by J. M. Hill
“You can’t. You have to meet with the accountant today,” I reminded her. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll take good care of her, Kate, I promise,” Garrett assured her.
“Okay, if you’re sure,” she said hesitantly, watching me worriedly.
“I’m sure. Just ask Kenny to work the bookstore for me.” Then I remembered something. “Oh, crap! Kenny’s not working today, he’s rafting.” I started to get off the couch, but Garrett pushed down against my shoulders gently. “But I need to go to work,” I argued. “My ankle isn’t hurting that bad.”
Obviously, I was a terrible liar. Garrett snorted and lifted the ice pack. Even with the ice on it, the swelling had gotten worse. Kate winced when she saw it.
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Garrett said. “I’ll call Miles. He’ll be happy to help out.”
Kate’s eyes lit up with his suggestion, though she still tried to show concern over my ailment.
“That’s a great idea,” I told Garrett as he went for the phone. I smiled, and gave Kate a wink. She smiled weakly. “I’m sorry you’re hurt.”
“I know.” I squeezed her hand. She was sorry that I was hurt, but she was also happy for the opportunity to spend the day with Miles, and if Kate was happy, I was happy.
“It’s all taken care of,” Garrett said. “Miles is on his way over.”
“Thank you,” Kate called from the kitchen. “Gracie, you need to eat something.”
“I’m not hungry.” I couldn’t even think about food, my ankle was hurting too bad.
The front door opened and Miles poked his head in while he knocked.
“Come on in,” Garrett said.
Miles walked over to the couch and looked at my ankle, shaking his head sadly. “I’m sorry you’re hurt. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Actually you’re already doing it,” I told him. “Thank you so much for helping Kate today, I felt terrible leaving her short-handed.”
Kate came into the living room and Miles smiled widely at her.
“It’s my pleasure,” he said to me, but his eyes didn’t leave Kate’s as she practically bounced over to where he stood.
“You’re a life saver. Thank you,” she said.
“I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help, but I’m all yours,” he replied.
I swear they grinned at each other like the Cheshire Cat, and I’m pretty sure they’d forgotten Garrett and I were even in the room. Garrett nudged me with a wink and we both stifled a laugh. Kate helped me to the bathroom so I could freshen-up, and when we came out Michael was there.
“Ready then?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Make sure you keep me posted on what’s going on, okay?” Kate said.
I nodded, and she kissed my cheek before walking out the door with Miles, Garrett following.
“Garrett’s driving,” Michael said.
“That’s good,” I said. “I’m not sure he’d fit in my Jeep.”
The Hummer rumbled in front of the house, and Michael helped me into the backseat. The drive to the E.R. was fairly quiet aside from Michael talking on the phone with Nina. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but she seemed to be annoying Michael. Garrett got my attention in the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes, making me giggle.
“I’m sorry, Nina,” Michael said patiently. “I didn’t mean to mess up your day. We should reschedule the meeting for when your father can attend anyway. No. I understand that.” He sighed, and raked his hand through his hair. “I’ve apologized. What more can I do? Fine. We’ll talk about it later.” He disconnected the call and slid the phone in the pocket of his jacket.
“Everything okay, little brother?” Garrett asked.
“She’s exasperating,” Michael muttered, rubbing both hands over his face.
“I don’t understand why you—”
Michael cut Garrett off with an icy glare then glanced sideways at me. I quickly focused my attention out the side window pretending not to notice the exchange.
After more than an hour in the waiting area of the ER, we were taken to an examination room. The throbbing from my ankle was getting more intense, but I didn’t want to complain in front of Michael and Garrett. The nurse took my vitals, and then promised a doctor would be with us shortly.
“Can you give her something for the pain?” Garrett asked.
The nurse huffed. “And you are?”
Garrett squared his large shoulders. “I’m her brother.”
I pursed my lips together as the nurse looked to Garrett, then to me, then to Michael.
“Uh-huh,” she said dubiously. “The doctor will be here in a minute.” She left, pulling the door shut behind her.
“Do you think she believed me?” Garrett asked, and Michael chuckled.
The door opened, and a familiar, fresh-faced doctor with honey-blonde hair and soft blue eyes came in the room. He assessed Garrett and Michael, then looked at the file in his hand.
“So, Miss Burke,” he said, stepping to the side of the bed. “I don’t recall you having brothers.”
That’s when I recognized him.
“Evan Taylor? Is that you?”
He laughed, and gave me a tight hug. “You’ve grown up, Grace.”
“So have you.” I couldn’t help but laugh, too. “What are you doing here? Last I heard you were somewhere on the east coast.”
“I moved here a little over a month ago,” he said. “Dad had a heart attack.”
“I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard. Is he okay?”
“Oh, you know him,” Evan waved his hand dismissively, “if he’d end his love affair with bacon, he might live a little longer. Stubborn old man.”
Garrett chortled, and I remembered we weren’t alone in the room.
“Evan, this is Garrett and Michael Anderson. They’re our new neighbors…friends,” I corrected myself, making Garrett and Michael smile.
Evan cleared his throat and leaned closer. “You mean brothers,” he whispered conspiratorially.
“Exactly,” Garrett said with a laugh, shaking Evan’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Evan,” Michael said, with a nod as they shook.
“So, how do you know Gracie?” Garrett asked.
Evan smiled widely. “She and her cousin were at my house almost constantly during high school.”
“Evan’s sister, Erin, was our closest friend,” I clarified. “Evan was in college and much too mature to socialize with lowly high school students.”
“That’s not true,” he said with a laugh. “I remember being the taxi service to the mall plenty of times, not to mention sneaking you into R-rated movies.”
I was a little embarrassed. “How is Erin? We haven’t seen her since Uncle David’s funeral.”
“She’s doing great,” he said, then his expression turned somber. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here for the funeral. Kate’s dad was a great man, and one of the reasons I became a doctor.”
My heart ached with the thought of Uncle David, and Evan patted my hand consolingly.
“Now,” he said, clearing his throat. “Looks like you’ve done some damage here. What happened.”
“She was climbing trees,” Garrett said, and I grimaced at him.
“I guess some things never change,” Evan said shaking his head, making Garrett laugh.
Michael stood quietly in the corner of the room, arms folded across his chest, watching quietly as Evan examined my ankle. I tried not to make a noise, but I couldn’t help the wince as he pressed the swollen area with his fingertips. “Let’s get an X-Ray, and something for your pain.”
Sure enough, my stupid ankle was sprained. Evan gave me a big, ugly, black plastic boot with Velcro straps to wear, along with prescriptions for pain and inflammation.
“You’re going to need to take it easy for a couple of days,” Evan said as he scribbled out my prescriptions. “No running, or climbing trees.”
Garrett and Michael both laughed, and I rolled my eyes.
Evan handed me two prescriptions. “One is for inflammation, the other for pain.” He pointed to my boot. “Keep the boot on.”
“Why would I take it off?” I asked sarcastically. “It’s so pretty.”
“It’s great to see you again.” Evan gave me a one arm hug. “Tell Kate I said hello.”
“You should come check out our coffee shop. You might be impressed.”
“I’m sure I would be.” He winked at me, then turned to Garrett and Michael. “It was nice meeting you both. Take good care of her.”
“We will.” Garrett shook his hand. “Thanks a lot.”
“Thanks, Evan,” Michael said. “Nice meeting you.”
We dropped off my prescriptions, and stopped by the shop to see Kate and Miles. Miles was working the register while Kate and Peggy filled orders, and I was impressed with how smoothly things seemed to be going. Kate made me a vanilla latte’, as well as a hot chocolate for Garrett and a macchiato for Michael. She sent me home with a kiss on the cheek and assurance that everything was under control. When we got home, Michael helped me hobble to the couch, and Garrett sat next to me.
“Do you mind if we keep you company, Gracie?”
“I would love for you to keep me company,” I said, unable to hide my excitement at the offer.
“Actually,” Michael said, raking his hand through his hair. “I need to go.”
“Oh.” My disappointment was obvious, and I tried to cover it with a smile. “Thank you so much for taking me to the E.R.. I’m sorry for messing up your schedule.” “You didn’t mess up anything,” he corrected. “I’ll see you both later. Garrett, behave yourself.”
Garrett snorted a laugh, rolling his eyes as Michael walked out the door, then stood from the couch and looked down at me.
“You hungry?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “There’s some yogurt in the fridge.”
He disappeared into the kitchen, and I heard cupboards and drawers opening and closing, as he tried to find everything he was looking for. He managed to find one of our serving trays, where he had a container of yogurt, a huge bowl of leftover banana pudding from Saturday night and a ginger ale. I raised an eyebrow at him.
“The pudding is for me.” He shook his head. “I don’t do yogurt.”
I pursed my lips together, and patted his arm when he sat down next to me. “Thanks, Garrett. I really appreciate you doing this.”
“You’re welcome.” He took a bite of pudding. “Banana pudding for breakfast. Excellent.” His phone rang, and I laughed at the ring tone: “Sexy And I Know It”.
“Hello?” he mumbled, his mouth full of pudding. “Hey, Michael.”
I took a sip of my coffee trying to ignore the heart-fluttering that took place at the mention of Michael’s name.
“Pudding, why?” Garrett answered, and I almost spit out my coffee—Michael obviously asking the routine question, ‘what are you eating?’ Garrett heard me, and showed me the pudding in his mouth.
“Ewww,” I groaned, and his shoulders shook as he laughed quietly, trying to listen to whatever Michael was saying.
“Yeah, she’s fine. Uh-huh. Okay.” He rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, I will.” Garrett hung up the phone and I resisted the urge to ask what Michael had said. Garrett picked up his pudding again taking a big bite.
“You and your brothers seem very close,” I said.
“We are close,” he said simply. “You and Kate, too.”
I nodded and smiled, thinking of Kate. “We’ve been together all our lives. I’d do anything for her.”
“It’s the same for me and my brothers.” He set his bowl down and leaned back into the couch. “That’s the way it should be.”
I nodded in agreement, feeling a sense of appreciation for his parents though I’d never even met them.
“Old fashioned values,” I said. “They’re definitely a rarity these days.”
Garrett shook his head in disagreement. “There’s no such thing as old-fashioned values. There are just values. Right has always been right and wrong has always been wrong. Old-fashioned really has nothing to do with it, people have just lost sight of what’s truly important.”
I’d never thought of it that way, he was absolutely right.
“I don’t know you that well,” he said. “But I can tell the relationship you have with Kate is like the relationship I have with my brothers. Maybe that’s why we feel so comfortable together, eh?” He winked at me as he got up from the couch and walked over to the shelves that held our movie collection. “So what sounds good?” he asked, and then with a shocked expression, he pulled out one of the DVD’s and held it towards me. “The Replacements”. One of my many favorites.
“I can’t believe you have this movie in your house,” he said with a huge grin.
“What can I say?” I replied dryly. “Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory, lasts forever.”
He guffawed loudly, shaking his head at my Keanu Reeves impression.
We laughed and cut up with each other while we watched, and when it was over he told me to pick the next movie. I convinced him to watch a classic. He grumbled as he put “The Sound of Music” into the DVD player, and then sat down next to me. I laughed at the perplexed expression on his face as he watched the opening scene.
“Why is she in a maid’s uniform singing on a mountain? Maid’s aren’t that happy.”
I giggled. “It’s not a maid’s uniform. She’s a nun, and she’s singing on a mountain because she’s Julie Andrews, and she can sing anywhere and work it.”
We listened to how the hills were alive.
“She does have a nice voice,” he mused.
“Nice?” I snorted. “She’s fabulous. I have so much to teach you.” I wagged my head, and he reached around my shoulders putting me in a headlock, rubbing the top of my head roughly before releasing me. I blew the loose strands of hair from my forehead, and we settled into the couch. Garrett watched quietly until the ending when the VonTrapp family hid from the German soldiers.
“I hate Nazis,” Garrett grumbled. “Yeah, they suck,” I mimicked his grumble, and he chuckled. My cell phone buzzed and Garrett handed it to me. It was Kate.
“Ooh, let me answer it,” Garrett snatched the phone back. “Hey, Kate! How’s it going? You teaching my brother to make all those fancy coffees? Yeah, she’s fine, but she’s making me watch Sound of Music, so we’re both in pain.”
I could hear Kate’s laughter, and Garrett’s eyes widened with her non-stop chatter.
“Okay, I’ll tell her. See you soon.” He set the phone on the coffee table, shaking his head as if trying to clear it. “Um, Kate says hi.”
I sniggered, and leaned back into the couch getting comfortable again, and we watched the rest of the movie. As the end credits rolled, I waited for his reaction.
“So, what’d you think?” I asked.
“Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. You were right about Judy Andrews. The hills really were alive.”
“Julie Andrews,” I corrected. “You liked it?”
“Yeah, I liked it, but let’s try to spread the true classics out to about one a month,” he said. “I mean, I’m still trying to recover from the weird little violin player that kept following that Jewish guy around.”
I busted up laughing. “ ‘Fiddler On the Roof’! And that was symbolism, goof-ball!”
“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “That little dude was creepy.”
I had to wipe my eyes because I was laughing so hard, which made Garrett laugh. He stood up and stretched, glancing at his watch. I couldn’t help but feel guilty. Surely he had other things to do besides babysit me.
“Garrett, if you need to leave, I totally understand.”
“No way, I said I’d stay. Besides, I’m having way too much fun.” He scanned the family photos displayed by the TV, and pulled one from the shelf. “Is this your mom?” He held a black and white picture of my mom, and I nodd
ed.
“I see where you get your looks,” he said. “She’s a beauty. You have the same eyes.”
“She and my aunt were twins,” I informed him proudly.
“No kidding?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. I pointed to one of the pictures of my mom and my Aunt Beth.
“Wow. You and Kate,” his voice was quiet. “It’s no wonder you look more like sisters.”
“I’m named after my aunt you know,” I told him. “Grace Elizabeth. Sometimes Kate calls me Gracie-Beth.” He chuckled as he continued looking at the different pictures—every now and then selecting one from the shelf to get a closer look.
“Hmmm, Gracie-Beth. I like that,” he said thoughtfully. “What’s Kate’s middle name?”
“Elise. She’s named after my mom, Katherine.”
“Why did your parents name you Grace instead of Elizabeth?”
“I was really sick when I was born, they didn’t think I was going to survive. I had some kind of issue with my heart.”
Garrett’s eyebrows came together as he listened.
“My parents were going to name me Elizabeth, but when I was so sick and survived, they decided to name me Grace instead.” I shrugged. “I guess they thought it was fitting.”
He quickly retrieved another picture from the shelf, turning it around so I could see. It was me, in a pink ruffled dress, and black patent-leather shoes, standing next to a piano.
“My first piano recital. I was eight.”
“You play the piano?” He seemed happily surprised.
“Kate and I both play. Our mothers were amazing pianists. We have a piano in a storage facility in town,” I told him. “We remodeled shortly after Uncle David passed away, and there just wasn’t room for it, so we never brought it back.” He looked at the picture for a minute, and then set it back down, picking up a photo of me with my mom and dad.
His expression was sad, and he seemed hesitant. “What happened with your parents and Kate’s mom?”
“You mean the accident?”
“Yeah,” he studied the picture in his hand. “What happened?”
“We were on a ski trip in Vail for the weekend. Uncle David couldn’t join us until Saturday afternoon. He was a Neurosurgeon and busy at the hospital, so he drove up by himself.” I looked down at the floor as I remembered. Sometimes it seemed like yesterday. “He promised to take Kate and I to our favorite ice cream place on the way home, so we rode with him. Mom, Dad, and Aunt Beth were eager to get home,” I swallowed hard. “Anyway, I guess Dad hit a patch of ice on the road.” It had been so long since I’d even thought about the accident; but, it still caused the familiar ache to return, even after all the years that passed.