Echo Falls, Texas Boxed Set

by Patti Ann Colt

  Robin carefully placed the thimbles back in the box and made a mental note to use Chad’s computer and research their value. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

  Frowning, she jerked around. Chad stood in the doorway studying her with a pensive expression. The air was thick with awareness of him as a man. Her insides tossed, bouncing around in rhythm with the beating of her heart.

  “Find something interesting?”

  The deep tone of his voice made her pulse skip and a shiver ran down her back. Feeling cross from the onslaught of all these emotions, she didn’t answer him. She rose and rounded the bed, placing the thimbles on the dresser and then dusted her hands on her jeans.

  Robin cleared her throat. “Just more of the same.”

  “You’ve been busy.” Chad levered himself from the doorway and walked to the windows to look out across the fields. His blue baseball cap was pushed back on his head, his sunburned nose standing in sharp contrast to his tanned face. He was so close to her that she could see the pulse beating in his throat.

  “I decided it was best to do a basic look into all the rooms to see what was here, so it’s kind of messy. There’s a lot more here than I thought. Sorry.”

  “I wasn’t complaining. Just observing.”

  “Are the girls asleep?”

  “Yes. We’ll have to hit the pumpkin patch another time.”

  If he was experiencing any letdown, she couldn’t hear it in his voice or see it in his expression. Part of her was disappointed. A trip to the pumpkin patch would have been fun. But it was for the best.

  A shaft of sadness pierced her.

  After learning about her stupidity with Lloyd, she supposed he’d never think of her the same way again.

  Robin tried to move to the opposite side of the room. Chad stepped in her way and before she could stop, she gently bumped against him. His warm hands circled her waist to steady her. He reached up with one hand and lightly toyed with a loose tendril of her hair, grazing her cheek with his knuckles. The warmth, the closeness, the fresh farm smells and the maleness of his presence were her undoing.

  “I’m sorry for what happened to you.” His warm breath fanned across her cheek when he spoke.

  “It wasn’t your doing. It was mine.” Robin whispered, keeping the intimacy of the moment. She looked into his eyes. His intent was as clear as crystal in sunlight. He was going kiss her. Lord she couldn’t let him—she’d be lost.

  Jerking away, Robin bumped into the dresser.

  The beveled glass mirror swung loose. The left side broke away from the arm. The heavy piece tipped and struck the top of the dresser. She reached out to catch it, but the aged mirror exploded, spitting brittle glass in all directions. Chad grabbed her and tried to pull her back from the scattering pieces, but his action came too late. Knifelike shards sliced the palms of her hands.

  Blood welled from the wounds, running in rivulets.

  ~~CHAPTER SIX~~

  Robin froze, immobilized by the sight of her own blood dripping from her hands onto the floor, the pain nearly blinding her.

  “Damn, Robbie!” Chad pushed her down the hall and into the bathroom. He turned on the water and held her hands under the stream washing away the blood and shards of glass clinging to her skin. Several pieces were embedded in the open wounds. He loosely wrapped her hands in towels and bent her arms at the elbow bringing her hands level with her heart. “Hold them up. That will slow the bleeding.”

  Robin felt sick to her stomach and light headed.

  “Don’t you dare faint.” Chad put his arm around her waist, pulling her close.

  “I won’t.” Robin closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “You’re going to the hospital. You need a doctor to take those pieces out and get stitches.”

  She opened her eyes. “They aren’t that bad.”

  “Yes, they are. I can’t even begin to get the shards out and the cuts are deep and will never stay closed without stitches.”

  “But…”

  “No buts.” Chad pushed her hair back from her eyes, cupping her face. “Let me take care of this, Robin. Please.”

  “My girls?”

  “Grandma can come and watch them.”

  Robin trembled, swaying with chill and dizziness. Chad scooped her up and carried her into the kitchen where he sat her in a chair at the table. With her elbows balanced on the table, blood trickled down her arms and onto the wood surface. Disconnecting herself from the surreal image, she closed her eyes.

  Her hands throbbed.

  Chad grabbed his cell phone from the counter and dialed, staying close to her chair—an act she appreciated. When his grandmother answered, he made a quick explanation and hung up.

  “She’s on her way.” Chad quickly checked the girls in the living room. “They’re still asleep.”

  “I can’t believe they slept through that crash.”

  Chad shrugged. Robin rose and stretched her towel-covered hands over the sink. Taking a first aid kit from the cupboard, Chad pulled out some gauze pads and tore the covering off. Moving behind her, he pulled the towels off and gently covered the cuts, then wrapped her hands in clean towels to contain the blood.

  Robin hissed. “God, it hurts.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m so sorry about the mirror. I’m such a klutz.”

  “Forget the mirror. I’m more worried about your hands and you’re not a klutz. It was an accident.”

  Robin leaned back against him and closed her eyes.

  Chad rocked her gently back and forth. “Last spring while building a storage shed, I sliced a chunk of skin out of my thumb all the way to the bone. I remember how bad that hurt.” He pressed a little closer to her, his steadiness a comfort.

  Blood seeped through the new towels and leaked down her arms. Chad released her to get another set out of the cupboard and rewrapped them.

  When his grandmother’s Cadillac rumbled up the driveway, she straightened and swayed, feeling woozy.

  He held her close and then grabbed his keys. “Can you walk?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, my God!” His grandmother gasped when she saw the towels and the blood.

  “Thank you for watching the girls.” Robin’s eyes teared.

  “Oh, now honey, don’t worry about a thing.” Olivia hugged her. “Chad will get you all fixed up and I’ll clean this up before the girls wake up.”

  Chad helped Robin to his truck, got in himself and started the engine. When they turned onto the road, he sped up, well past the speed limit. His knuckles turned white where they gripped the wheel.

  “Do you know the doctor?” Robin shifted her arms and hissed.

  Chad glanced at her, then turned his eyes back to the road. “Yes. Doc Garrison delivered all the Applegate kids. He set my broken arm when I was ten and he stitched up my thumb last fall. He’s talked now and then about retiring, but thank God, he hasn’t yet.”

  Robin sat rigid, hands held up against her shoulders. The blood had quit dripping and the drops that had fallen on her jeans were drying. When they reached the city limits, she leaned her head against the seat and closed her eyes.

  She should have just let him kiss her.

  Half a dozen chairs were occupied in the Echo Falls Community Hospital’s waiting room. Jean Garcia, the nurse in charge, took one look at the bloodied towels on Robin’s hands and immediately took her to a cubicle and helped her lie down.

  Robin’s hands throbbed in rhythm with the pounding in her head. Nauseated and light-headed, she couldn’t watch while the nurse removed the towels and pulled the gauze away. Curiosity finally made her look. The blood still gently oozed from the gapping slashes, but it no longer flowed. Jean went to the counter, returning with long strips of wet gauze.

  “These are soaked with medication. It will numb your hands.” She wrapped each hand, careful to cover the edges of the cuts. Robin hissed through her teeth and then clamped her mouth shut, trying hard not to cry.


  “Sorry, honey. I know that stings. They’ll be numb in a few minutes.” Jean handed Chad a clipboard. “I need her information. I’ll be back to get her vitals after I tell Doc she’s here.”

  “Thanks.” Chad took a pen from his pocket, but before he could look over the forms, Jean was back to take Robin’s blood pressure and temperature.

  “Doc will be here in a few minutes.” She charted Robin’s information. “You get that form filled out and don’t leave her alone.”

  “I won’t.” Chad watched her leave, then picked up the clipboard.

  “I shouldn’t have grabbed for it.” Robin stared at the ceiling, counting the tiles.

  “Reflex. Something starts to fall, you try to stop it.” He answered her without looking up.

  “I can’t afford this.” Robin hadn’t meant for the anguish to slip out. Chad set aside the paperwork and brushed her hair back from her forehead. Her eyes flooded with tears at the comfort of the gesture.

  “This isn’t the first accident the farm has had and it won’t be the last. I have insurance.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Robbie, you’re an employee. The farm will cover the expense.”

  “But… “

  “Don’t finish that or you’re going to tick me off.” Chad sat back in the metal chair and propped the clipboard on his knees.

  Robin turned away, biting her lip to keep from arguing.

  “Middle name?”

  “May.”

  “Address? Never mind. I’ll use the farm address and phone number.”

  “Social Security number?”

  Robin couldn’t muster more than a monotone in answer. What was she going to do with him?

  Keep him, her heart whispered. Caution, her brain answered.

  “Favorite color?”

  Robin glanced at Chad in confusion. The beginnings of a smile tipped the corners of his mouth.

  “That’s not on there.” She searched his eyes, needing to identify what he was feeling. Caring. Empathy. Closeness. She was in this fix because he’d almost kissed her and she’d panicked. She really should have let him kiss her. Now, she wouldn’t be able to work.

  “Oh, my God…” Robin felt her heart drop to her stomach, her throat closed with anguish.

  “What?” Chad rose, dropping the clipboard.

  “I can’t work now!” Robin tried to raise up. “Stitches in both hands, I won’t be able to do anything.”

  Chad patted her shoulder to settle her back against the table. “Sure you will. You can stay at the farm with me so the girls can help me run the pumpkin patch and you can sleep and watch TV and read and rest.”

  “I can’t do that. I have rent and bills. I do a day’s work for a day’s pay.”

  “Damn it, Robbie. Everybody takes sick days. Some people have even been known to get paid for sick days. It’s part of their salary.”

  “It’s never been part of mine at any of the jobs I’ve worked.”

  Chad snapped his mouth shut, his lips twisting before he replied. “Well, it is at this one.”

  Robin glared at him.

  He sighed. “You’re staying at the farm while you recuperate and I’m looking after the girls. End of conversation.”

  Robin closed her eyes, breaths coming in short bursts of panic. His suggestion went against every shred of backbone she’d developed in the last five years and pricked her fear of complacency. “I can’t do that.”

  “Sure you can.” Chad picked up the clipboard.

  The curtain pulled back and Dr. Garrison entered. He was a rotund man, his thinning gray hair neatly trimmed, his face close-shaven. His wire-rimmed glasses reflected twinkling hazel eyes. Dressed in a blue surgical uniform with a stethoscope hanging from his neck, his smile stopped their argument cold.

  “Chad.” The doctor reached to shake Chad’s hand. “How’s your mother?”

  “Hi, Doc. You probably see her more than I do, being on the council.”

  Doc laughed. “You’re right. Who is this?” He walked to the gurney and looked down at Robin, his eyes glancing over her hands.

  Chad stepped forward. “Robin Harmon, a friend and an employee of mine. Robin, this is Dr. Garrison.”

  Robin cleared her throat. “Doctor.”

  “Looks like you did a real number on these hands. Let’s see what we can do to get this fixed.”

  Pulling up a roller chair, he sat and lifted the gauze, tossing it on a tray. Jean came back in the room and laid out the necessary supplies.

  The doctor expertly injected more painkiller, removed the remaining shards of glass and then intricately sewed up each wound. During the entire process, he and Chad chatted, catching up on family affairs and community doings. An hour later Doc Garrison released her with stern instructions not to use her hands and to see him at his office on Wednesday. He handed Chad a ream of cautionary information about signs of infection and two prescriptions to go with the multitude of stitches. Chad shook the doctor’s hand.

  Doc Garrison patted her knee. “You do what you’re told and everything will be fine. You’re very lucky, you know. There are some major tendons in the palm and that glass somehow missed every one.”

  Chad helped her down from the table. Exhaustion and blood loss made her knees shake and she was glad for his hand at her waist.

  “Sit here.” He helped her to a bench in front of the hospital. “I’ll go get the truck.”

  After only a few moments, he drove to the curb and helped her inside. When he got behind the wheel, he turned to look at her. “We’ll go to the pharmacy and then to your house. You and the girls need clothes.”

  “You’re not going to let this go are you?” Robin rested her head against the back of the seat, too tired to hold her eyes open.

  “Do you honestly think you can keep track of Boo and Lindy right now?”

  She sighed. She couldn’t swat a fly at the moment. “You win. Take the state highway and turn left on the farm road to the canyon. My house is on the left about two miles down that road. Canyon Road.”

  She slumped back in the seat, asleep before he reached the end of the block.

  She lived on Canyon Road. Geez-us!

  He’d known money was tight, but he’d assumed she lived in town. Pharmacy errand complete, he turned off the state highway and passed a run-down gas station, a ramshackle bar and a convenience store with a couple dozen shabby men hanging around outside. He hadn’t been down this road in ages. With his mother being mayor, he’d heard rumors about the deterioration of the area, but hadn’t actually checked it out himself. The canyon was in an incorporated part of Echo Falls, not part of town proper, much the same as his farm. The incorporation allowed the city to provide emergency fire, police and medical assistance to the town’s outlying areas. Except, this area had the highest crime rate in the community. Tom talked frequently about the questionable activities along this road, lots of details Chad now wished he didn’t have.

  He looked at the speedometer to track the mileage. She said her house was two miles from the turn-off. Passing one intersection, he noted a series of dilapidated houses clustered first on one side of the road, then on the other. Chad counted off the mailboxes until he came to the house number Robin had given him and pulled into her driveway. Tapping the steering wheel, he looked over the house’s peeling paint and the dead lawn and surveyed the area for any signs of trouble. Every instinct rebelled at the thought of Robin or the girls dealing with this kind of neighborhood. Carefully blanking his face, Chad shook Robin awake.

  “Is this it?”

  “Mmhm.” Robin opened her eyes. “Yes, this is it. My keys are in my purse.”

  He pulled her purse towards him and sorted through it until he found her keys. Again he scanned the road. All was quiet. “I’ll get the door.”

  Inside the house, Robin stood disoriented.

  With the drapes closed, the dimness made her eyes struggle to focus. Fatigue overwhelmed her. Chad closed the door and stood quietly b
ehind her. She didn’t want to guess what he thought of her home. She carefully made her way to the bedroom, desperately wanting to get this chore finished.

  Chad walked through the living room into the kitchen. She heard his bootsteps across the floor exploring every inch of her house. The heavy, dark green drapes were pulled against the heat of the afternoon, but instead trapped the stifling warmth in the house. She never left the air conditioning on when she wasn’t home, though. Too expensive.

  He came back into her line of sight and lifted the twins’ baby picture from the top of the television. He studied it for a few moments, smiling slightly, and then replaced it. He scooped up the library books, the coloring books, crayon bucket and the girls’ Barbie basket and put them by the door.

  Robin sat on the edge of the double bed, her pride smarting. She had taken a chance on the small community, forgoing life in a big city to build a better life for her daughters, had made sacrifices to make that happen. She knew the neighborhood was horrible, but at least they had a roof over their heads. She looked up to see Chad standing in the doorway.

  “I do the best I can,” she whispered. “It’s all I can afford.”

  “I know, sweetheart.” Chad knelt down at her feet, cupping her face with the utmost care. His blue eyes searched hers, his warmth so close she wanted to dive in and wrap herself in it.

  Then, he kissed her.

  Not with the pawing onslaught she had experienced from other men, but with a warm gentle mouth that sampled and rubbed and caused a flood of sweetness to seep into her heart. Then he changed the angle of the kiss, his tongue tracing the outline of her lips. When she opened her mouth, she expected him to sweep in like a conquering warrior, but his tongue grazed hers, never taking more than she gave. A molten heat spiked over her skin making her ache for a closer contact. Before she could talk herself into it or out of it, he lightened the kiss and then broke away.

  She touched his face. The bandages on her hands created a barrier between them and brought her back to reality. Chad’s fingers gripped her chin and forced her eyes to his.