“Did you hear what I said?”
“How fast were you going? You’ve got to start slow. You can’t just jump back into the pace you set before the break and expect to be fine.” He gripped his forehead and rubbed in the same practiced move she’d seen him make whenever she screwed up: when she skipped training in high school to see a concert with friends, when she got caught holding hands at the movies with bad boy Brian Mitchell, and countless times since she’d broken her leg and broken his dream.
“You’re not listening to me, Dad. I’m done. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Do what? What else is there for you to do?”
“That’s just it! I have no idea. Every time I think about my life, I see nothing ahead but weeks of us fighting with each other. And for what? I’m not going to make the Olympic team!” She took a sip to ease her stinging throat. “I’m not having fun anymore. You always told me to walk away when it wasn’t fun.”
He tucked his chin and frowned at her while making an indistinguishable noise in his throat. “Don’t you throw that back in my face.”
“What? The truth? I blew it, Dad. I broke my leg at the worst possible time. I missed the boat when all we’ve done for the last two years, hell, the last six years, was plan how to get aboard. Now I’m floundering in the wake while the ship has set sail. I’m so tired of treading water.”
“You’re giving up too easily. There’s the race next month. You’re a long shot, yes, but the trials aren’t out of the question. All you have to do is work at it. Get back to where you were.”
“You and I both know that where I was wasn’t anywhere good enough to make the Olympic team.”
“If I thought that, I wouldn’t have wasted the last two years training you.”
“Good to know you think it was a waste.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Yeah, I think it was.” She capped the water and tried to hand it back. He wouldn’t take it, only stared into her eyes, his lips pressed tight. “The harder you try to get me back to where I was, the more I resent you for pushing me and the harder I resist. I’m starting to hate this sport and I’m starting to hate you. I don’t think that’s good for either one of us.”
“What do you need to get your head in the right place? Because that’s all that’s going on here, Jill. You simply need the mental fortitude to push past the doubt.”
“I need time.”
“Time’s the one thing we don’t have.”
She felt nothing but pity when she looked up into his furious eyes. “I’m taking it anyway.”
“You’re throwing your career away.” He kicked at the tiny stones in the road. “Both of ours.”
“I’m trying to save our relationship. I think that’s worth more.”
When she turned away from him and started walking back toward town, he grabbed her arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m going back to get my car. I’ve got a job I need to get to.”
“Get in the van.”
She pulled her arm from his grasp. She felt like a petulant teenager, but couldn’t help herself. Her pride wouldn’t let her do anything but walk with her head held high back to her life, or what little of one she had. “I’d rather walk.”
“You’d rather walk,” he repeated. “Fine. Fine. I’ll talk to Warlock’s coach, see if he can take you on while I find you a new coach.”
She spun around and threw her hands in the air. “I don’t want a new coach. I don’t want to run at all!”
“You’re right. Me coaching you isn’t working anymore. I’ll find someone else, someone neutral.”
“Dad, when and if I’m ready to run again, I’d appreciate your help finding a coach, but not now. I’m done training. I’m getting off the hamster wheel and figuring out what I want to do with my life.”
He stared at her so long, she thought he was trying to change her mind by the sheer force of his will. “You know what, Jill? That’s a great idea. You run back to your dumpy apartment and your pointless job as a waitress, and grow the hell up. But when you realize what you’ve done, don’t come crying to me to get you back in the game. I’m through.”
Throwing anger right back in his face would have been so easy, but taking the easy road now wouldn’t do anything to help the relationship she was trying to salvage. “I love you, Dad. This doesn’t have anything to do with you. All these years I’ve been training for the school, for my coaches, for you. Breaking my leg and moving back in with you and Mom made me realize I don’t have a life outside of running. I don’t want my entire life to be about just one thing.”
He got into the van, started the engine, and looped around in the road to head back into town. He rolled the window down as he passed her. “Good luck finding yourself,” he said before gunning the engine. She had to turn her head away to keep the pebbles the tires kicked up from spraying in her eyes.
Jill told herself the pebbles caused the tears to come on the long walk back to campus. It wasn’t that she’d jumped off a cliff without a parachute.
Chapter 9
Olivia dragged the cooler containing lunch for eight along the dirt bank toward the waiting rafts. She grunted with the effort and swore under her breath at her brother who left the task for her to complete. When the other end lifted and the scraping noise disappeared, she looked back into a very appealing pair of bluish gray eyes.
“Well, well, well,” she purred. “I heard you were back.”
Tyler Bloodworth held the end of the cooler with one hand and lazily propped the other on his low-slung cargo pants. “Word travels fast.”
“It does where you’re concerned.” She adjusted her hold on the cooler. “I thought you were headed north this summer. Montana, wasn’t it?”
“Wyoming. I changed my plans.”
Olivia found it interesting he offered no explanation. She wasn’t one to leave a pretty stone unturned. “Because?”
He shrugged his appealingly wide shoulders and shuffled his feet. “Just because.”
“Come on, Ty, a guy like you doesn’t do anything on a whim.”
“A guy like me?” he asked.
“You’ve got your whole life planned out. Guide here last summer, finish up your graduate degree, Wyoming this summer, and back to teach classes and start the business with your dad.”
“I don’t remember giving you an itinerary of my life’s plans.”
“You told my brother.” She shrugged and switched the cooler to her opposite hand. “That’s as good as telling me.”
“I’ll have to remember that.”
She watched him squirm as she slowly surveyed his assets. At about an even six feet, he had a rangy build to go along with the loose-limbed gait that was as calm as the ambling river at her back. He’d caught her eye from the very first look last summer, even in his fishing waders, vest, and hat. Olivia found it hard to hide gorgeous.
His blond hair was darker than when she’d last seen him, but she knew it wouldn’t take long for the ends to lighten in the sun. His boyish good looks edged just a little toward shaggy with the days old beard and wind swept hair. It didn’t help that the t-shirt poking out from his well-worn fleece sported a ragged collar. She’d seen him with his shirt off enough times to lust after the work hardened physique hidden under his clothes.
“You done checking me out yet?” he asked with an irritated sneer that flashed his dimples.
“No. I figure it doesn’t really count since you’ve already called dibs on Jill.”
The only thing that saved him from being ridiculously handsome was the half-inch scar over his right eyebrow. It disappeared when they shot to his hairline. “Who told you that?”
“Oh, please. A woman never reveals her sources.” She continued on toward the dock, grateful he hadn’t dropped the other end of the cooler and left it for her to drag the rest of the way. They set the cooler down together.
“I didn’t call dibs,” he explained as he stared ou
t over the wide river. “I would never call dibs on anyone, especially Jill.”
“Relax, Indiana Jones. She’s cool with it.”
He whipped around to face her. “You told her?”
“I may have mentioned it in passing.”
“Great…” he said through gritted teeth. “Just great.”
“Look, you want to keep your plans on the down low, you might not want to go into The Tap and start blabbing about your chances with her.”
“I didn’t…or at least, I didn’t mean to. Shit. She probably thinks I’m an ass.”
Olivia knelt down and turned her back to him to conceal her grin. The guy was like putty in her hands. Jill would definitely be thanking her later. “Probably.”
***
Ty couldn’t tell if Olivia was joking, which seemed ironic considering he’d never met a more obvious woman in his life. Everything about her, from her shiny blond hair, to her pouty lips, to her knock out, wetsuit clad body screamed, “Come and get me, boys!”
He appreciated a beautiful woman, but considering her interest last year, he’d been grateful for his relationship with Dana and his loyalty to her when Olivia zoned in on him like a heat seeking missile. Dana or not, he wasn’t interested in Olivia and her insatiable need for attention, not to mention the fact that she was his boss’s sister.
Ty left her digging through the lunch cooler and made his way toward the main barn-shaped building that housed The Golden Rule Raft and Fly Shop. He stripped off his favorite fleece as the June morning eased into midday.
He found Tommy Golden in his usual spot behind the counter helping guests sign waivers and directing them to the changing area. Ty appreciated Tommy’s hands on approach, but often wondered if the man ever slept. He ran three successful businesses—well, four if he counted the fly and raft shops as separate entities. Tommy ran them together from the same building, a model Ty planned to duplicate with his dad.
Tommy greeted him with a nod while dealing with a nervous family of four wearing University of Oklahoma t-shirts.
“The Rio Grande has class two and three rapids,” Tommy explained. “Class two means medium rapids. There’s a stretch of class three where you’ll hit some high, irregular waves.” The woman’s face visibly paled. “That’s why we’ve got experienced guides in each boat. They know the river and they know how to navigate the rocks and eddies.”
Ty had heard the spiel thousands of times at home with his dad and hundreds over the last summer when he came in to the shop to meet and greet the fishermen who’d hired him for the day. He waited patiently as the family signed, paid, and were shown to the locker rooms. Considering he’d already blown it with Jill, he was anxious to get to work. He felt confident he couldn’t do too much damage there.
Tommy stepped around the counter and gave Ty a hearty handshake and a slap on the back. It wasn’t a hardship to return to the Lower Fork and work for Tommy. No matter what happened with Jill, he’d get in some good fishing and spend another summer with a man who, at the age of 31, knew how to run several successful seasonal businesses.
“You made it,” Tommy said. He adjusted the sock cap on his head. The short ends of his hair were the same color as the coffee he habitually drank day and night.
“Yesterday. I’m ready to go whenever you are.”
Tommy scratched his freshly shaven chin. In a place where razors and hairbrushes were considered optional, Tommy’s grooming habits set him apart from the masses. “The salmon and stone fish haven’t hatched yet, so we’re not swamped, but I can certainly put you in the rotation. When did you want to get started?”
“As soon as you need me. I pulled my raft out this year. You still have some storage space for me or am I going to have to lug it up to the cabin every day?”
“I think I can spare some room for a guide who’s generous enough to bring his own boat. Let’s have a look at her, shall we?”
Ty led Tommy out back to where he’d pulled his truck and boat trailer.
Tommy whistled through his teeth. “Sweet.” He ran his hand along the gray rubber raft. “This is the exact model I was going to buy to add to the fleet. You’ve saved me the effort.”
“She leaves when I do,” Ty reminded him.
“Yeah, but that’s months from now. I can get one like her for a steal after the season’s over.”
Tommy pointed to a storage shed at the far end of the property. “You can pull her in there. It’s got a combination lock so you can grab her and go whenever you need to.”
“Appreciate it.” Ty looked out over the river. “Listen, I’m itching to get on the water. Do you have anything this afternoon because if not, I’m fishing anyway. I’d much rather make some money doing it.”
“I’ve got a father-son duo coming in at three. They’re beginners and only interested in wading. I was going to give them to Shane, but I’d rather you take them. He’s not very good with the newbies.”
Ty held out his hand. “Consider it done. I’ll get the boat locked up and be back here by two thirty.”
Tommy gripped his hand and shook. “It’s good to have you back, bro.”
“It’s good to be back,” Ty said and meant it. He’d worried about having regrets, about giving up on a summer spent on a river he’d admired and dreamed of fishing his whole life. The river wasn’t going anywhere, and his chances with Jill, as fleeting as they were, seemed even smaller than before now that he knew Olivia had opened her big mouth.
He took a deep breath of mountain air and hopped behind the wheel. It was time to man up and do some damage control.
Chapter 10
Jill felt numb. As she delivered food and drinks to the lunchtime crowd, she couldn’t focus her thoughts on anything, so she tried to narrow her mind and focus only on the job at hand. A customer at table four needed a soft drink refill, his companion some extra napkins. The three beers for table two were waiting on the bar for her to deliver. The hostess had just sat a group of tourists at a four-top near the stage.
Jill could handle each task simultaneously. She’d graduated in the top ten percent of her class with an accounting degree, so keeping a few tables and their orders straight wasn’t much of a hardship. She majored in accounting because math had always come easily to her and she didn’t have time to think much about a career beyond training. “Get a degree in something where there’s always a need,” her father had drilled into her head. His other motto was, “Do your best.”
Had she done her best today? It had felt like the best thing for her at the time, but now that she’d unleashed her desire to quit—or take a break—she felt sick with worry. He’d asked her to grow up, but didn’t he understand that growing up with him dictating her life for the next four years wasn’t possible? She needed to be on her own, make her own decisions about how she lived her life in order to figure out if she really wanted to devote her time and energy to running. Could it be a career or just a hobby that kept her healthy and satisfied?
She could have wept with relief when she saw Lyle Woodward and his stepfather enter the restaurant. Lyle greeted her with a wink and a wave. Lyle would help her. Lyle would listen and understand her doubt and worry. He’d fretted over a similar choice years ago and then happily segued into writing and working with his stepfather on their family’s ranch. He continued to run every day for fun. He’d help her figure out if what she did was for the best or if she made the biggest mistake of her life.
“I need to talk to you,” she whispered in Lyle’s ear after she said hello to Dodge. She loaded her tray with the waiting beer. “Do you have some time after the lunch rush?”
“We’re grabbing a quick bite and then going to the ATV place. The big cat’s on the blink and Dodge’s been eyeing the new model.”
Dodge elbowed Lyle while slurping down his Coke. “You can stay and talk. I wanna look around without you breathing down my neck, anyway.”
“You sure?” Lyle asked.
“I think I can decide on an ATV without yo
ur opinion.”
Lyle flashed Jill his toothy smile. “I’m all yours.”
“Great,” she said. “It should be clearing out by the time you’re done with lunch.”
Only a few customers were left in the restaurant by the time Dodge had moseyed out of The Tap, leaving Lyle at the bar nursing his sweet tea. The only other person she knew who drank sweet tea was Tyler Bloodworth, but she couldn’t even begin to let her mind wander into that uncharted territory, not when she was filled with so much anxiety over her kneejerk reaction this morning.
After refilling drinks and settling their bills, Jill slipped behind the bar and eased her elbows onto the slick surface.
“So what’s up?” Lyle asked. He blinked his warm brown eyes and gave a sympathetic smile that flashed his deep and boyish dimples. He’d never had a serious girlfriend, but he’d certainly dated a fair share of women in his twenty-one years.
“I’m freaking out a little bit.”
“Over what?” His eyes narrowed. “Is it your leg?”
“No.” She blew out a big breath. “I quit today.”
“Quit what?”
“Training. I got pissed off at my dad this morning and I quit.”
“Just like that?”
She stood up and tried to be patient. Of course he would think her decision impulsive. She certainly hadn’t let on to anyone her lingering doubts and her feelings of being caged. “It’s been building for a while.”
“How did he take it?”
“About how you’d expect. He told me to grow up.”
Lyle shook his head. “I’ve never understood how your relationship could survive him coaching you. Don’t get me wrong,” he lifted his hand in a plea, “he’s a great coach. One of the best. But he’s not my dad and on many occasions, I wanted to kill him. Literally. Run over the man with the van.”
“Are you saying this was destined to happen?”
“No. I’m just not surprised.”
Mending the Line Page 5