by Holly Jacobs
When she had worked at the hospital, she had a steady paycheck and a set schedule. Her new life in Valley Ridge was more piecemeal. Even with her connection to Dr. Marshall, Valley Ridge’s only general practitioner, she was basically working for herself.
She was hurrying out of Miss Helen’s house when her cell phone rang.
She dug it out of her purse and saw Mattie Keith’s name. “Hi, Mattie. What’s up?”
“I picked up Abbey from school. She’s not feeling well and is running a temperature. I wanted to check what to do and Finn’s in surgery.”
Mattie was new to caring for Bridget Langley’s children. She and their uncle Finn had been pulling together since Bridget’s passing. He was a surgeon in Buffalo, but had been home weekends lately.
Lily ran through the fever basics, then offered, “Why don’t I pick up Zoe and Mickey?”
“Really, that’s not why I called.”
“I know. I offered.” She might not have known Mattie long, but she’d worked side by side with her while Bridget was sick. Things like that brought people together. So she knew that taking help wasn’t Mattie’s strong suit, so she said, “Sometimes it’s okay to say yes and let friends help you out, Mattie.”
She heard Mattie’s sigh over the phone line and was pleased when her friend said, “Yes.”
“Great. I’ll see you after school.”
She hung up and glanced at the time. She could pick up the kids, then make her last home visit before heading into the diner.
Piecemeal might be questionable on the wallet, but it allowed her to tailor her schedule as needed, and right now, she was happy she could help Mattie out. It would be good to see the kids—she missed seeing them every day.
It might have made her day a bit busier, but busy was a good thing.
That was a lesson she’d learned years ago.
* * *
SEBASTIAN’S HAND WAS THROBBING. Actually, his entire left arm was throbbing.
He’d been pretending to sleep for the past hour, trying to convince himself he wasn’t in pain. Turned out he couldn’t avoid the facts forever.
He glanced at the clock. One-ten in the morning.
Well, it was officially Friday. That was something. He wasn’t sure what late-night television was like at one o’clock, but odds were there would be something on that would occupy him. He’d thought about getting a TV for his room, but it didn’t make sense. He was only here until the wedding. Just eight short weeks.
Of course, he had no idea where he’d be going after that or what he’d be doing then. Fact was, he didn’t have a clue.
He tiptoed down the stairs. He didn’t want to wake Hank. He went to the kitchen for a drink and was about to flip on the light when he heard something outside. Squeaking. He couldn’t figure out what it was and walked through the still-darkened kitchen to peer into the backyard. The moon was bright enough that he could see someone sitting in the glider that had been in the side yard as long as he could remember. Two bench seats that faced each other, hanging from a wooden frame.
He went to unlock the door and realized that it hadn’t been locked. Hank had said he’d done it. Well, no harm done.
He ignored the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The fact that Hank was mistaken didn’t mean that Lily was right and something was wrong with his grandfather. Everyone forgot things on occasion.
He walked quietly toward the glider. The seat facing him was empty. Someone was sitting on the other side of the glider, her back to him. It took a split second for him to realize it was Lily.
Right after that, he realized she was crying.
“Lily, what’s wrong?”
She jerked at the sound of his voice and turned around. “Sebastian. What are you doing up?” She wiped at her eyes.
“I heard a noise. The glider squeaks.” He took the seat across from her on the ancient wooden glider. When he was younger, it was his favorite place to sit and think.
“Be careful. There are a few boards that are rotten,” she warned midsniffle.
“So what’s wrong?” was his only response.
“I was sitting here thinking,” she said.
“Not happy thoughts from the sound of it.”
She sniffled. “No. I took Mattie’s kids home from school today. Well, Bridget’s kids, Finn’s nieces and nephew, but it’s Mattie who has custody now that Bridget...” She let the sentence trail off, as if she didn’t want to say the words Bridget died. He understood that. To him, Bridget was still Finn’s younger sister who’d made their childhood challenging as she and her best friend, Mattie, tagged after them. Mattie Keith. Waltzing Mathilda, her brothers had called her. She’d stopped waltzing and had come home to take care of Bridget when she was sick, and then stayed to take care of the kids.
He wasn’t exactly sure why she had custody and not Finn. “How’s she doing?”
“Not good. I collected the older two kids after school because Abbey, the youngest, was sick. Mattie thought it was a flu or cold. She mentioned that Abbey had a fever, and I told her to give her acetaminophen. Kids run fevers all the time. They’re the body’s way of fighting infection, so normally they’re a good thing, if you think about it.” She sniffled again.
“But not this time?” he asked gently.
“No, not this time. Abbey had a febrile convulsion.”
All he got was the word convulsion. “What?”
“A seizure brought on by a high fever. As a nurse, I know that there’s no way to predict when a child will have one. Not every fever or every sudden spike in a fever brings one on. The great percentage of fevers don’t. I know that Mattie did everything she could do. If I’d been there, I couldn’t have done anything more. But still, I feel guilty. I dropped the kids off and asked if she wanted me to come in and look at Abbey, but I was busy. I was going to run late for an appointment, so when she said no, I was relieved.”
Sebastian understood feeling helpless. Wanting to help, but not being able.
“Lily...” Sebastian wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t know how to make her feel better. So he moved over to her side of the glider and it tilted back as he put his arm around her. His bad arm. It seemed that although there was a lot it didn’t do well anymore, it could do this. It could hold someone and offer comfort.
“Shh,” he said. “Will she have more?”
“Usually, kids have just one and never have another, some have more. Most of the time there are no long-term effects.”
“Then you’re right, there’s nothing you could do, and odds are Abbey will be fine.” He felt her give a little shake, as if she were holding back more tears. He tightened his hand around her shoulder.
She seemed to accept his attempts at comfort. He felt her take a deep breath. “I know all that. Really, I do. And telling you reminds me that I know. In my head, I know it. But in my heart, I can’t help but think if I’d have gone in, if I hadn’t rushed off, I could have...”
“Lily, I’ve known you less than a week, and I already know that you’re busy.”
“Yes, but—”
“And in the midst of all that and the other stuff you do, you stopped at the school and picked up the kids and took them home for Mattie?”
“Yes. It wasn’t a big deal. I was between calls.”
“I’m betting it was a big deal to Mattie. I bet it was a big deal to Finn, too. And, Lily, take it from someone who knows—things happen. Sometimes awful things. Sometimes you can run interference and stop them. Sometimes, try as you might, you can’t. You’ve just got to accept that.”
She sighed. “I know. I’ve had a lot of experience with it. There have been so many times that I know I couldn’t do anything to make a situation better, but I’ve still felt guilty. Knowing and feeling are two different things.” She was silent a moment. Softly she added, “I guess it doesn’t help that my mother called today.”
“Is something wrong with her?” he asked. Here was something about Lily he didn’t know. So
mething he doubted anyone else knew.
“No, nothing’s wrong with her, at least, no more than usual. It made me think that no matter how hard I try to help, I can’t save everyone.”
Her response didn’t really tell him anything but there was a finality in it, as if he’d gotten all he was going to get. “But Abbey’s okay?”
“Yes. Finn came in from Buffalo, so Mattie has someone with her.”
“Then maybe the best thing you can do is go to bed, get some rest so that you’re ready when they do need you.”
“Thanks, Seb—” Before he could correct her, she corrected herself. “Sebastian. Beneath your outer distrust and annoying veneer, there is a human being.”
“Compliments?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Don’t let it go to your head. I’m sure you’ll annoy me again tomorrow.”
“Go to bed, Lily.”
She got out of the glider gingerly. And he immediately felt the loss. His arm had been throbbing all night, but while he was holding Lily, he’d forgotten.
She stood there a minute, then said, “Good night, Sebastian.”
“Night, Lily. I’ll see you at breakfast.”
She walked toward the very back of the driveway and the small efficiency apartment. She turned at the door and waved at him. Sebastian got up and flexed his hand. Yes, it actually felt better. Maybe it was simply the heat of Lily’s shoulder that helped ease the muscles.
Maybe.
* * *
A WEEK LATER, Lily had just ended a breathing treatment with Mrs. Burns. She’d been visiting her for a while now. At first, a few times a day, now just once.
The older woman pointed to the tea service on the table. “Do you have time for a cup?”
To be honest, Lily didn’t. Mrs. Burns was her second-last call of the day. The very long day where none of her patients lived in proximity to each other. She’d spent the bulk of her time driving. But this was why she’d chosen this career. She could have a cup of tea or help a patient with something nonmedical. “I’d love a quick cup.”
“I made the cookies. Pecan sandies. There’s a bag of them on the table. I hope you’ll take them to Hank. They’re his favorite.”
“I know you know Hank—everyone in Valley Ridge does. But you know him well enough to know his favorite cookie?”
“His Betty was my best friend. It’s one of those things that friends know. And now that she’s not here to bake him cookies, I like to take him a treat now and then.”
“That’s very sweet, Mrs. Burns,” she told the older woman.
“I’d take it myself and check on the old coot, but I’m not feeling up to snuff. I’m so glad you’re here and have saved me the trip into town.”
She leaned over and patted Mrs. Burns’s hand. “I’m happy to do it.”
Mrs. Burns took a sip of her tea. She put the cup down on the saucer with a small clink and asked, “You’re still renting the apartment from Hank?”
“Yes.” Lily took a sip, too.
“So how is he?”
Lily wasn’t sure how to answer that. He seemed more with it. He followed conversations smoothly and was more willing to interact.
“The same as ever,” she told the older lady, which was the truth. Just a couple more weeks until his appointment, she’d reminded herself over and over. Until then, she was going to keep an eye on him and hope she was wrong.
“And that grandson of his? Oh, that boy gave poor Hank the runaround, but I think he saved Hank, too. The man was dying of a broken heart—missing his Betty and mourning Leanne. That girl was wild from the word go.”
“Rumor has it so was Sebastian,” Lily said.
“No. He was rambunctious. And he was full of mischief, but he didn’t run crazed like his mother. And then he went into the marines after college. He came home once, dressed in his blues. If I were twenty years younger, I would have swooned.”
“Well, he’s fine. Settling back into civilian life, I think.” She finished her tea. “I really need to get going, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Oh, I know you will. You and Dr. Neil are quite the pair.”
She leaned down and kissed the elderly woman’s cheek. “We both care.”
“Thanks, sweetie. I’m making my next appointment with him on a Monday so I’ll get to see you there. Then I may head over to the diner and check on Hank myself.”
“That sounds lovely.” Lily said goodbye and headed back to Valley Ridge. She’d planned on going straight to the diner, but it occurred to her that she’d left the most recent receipts from Hank on the counter at breakfast. She unlocked the kitchen door and was about to call out in case Sebastian was home when she heard a crash.
“Sebastian?” she called as she walked through the house. Glass and what looked to be dried beans littered the living-room floor. “Are you okay?”
He looked up at her and waves of anger seemed to radiate from him. “Am I okay? Why, sure, Lily, I’m great. I’m a grown man who’s sitting here trying to pick up dried beans from the table and drop them in a stupid jug like some toddler with a Tinkertoy.”
She stepped over the mess and reached out to him, placing her hand lightly on his shoulder. “Seb—”
He knocked her hand away. “Sebastian. It’s Sebastian. Why is it so hard for everyone in this damned town to accept that I’ve outgrown my childhood nickname?”
Fear. It might freeze some people in their place, but with Lily it caused her to jump back, out of striking distance, without even thinking. She felt a wave of nausea. She wanted nothing more than to bolt from Seb—Sebastian—and his anger and his mess. He wasn’t her problem. She didn’t need to put herself in harm’s way and be a target for his temper.
But Lily had long ago learned to face her fear, so she didn’t run. In fact, she drew a deep breath and forced herself to move back toward Sebastian. “That was uncalled for. I know how frustrating it must be—”
“Really? You know? You understand? Let me tell you, Little Miss Lily Sunshine, who goes around with a perpetual smile and an inner certainty that life is good, you don’t know anything about it. You don’t know what it’s like to see the career you planned, the life you planned, evaporate. I was a marine. Now I’ve got a crippled hand, my buddies are heading back to fight a fight I can no longer participate in, and I don’t know what the hell I am.”
Sebastian’s anger gave way to self-pity. Lily knew he’d deny it if she said so, but there it was. And she knew from personal experience that self-pity was a soul-killing emotion.
“Come on,” she said, indicating he should take her hand. She didn’t have time to spare, but she’d make this work.
He didn’t take it; instead he asked, “Where?”
“You’ll see. I mean, unless you’re scared.” She didn’t wait any longer. She grabbed his good hand and pulled him along in her wake.
He followed. She would have pulled harder if he’d tried to break away.
“I’m not scared of anything,” he assured her.
Lily had an idea. She’d used it once with one of her patients in the hospital. He’d been feeling sorry for himself, like Sebastian. “Come on and trust me.”
Sebastian snorted but followed her.
Lily’s momentary fear was forgotten. This was what she was good at.
She had the beginnings of a plan.
CHAPTER FOUR
LILY COULD ALMOST SEE Sebastian puff up when she made the challenge.
Scared? Of Lily?
Yeah, sometimes people underestimated her. It was as if they thought that happy people couldn’t be tough.
Well, she’d dealt with injured patients for many years, and she was able to recognize when they needed something more than traditional nursing care. Sebastian had reached his limit of frustration. Time to burn off some of his energy, and hopefully some of his anger.
She was relieved that Sebastian got in his car and followed her as she drove the few blocks to the high school. He parked next to her in t
he lot and got out as she opened the car and took out a basketball and a piece of rope...the thin white kind that people used as a clothesline.
“What are you doing?”
“You’ll see,” she said. “Come on.”
At the basketball court, she dropped the ball and made a slipknot in the rope, which she put over her left wrist and the other end around her waist, basically pinning her arm behind her back. “One-on-one.”
She’d immobilized her hand in order to play basketball with him.
“What do you think this is going to prove?”
Oh, yeah, there was anger there in his voice. Anger brought on by the frustration of someone who’d always been healthy and suddenly wasn’t. She wanted to ask about his accident. Hank told her so many things about Sebastian, but the things he talked about were in the past. More recent things, like Sebastian’s accident or where he’d served, weren’t in Hank’s repertoire.
If they were friends, she’d ask. Whatever he told her couldn’t be as bad as what she imagined. She might avoid the national news in the morning, but she kept up with current events. She knew there were marines stationed all over the world, in any number of dangerous situations. What she didn’t know—and no one in town seemed to know, or at least talk about—was how Sebastian got hurt. Where he got hurt.
She wouldn’t think about that now. Facing him, she replied, “I’m going to prove that I can whip your butt at basketball with one hand literally tied behind my back.”
Lily wasn’t sure Sebastian would accept her challenge. She wasn’t even sure after witnessing his outburst that it was a good idea. But as a nurse she’d learned that the best way to help people who had profound injuries heal was to show them they were capable. Pushing them if necessary.
She couldn’t give Sebastian back his career, and no one could help him discover where to turn next, but she could show him what he could do. Hank had told her that Sebastian had played basketball in high school. She knew he loved the game. She could show him that even if his left hand was impaired, he could still indulge in a favorite pastime.
“Chicken?” she asked, upping the ante.