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“Don’t mention it. All in a day’s work.”
“I’ll bet.” He slowly reached out his left hand and stroked her cheek with his fingers. “You’ve got a little smudge there.”
For the first time she was aware of how she must look. She glanced down at her mud-caked jeans. Her hands were splotched with ravine debris and she doubted she’d ever get her fingernails clean again. She lay her hand where his had just touched and felt a flush of heat. If her face looked even half as bad as the rest of her, well, she didn’t want to think about it.
“So, are you all right?” he asked. “You weren’t hurt?”
“No. It takes a lot more than a freaky autumn sprinkle to take me down.”
He smiled again. “Not even a half-crazed driver plunging off a mountain?”
She laughed, relieved he seemed okay. “Nope, not even that. But don’t feel so bad. I saw an oil slick just before where you breached the rail. I don’t think the accident was all your fault.”
The paramedic lifted Cameron’s right arm and placed it on his abdomen. Julia flinched when she saw the bone threatening to poke through the skin covering his wrist.
Cameron winced in pain.
“Sorry, Professor,” the medic said, setting a splint under his forearm and wrapping gauze around it. “I’ve got to stabilize the injury before we take off.”
Cameron watched his practiced motions. “Do you think it’s broken?”
“I’m not the doctor, but I think it’s safe to say this arm is going to be out of commission for a while. It looks like you’ve got a compound fracture and my guess is you’re going to need surgery and external fixators to patch it up.”
Cameron frowned. “That doesn’t sound good.”
The medic taped gauze to Cameron’s wrist. “Could be better, I’ll admit. Do you remember how you damaged your wrist this badly?”
Cameron snickered. “The last thing I recall is feeling like a pinball inside my Jeep, complete with some pretty weird sound effects.”
Finished with his temporary immobilization job, the medic called to the driver in front of the ambulance. “I’ve got him ready to roll, Rick.”
Julia got up from the bench. “Well, I guess that’s my cue to leave. Good luck, Cameron.”
“Wait, Julia…” Cameron stared at her as if he were unexpectedly at a loss for words. “I haven’t really thanked you,” he finally said.
“Sure you did. We’re square.”
The medic looked at her. “Actually I was going to suggest that you come to the hospital, too. You need to be checked out.”
She shrugged off his concern. “That’s not necessary. I’m fine, really.”
“It’s a precaution,” he said. “There’s another ambulance waiting to take you, but since you two know each other, I guess it would be okay if you rode with the professor here. He doesn’t have any family in the area and would probably appreciate the company.”
Cameron stared up at her.
She looked at him but spoke to the paramedic. “He has a wife. I’m sure if you call her…”
“No, I don’t,” Cameron said.
“You don’t?”
“Divorced.” He raised his eyebrows in a placating way. “I’m all alone here, Julia. It would be nice if my rescuer agreed to hold my hand.”
Suddenly feeling light-headed, Julia sat back on the bench. Maybe she was experiencing repercussions from the night’s trauma, after all. Or maybe she’d just heard news that she hadn’t had time to process yet. “I’m not really the hand-holding type,” she said.
He gave her an earnest look. “Okay, no hand-holding. But I’d appreciate it if you’d come along. At least until they know what they’re going to do with me. I’ve been gone so long from the mountain, I don’t know anybody else to call.”
Before she could decline again, Bobby Cutter appeared at the back of the ambulance. “Everybody okay in here?”
Cameron answered for all of them. “I’m trying to get Julia to come to the hospital with me. She needs to be examined, too.”
Bobby shook his finger at her. “You’re going, MoonPie. No arguments. I don’t want you doing something stupid and girlie like staying here and fainting on me.”
Outnumbered, she sat against the ambulance wall and fastened the seat belt. “Fine. I’ll go. But ask my mother to come to the hospital to pick me up in an hour or so. And tell her to bring some clean clothes.”
Bobby slapped the door of the vehicle before closing it. “Will do. My job here is done.”
Cameron raised his good arm. “Just one more thing.”
Bobby paused. “Yeah?”
“How’d she get the name MoonPie?”
Bobby laughed. “You can blame me for that. Julia loved those damn cakes. Had ’em in her lunch box every day so I just started calling her that. I think Cora must have bought them by the caseful. And then, one day, she just decided to stop eating them.” He stared at Julia. “Why was that, Julia?”
She rolled her eyes. “For heaven’s sake, Bobby, that’s ancient history. Nobody cares anymore.”
“I care,” Cameron said.
Bobby gave her a what’d-I-tell-you look. “Anyway, I guess Julia didn’t want to hurt Cora’s feelings by telling her not to put any more pies in her lunch, so she started secretly swapping them for things like carrots and grapes and celery. But by then the name ‘MoonPie’ had stuck.”
Julia shook her head. “Exciting story, isn’t it?”
Bobby chuckled. “Julia’s the only person I’ve ever known who’d give up a MoonPie for a bag of carrot sticks. The first woman on Earth content to trade down.”
“Not anymore, Bobby,” Julia said. “I learned my lesson.”
Bobby laughed again and shut the ambulance door.
When Julia glanced at Cameron, she noticed his expression had changed, become more reflective than amused. “What?” she said.
“You’ve just given me my first Blue Ridge Mountain story,” he said. “A Girl Called MoonPie.” The ambulance lurched forward. Cameron sucked in a deep breath and looked at his arm. “Too bad I can’t hold a pen to write it down.”
CHAPTER FOUR
ONCE SHE’D LET the hospital staff coat her hands with antiseptic ointment and cover them with gauze, Julia was able to convince the emergency room nurse that she’d suffered no more ill effects from her trek into the ravine than minor cuts and bruises. The minute the doctor signed her release papers, Julia hurried to the admitting area, sounding as though she were walking on squeegees instead of shoes and leaving an embarrassing trail of mud flecks. She was going to make some maintenance people very unhappy tonight.
The receptionist at the admitting desk was the same middle-aged woman who’d assigned Julia to an examination room earlier. When she looked up from paperwork and saw her again, she wrinkled her nose. “Oh. They didn’t give you a hospital gown?”
“They tried, but I’ve got clean clothes coming…” she glanced at her wristwatch, which was still smeared with mud, and wiped the face “…any minute now.” She started to lean on the counter but thought better of leaving a residue for this woman to contend with. “Can you tell me where Cameron Birch is, please?”
The woman pointed to a set of double doors. “In there. Exam room eight if he’s not down for tests. I’ll have to buzz you in.” Julia squished her way along the row of curtained-off areas until she found Cameron’s and peeked around the drape.
He roused, slowly lifting his eyelids. “Hey. Come in.”
She moved to the side of his bed and stood looking down at him. Trying not to reveal her shock, she glossed over the dark purple bruise that had formed on his forehead and the scratches on his face and arms. Plus, he had a cumbersome half cast secured to his wrist. “So, when are they springing you?” she said.
“Not until tomorrow, maybe early afternoon.”
“And what have they poked and prodded tonight?”
“I’ve had an EKG, a chest X-ray, a CAT scan. All I’ve heard about is my wrist X-rays, and the paramedic was right. The orthopedic surgeon thinks about two hours of surgery in the morning ought to do the trick. And then I’ll have a network of miniature antennae sticking out of my arm for six weeks.”
“Well, look at the bright side. You might not have to invest in a satellite dish to keep up with Grey’s Anatomy.”
He smiled. “And there’s one more silver lining to this cloud. My handwriting’s never been any good, and now I have an excuse.”
His offhand comment took her back ten years. She remembered her surprise at discovering this minor flaw in the otherwise seemingly perfect professor. His comments on her assignments had been practically illegible, and when each paper was returned, she’d spend several minutes trying to decipher his scratch marks.
“…for the bandages on your hands?”
His voice returned her to the present. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“Your hands? Why are they bandaged?”
“A couple of giant-sized splinters mostly, from some inhospitable oak trees in the ravine.” When she saw the concern on his face, she added, “Nothing I haven’t experienced many times in the past.”
He released a long breath and shook his head. “Geez, Julia, when I think about what you did, what almost happened down there…”
She held up her hand. “Don’t go in that gully again, Cameron. It’s over, happy ending and all.”
“But there has to be a way I can thank you.”
She smiled. “You did. Ten years ago. You gave me an A.”
“You earned an A.” He pushed himself up with his good elbow, the movement obviously causing him pain. He tried to be cavalier about it with a forced grin. “I might have cracked ribs, too. But, anyway, about showing my appreciation, I may have to thank you twice since I have to ask one more favor.”
“Oh?”
“I’ll need a ride to my grandfather’s place when they let me go.”
His request dumbfounded her in light of his injuries. “You’re not thinking of staying alone on top of the mountain while you heal, are you?”
He shrugged his shoulder, then winced. “Sure. I’ll manage.” He must have sensed the doubt in her eyes, because he added, “I need some time on that mountain, Julia. I’ve planned it for months. I’ve taken a sabbatical from the university.” He drew his lips into a determined line, pulling in a deep breath. “I think Whisper Mountain will heal me, broken bones and all.”
She wondered what he meant by “and all,” and decided that maybe it was Cameron’s spirit that needed mending. She stood. “Okay, I’ll pick you up tomorrow afternoon.” She jotted a phone number on a pad by his bed. “Just call the store when you’re ready.”
JULIA COULDN’T STOP thinking about Cameron. Restless and impatient, she strode to the automatic doors of the waiting room, stepped into the cool night air, came back, then sat in three different chairs while staring at CNN on the television. Mostly she wondered what could have gone wrong in Cameron’s life that made him admit to needing this time on the mountain.
She thought about her own life, as well, and the months before she’d finally seen a doctor. She’d never been able to identify one isolated problem that had eventually sent her to him for help. She’d only known that something hadn’t been right in her life, and she wasn’t successfully dealing with it. A major part of her downward slide had been the breakup of a five-year relationship. She’d believed that Kevin had been the one. She’d pinned her hopes on him. Her future, her friendships and her weekends. They’d been inseparable for at least three years, one rarely seen without the other, two like-minded souls content to imagine a lifetime together.
Until suddenly she was the only one imagining.
When she’d lightheartedly brought up the subject of making their relationship permanent and legal, he’d found nothing funny about it. Nor anything remotely serious.
Julia looked up at the clock in the waiting room. 10:15 p.m. Had her mother forgotten about her? It was too late now to bring Katie out. Julia walked to the wall of windows and stared at the near empty parking lot. And her thoughts returned once more to Cameron.
Had he been the one to initiate divorce proceedings with his wife? Had she disappointed him, or had it been the other way around? Had the breakup been amiable? Julia supposed some could be, between two rational people who decided that ending a relationship would result in improved lives for both.
She recalled the day she’d gotten the prescription for antidepressants. Kevin wasn’t the only reason she’d seen a doctor. There had been problems at work, frantic calls from her mother, no calls from her sister. And nearly everyone Julia knew in Manhattan was on some kind of antistress medication. Pills were the big city quick fix that many people relied on.
Headlights veered from the main road and traveled up the drive to the hospital entrance, saving Julia from a potential bout with her conscience. She watched the approaching car closely, hoping to identify it as her mother’s dependable old Ford. “Thank goodness,” she said, when Cora pulled up to the drop-off area, and she went outside to meet her.
Cora got out, handed over a bundle of clothes, stared at Julia’s hands and gasped. “Oh, my heavens, Julia.”
“It’s nothing, Mama. The hospital staff overreacted. I can remove these bandages in the morning.” Too tired to control her impatience, she asked, “Where have you been?” She looked down at her soiled garments. “I feel like I’ve been wearing this stuff for weeks.”
Cora frowned and Julia felt bad. She didn’t mean to take her foul mood out on her mother. She considered going inside to a restroom to change clothes but decided she wouldn’t bother now. “Did you lose power at the cabin?”
“No, but I had to make arrangements for Katie,” Cora explained. “The time just got away from me, and I didn’t want to make her come along this late.”
Julia put the clothes in the backseat and did the best she could to dust dried particles of mud from her jeans. “I’ll just wear these home now.” Once in the car, Julia asked her mother “So what did you do with Katie?”
“I put her to bed and called Rosalie. She was happy to watch her while I came for you.”
Julia made a mental note to thank the neighbor who also helped out at the store during the busy season.
“Unfortunately, Rosie had to pick up her supper dishes first,” Cora said. “She was running late because the TV kept showing bits about the accident.”
Julia settled into the seat and closed her eyes. All at once her bones felt as if they were melting into little puddles around her. She rested her head back and said, “Oh.”
“You were on television. That lady reporter talked about what happened and they showed you.” Cora pulled out of the hospital parking lot. “I wish they’d let you go in and comb your hair first.”
“Yeah, that would have been nice,” Julia said absently, knowing a comb wouldn’t have helped much.
“So how is Cameron?” Cora asked.
Julia looked over at her mother. “Pretty banged up. He’s having surgery on his wrist tomorrow morning. Tonight, he mostly had tests.”
Cora nodded with understanding. “They do that these days. Make sure the ticker’s working right, your blood pressure’s normal, all that stuff, before you go under the knife. I suppose it’s good they take such care.”
Through Julia’s haze of exhaustion, Cora’s voice seemed to drone on in another dimension. “I suppose,” she said.
“I guess he’s going back to Raleigh now that he’s had the accident.”
“Actually, no. He’s asked me to pick him up tomorrow and take him to his grandfather’s place.”
Cora looked at Julia and quickly returned her attention to the road. “He’s staying up there?”
