The Rancher's Family Thanksgiving

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “Not that hard to change—if you so desire,” Teddy murmured with a probing sidelong glance.

  The question was, what did he want?

  Tyler put down his plate and walked back out into the crowd to say hello to everyone he had yet to talk with at the party. He and Susie were a hell of a lot more than casual friends, yet they didn’t see each other all that often. They had the ability to talk in shorthand no one else understood, and yet there were times when he didn’t know what she was thinking or feeling or doing to save his life. He was always happy when he saw her. And he thought about her more than he knew he should. The two of them had cried on each other’s shoulders, slept together. And stayed up all night long exchanging confidences. Yet they’d never had a single date in all the time they had known each other.

  And up until now, Tyler thought, as Susie finally broke away from Whit Jenkins, that had been okay, too.

  Catching Tyler’s glance, Susie smiled and headed toward him.

  And as usual, when he was anywhere in her radius, Tyler found he could not keep his eyes off her.

  When working as a landscape architect or at the garden center she owned, she wore clothes that were ranch-hand rugged and yet sophisticated, too. Tonight, instead of the usual denim skirt or jeans, she had a soft flowing skirt of turquoise and dusty blue flowers with a ruffled hem and a silk-trimmed V-neck white knit shirt. Her small feet were encased with sturdy brown leather boots that just peeked from beneath the ruffled hem. A simple blue-and-white necklace encircled her throat, matching earrings adorned her ears.

  As perfectly as the clothing draped her tall, slender frame, it was nothing compared to the captivating beauty of her face. Shoulder-length honey blond hair caught the evening light and framed her pretty face in a tumble of soft, mussed waves. Insightful amber-brown eyes gleamed beneath thin, elegant brows, the same shade as her hair. Her nose was long and straight; her high cheekbones well defined; her lips soft, pink and perfectly drawn. Her normally fair skin bore the golden hint of summer sun, and a job that had her outdoors a great deal of the time.

  His pulse picked up as her favorite fragrance—a combination of flowers and citrus—engulfed him.

  She linked arms with him and drew him close. Smiling up at him, she said, “I need you to come with me. Now.”

  “I’M GUESSING WHIT JENKINS was bachelor number one,” Tyler said, as they let themselves out the back gate of the Carrigans’ yard.

  Susie cut across the front grass, toward the sidewalk. “Fortunately, yes.”

  “Why fortunately?” Tyler asked, telling himself what he felt deep in his gut was definitely not jealousy.

  The edges of Susie’s soft lips turned up in a triumphant smile as she waited for Tyler to catch up. “Because as it turns out Whit isn’t the least bit interested in dating me. He’s looking for a more dependent type of woman—someone who’s more interested in staying home than running her own business.”

  That had been a stroke of luck. “Then why’d he agree to the meeting?” Tyler asked, unable to help but note how pretty Susie looked in the dusky evening light.

  She shrugged. “He’s new in town. Doesn’t know anyone outside the hospital. Or he didn’t, until this evening.”

  Tyler followed her over to her bright blue pickup truck. “You think your parents want you to hook up with a doctor?” It made sense, since Luke was a family physician and Meg a registered nurse.

  “That’s not why they chose Whit,” Susie said with a frown. She motioned for him to get in the passenger side while she circled the front and climbed behind the wheel.

  Curious, Tyler settled beside her.

  “Although Whit’s being a physician is part of it,” Susie continued, making no effort to put her keys in the ignition. Which meant they were there to talk, not go anywhere.

  Tyler shifted toward her. “I don’t get it.”

  Susie shifted toward him. She looked Tyler straight in the eye. “Whit’s an oncologist.”

  Tyler felt as if he’d been sucker punched. “Hedging their bets by fixing you up with a cancer specialist?” he asked quietly.

  Susie’s cheeks pinkened. She pleated the fabric of her long, flowing skirt between her fingers. “My guess is they thought Whit would understand what I’ve been through, and from that perspective, we’d have a lot in common.”

  Tyler tensed. “And do you?”

  Susie shrugged. “I think we could be friends.”

  Friends sounded a lot better to Tyler than boyfriend and girlfriend. Although why he should care so much stymied him. He and Susie weren’t headed for the altar. He wasn’t headed for it, period. “So where are we off to?” he asked her lightly, willing to do anything to erase the hurt from her amber eyes.

  “The hospital.” Susie finally put the keys in the ignition, but delayed actually starting her truck’s engine. “Whit asked me to look in on a patient of his. Which is why I wanted you to tag along. I don’t like the idea of going in there alone.”

  Tyler knew Susie avoided hospitals whenever possible.

  Her worst memories were set there.

  “So…” Susie gave him a look he was hard-pressed to deny. “You want to follow me in your truck? Then when we’re finished we can each go our separate ways?”

  Tyler nodded. That was Susie, practical as ever. “I’ll meet up with you in the LCH parking lot,” he promised.

  A few minutes later, they were walking through the entrance of Laramie Community Hospital. After a short elevator ride, they were stepping out into the hospital’s brand-new oncology wing.

  Susie stopped by the desk to tell the nurse she and Tyler were there to visit Emmaline Clark.

  “I hope you can cheer her up. She’s been pretty down,” the nurse said.

  An understatement, Tyler and Susie soon found out.

  The pixie-faced adolescent was seated in bed, an IV hooked up to her arm. Thin and pale, she wore an auburn wig with a fake-looking sheen to it on her head. It was cut in a hairstyle for someone much older.

  Her mother and father, an emotionally exhausted-looking couple in their mid-fifties, were seated in chairs adjacent to the bed. No one was talking. No one was watching the TV mounted overhead, although it was turned to a popular sitcom. There was an air of glum tension that permeated every ounce of air in the room.

  Like a beam of sunshine sent down from the heavens, Susie stepped forward with a smile and extended her hand. She introduced herself and Tyler to Bill and Hedda Clark.

  “You’re Luke and Meg Carrigan’s daughter,” Hedda said.

  Susie nodded. “This is Tyler McCabe, a vet at the Laramie Animal Clinic.”

  Tyler noted no interest at all from the patient in the bed.

  “If you all want to take a break, Tyler and I can sit with Emmaline for a while,” Susie offered.

  The Clarks—who’d obviously been expecting Susie’s visit—exchanged looks, then excused themselves politely.

  “I’m not talking to anyone right now,” Emmaline muttered with a pointed look at Susie the moment her parents were out of earshot. “So you may as well leave.”

  Susie perched on the window ledge. Despite her earlier trepidation about coming to the hospital, she looked quite calm. “Don’t blame you. I never wanted to talk to anyone when I lost my hair, either.”

  Emmaline slowly turned her head toward Susie’s empathetic tone and studied her for a moment. “You don’t look sick.”

  “I’m not. At least I don’t think I am,” Susie amended quickly. “Once you’ve had cancer, you never know.”

  Emmaline turned her attention to Tyler. “Are you a survivor, too?”

  He shook his head, unable to imagine what it must feel like to endure what Susie and Emmaline had.

  “I brought Tyler along because he always knew what to say when I was sick.” Susie patted the place next to her and Tyler sat down.

  “Illness doesn’t scare him,” Susie continued.

  Not now, anyway, Tyler thought. There had been a time…


  “Yeah, well, maybe he could give my friends lessons,” Emmaline said angrily. She tore off her awful wig and tossed it at the foot of the bed. It flopped to the floor. She didn’t look as if she much cared what happened to it.

  “I take it they’ve deserted you?”

  “In spades. Most of them only live about an hour from here, but even before we moved, all but one or two had stopped coming by.” Emmaline’s lower lip trembled. Moisture glittered in her eyes. “They couldn’t even be bothered to call or text message.”

  “The tendency when people are sick is to leave them alone so they can rest and get well,” Tyler interjected gently. “Have you tried to contact them?”

  Emmaline pouted. “Well…no.”

  “Maybe you should,” Tyler said.

  And maybe, Susie appeared to think, shooting Tyler a warning look only he could see, Emmaline shouldn’t….

  Tyler shrugged and continued anyway, “They could just be waiting to hear you’re up for a visit or two or three.”

  “I don’t know.” Emmaline studied the white blanket on her bed.

  “I had the same experience with my friends not coming around when I was undergoing chemotherapy,” Susie said.

  Emmaline lifted her head and asked Susie, “How old were you when you were diagnosed?”

  “Sixteen.”

  Sweat beaded on the top of Emmaline’s bald head. “I’m fourteen. I’ve been sick for two years.”

  “It sucks,” Susie stated with heartfelt passion.

  “Tell me about it.” Emmaline hit the remote, and the TV clicked off. She focused all her attention on Susie. “When did you get well?”

  “I had my last chemo when I was eighteen.”

  Her long sigh broke the silence in the room. “I hope I don’t have to wait that long,” Emmaline lamented.

  Tyler did, too. “So what year are you in school?” he asked.

  Emmaline smiled, just a little bit. “I’m a freshman, although I’ve yet to attend a single day of high school here. So far, all my lessons are being done at home.”

  A fact that only added to her loneliness, Tyler guessed. “When are you going to get to go to class again?”

  Emmaline shrugged. “Maybe around the first of December if I make it through the next few weeks of chemo. Not that I know anyone here. We just moved to Laramie a couple of weeks ago.”

  Susie smiled sympathetically. “I’m guessing you’re not liking it much so far?” she said softly.

  Emmaline scowled. “The town is a lot smaller than what I’m used to. And our house doesn’t have any trees or shrubs or flowers or anything, not like our last one did.”

  “That can be fixed,” Susie said.

  Emmaline ground the heel of her foot against the mattress. “My parents both work. They don’t have the time to work on the yard. Probably not the money, either, since we have to pay for everything the medical insurance doesn’t cover.”

  “So why don’t you take charge of that?” Susie asked.

  Emmaline looked at Susie as if she was nuts.

  Tyler understood why. It did seem a ludicrous suggestion.

  “What do you expect me to do from a hospital bed?” Emmaline demanded, upset.

  Susie spread her hands wide. “Why, make a bargain with me, of course.”

  “PRETTY CLEVER OF YOU, getting the kid to agree to help you plan landscaping for the Clarks’ yard,” Tyler said, half an hour later. He shortened his strides to match Susie’s as they walked through the half-empty hospital parking lot. It was nine o’clock, and visiting hours were ending. People were leaving in droves. “Even smarter, getting her parents to agree to let Emmaline help implement the changes, as she is physically able, and work off the cost of the plants at your landscape center.”

  Susie accepted Tyler’s praise with a small shrug. “She can work on the design from her hospital bed. The part-time job in my center will help her meet people in the community and give her something to look forward to. And let’s face it,” Susie continued wistfully as the two of them stopped between their pickup trucks, parked side by side. The bright lights overhead caught the highlights in Susie’s hair and made it shimmer. “There’s nothing quite as healing as being one with nature.”

  Tyler knew how much Susie loved being outdoors. “Except an understanding look or touch,” Tyler said.

  Susie nodded in agreement. A distant look came into her eyes.

  “Something on your mind?” Tyler asked.

  Susie ducked her head, raked her teeth across her lower lip. “It’s nothing.”

  “Tell me.”

  Susie studied the painted yellow lines on the pavement, as stubborn and self-reliant as ever.

  “We’re not leaving here until you do,” Tyler warned, knowing even if she didn’t that she was beginning to need him in her life once again.

  Susie dragged the round toe of her leather engineer’s boot across the blacktop. “If you must know…” she conceded finally, on a reluctant sigh.

  Tyler relaxed slightly. “I must.”

  She tucked her hands in the flowing folds of her skirt. Eventually, she lifted her head and locked eyes with him. “I’m ticked off at my parents.”

  No surprise there. Tyler was, too.

  “For the fix-up?” Tyler guessed, wishing there were some way he could ensure that Susie would never be hurt by anything or anyone, past, present or future.

  “For making this all about my cancer, once again.”

  And then, to Tyler’s surprise, she promptly burst into tears.

  Chapter Two

  Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye….

  Susie couldn’t believe she was standing there, blubbering in the parking lot.

  She could believe Tyler was right there to fold her into his big strong arms and hold her close as the emotion poured out of her in great, galvanizing waves.

  It wasn’t the first time she had turned to him this way. Although she was beginning to think maybe it should be the last.

  It wasn’t fair of her, dumping all this on him when all he had done was care about her and stand by her. The two of them were crisis-buddies, nothing more, even if they had fallen into bed together, at last count, four highly memorable times.

  Even if he was the only man she had ever made love with. Or even wanted to make love with…Never mind dared get that close.

  She had to get a grip. He wasn’t her pillow.

  Although right now with her drenching his shirt, that must be what he felt like.

  She pulled away from him, wiping her eyes, and voiced the first excuse that came to mind that wouldn’t lead to questions. “I’m premenstrual,” she sniffed.

  He chucked her beneath her chin. She should have known he wouldn’t let her off easy.

  “Since when?” he teased.

  In an effort to shield her eyes from his probing gaze, Susie let her forehead rest against his chest. “Since…forever,” she mumbled. A fresh flood of tears pressed hotly behind her eyes.

  As if knowing the storm wasn’t over yet, Tyler tucked her into the curve of his arm and drew her back, to lean against the passenger side of his pickup truck. “There must be something more,” he murmured against the top of her head, one hand stroking down her back in long soothing strokes. “‘Cause you rarely ever cry.” His warm breath touched her ear. He brought her closer yet. “Not like that.”

  She had gotten pretty good at blinking back—or all-out hiding—discreet tears, when she was in public. It didn’t mean she didn’t feel incredible, overwhelming sadness sometimes.

  And it didn’t mean Tyler didn’t pick up on the slightest change in her mood or demeanor. If she didn’t tell him now, he would just keep pestering her, keep digging, keep searching out the truth.

  Finally, she shrugged.

  She took the folded tissue he pressed into her hand.

  Wiped her eyes. Blew her nose. And still couldn’t look him in the eye. “It’s everything,” she said finally.

/>   Tyler brought her back into the curve of his strong arms. His touch was more brotherly than anything else, despite their passionate past. “I’m listening,” he told her in a low, gravelly voice.

  Susie took another halting breath as she struggled to get her emotions under control. “If you must know, it’s Rebecca and Trevor. Seeing them together tonight, just back from their honeymoon. They looked so incredibly happy together. And I’m glad for them, I really am.” More than she had words to say. “But…”

  Tyler nodded, even as his grip on her tightened protectively. “I felt a stab of envy, too,” he admitted in a low, understanding voice.

  Susie pressed on the bridge of her nose to keep more tears from falling. “Which is stupid,” she continued, making no effort to hide her aggravation with herself, “because marriage has never been something I wanted.”

  Tyler exhaled. His big body began to relax. “Me, either.”

  The tears she had been doing everything to stop flowed anyway. “And yet…”

  “Looking at the two of them—” Tyler picked up where she left off, as intuitive as ever where Susie was concerned “—I couldn’t help but feel I was missing out on something pretty spectacular.”

  “Yeah.” Susie forced a watery smile. She dabbed at her eyes and took in a deep breath. “Although if we see them again in a month, they’ll probably be fighting over who leaves the toothpaste cap on and who leaves it off.”

  Tyler ruffled the hair on the top of her head playfully. He drew back, smiling now. “And even that will be spectacular.”

  Susie warmed at his attentiveness, even as she cautioned herself not to get used to it. Due to their busy schedules, there were times when the two of them went months without seeing each other, except for the occasional accidental meeting.

  A couple other vehicles left the hospital parking lot. But Tyler seemed in no hurry to depart.

  Nor was she.

  She needed to talk to him tonight. She needed the special brand of comfort only he could give.

  “So what else is on your mind?” he prodded.

  Susie leaned against the side of the pickup truck, the cold metal a contrast with the warmth of Tyler’s tall frame. She folded her arms in front of her and looked up at the crescent moon, peeking out from behind the clouds. “I realized tonight I probably shouldn’t have agreed to my mom and dad’s plan to match me up with someone.”