by Liz Isaacson
But Doctor Sett didn’t hear or didn’t care, and he smiled at Vi. “You can wait out front, if you want,” he said.
“Okay,” she said while Todd sat in the wheelchair, his light gray eyes practically storming with displeasure.
“You don’t need to wait,” he said.
“But—”
“I’ll come get Jetstream when I’m done here.”
How was he going to do that? Vi wanted to ask him, but shock kept the words from coming out of her mouth. So she mutely watched as the doctor and nurse left with Todd in the wheelchair, wondering if she’d have to take the blame for every bad thing that happened in Todd’s life.
Chapter Fifteen
Todd could not believe he was lying on this bed, getting another blasted cast on his leg. He felt like crying. He felt like God had abandoned him. He felt like he’d never be whole again. All of it put him in a foul mood that not even Vi could soothe away.
Vi.
He’d treated her terribly. How did he think he was going to get back to her house? It was a stupid thing to say, to tell her to go home and take care of his new puppy while he got a new cast. He didn’t have his truck here, and he certainly couldn’t walk back to her place.
The cast didn’t take long, but Todd’s leg already felt better. Maybe that was the painkiller the nurse had injected right into his bloodstream. No matter what, he was already thinking more clearly. Or less clearly. Or something.
“You really can’t drive right now,” Doctor Sett said. “Do you want to see if Vi waited for you anyway?”
Todd swung his head toward the man, but his brain felt so sloshy inside his skull. “Yeah, all right.”
Doctor Sett looked at the nurse, and they helped him into the wheelchair. He heard people talking, but he couldn’t decipher the words. He did hear Vi’s voice, and Doctor Sett’s, and then he was moving again.
The scent of Vi’s perfume wafted through his nose, and he smiled. The lulling, comfortable sound of a vehicle moving dropped him all the way to sleep, the same way it had many times over the years as he traveled from one city to the next.
He knew he’d wake up somewhere new, and it would take a day or two to get his bearings, and then he’d be fine.
So when he woke to the sound of bells ringing, he wasn’t sure what to make of it. Someone opened the sliding glass door in his bedroom, only feet from where he lay, and then they closed it.
He sat up, his head throbbing and everything much too dark to see more than outlines of things. He glanced toward the window to see the light had been turned on outside and a figure stood there.
His heart pounded, especially when they turned and opened the door again. “Good boy,” they whispered, and Todd recognized Vi’s voice.
“Vi?” His voice sounded rusty, and he glanced to the puppy as he trotted inside too.
“Hey.” She scooped Jetstream into her arms and set him on the bed. The pup ran over to Todd and licked his face, which made him chuckle.
“Hey, boy. Hey.” He scrubbed down the tiny dog’s body and looked at Vi. “You stayed?”
“Someone needed to.” She crossed her arms. “I’ll go now that you’re awake.”
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“Yeah,” she said, nodding to Jetstream. “And he should go out every two to three hours. So that should get you to morning.” She crossed to the door and left before Todd could piece together that it would be six o’clock in three hours.
He wanted to call her back, thank her for bringing him home and taking care of his dog. But nothing seemed to be firing in his brain the right way.
He tried to move before he remembered his leg had been re-cast, and the familiar desperation welled up behind his lungs. He heard the front door open and close, and Vi was truly gone. So he fumbled for the lamp on the bedside table and switched it on. His phone had been plugged in and everything.
The woman didn’t miss much—except hairline fractures in bones.
He shook his head to rid it of the damaging thought. It wasn’t Vi’s fault his stupid leg was broken again. It was his, and he’d spoken true when he’d said his situation was ridiculous. He felt ridiculous. Like an infant who couldn’t walk and needed everything done for him.
His eyes burned and he laid back on his pillows—which Vi had obviously propped up for him. He felt worse about that, not better, and he reached for his phone. He called her, knowing she wouldn’t be home yet.
“Hey,” she said. “You okay?”
He hated that she started almost every conversation they had that way. “I’m okay,” he said. “But I’m lying here feeling guilty about how I’ve treated you. I’m sorry. I’m just…frustrated.”
“I know that.” She didn’t say it was okay. Todd knew it wasn’t. He didn’t know what else to say, so when she added, “I’ll stop and get breakfast before I come over in a little while, okay?” all Todd could do was nod.
Then he said, “Okay,” and hung up. “I love you,” he whispered into the darkness. He wasn’t exactly sure why he’d told her to leave him at the hospital.
“Of course you do,” he said to himself as he pushed himself to the edge of the bed so he could get up and go to the bathroom. “You don’t want her to see you lying in bed, unable to do anything for yourself.”
But she already had. For weeks and months. And the humiliation ran deep in Todd’s veins as he took care of his business and got back in bed. As he dozed again, he couldn’t help wondering if maybe he and Vi should just take a break until he was all the way better. Until he could show her that he was a strong, capable man. Until he could feel good about himself again.
When Vi arrived in the morning, Todd stood at the huge windows that looked out over the lake. He could go out on the deck, as the backyard was shaded by the big trees, but he was waiting for Jetstream to ring the bells Vi had brought over.
“How long have you been standing there?” she asked, putting a couple of paper bags on his counter.
“A while. I keep thinking he’ll have to go soon.” Todd looked down at Jetstream and then back at Vi. “I’m sorry, Violet,” he said softly, using her full name for the first time in a while.
“You know, you have to make him ring the bell for the first few weeks.” She practically flew toward him and bent down. She lifted his paw and hit the bell. “Potty. Go potty.” Then she opened the door and scooped him into her arms.
She took him down the few steps to the grass and repeated the potty command. The pup went right away and she scrubbed him with both hands as she praised him. “I’m going to potty-train this puppy for you.” She laughed and came back up the steps, Jetstream in her wake.
“Probably.”
She stepped into Todd and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you for apologizing.”
“I just….”
“You have a bit of darkness in you,” she said. “I get it.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead, wondering how she got it when he didn’t. “What did you bring for breakfast?”
“Bagels and cream cheese.” She disentangled herself from him and walked over to the bags. “I got those cheddar ones you like.”
“With the almond cream cheese?”
“Of course. What do you think this is? Amateur hour?” She kicked a playful grin in his direction, and Todd felt like all had been forgiven between them. He gazed at her as she worked in his kitchen to toast the cheddar bagel and then smear it with the cream cheese he liked.
And oh, how he liked her. He liked her in his house. In his arms. In his life.
The new fracture only had to be cast for a few weeks, and then Todd graduated to a walking brace. He and Vi saw each other every day. They sat by one another at church. They talked about his dog, and her songs, and Todd started to imagine her in his life for always.
She told him about some Christmas traditions her family had, and he’d learned the lodge was the happening place to be during the holidays. In fact, Graham had already invited hi
m to the Christmas Eve tree lighting and the family dinner following it.
Apparently, it was Graham’s turn to once again get the tree and decorate it, find someone to light it, and plan the dinner.
“Won’t Celia just come cook?” he’d asked, and Laney had laughed.
“Yes,” Graham said. “But we have to discuss the menu.”
Laney had snorted at that, and Graham had tickled her until she said he really had done a good thing by starting the Christmas traditions at Whiskey Mountain Lodge.
He’d asked Vi about the lodge, as she’d been there last year for Christmas. She’d gotten a dreamy look on her face and said, “It was wonderful.”
“Why don’t Beau and Lily take care of the tree and the dinner?” he’d asked next. “They’re the ones who live there.”
“Apparently, each of the brothers have done it,” Vi said. “So they decided to do a rotation, and it’s Graham’s turn.” Simple as that.
No matter what, Todd was very curious about this Christmas Eve stocking thing, the tree lighting—seriously, how wonderful could that be?—and the dinner. Well, he knew the meal would be fantastic. Celia’s cooking always was.
He wanted to go. He did. But Graham had also said, “My mom can’t wait to see you again,” and some of Todd’s enthusiasm had dried up. Amanda Whittaker had always been so kind to him, and he’d considered her the mother he’d wished he had.
Then he felt guilty for not loving his own mother as much as he probably should. He didn’t really want all the memories from his childhood to be part of his life anymore, which would’ve been a lot easier had he not returned to Coral Canyon.
And yet, God had led him here.
And so here, in Coral Canyon, even with that horrendous billboard, was where Todd was. Vi was at his side a lot of the time, but he felt a new distance between them that hadn’t been there before the recasting.
He knew it was his fault. He just didn’t quite know how to fix it. How to rid himself of that darkness she saw in him, and which he felt inside himself.
So he tried to be attentive, be kind, and listen in church. He prayed to find the answers he needed. They came slowly, the way water dripped into the sink when it had a small leak.
And they all came back to his family. His mom, his dad, Taylor.
He hadn’t spoken to any of them since the day his mother had come to the hospital. She’d said she’d keep in touch, find out how his legs were doing, but she hadn’t. Of course she hadn’t. Todd hadn’t truly expected her to.
The rodeo was more important than him. And he’d left the rodeo. Left his family. And he wished he felt worse about it than he did.
But he suspected they were the source of his darkness, and until he dealt with his feelings for them, he couldn’t truly move on.
“Oh, this puppy is going to be such a good dog.” Vi burst into the house with Jetstream at her side. Todd didn’t want to admit it, but his dog liked her more than him, though he was the one who let the animal sleep in his bed at night.
But Vi had a way with Jetstream, and she’d already taught him to bring a ball back, sit, lay down, and give high five. And the puppy was twelve weeks old. He loved to learn and train, and he seemed to constantly wear a smile on his doggy face.
Todd loved him, that was for sure. Jetstream made the hours when Todd was alone bearable, and he thought they got along pretty good too.
“Yeah?” he asked now. “What did you teach him this time?”
“Nothing.” She beamed at him. “He just likes to swim. And you have a lakeside house. So he’s perfect for you and this place.”
Todd liked Vi when she was like this. Happy and carefree. She’d grown her hair out a little bit, and he liked that it was longer so he could tuck it behind her ear before he kissed her.
“How’s the song coming?” he asked. She still wouldn’t play it for him, claiming she was working on it and didn’t like to perform until the song was ready.
When he’d asked her how she knew when it was ready, she’d said, “It tells me.”
“Great,” she said now. “I’m thinking I’ll play it on my birthday.”
“Birthday, huh?” He gave her what he hoped was a sly smile. “And that’s what? Two weeks away?”
“That’s right.” She flashed him a flirty smile. “I’m expecting flowers and gifts and dinner in Jackson Hole, remember?”
He chuckled. “I remember, Vi.” He already had the flowers ordered. He had three gifts for her, which varied from a pair of driving gloves, which he’d been told she’d most definitely need here in Coral Canyon, to a sapphire pendant to represent her birth month.
Lily had been more than helpful when it came to answering Todd’s questions, and she’d even sent him a few links to her favorite jewelry sites.
“Just making sure.” She slid her eyes down to his feet and back up. “How’s your leg?”
“Fine,” he said. He hated talking about his leg. The brace did a good job of making sure he was stable enough to walk, but he hadn’t dared get out on the trails or even do their morning walk. She’d been taking Jetstream and teaching him how to walk on a leash. Apparently he was quite the puller, but she said she could cure him of that.
Todd had no doubt that Violet Everett could do anything she put her mind to.
“So I’m thinking about going to visit my family in Nashville,” she said, filling Jetstream’s bowl with water.
His eyebrows went up. “Oh? When?”
“After my birthday. We sort of have a tradition of eating chicken and waffles on our birthdays. And Lily missed hers this year, and I can just tell my mom wants me to come.” She set the bowl on his mat, and he started lapping at it thirstily.
She faced him, those blue eyes pulling at him. “I’m wondering if you’d like to come. Meet my mom and dad. Rose.” She shrugged and smiled. “I think she has a pet chinchilla now. It’s always something with her.”
Warmth filled Todd from top to bottom. “Yeah,” he said, somewhat stupidly. He cleared his throat. “I mean, yes, of course, I’d love to meet your family.”
Vi grinned at him. “Great. I’ll send you my flight info and you can book a ticket to come with.” She swiped her keys off the counter and headed for the front door.
“Hey, what are you doing today?” he asked.
“Lunch with Lily,” she said. “And then I’m getting my hair done.” She fingered the ends of it. “I thought I wanted to grow it out, but I was wrong.”
“So I’ll see you later?” he asked.
“Yeah, bring Jetstream down to the yard. Maybe I’ll play you that song.” She ducked out the front door with a grin, but Todd knew full well she wouldn’t be playing him that song that night.
“She’s such a tease,” he said to Jetstream. “And I love her anyway.”
Chapter Sixteen
Vi sat across the table from her older sister, playing with the straw wrapper. “So I don’t know.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“Well, neither do I.” Vi shot Lily a glare. But she didn’t know how things were going with Todd. “We feel…stalled.”
“Because of his leg?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily started to make an exasperated sound, but she cut it off quickly when Vi glared at her.
“I asked him to go to Nashville with me after my birthday. Meet everyone.”
“And?”
“And he seemed happy to.” Vi folded the wrapper back and forth like an accordion. “I just…he’s not ready for a serious relationship.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know.”
“He seems to like you a whole lot.”
“Yeah.” Vi sighed and glanced up as the waitress brought their appetizer—a plate of fried pickles with ranch dressing. “He does.” She smiled at the teen girl. “Thanks.”
“Your orders should be right out.”
Lily waited a few seconds for her to walk away and then she asked,
“Do you like him?”
“A whole lot,” Vi answered, reaching for a fried disc and dunking it in the dressing. “So enough about me. Tell me all about the river cruise.” Lily had told her quite a lot about her months in Europe, but it all happened in pieces, over meals such as this one.
“Mm.” Lily shook her head and chewed faster. “No, not the river cruise yet.” She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “I have something else to tell you.” Her eyes sparkled with a secret, and Vi couldn’t help smiling.
“Okay.” She didn’t pick up another pickle, sensing she might laugh or scoff or something.
“I’m going to have a baby.”
The words entered Vi’s ears and took a few seconds to organize themselves into meaning. She sucked in a breath as her eyes widened. “Lily.” She scooted out of her side of the booth and went to Lily’s so she could hug her.
Her sister had tears in her eyes when Vi pulled away from the embrace. “Congratulations.”
“You’re the only one who knows,” she said. “I haven’t told Mom and Dad or Rose yet.”
“What are you waiting for?” Vi gave her more space, and then returned to her side of the table.
“I don’t know. Beau wanted to tell his family, and we’re doing that tonight. And then I thought we’d call them or something.”
“So I’m the first to know.” A glow started in her stomach, and she felt giddy with the secret.
“Yes, so keep your mouth shut for a while, okay?” Lily laughed and plucked another pickle from the platter.
“When are you due?” Vi took a long drink of her strawberry lemonade.
“February.”
“I’m so excited to be an aunt.” Vi could only imagine what she could do for her niece or nephew. Lunches and picnics and fun sleepovers at her house. With ebelskivers and stuffed French toast when they woke in the morning.
She could hardly wait.
Lily started talking about the river cruise then, and Vi listened. Or at least she tried to. But her mind was stuck on diapers and babies and her own desire for such things in her life.