending the rest of his working life in an office was deeply depressing. Although he had a natural curiosity about nearly everything and was a good student, the classroom had been the means of getting to where he wanted to be, and that was in the sky. He liked the outdoors, playing sports and testing himself physically. All that was at risk now.
He found one of Josh’s books and took it to the porch. Maybe it would keep his mind from the future. And Stephanie Phillips.
* * *
STEPHANIE STARED AT the email from one of the few friends she had from the past. Her ex-husband was getting another divorce. That marriage had lasted two years longer than her own. The friend also said he’d made queries about her whereabouts.
A shiver of apprehension ran through her.
Mark Townsend didn’t like rejection. He had practically destroyed her during their marriage and after the divorce. He had stolen her money, destroyed her reputation, made it impossible to practice in the Northeast. Wherever she went, he found a way of preventing her from being hired.
She’d found the position in Covenant Falls when a close friend from vet school told her of an older veterinarian in Colorado who was looking for someone to take over his practice. He’d inherited his family ranch and wanted to go back to full-time ranching, but didn’t want to leave the community without a vet. He was willing to finance the sale for the right person.
She’d told Dr. Langford about Mark during their initial interview. One of the vet’s daughters had experienced a similar problem, and he had recommended that Stephanie take her mother’s maiden name legally. He’d cleared it through the state board and after working together for six months, he agreed to sell her the practice. He’d also suggested she retain the name of Langford Animal Practice. In today’s electronic world, a dedicated searcher could find her, but she’d hoped Mark’s new marriage would dim his vindictiveness toward her.
Now that his latest marriage was ending, she worried he might come after her again. Or would he concentrate his ire on his newest ex-wife?
How could she have been such a fool to marry him?
Maybe he couldn’t find her. Or if he did, his power wouldn’t be as great in Covenant Falls as it was in Boston. True, she wasn’t a lifetime resident of Covenant Falls, but she was actively involved in search and rescue and was a member of the volunteer fire department. She also volunteered in causes that interested her, especially the community center.
Except for Eve, though, she’d avoided close relationships.
She closed the computer and glanced at her watch. She was running late for Eve’s dinner, although she was glad she had conducted her weekly search. It was best to be prepared.
She regretted letting herself be talked into the dinner. She wasn’t in the mood to be sociable. Especially not after reading the email about Mark.
But she had promised Eve.
She changed into a clean shirt but left on the blue jeans she’d worn all day. Darn if she was going to dress up for Clint Morgan. She did add a touch of lipstick. Just a bit. She brushed her hair and braided it back into a long plait. Ready to go.
Or not.
She almost wished for an emergency, and she felt guilty as hell about that. No! It was just that damned email about Mark. It reminded her of her own helplessness, her own sorry judgment. She hated the reminder.
Stephanie tried to look on the bright side. She would see her horse, Shadow, that she boarded at Eve’s ranch, and Nick and the other two people she liked most in Covenant Falls.
“Stay,” she told the two dogs as she grabbed her car keys.
Sherry whined, sensing she was ready to go. Styrker sat and held out his paw in entreaty. “Sorry, guys,” she said. “You haven’t been invited. There will be enough commotion without you.”
At least she hadn’t been asked to drive Clint to Eve’s house.
Her cell rang. Her heart dropped. She knew. She just knew.
She looked at the name of the caller. Eve.
The phone continued to ring. She could ignore it, but Eve knew she always answered the phone in case it was an emergency. If she didn’t answer, Eve would know why.
She answered. “I’m on the way.”
“Can you run by the cabin and pick up Clint? Josh is anointing steaks with his usual care, and my budget meeting ran late.”
