by CJ Murphy
“You remember correctly.” Chance looked at her watch, grimacing at the time. “I need to get to the office. Still up for that lunch?”
Jax climbed in her truck. “I am. The Lion’s Den, say twelve thirty?”
Chance shut her door for her. “I’ll be there. Drive safely.”
“You be careful out there, and I’ll see you then.”
Jax backed out of the space, as Chance put Zeus in the Yukon. “Zeus, that woman’s back in my life less than twenty-four hours, and I’m losing my heart all over again.”
Chapter Five
JAX ST. CLAIRE PUT her window down and rested her arm on the door to let the breeze cool her heated skin. She was flushed and she knew it. Chance Fitzsimmons still had a powerful effect on her, decades later. The broad shoulders and muscular frame were an enticing package. Chance had been gorgeous as a teenager, but the adult Chance was simply stunning. Jax had done her best to not stare at the scarred skin running down Chance’s arm. Imagining the pain Chance had endured brought tears brimming to the surface.
She pulled her truck around the back of her new practice. The clinic needed a thorough inventory and a few updates, including a computer system that was to be installed that afternoon. New examination equipment would be delivered next week. Her plan was to remain closed this month to allow for the renovations; she’d do house calls when needed.
When she pushed through the door, she wasn’t surprised to see her uncle standing with his hands on his hips. “Hey, Marty.”
The wiry man ran his hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. “Never knew my place was so lacking.”
Jax approached him and put her arm around his shoulders. “Uncle Marty, your practice survived fifty years. Your way wasn’t wrong, and neither is mine. Just different. I’m planning to offer some services that you didn’t and use some technology that I helped develop in my last twenty years of practice. I’m not fresh out of vet school. I had a pretty successful business out in California. When you talked to me about coming back here and taking over, you had to know I would do things differently than you. Not better, just differently.”
Martin Hendricks rubbed the back of his neck, as he slid his arm around his niece’s waist. “Don’t mind me. I wouldn’t have offered this place if I had any doubt about you taking over. I know we talked about it, but are you sure you really want to make this move? I promise, I’m not trying to be nosey. I’m thrilled to have you back here. Just tell me you aren’t running away from anything you’re going to regret.”
Jax shook her head and hugged her uncle. “I didn’t leave anything behind in California I’m going to miss. I know we haven’t talked much about it since I got back, but I’ve never hidden anything from you. Lacey and I were together for a long time. We built a life and a practice together. I can’t tell you exactly when we became more business partners than life partners. Along the way, she found she wanted something, someone, different. I never was good at sharing. I decided there wasn’t anything holding me there except the practice. Your offer came at the right time.”
“Your old Uncle Marty is probably the last person you want to talk to about your relationship, but do you still love her?”
“I loved who we used to be. Who we became was something less than friends and more like business partners. I’m over fifty, and I want something else in my life beyond work.”
“And you think you’re going to find that here in Tucker County?”
“When I think back to a time when I believed life was full of possibilities, it was here when I stayed with you and Aunt Mary. I had dreams. I could breathe. I think I let the smog and fast pace of life in California choke out any dreams of happiness or joy. When I asked Lacey for the divorce, I didn’t know what I was going to do. That’s when you called me. Some people don’t believe in signs. I do. From that day on, I was more focused than I’d been in years.” Jax closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Well then, I’d say we need to get moving on making this place yours, so you can get back to living.” He stepped away from her and walked to what had once been his office. “I’ll start clearing out things you’re not going to need. What about the files? How do you want to handle them? I know it sounds old fashioned, but my record keeping was done with a number two pencil. We need to go over to Mike Lambert’s soon to get the paperwork squared away.”
Jax sighed and released her hair from the ponytail, only to gather it up again and fasten it back in place. “I wish you’d let me buy everything from you instead of just deeding it over.”
Martin raised a gnarled finger in her direction. “We’ve talked about this. I have no children. Your mother doesn’t want any part of this place, and that leaves you. You’d have gotten it in the end. Look at it as getting your inheritance while I’m still alive to stand back and boast a bit. I don’t want to hear any more about paying me. Use the money you got from selling in California to bring this place into the twenty-first century. If you want to pay me, promise me a standing, Thursday-morning breakfast at the diner. That’ll be payment enough.”
“On one condition.” Jax pointed a finger back at him. “Can you leave your diploma and the photos in there? I’d like to remember why I decided to become a vet. That’s all your doing.”
He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Yup and your momma has never forgiven me for taking you on that barn call.”
“I love you, Uncle Marty.”
“Love you too, kitten.” He smiled at her and turned to go into his office.
Jax slowly looked around the waiting area. “A new coat of paint, new tiles on the floor, and this place will have a new life.” Just like me.
***
A few hours later, Jax was in the bathroom at her uncle’s house, freshly showered and in a different outfit to meet Chance for lunch. She’d spilled a bottle of iodine down the leg of her jeans when cleaning out a cabinet. It was in the mid-eighties outside, and she’d decided on a pale-blue sundress and sandals. Looking in the mirror, she opted to leave her hair down. Chance always liked to run her fingers through my hair. She looked away from the mirror. Whoa, where did that come from?
She knew where. Denying the attraction to Chance was futile. She’d felt the flip in her stomach when she looked up to see Chance walking toward her yesterday. Years melted away, and she was back sitting close to Chance in a beat-up Chevy truck, a strong arm around her shoulders. They’d spent an entire summer dreaming and making out in the bed of that truck, floating down the Cheat River, and riding horses through the Monongahela National Forest. Even when she met Lacey in college, she’d never felt the overwhelming desire to just be in her presence the way she had with Chance. Lacey was the exact opposite of Chance. She was dark where Chance was light and light where Chance was dark in both body and spirit. Their outlook on the world was completely different. Chance was content to sit on the tailgate of a truck and drink a ‘borrowed’ six pack from Momma D’s stash. Lacey had wined and dined Jax at the finest restaurants and swept her off her feet. Before Jax knew it, she and Lacey were spending every hour together in the classroom or the bedroom. When they’d graduated, they started their life and eventually, a practice together.
“If I’d only known then what I know now,” she muttered to the mirror.
Twenty plus years and an unknown number of infidelities had left Jax empty and in need of a change. Her uncle’s call had come out of the blue with a lifeline she’d been searching for. She could start over in fresh, though familiar, surroundings.
Marty was sitting on the porch drinking a glass of iced tea, as she stepped out. “Well, don’t you look like a summer day.”
Jax blushed and smiled at him. “I’m having lunch with Chance at The Lion’s Den.”
“The sheriff is one of the finest people I know. She’s been through a lot. I can tell you Maggie and Dee are glad she’s not jumping out of airplanes anymore. Though I’m not sure wearing a badge and a gun make her a safer bet.”
“I saw the scar on her
arm the other day. She told me she was in a burn over. How’d she end up back here?”
“Spent three months in the burn ward out in Montana. Maggie and Dee contracted a local pilot to bring her back home to heal up when they released her. Stubborn cuss worked her way into a lateral move into the law enforcement side when she was fully healed. Retired from U.S. Fish and Wildlife and ran for Sheriff. Won in a landslide.”
“She certainly seems to love her job. The horses she has are gorgeous.”
“Only the best for her. Trained them all herself. I’ve taken care of them for years. Her chief deputy is a crackerjack too. Chance stole her away from the U.S. Marshals Service. Overall, she’s built a strong department, except for that jackass, Brad Waters. Lazy as they come. Not sure why she keeps him around. She’s good people, and I’ll vote for her as long as she can run. “
Jax kissed him and stepped off the porch. “I think she’s good people too. You talking about voting reminds me I need to get on the ball about switching my permanent residence. Which also means I need to find a home.”
“You know you’re welcome to stay here. The house will be yours someday anyhow.” He waved a hand. “I know, you need your own place. I’m just offering. Now get out of here. Tell her hi for me and to stop by for coffee some time.”
She waved as she climbed into her truck. “Will do. Love you, Uncle Marty.” The truck roared to life, and she backed out of the driveway on her way to lunch with a handsome sheriff.
***
Jax finished chewing her bite of club sandwich, as she watched Chance drown two fries in ketchup before shoving them into her mouth. “You always did love your ketchup.”
“Still do. Mom put the kibosh to me putting it on my pancakes. I’ve evolved to pure maple syrup produced right here in the county. Now, my eggs, they still get the mustard my dad got me hooked on.”
The story of how Chance’s dad was killed was legendary within the county. There was a memorial plaque on the courthouse that Jax had walked by yesterday. Chance was honoring her father’s memory in outstanding fashion by filling his very large shoes.
“Hey, where’d you go?” Chance touched Jax’s hand.
“I was thinking about how this county hasn’t changed much in thirty years.” She pointed to her sandwich. “This place still puts more bacon on a club sandwich than any place I’ve ever been.”
Pictures of local sports heroes and team photos took up every free spot on the walls of the small diner, while autographed memorial balls lined a high shelf around the dining room. She stared at a picture of Chance with a basketball net around her neck and a smile as wide as the Blackwater Canyon.
“Was that when you won the state championship?”
Chance turned her head to the picture. “Sure is. You can’t tell from the picture, but my jaw is actually broken.” She rubbed a spot on her chin. “I wouldn’t let them take me to the hospital until I enjoyed every second of the celebration. I’d earned it.”
“No doubt.” Jax watched Chance put another fry in her mouth. They ate and talked about the county and its residents. Twice, the bell rang as the diner door opened, and Chance was able to give her the rundown of the person that came in, including how many animals they had that Jax would likely be treating.
Chance sipped her tea, then brought up a related subject. “How’s the move in going at the clinic?”
Jax wiped her mouth with her napkin and absent mindedly reached over to wipe some stray ketchup off Chance’s chin.
Chance laughed and picked up her own napkin. “Maggie would approve; that’s usually her job. One time I stopped by her office and about gave her a panic attack, because she thought she saw blood on my badge. It was only a remnant of my burger from lunch.”
Jax nearly doubled over with laughter and tried to not spit Coke out her nose. “Oh my God, Chance.” She looked at the strands of silver that blended in with the chestnut-brown hair. She still had the shock of white in the front she’d had when Jax knew her. “I’m sure she worries about you.”
Chance used her thumb to clean a few crumbs from the table, dropping them onto her plate. “They both do, too much if you ask me. When I quit smoke jumping, they’d hoped I’d go for something a little more sedate. It’s just not my style. I have to be doing something to fix a problem, whether it’s on fire or against the law.”
“That always was your style, even before you settled on a career. I remember you were always volunteering to help with something.”
“I have to believe that a difference can be made.”
“I have no doubt you do that in spades.”
“What about you? Your Uncle Marty told me you finished school out in California, then it seemed like you fell off the face of the earth. I’ll assume you were making a life treating animals and digging your toes into the sand. Only thing beach-like around here is a sandy riverbank.”
Jax pushed a piece of sandwich crust around her plate. “You’re half right. I graduated and opened a practice, only not near a beach. I was up in the Napa Valley area. Wine country instead of sandy beaches.”
“Ah, so I assume I can ask you for recommendations on good vino?”
“Sorry, that would be my ex’s specialty. I can tell you the best microbreweries.”
“Your ex was a wine maker?”
“Her family was. We went to veterinary school together. We set up a practice near her family’s vineyard. I specialized in large-animal vet services, and she went into exotics. We treated everything from bearded lizards to prize racehorses.”
Chance tipped her head sideways, then sat forward and rested her head on her interlaced fingers. “Sounds like it was a lucrative practice. A little different than the cats and cows you’ll be treating around here.”
Jax nodded her head. “True, but this place has its own perks and a lot less baggage.”
“Sounds like that’s a conversation better had over a few beers on my deck. I have a rescue squad meeting tonight, or I’d offer to make you dinner. How about tomorrow?” Chance asked, a note of hopefulness in her voice.
The smile Jax felt creep across her lips grew wider, as she contemplated the soulful eyes staring into her own. “I think that sounds better than a three-hundred-dollar-an-hour couch I was offered in California. I’ll take you up on dinner as long as you let me bring the beer.”
Chance reached across the table and clasped Jax’s hand. “Deal.”
***
Jax went back to the house and changed into a set of work clothes to head back to the clinic. On her way out the door she saw a man standing on the porch, hand raised as if ready to knock. “Can I help you?”
“I’m hoping you can.” He held out his hand. “Matt Carson. I volunteer with the 4-H team as well as organize a few endurance races for the group here and the surrounding counties. I wanted to introduce myself and to find out if you might be interested in helping out with animal care needs, when possible.”
Jax shook the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Matt, that actually sounds pretty interesting. I’ve been doing endurance races myself, out in California, for years.”
The man’s face lit up. “Wow, that’s great news. I’m part of the equestrian search and rescue group. I saw you the other day at the command post. I wanted to connect with you and say thank you for volunteering to look at the animals.”
“Marty let me know about the operation when he couldn’t go. I was glad to be able to help out. I’d like to do more than just offer veterinary services if I can. What’s required to join the group?”
“Trust me, just show up at a meeting. I’m the local president. We meet the third Thursday of the month at the Canaan Valley Fire Department. We help them out, and they give us a meeting room to organize our group and events.”
“The third Thursday, huh? That means you all are meeting this week. What time?”
“Seven thirty. I’ll look forward to seeing you, Dr. St. Claire.”
“Jax, please. Dr. St. Claire sounds way too form
al. I’ll see you there, and thanks again.”
He turned and raised his hand to say goodbye.
Hum, endurance races and search and rescue. More time with a tall handsome sheriff. I’d say that’s a win-win. Mac and Glenny need a good workout. Wonder if I can convince Chance to go for a ride soon?
She stopped her train of thought. Ever since seeing Chance at the rescue, she was trying to find opportunities when she could spend time with the woman from her past. Since the second she’d seen her walking across that gravel lot, her heart hadn’t stopped pounding. Thoughts of Chance and those summer days of their youth had made an impression that stayed with her long after she’d immersed herself in life at UC Davis. Somewhere in those biology and physiology classes, Lacey Montgomery had entered her life and, for a time, stolen her heart.
It was sometime after that when her dreams of coming back to West Virginia and going into practice with her uncle vanished in a haze of lavish estates, BMWs, and vineyards. Ten years in, my life was so deeply entangled with Lacey’s not much else existed. I have no idea when being in love or being loved stopped mattering. I do know this. I refuse to live the rest of my life that way. Jax shook off those memories, as she pulled into the clinic. Marty was loading his beat-up Ford with a few boxes. He leaned against the truck and waited on her.
“How was lunch?”
“The food was top notch, exactly as I remember it. Before I left the house, Matt Carson stopped by to ask about me becoming involved with their equestrian group. I think I’m going to take him up on it. I wasn’t sure I’d find anything like that around here. I’m hoping it’ll give me a good chance to meet a lot of the locals.”
A weathered hand pushed grey hair back off his forehead. “You got a little taste of the group when you helped out on that rescue. Chance has really brought a lot of those groups together into a community that works well. Should be right up your alley with your experience. Did you tell Matt you headed up a lost-person team out in California?”