“Sessa?”
Startled, she found him watching her. “What?”
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
He shrugged. “All of this.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Never mind.” He nodded toward the barn off in the distance. “How do you feel about seeing what these ponies can do?”
She grinned. “Aren’t we too old for that?”
“Trust me,” he said with a wink. “I’m a doctor.” And then off he went.
“Hey, wait for me!” she called. He beat her to the barn but not by much, and they were still laughing as they dismounted.
After brushing the horses, they ambled back toward the house. “I haven’t had that much fun in years,” she said. “Thank you for bringing me out here today.”
“I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have shared this with.” He stopped short. “I didn’t know about your dad’s horse, Sessa, but I’m glad I can bring those Arabians back to the barn.”
“He would have liked that.”
“You two,” Annette called. “Come on in here and see what we’ve got simmering on the stove. Your Pansie’s expecting to stay for supper, and I’d like it if you’d join her.”
“Join her?” Sessa said with a laugh. “That depends on our chauffeur.”
“Your chauffeur would be happy to stay for supper.”
Not only did they stay for supper, but they also gathered sticks and built a bonfire just big enough to roast marshmallows and chase fireflies. By the time Trey dropped them off at home and Sessa tucked Pansie into bed, she was sticky and exhausted, too exhausted to awaken the sleeping girl to give her a bath.
That would wait for tomorrow.
And so would her attempt to sort out the feelings that spending an afternoon with Trey Brown had caused.
Chapter Thirteen
A week later, Trey sat at his desk in the medical building downtown, but he still hadn’t managed to get the image of Sessa and those horses out of his mind. If he’d thought her beautiful before, that moment, now hopelessly locked into his mind, elevated her to something even beyond.
Then there was Sessa helping Pansie to roast marshmallows, Sessa’s laughter as Pansie tried in vain to capture fireflies in the Mason jar Annette offered her, and finally Sessa carrying the sleeping child into the house.
The progression of images played on an endless reel in his mind. Each following the other until they blended into one image of a woman who he knew had changed something inside him. Before prison, he’d had a single-minded focus on his career. Even his relationship with Vikki had been more about what they could do for each other than romance or love.
But somehow knowing Sessa had not only changed his direction, it had also brought laughter and even a lovely little girl into his life. And a whole town of strangers who were quickly becoming friends.
Trey shifted and tried to focus on the stack of medical records spread across the desk in front of him. The surgery he’d promised to scrub in on with Santini was Friday, and as of this morning, he still hadn’t decided whether he’d go through with it.
The only medicine he’d practiced since he left prison was delivering the Chance’s baby in Sugar Pine. At least he’d managed to successfully slice his bagel this morning.
A knock distracted his thoughts. “Come in.”
Charlie Dorne stuck his head in the door. “Thought I’d come by and see if you were really here. I was beginning to think Brown sightings were as rare as catching a chupacabra or filming Big Foot in the wild.”
Trey laughed as he gestured to the chair across from him. “Get in here quick, or they’ll know I’m here.”
Charlie complied, his expression turning thoughtful as he seated himself. “Seriously man, how are you?”
“I’m good.” Trey leaned back in his chair. “Better than I’ve been in a long time, actually.”
“I can see that.” Charlie looked him over. “Where’ve you been?”
“Roofing a barn. Oh, and I bought a pair of Arabians.”
If Charlie was surprised, he didn’t show it. “Whatever works to get you back to medicine, man.”
“I delivered a baby,” he added. “So I have done a little doctoring, although that’s only because the midwife had car trouble and the baby was breach.”
“Anything else?”
He shrugged. “I did successfully cut my bagel this morning without throwing up, so I’m making progress.”
It was instantly obvious that Charlie wasn’t amused. “You’re making light of something that has me worried, Doc.”
Trey sobered. “You heard I’m scrubbing in with Santini?”
“On Friday, yes,” he said. “It’s Wednesday afternoon, Trey. You’ve got less than forty-eight hours to get your act together and operate on Vikkie Rossi’s father. Are you ready?”
Trey’s shock must have showed because he added, “Didn’t you read the records?”
“Of course I did,” he snapped. “But since when do we care about names around here?”
Therein was the issue. At some point, the patients had become numbers, not names. Diagnoses and surgical plans, not people.
Trey knew his friend only asked because he cared, but he didn’t have an answer, especially now that he knew he’d be operating on Mr. Rossi. Or not.
“I guess we’ll find out when I walk into the OR on Friday.”
“I see.” Charlie paused. “Guess you heard Santini and Victoria Rossi are an item.”
Trey shook his head. “I didn’t figure you for one who kept up with the social life of his colleagues, Charlie.” At his friend’s hurt look, he hurried to make amends. “Look, I’m sorry. Yeah, I heard. Santini told me. Better him than me, you know?”
Charlie nodded. “They’ve been an item for awhile. Well before you were released.” Trey’s surprise must have showed because Charlie leaned back and let out a long breath. “Yeah, didn’t think you knew that.”
“Hey, it’s fine,” Trey insisted. “It’s just that she was coming on to me pretty strong on my first day back at work.”
“I noticed.”
“She said she’d made dinner reservations for us.” He paused. “I didn’t go.”
Charlie shifted positions. “Look, I’m just going to lay it all out for you. I think it’s possible that the two of them are plotting something.”
Trey waved off the statement. “To what purpose? Vikki, I can see as devious, but Santini? No way.”
“A man in love does what he’s told, pal.” Charlie let that sink in. “And an ambitious woman who wants her man to succeed will do what she can to see that happens, don’t you think?”
“So … what?”
“My guess is Santini is banking on you getting into the OR and either screwing up the operation or just flat being unable to operate. He will then step in and earn Milo Rossi’s undying gratitude—and probably his daughter and a shot at chief-of-staff—by saving him.”
“He can have both of those things, but if I don’t operate soon, I risk losing my spot at the hospital.”
“A spot you’d rather trade for a roofing job, apparently.”
The truth. And yet he wasn’t completely sure he could walk away from what he’d worked so many years to achieve. “What do I do, Charlie?”
“If it was up to me up to me, I’d bow out and let Santini have his moment. Just step aside, even if you have to admit you aren’t ready to return to surgical work.” He paused. “So how did you end up roofing a barn?”
“It needed it. And I needed something to do. It’s the craziest thing, but there’s more. See, this barn belongs to a woman I can’t stop thinking about.”
“Oh?”
“You sound skeptical.”
“I am,” Charlie admitted. “A little, anyway. Don’t you think this happened too fast?”
“Probably. Maybe. I don’t know.” He shook his head. “But I can’t get her off my mind. She�
��s funny and smart, and she rides a horse like nobody’s business, Charlie. She’s a wood carver and a painter. Oh, and she’s raising her granddaughter. Can you feature it?”
“Maybe I’m being selfish, but I thought you’d come back to what you left. Seems like that’s what you’d want.”
“It was.” Trey could still remember that pivotal moment in the therapist’s office when Tom had called him on what he really felt holding a scalpel. “But now I want something else.”
“Do you really?”
Trey thought about delivering Jared’s baby, remembered that small feeling of triumph. He nodded. “I do. Really.”
“All right, then. What’s the problem?”
“The woman is Sessa Lee Chambers.”
“Ross Chambers’s mother?”
He nodded. “And the town I’d be hanging my shingle in is Sugar Pine, Texas. The only place in this whole state where I’ve always been known as that doctor who killed Ross Chambers. Now do you see the problem?”
Charlie seemed thoughtful. “Well,” he finally said. “My suggestion is you fix your heart and ask the Lord to fix the rest.”
“That’s what Sessa said.”
“Well then, I think I’m going to like this gal. When do I get to meet her?”
“That, my friend, is a good question.” He paused. “I’ll let you know when I have a good answer. In the meantime, I’ve got an idea about how I might fix this problem with Santini, but I’m going to need your help.”
“Am I going to regret it if I say yes?”
“Not as much as if you say no.” He chuckled. “Seriously, I just need help finding out where Milo Rossi will be in the next twenty-four hours.”
“Easiest place to find him will be where he’s been every Thursday night since before you went to trial.”
“The Fish Camp?” Trey shook his head. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. He and the missus still go every Thursday.”
He exhaled. “Well, that does make this a whole lot easier.” Trey embraced Charlie in a bear hug. “Thank you, man. You’re the best.”
Five minutes after the last Greyhound of the day arrived, Sessa eased her car into a place just down the road from the bus station and waited. She’d had no more contact with Skye since her last cryptic text, and although she’d been sorely tempted, Sessa hadn’t initiated any further texts to clarify the situation.
Better to let the girl forget all about her plan to see Pansie. Or, if she hadn’t forgotten, at least not encourage it.
The bus drove away in a cloud of smoke and dust, leaving an empty parking lot. The sun still rode high on the western horizon, a sign of the long slide into summer.
Sessa released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and shifted the car into drive. Even though the day was not yet over, one more day without the threat of introducing Skye to her daughter had passed.
Her phone rang, and Sessa snatched it up. Coco. She pressed the button to allow the call to come through the speakers on her car radio and then said hello.
“Just checking in,” Coco said. “Guessing she wasn’t on that bus, or you would’ve called me already.”
“It was late, but yeah, you would have been the first one I called.”
“Well, of course. So now that we’ve all dodged that bullet for another day, tell me about your doctor. Any news on that front?”
“My doctor?” Sessa slowed to a stop at the red light in front of the Blue Plate Lunchateria.
“Honey, he’s been your doctor since the first day he answered that ad in the paper.” She paused. “Well, actually he didn’t answer that ad, did he? That was just what you two told folks. See, you were in collusion from the beginning. If that’s not the start of a beautiful relationship, then I don’t know what is.”
Sessa spied a familiar truck at the Blue Plate. “Coco, I’ll call you back.”
She did a U-turn right in the middle of Main Street and slid her car into the spot next to Trey’s. To her surprise, he was sitting in the cab of his truck holding his cell phone.
They both rolled down their windows.
“I was about to call you,” he called through the portal. “But I figured you were waiting for the bus.”
“How did you know?”
He glanced around at the crowded parking lot and then crooked a finger at her. “Get in and I’ll tell you.”
As she got out, she waved to Vonnette and Jim Bob as they drove past in Jim Bob’s cab. When she had settled onto the seat beside him. Trey turned toward her.
“Your friend Coco told me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Told you what?”
He shook his head. “Don’t get mad at her. She didn’t mean to let it slip, but I saw her over at the hardware store, and we struck up a conversation.”
“More like she struck up a conversation.”
He laughed. “Come to think of it, yeah, that’s true. Anyway, while we were talking, she mentioned that you’d probably be coming down the street pretty soon, since the last bus of the day was due in at six, and either way you’d be needing some company.”
Sessa pursed her lips. Coco and her matchmaking …
But the truth was, she was worn slick. She did want to talk to someone.
“So,” he said slowly, “do you need some company? Maybe dinner?”
She grinned as her stomach growled. “Sure.”
“Then buckle up.”
“Why not eat here?”
Trey shifted into reverse and pulled out of the parking space. “Because I’ve got a better idea.” He passed at the edge of the parking lot. “Coco also told me that Pansie was spending the night with your mother. Is that true?”
“It is,” she said warily. “I’ve got a mid-morning video meeting with my contact at the Smithsonian and Mama insisted I needed a break. I’ve been working on those Smithsonian horses day and night.”
“Makes sense.” He paused. “Okay, then. I’ve got a place I’d like to take you, but it’s a little ways out of town. Hope that’s all right.”
“Sure,” she said. “Why not?”
He set off in the opposite direction from Firefly Lane, and soon, the truck was pointed toward Houston. “If you want music, just press that button there.”
She did, and the sound of George Strait singing about crossing his heart filled the truck cab. Sessa hummed along and then, as the song shifted to one about getting to Amarillo before the morning, she sang along.
“That’s my favorite,” he said when the song ended. “Reminds me of my rodeo days.”
Sessa smiled. “I suspected you were a cowboy. Now let’s see if I can guess what event you competed in.” She looked him over as if assessing him. “Team roping?”
He shook his head.
“All right, then. Steer wrestling?”
“No.” He changed lanes to pass a slow-moving log truck. “Guess again.”
“You’re too smart to be a bull rider.” When he laughed, she paused. “Really? You rode bulls?”
“I did, although my best event was saddle bronc riding. I made the College National Finals. Oldest rider to place, at least at the time.”
“How about that?” Something in his statement sparked the film vapor of a memory, just out of reach and slightly beyond recollection. “I took Ross to the College National Finals when he was five or six.” That she did recall. “We had such a fun. He was such a sweet little boy.”
Trey caught her gaze across the width of the cab. “I bet he was, Sessa.”
They fell into a companionable silence as George sang about firemen, love without end, and falling to pieces together. Eventually, Sessa’s curiosity got the better of her. “Where are you taking me?”
Though the shadows were gathering, she saw the doctor’s grin. “Patience, Sessa Chambers. We’re almost there. I will tell you it’s owned by a friend of mine, and it’s like nothing you’ll ever see anywhere else.”
She settled back against the seat and watched the miles p
ass. Deepest purple smeared over a pink and gold horizon, and the shadow of a pale moon could barely be seen. Finally, Trey put on his blinker and slowed the truck to turn onto what looked like a narrow farm-to-market road. With only the headlights to guide them, the truck glided along the pavement and then, after a few minutes, bumped onto a dirt road.
Here the shadows were thick, the road suspiciously narrow.
“I promise this will be worth the drive.” He slowed to ease the truck over a rough patch of road.
She kept her silence for another few minutes, and then she spied what appeared to be the glow of lights through the thicket of trees. Trey silenced the radio and pressed the button to roll down the windows as he slowed the truck even more.
Instantly the night sounds filled the cab, sounds of crickets and lapping water. Along with the sounds came the rich scent of earth, the smell of rain on fresh green grass.
“Listen to that, Sessa,” he said reverently. “That’s better than listening to old George, and for me, that’s saying something.”
Trey made a sharp right turn, and suddenly they were in a dimly lit parking lot. At the far edge, just beyond the glare of the truck lights, a double-decker boat tied to a dock sparkled with strings of lights as it bobbed under the stars. Laughter and the sound of conversation floated toward them on the warm breeze.
“What is this place?”
“I told you it was like nothing you’d ever seen.”
“Yes,” she said slowly. “I do believe it is.”
Trey pulled the truck into a parking spot between two vehicles that looked like they belonged at a country club instead of here in the middle of nowhere and then rolled up the windows. “Used to be a fishing camp. Until a buddy of mine lost a bet.” He climbed out of the truck and jogged around to open the door for her. “Now it’s a restaurant. Well sort of. It’s more of a private club. Members only. Come on.”
They wound their way through a parking lot filled with Porsches, Mercedes, and other expensive vehicles and then stepped onto a wooden sidewalk that led to the dock and a vessel of dubious construction.
“I thought you said it was a fishing camp.”
Firefly Summer Page 14