Luke
My hands were killing me. Another thing about being inside for two years. I’d lost my calluses. To top it off, my arms felt like they were being ripped out of my shoulders.
We are almost there, I told myself as we turned off the logging road and onto the trail to the back of our place. Taking another step, I pushed the pain away. Remember, I told myself. Amy was in worse shape and you don’t hear her complaining.
That ankle had looked atrocious this morning. My gut tightened up just thinking about it.
But that thought led my mind to drift back to the night before. I couldn’t forget the way Amy felt in my arms. The way her hips fitted so perfectly between my legs. The smell of jasmine and honeysuckle in her hair. The soft lilt of her voice. Everything had seemed so perfect.
Of course, the guys inside would have given me a ton of crap. Alone with a beautiful girl. In the woods, a dark night. And nothing happened. It could make a guy question his priorities in life.
But Amy’s not like that, I reminded myself. Besides, there was that whole best friend of my sister issue.
Taking another step, I tripped over a root and stumbled forward to catch myself.
“Are you okay?” Amy asked from behind me. The concern in her voice pulled at me.
“We’re almost there,” I said as I shifted the weight and grumbled to myself. This was going to end soon. A shame. She would go back to her world and me to mine.
Nellie barked behind us then sprinted to get in front, running into the yard, sniffing, making sure nothing had attacked anything while she was gone. The chickens clucked and Bailey neighed as he looked out over the top rail.
I stopped by the truck and slowly lowered Amy down. When I stood again, I rolled my shoulders to work out the kinks.
“I’m sorry,” Amy said with a look of guilt. See, I thought to myself. That was what I mean. Our horse threw her and she was worried about me.
After I opened the truck door, I leaned down and scooped her up into my arms. For just a second we paused. Each of us looking into the other’s eyes.
Jenny’s friend, I told myself as I shook off the need to kiss her.
For just the briefest second, I thought I saw something deep inside of her. A need, a want. No, I must have been mistaken. Amy Jensen was not meant for a guy like me.
Shaking my head to clear the dangerous thoughts, I placed her onto the seat, letting her swing her leg inside. When she was in safely, I removed the jackets from the travois. Mine was fine, but her windbreaker had been stretched all out of shape.
Slipping into my jean jacket I sighed internally. I already had enough strikes against me. Going around sleeveless made me look like a backwoods hick. Not a good look for meeting a girl’s father.
Closing her door, I turned and told Nellie she was in charge. She looked up at me, tilting her head as if asking, when wasn’t she?
I hustled around and got into the truck.
Amy leaned out the window to tell Nellie thanks, then turned to me and nodded.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes,” I told her.
She continued to bite her lip as she nodded. My insides turned over. She was so brave. And just so darn cute. And this ends today, I told myself. This stupid feeling had to end.
Yet, somehow, I thought it might be a long time before it went away. But then, I was very familiar with time.
.o0o.
Amy
My leg felt like someone had locked it into a vice and was slowly carving it into small pieces. My eyes began to tear up which made me mad and embarrassed. No, I would not cry. Not in front of him.
He had done so much. It wasn’t fair to add a blubbering girl to his problems.
Instead, I bit down harder as I examined the truck. Probably five or six years old,. It smelled of hay, and oil, and something else. Something that said Prescott farm.
“Do you even have a license?” I asked him, determined to think of something else. Anything but my leg.
He laughed and shook his head.
“Do you know how to drive?” I added.
He slowly turned and looked at me, one eyebrow rose. Oh yes, I realized. Stolen cars. Of course, he knew how to drive.
“Actually, I can get a license now that I turned eighteen, I just haven’t had the time.”
I nodded as I desperately tried to think of something else to say. Why had it seemed so much easier last night in the dark? Now, here, my mind refused to work. All I knew was that I didn’t want this to end. This connectedness.
But it would. In fact, it ends right now I realized as Luke pulled into the Hospital and stopped just outside the ER.
We’d barely come to a full halt when he was around to my door and had me in his arms. Carrying me into the building. I automatically reached up and put my arms around his neck while I rested my head on his shoulder.
Would I ever feel this again? I wondered.
As the automatic doors opened and I lifted up to find my father standing there, in his doctor coat, a patient’s file in his hand. His mouth open, and eyes as big as baseballs.
“Amy?” he asked, unable to believe what he was seeing.
“I’m okay, Dad,” I said trying to reassure him. My father is a great doctor. Always in control. But when it comes to me, he stops being a doctor and becomes a father.
He frowned as he looked down at my foot then up at Luke. His frown slowly turned over to a deep scowl.
“In here,” he instructed as he pointed to an examining room.
“Luke saved my life,” I said hurriedly before he could get the wrong impression. “Baily threw me. A mountain lion spooked him. Luke found me.”
My father continued to scowl as Luke gently placed me on the table and stepped back.
I looked up and caught a brief hint of worry behind his eyes. Who could blame him? The last thing he needed was a bunch of authorities getting involved. They would jump to the wrong conclusion.
Would it always be like that for him? I wondered. People assuming he was to blame.
I smiled at him to let him know how thankful I was.
“I thought you were doing that yesterday afternoon,” my father said as he shined a light in my eye. Before I could answer, he shifted to examining the bump on my head.
Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself for what was coming next. “I did,” I said. “But by the time Luke found me, it was too dark to get home, especially with a mountain lion in the area.”
My dad stopped as his brow furrowed. He turned and stared at Luke for a long moment then back at me. I could see that he wasn’t completely buying it.
He continued to frown as he slowly examined me. Then a quick look of shock jumped to his face, making my stomach clench.
“What is this blood on your leg?” My dad asked as he stepped in front of Luke.
I frowned. What was he talking about?
“It’s mine,” Luke said, holding up his hands. My heart fell as I saw the busted blisters and mashed up meat that used to be the palms of his hands. I had been so wrapped up in my own problems I hadn’t even thought about Luke and what he must be going through dragging me back.
Dad continued to frown as he looked from Luke to me then back at Luke. Then turning to the nurse. He told her to take Luke to another room and clean up his hands.
The nurse started to pull Luke out of the room. He glanced back at me, giving me that famous Luke smirk and a shrug of his shoulders. What could he do? We were back in civilization again. A sense of loss washed over me when he stepped through the curtain.
Dad watched him leave then frowned deeply as he turned back to me. “He should have come for help last night.”
I grit my teeth and kept quiet. Getting into an argument at that particular moment wasn’t going to go well.
He started to examine my foot and shook his head. “Really. So many things could have gone wrong. Brain swelling from that bump on your head. Losing a foot from lack of circulation. Not to mention freezing to death.”
I could feel an anger rising up inside of me. An anger that made it impossible to keep quiet.
“Dad,” I said through gritted teeth. “We could also have fallen off a cliff in the dark or gotten eaten by a mountain lion. Luke made the choice he had to make and things worked out. So, in my book, it was the right choice. And second-guessing from people who weren’t there isn’t going to help.”
He stepped back away from me. Almost in shock. He wasn’t used to me talking to him like that. But under no circumstance was I going to let him blame Luke for any of this.
Dad pursed his lips. The way he did when he was dealing with a new problem, then returned to doctor mode and pretended I hadn’t just stood up to him. Instead, he started issuing orders to another nurse. Stuff about X-rays and calling in another doctor and an IV and a ton of things that I just blocked out.
I lay back and thought about Luke. Where was he and what did he think of all this? How were his hands? I’d been nothing but a pain in his backside since yesterday afternoon. Jenny’s little friend who needed rescuing. And now my dad was looking at him like he was an ax murderer.
The thought of him being mad at me because of my father sent a cold chill through my body.
Who could blame him? He would want to get away from me as fast he could.
Sighing, I let a tear fall from the corner of my eye.