Monday. I hated Mondays. For the last ten years, I had spent all but a handful of Mondays in back-to-back conference calls, so when my phone rang over my fifteen-minute lunch break, I really didn’t want to answer it. But Gigi’s name flashed and I picked it up.
“Hello?” I shoved a potato chip in my mouth and did my best to muffle my crunching.
“Hi. Can you come to the hospital? Your mom’s here. She cut herself pretty badly.”
I shot up from my desk chair and rushed to find some shoes. “I’ll be right there.”
My pulse was racing at Mach three by the time I jogged through the ER doors. The sterile smell assaulted my nose and I gagged.
I hated this hospital. I’d spent too many days here in my youth, sitting beside Mom and watching her get treated for countless burns, cuts and sprains. By the time I was ten, I had become an expert at triaging her injuries and determining which needed emergency treatment.
“How’s Mom?” I asked Gigi. She was a nurse at Jamison Valley Hospital and was waiting for me when I reached the ER counter.
“She’ll be fine. The doctor will come down in a few and get her stitched up. Silas is in with her now. He stayed so I could come out and call you and Jess.”
“Silas?” I asked. “What’s he doing here?”
“He was at the hardware store when she got hurt. He brought her in.”
“The hardware store? How did she get cut there?”
“I’m not sure. She can’t remember much.”
I sighed. “Okay. When Jess gets here we can talk to Silas and see if he knows what happened. Which room?”
“Three. I’ll wait for Jess and then we’ll be in.”
I nodded and hurried across the shiny linoleum floor to Mom’s room. Knocking twice, I slowly pushed open the door.
Mom was propped up on the bed. Her jeans were spattered with blood and a thick white bandage was wrapped around her left forearm. Silas was sitting in a chair by her feet. His gray, long-sleeved Henley was streaked with blood too.
My heart twisted but I forced a smile. “Hi, Mom. How are you feeling?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, shaking her head.
I walked in and sat on the edge of her bed, gently holding the hand of her uninjured arm. “It’s nothing to apologize for. Accidents happen.”
She nodded but her eyes filled with water. I had always encouraged her not to feel embarrassed, but these episodes left her feeling ashamed and it would take days for her to shake this off.
“Hi,” I told Silas, squeezing Mom’s hand tighter and giving her a moment to collect herself.
“Hey.”
“Thank you,” I mouthed and he nodded back.
I wasn’t sure why he was here, I was just glad he was. Mom had always been comfortable around Silas, probably because he’d been one of Jess’s best friends for ages. That, and it was just him. He was a master at giving support and lending his strength.
We all sat quietly until Jess poked his head inside the room. “Hi, Ma.”
At the sight of her son, Mom’s entire frame relaxed into the bed. Jess had always been able to give Mom comfort that I couldn’t.
Gigi pushed Jess into the room and the doctor entered behind them. At least I assumed he was the doctor based on his charcoal scrubs and the sterile package in his hand. He looked more like a Calvin Klein underwear model. His brown hair was tied back in a man bun and he had a devilish grin.
“Hi, Noelle. I’m Dr. Faraday. Sounds like we’re going to do some stitches today.”
Mom nodded and I hopped off her bed so Jess could take my place. He held her hand and started asking questions while the doctor worked opposite him to stitch up the five-inch gash on her arm.
“Do you remember what happened?” Jess asked.
She shook her head. “I must have tripped. Or got bumped. Sorry, I don’t remember.”
“It’s okay. What were you doing at the hardware store?”
“I was trying to find a little housewarming gift for Felicity.”
“That’s sweet of you, Noelle,” Gigi said.
“Yes, thank you, Mom.” She always had the best intentions. It was a shame that following through with them had so often caused her trouble.
“Do you know what you cut yourself on?” Dr. Faraday asked. “This is a pretty nasty gash.”
Mom shook her head but Silas spoke up. “I caught a glimpse of it from behind. She fell right into the corner of a big metal shelf. One of those little hooks they hang from the holes must have caught her on the way down.”
I cringed as he spoke, picturing Mom’s skinny arms grasping to break her fall, instead snagging on the hook.
“Okay,” the doctor said. “I’m going to order you an antibiotic and some pain meds. Once that numbing agent wears off, it’s going to hurt but I think it should heal up nicely with just a small scar. You’ll be good as new in a couple weeks.” He continued on with post-care instructions and risk factors to watch for seniors. When he was done, he stood and patted her hand. “If you need anything else, Gigi can track me down.”
We all said our thanks and huddled around Mom’s bed after Dr. Faraday left the room.
“Ma, why don’t you rest for a few minutes?” Jess suggested. “Be back in a bit to take you home.”
“And I’ll come over and cook dinner tonight,” I said.
“Okay.” Her eyes left mine to find Silas. “Thank you for bringing me here. I’m so sorry.”
He bent to kiss her cheek. “No thanks needed and no apology necessary. I’m just glad that I could be there.”
We all fell in line to give her a hug before letting her close her eyes and rest in the quiet room.
“Is she getting worse?” Silas, Gigi, Jess and I were congregated in the hallway. “She had an episode a little over a week ago, that night that we brought you flowers. I don’t ever remember them coming on so often. Has it been like this for a while?”
I hated that I even had to ask. If I had been more present in her life, I would already know the answer.
“If she is, she’s not telling us. I wonder how much time she’s losing at home that she’s hiding,” Gigi said.
“Or doesn’t even fucking remember,” Jess said.
“I think we should get some new tests done,” I said. “It’s been years. Maybe there’s something more that we can do for her now.”
“Agreed,” Jess said.
“I’ll visit with Dr. Faraday,” Gigi said.
“Sure you will,” Jess muttered.
Gigi grinned and winked at me. “Jess is a little jealous of Dr. Faraday.”
“Fuck that. I’m not jealous.” He crossed his arms over his chest with a harrumph.
I couldn’t resist. “He is so pretty. I volunteer to go with you when you talk to him about Mom’s tests.”
At my side, Silas growled. His stance matched Jess’s and his nostrils flared.
I looked at Gigi and we both burst out laughing.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “You’re both far more handsome than the young doctor. No need to let your man feathers get ruffled.”
“She’s right.” Gigi grabbed Jess’s hand. “Come on, Sheriff. Let’s get your mother discharged.”
As they walked away, Gigi tugged on Jess’s hand and tipped her chin up so he could lean down for a soft kiss. If Jess thought that Gigi had eyes for any other man, he was delusional. Just like Silas would be an idiot to think that I would ever go for a young, preppy doctor. For years, I had compared every boyfriend against Silas and none of them had ever measured up. Dr. Faraday was cute but didn’t hold a candle to the man at my side.
Not that any of that mattered.
Silas and I were on the road to friendship. The way my breath hitched and heart raced when I saw him was no longer relevant.
“Thanks for being there for Mom,” I said.
“Happy to help.”
“Can I buy you a new shirt?”
“Nah. This will wash out.”
I took a deep breath. After that night at the bar, I had promised myself that I’d talk to Silas the next time I saw him and make the amends I’d been delaying. It was time to take the first step. “How about dinner? There are a few things I was hoping we could talk about.”
His eyebrows came together. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Of course. Nothing’s wrong. I just thought that since we’re trying to be friends, dinner might be nice. Not like a date. Just as friends. I’d just like to know what you’ve been doing all these years. Catch up as friends.”
Nice babbling. Could you say the word “friends” a couple more times, Felicity?
“Uh, okay,” he said. “A friendly dinner. When?”
“Wednesday night? Meet at the café around six?”
“Sounds good.” He nodded and turned to leave.
“Thanks again!” I called to his back. He kept walking but lifted a hand to wave.
My shoulders fell when he was out of sight. All weekend long I had been replaying the past, trying to figure out how best to broach an apology to Silas. Friday night at the bar had made me realize that I needed to start the healing process with him. I didn’t want more uncomfortable encounters or awkward conversations.
I didn’t know if it was the right choice or not to dredge up that ancient history, but I felt that I had to. For my own sake, if not his.
I popped back into Mom’s room for one last hug and good-bye before making my way outside. Digging through my oversized purse for car keys, I walked right into someone coming into the ER.
I gasped as she let out a pained cry. “Shit! I’m so sorry!”
Khloe Olson was stumbling backward. I reached out to try and catch her but she regained her footing on her own. When she looked up, her eyes were wide and her face ashen. One arm was clutched to her chest.
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
She nodded and walked around me inside. I turned and followed. Gigi was just walking back to the ER counter but saw us and changed direction.
“Can I help you?” she asked Khloe.
“I think I broke my arm. I was carrying a laundry basket down some stairs and tripped and fell.”
I winced. Ouch.
“Oh, no! Follow me,” Gigi said, leading the way to another private ER room.
Khloe followed and I trailed them both. Within a minute, Gigi had Khloe resting comfortably in bed with her arm propped up on a pillow.
After Gigi left to fetch Dr. Faraday, I moved to Khloe’s bedside. “Can I call Derrick for you?”
“No. Please don’t.” She talked but avoided my eyes. “He’s working and I don’t want to bother him. This was just a stupid accident.”
What woman wouldn’t want her husband with her when she was in the hospital? I eyed her suspiciously. Maybe they were having marriage troubles and she didn’t want to divulge her secrets to the woman who had tormented her in high school.
“Okay. I’d be happy to sit with you while you get fixed up. Would you mind if I stayed?” I couldn’t leave Khloe alone, not in good conscience. Not when I knew what she had in store. Some of Mom’s most painful injuries had been broken bones.
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine on my own.”
“I’m sure you would be but I can at least keep you company. My mom’s down the hall anyway. I was going to stick around while she rested,” I lied.
She shrugged and I took it as my invitation to pull up the metal guest chair and sit at her side.
Three hours later, Khloe was in a cast and leaving the emergency room.
“Can I drive you home?” I asked.
“I can make it. Thank you, though. And thank you for sitting with me.”
“You’re welcome.” I faked a smile and waved before walking outside with my foul and angry mood.
Khloe had been nearly silent as Dr. Faraday set and casted her arm. No screaming or crying. She hadn’t even winced. Either she was the toughest person on the planet or she was no stranger to pain.
The longer I’d sat by her side, the angrier I had become. Both the doctor and Gigi had offered to call her husband but she’d adamantly refused. Every time Derrick’s name had been mentioned, Khloe had shrunk further and further into the hospital bed.
And it hadn’t just been me that noticed either. Gigi’s eyes had found mine a couple of times and we’d shared a knowing look.
Something was going on in the Olson house and I was going to find out what. Khloe needed a friend and I was volunteering for the job. I’d prove to her that I wasn’t the mean girl from our childhood. It wouldn’t be easy, but the best friendships in my life had always been the ones that I’d worked hard to build.
And to keep.
“Thanks for meeting me,” I told Silas after handing my menu to our waitress at the café.
“Sure,” he said.
My fingers laced together on my lap so I couldn’t drum them on the table. For the last two days, since our encounter at the hospital, I had been mentally practicing my apology, but being prepared was doing nothing to settle my nerves.
“So, um, I’ve been thinking a lot about everything that’s happened. About us. We haven’t ever talked about it and I guess I thought maybe we should.”
He shook his head. “It’s in the past. Let’s leave it there. I see no reason to open old wounds.”
“Not even if it helps them heal?”
“Is that what you need?” he asked. “To hash it all out?”
“No, I guess not. But I want to apologize. I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”
He stared at me for a long moment before looking to the table and fidgeting with his napkin-wrapped silverware. “It took me a while to get over it, but I understand why you left.”
“You do?”
“You were eighteen and gearing up to start your life. Your boyfriend was a junkie. Stuff between us got real complicated, real fast. You got spooked. I think most people in your position would have done the same thing.”
No one had ever understood me as well as Silas. I shouldn’t have been shocked that he’d guessed at how I had been feeling back then.
“Thank you for understanding. I’ll always regret leaving the way that I did and for being too much of a coward to admit that I was scared. I should have tried to tell you that years ago, but I was too busy being stubborn and trying to prove myself in the city. I was too afraid to come back and face everyone. My apology is long overdue.”
My fears had driven me out of Prescott and kept me away. I had been terrified of coming back to Prescott. I had been scared of a confrontation with Wes. Mostly I had been scared to see that Silas had moved on with someone better. Someone that would never hurt him like I had.
Silas shook his head. “I’ve never met anyone that’s as hard on themself as you are.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. Maybe not.
Our waitress came over with our cheeseburgers and provided a welcome end to our serious conversation.
“Tell me about your life,” I said as we ate. “What have you been doing these last sixteen years?”
Our hookups over the last couple of years hadn’t been overly chatty, so we basically had a decade and a half to catch up on. I was curious what his life had been like.
“Really? You want to know?” he asked.
“Really. Don’t friends know stuff about one another’s lives?”
“I guess friends do.”
Why did he keep doing that, drawing out the word “friend”? This truce was just as much his idea as mine, so he could be a little more positive.
“You go first,” he said.
“It hasn’t been all that eventful. I drove from here to Seattle. Found a small community college and got my degree. Started working for a software company after school and I’ve been with them ever since. This summer I decided that Seattle wasn’t for me anymore and came home.”
“That’s it, huh?”
“In a nutshell. Now enough stalling. It’s your turn.”
“I went into the army. Stayed for ten years. Came home. Picked back up with work on the ranch.”
“Ten years is a lot more than the three or four you had planned. What happened?”
“September eleventh,” he said.
Right. “Were you deployed to the Middle East?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Did three tours in Iraq.”
“Thank you for your service.”
He nodded again and went back to his meal.
“Does it bother you to talk about?”
“Not much anymore. The first couple of years back home were the worst but I worked through it. I try to keep in touch with the guys from my squad and talk to them when it gets to me.”
“I’m glad you have them.” I didn’t push for more details of his army life. If he wanted to talk to me about that time, I’d be happy to listen, but for now, I was just grateful that he had been willing to serve and that he had come home safely. “What’s new on the ranch?”
“Things at the ranch are hectic.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Gus Johnson, our hired man, fucked up his back again so he’s pretty much out of commission. I have no idea how I’m going to get all of the calving and spring work done one man down.”
“Is there anyone else around you could hire?”
“Yeah,” he huffed, “but Dad’s being picky. I get his reasoning. He’d rather find the right guy than the right-now guy, but since he’s dragging his feet, I’m probably going to end up doing it all myself.”
“I, uh, don’t know anything about ranch work, but I’d come and help you. I could do the easy jobs that no one else wants. Cleaning or whatever.”
His french fry stopped in midair. “Seriously?”
“Wipe that shocked look off your face. I could do it.”
“In your high heels?”
“You’re a comedian. Obviously, I’ll buy some boots first.”
He grinned. “Okay, city girl. I’ll put you to work.”
“Good, then it’s settled. You can have me on weekends this spring.” The second the words passed my lips I wanted to suck them back.
“I can have you on the weekends? I thought you wanted to be friends. Me having you might confuse things, don’t you think?”
My lip curled. “You just couldn’t let that one go could you?”
“Too easy.” He grabbed a fry off my plate and popped it into his mouth. “Did you lose your edge in Seattle? The Felicity I knew before would never have left me that opening.”
“I forgot how quick-witted you are,” I muttered. “I’m going to have to step it up.”
“Yeah you are.” He reached for another fry and I slid my plate across the table so he could finish them off.
Dinner may have started off heavy but I couldn’t have hoped for a better ending. Joking and teasing one another felt warmly familiar. Silas paid, despite my protests, and we walked outside into the chilly November night air.
“Thanks,” I said. “Don’t be a stranger, friend.”
“Uh-huh,” he muttered. “Bye.”
I had just turned to leave when I heard my name called from behind. I knew that voice and cringed. When I spun around, Tyson was strolling down the sidewalk.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
I blinked once, then again, hoping that when I opened my eyes, the sight of my ex-boyfriend would have vanished.
Nope. Still there.
I took a few steps to stand at Silas’s side while Tyson approached.
“Surprise, love!” He claimed me in a tight embrace.
I squirmed and pushed out of his arms. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you on the phone that we needed to talk and work this out. I thought it would be easier face-to-face. So I made a huge sacrifice and came to you just to show you that I’m willing to move past our issues.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Had Tyson always been this much of a dumbass? I had been perfectly clear that we were over. Repeatedly. I’d moved to Montana! What else could I do to get it through his thick skull?
“Well, your big sacrifice was unnecessary. I cannot believe you came all the way here from Seattle. We broke up weeks ago. There’s nothing to work out. You cheated on me. Remember? That’s a deal breaker.”
He opened his mouth to respond but stopped when none other than Andrea Merkuso waltzed into our circle.
“Oh, fuck,” I muttered. Silas’s chest started shaking with suppressed laughter.
Andrea took one look at me and her face scrunched up. “Felicity.” She glared at me before turning her gaze to Tyson. Immediately, she started preening. His eyes zeroed in on her large breasts, which were nearly escaping her V-neck sweater.
Eureka!
“Oh, Andrea! I’m so glad you’re here. Tyson just got to town for a visit and I’d love to show him around, but unfortunately, I’ve got to get home to, uh, let my dogs out. Would you mind showing him around a bit? Maybe take him over to the Silver Dollar Saloon for a drink?”
She looked him up and down again, licking her lips at the sight. “Sure,” she said. “I could do that.”
“Tyson?” His eyes snapped from Andrea’s chest to mine, then up to my face. “Would you mind if we delayed our conversation for another day? Andrea is a dear friend from high school. You’ll be in good hands with her tonight.”
A laugh escaped Silas’s mouth and he coughed to cover it up.
“Fine,” Tyson said. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“And I’ll be waiting on pins and needles until then,” I deadpanned.
When they were out of sight, I turned to Silas and smacked him in the arm. “Thanks for all your help.”
He grinned. “You had it well under control. I was just glad I got to watch.”
“I should feel guilty for setting Andrea up with a known womanizer, but I just don’t.”
“Her? I feel bad for him. She’s going to eat him alive.”
We laughed together. “I’m going to escape now before someone else attacks us on the street.”
He waved. “See you later.”
I waved back before walking to my car. The smile on my face stayed there for hours.
Silas
Friends. As much as I had hated that idea a week ago, right now it seemed to be making a whole lot of sense.
Felicity’s apology had been healing. When she’d left all those years ago, it had cut deep. But the lingering pain had disappeared when I’d looked into her eyes tonight and seen regret and sincerity.
Before dinner, I had been ready to press for more. To turn this friendship dinner into a date. But now I was going to pull back.
I was thirty-six years old and this would be my last chance to win Felicity’s heart. I couldn’t risk rushing things and fucking up my chance.
Backing off would give her time to settle into her life here. She’d have the opportunity to plant some roots and to remember that this is where she belonged.
If she wanted to work on the ranch this spring, I’d let her. We’d do this friend thing until then, because once she set foot on the Lucky Heart, I was making her mine.