by Nancy Naigle
“Just the opposite. They were so sweet. Yeah, hyped up on sugar, but still … I can’t believe how alive I feel up here, Mom. I love this place.”
“You always did,” she said quietly. “Want to talk to your dad?”
“No. Just tell him I said hello. I love you and miss y’all.”
“We love you too, Liz. Good night.”
She hung up the phone, glad that for once Mom hadn’t turned the phone call into a lecture of some sort. She warmed up a plate of Sonny’s chicken and biscuit cobbler in the little microwave while she set out to try to build her first fire on her own.
It wasn’t quite as easy as Matt made it look. She ran through quite a few of those rolled newspapers before one of the logs finally caught fire. But finally one spark led to another and the fire started licking the air in pretty orangey-red flames.
She settled on the floor in front of the fireplace with the savory cobbler, wishing she’d done this two years ago.
Chapter Twenty-five
The next morning Liz walked up to the house to see how things were going. It was amazing that from inside that cabin, she really couldn’t hear all the commotion of the work going on. Matt was giving instructions to a couple of the guys, while others were busy putting Sheetrock up on the new wall.
“Good morning,” she said when he finished with the guys.
“Hey there.” He spun around. “Did you have fun last night?”
“So much fun. Ginger is really sweet.”
“Yeah, she is, and she’s great at pulling people together for things like that because she’s almost impossible to say no to.”
“I know! But I’m glad, because I would have really missed out if I hadn’t said yes.” She stepped aside as one of the workers carried another piece of Sheetrock inside.
“It’s nice that you drove them around last night like that. You were so good with the kids.”
He shrugged. “It’s nothing. They need a way to deliver good cheer, and I’ve got a truck. It works for everybody. What they’re doing is nice. I’m just making it easier for them. Plus, they hook me up with cookies.”
“Wait a minute.” Liz turned to look him in the eye. “I could’ve paid you in cookies?”
“Yep.”
“Man, you’re right.” She threw her hands in the air. “I really don’t know how to operate in a small town.” She offered him a playful smile.
“I think you’ve got potential as a small-town girl.”
“Thank you.” You’re a good coach.
He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
Tingles rose all the way to her heart. Where did that come from? She stood unable to move for a moment, or maybe not wanting to.
“I’ve got to run down to Goodwin’s,” he said. “Need anything?”
“Um. No. Yes.” She gathered her thoughts. “Yes. I need an extension cord.”
“For inside or outside?”
“Inside. A brown one. Ten foot maybe?”
“Okay. I’ll be back in a while.” They walked toward his truck.
Elvis dropped to the ground, not looking eager to get back in the truck.
“He can stay here.” Liz patted her hand on her leg. “Want to stay with me, Elvis?”
He bounced to his feet and shook, then raced to her side.
“Don’t you steal my dog!” Matt warned her as he got into his truck.
“Not my fault if he falls in love with me and never wants to leave,” she teased.
Matt shook his head as he drove away.
She and Elvis walked back to the cabin. Her door looked so plain now compared to Ginger’s. It might be fun to paint the front doors of the cabins. Maybe she could paint this door a pretty blue to match the bedroom. The other could be a rustic red, forest green, or even an autumnal gold. It wasn’t a priority, but she liked the idea. She’d add it to the later nice-to-haves list.
The wreath on Ginger’s door had been pretty too. She’d said she’d made it out of old ornaments. Liz preferred the fresh-greenery-type wreaths, though. Some fragrant pine in a nice fluffy ring, with maybe some sprigs of glossy holly and berries. There was plenty of that right here on the property. It couldn’t be that hard to make one.
She gathered a trash bag and a pair of scissors to collect some materials to give it a try. Her phone was almost out of battery, so she set it on the charger, then called Elvis to come outside with her.
Around the back of the cabin the snow was still pristine except for a set of deer tracks from the woods to the middle of the field. The world seemed so quiet back here.
She walked to the edge of the woods and snipped long thin pine boughs that would be easy to arch into a circle for the wreath. She’d seen a spool of old fishing line in one of the drawers in the kitchen. She should be able to tie everything together with that, and it wouldn’t even show.
Unsure of how many pieces she’d need, she clipped just one from each tree to keep from stealing all the new young growth from any single tree.
Ahead, a bright green holly bush with shiny red berries and glossy leaves looked like it would make pretty accents on the wreath, so she headed deeper into the woods. As she walked through the snow, she looked up at the grand height of the trees. Some of them had to be at least thirty or forty feet tall. Big, strong, old trees that had probably been here long before her grandparents had even lived here.
Three huge bunches of mistletoe hung in the tree over her head. Why was it that mistletoe was always so high in the tree? She wished there were some way to get some of the mistletoe down. She picked a pinecone from one of the low limbs and tried throwing it to hit the mistletoe, but she couldn’t even throw that high.
She stood there staring at it. If Matt had been here, would we have kissed here under the mistletoe?
Elvis licked her hand.
“Thanks, Elvis. Your kisses are good, too.” Mistletoe would have been a cool addition, but that wasn’t going to happen. She meandered a little farther into the woods. Birds flitted from one tree to the next, their feathers puffed up against the chill.
“You’re so fortunate to live among all this beautiful nature, Elvis. Look around. It’s magnificent.”
He panted as he walked next to her. In some places the snow was clear up to his belly, so he had to kind of leap to move ahead.
The drifts were higher through this part of the woods. She was pretty sure this path led down to the stream where she and Pop used to fly-fish. She wished she’d taken the time to dress more appropriately for the hike. She balled her freezing hands into fists and rubbed them together. Even blowing into her hands didn’t seem to help.
“Come on, Elvis. We better head back.” She turned around and followed her tracks back. Elvis loped ahead, then came back to do it all over again. The way the snow crunched under her boots, it sounded as if she were a whole group of hikers.
Something scampered off in the bushes nearby. Maybe a bird. Could’ve been a rabbit or young deer too, but she didn’t see anything but a chubby brown bird sitting on a branch.
“If I put seed out for the birds, do you promise not to eat it?”
Elvis looked at her as if he couldn’t make any promises.
A clump of something green lay in the snow about twenty yards to her right. She left her trail to see if it was mistletoe. It very well could be, because there was a big bunch in the tree right above it. It was a large pile. It might even be enough to use on the wreath and make a mistletoe ball.
In her excitement she sped up to a jog, but her foot caught on something, and she flung forward into the snow with a thud.
Her hands smacked the ground, and her trash bag of clippings went flying in front of her.
She lay there for a second trying to gather herself, unsure if she was hurt or not.
Sucking in a breath, she lifted herself up to her hands and knees. “I’m okay. It’s okay,” she said, convincing herself to try to get up.
Pain seared through her body when she tried to pull her
foot forward.
Her ankle had caught in a root or something. She swept at the snow, revealing a gnarled mass of roots above the ground that had been completely hidden by the smooth snowdrift.
“No.” Oh no. No.
With the help of a tree limb lying on the ground nearby, Liz managed to free her foot, then used the stick for leverage to stand. “Please be okay.” She took a careful step forward onto her foot, but it wouldn’t hold her. She gasped and stood there heaving, tears falling down her cheeks. She couldn’t walk back.
Getting back down on the ground with a bad foot wasn’t easy.
Finally, she just dropped down into the snow, grabbed the trash bag, then rolled over and began crawling back toward her original path.
Elvis ran over to her and licked her face, then ran a large circle around her.
With each movement forward, pain shot through her whole leg. Her pants were now soaking wet, and her hands stung. She tried to catch her breath, then tucked her hands inside her coat to warm them.
Elvis didn’t understand what was going on.
He thought it was some kind of game, and he was loving every minute of it.
He kept running around her in circles, then stopping and bouncing in the snow close to her. Then he’d woof and do it all over again.
She crawled as far as she could, until her hands burned.
How will I ever get back?
She rose up on her knees and inched forward. Her foot throbbed from the swelling.
Just keep moving.
All she could see was snow and trees. No one would be able to see her either. Trying to keep her hands from being so cold, maybe even frostbitten, she grabbed the trash bag to wrap her hands. That offered some relief.
I can’t believe I came out without my phone. Matt warned me.
Alternating between walking on her knees and crawling, she finally made it to the cabin. Inside, she lay on the floor in front of the fire and cried.
Her skin stung, and her whole body ached.
Elvis lay on the floor next to her. She put her arms around his neck and cried into his soft fur. She needed help.
Scooting across the floor, she got over to the kitchen island and pulled her phone down from the charger.
After all his warnings, she hated to even call him, but she knew he’d come.
The call wouldn’t go through. She prayed the text would.
Liz: Matt, I need help.
* * *
HER PHONE IMMEDIATELY rang back. “Hey, Liz. I’m still at the hardware store. Do you need something from here?”
“No,” she said between strained breaths.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m hurt. I fell.”
“I’m on my way.”
She climbed up to her feet and tried to hop toward her bedroom, but she couldn’t without causing pain, so she got back down on the floor and sat in front of the fire to wait on Matt. When she sat perfectly still, the pain wasn’t quite as bad.
The front door flung open and Joe Don, Bubba, Billy, George Junior, and Glenn all ran inside. “What happened?”
“Matt called. He’s on his way. Are you bleeding?”
“She’s freezing cold,” Bubba said. “Go get a blanket off her bed.”
The next thing she knew she was huddled in blankets, and Joe Don was pushing a cup of hot chocolate in front of her.
She pushed it away. “I can’t drink it.” The pain made her nauseous.
“It’ll help get you warmed up. Just try to take a little sip at a time.” Joe Don put the mug in her hands. “Holding the mug will warm up those hands too.”
Matt stomped through the door. “What happened?”
“I fell. I was collecting stuff to make a wreath. I thought I saw some mistletoe on the ground and I was looking up and caught my ankle in a root and fell forward.”
Matt knelt beside her and laid his hand on her arm. “Did you hear anything pop or crack?”
“I don’t know, Matt.” She sucked in a sobbing breath. “It happened so fast. I was up and then I was flat on my face.”
He scooped her up into his arms. “I’m taking you to the hospital. Bubba, get the door.” He started moving through the room.
She laid her head against his shoulder. A hot tear ran down her cheek to his jacket.
“Thanks, guys.” Matt helped her into the passenger seat, then ran around to the driver’s seat and hit the road.
She clung to the door handle as he sped around the corner. “Okay, don’t wreck us. We don’t want to both be hurt.”
He opened the middle console and rummaged around, then handed her a bottle of pain reliever. “Take two of these.”
She took them, and then leaned her head back, trying so hard not to moan or complain.
He laid a hand on her leg. “You okay?”
She shook her head.
“Did you hit your head?”
“No. I don’t think so. It’s just my ankle or foot. I can’t stand. It’s like it’s not there. It won’t hold me at all.”
“Okay. We’ll be at the hospital soon. Hang in there.”
The hospital was about a forty-minute drive, but thankfully the ER was empty when they got there. They checked Liz in and a nurse wheeled her straight back to triage.
Liz was grateful for Matt’s help, but she was also happy he hadn’t come with her to triage, because when they tried to get her boot off she screamed out.
Tears streamed down her face now that she didn’t have to act brave for him.
The nurse worked for a good five minutes trying to get Liz’s boot off, but with every tug or pull Liz cried out. She couldn’t hold it back. The pain was terrible. Finally, the nurse pulled out a big pair of scissors and cut the leather to free her foot.
It seemed like the second her foot came free from the boot it swelled to twice its size.
“It doesn’t look good,” the nurse said. “We’re going to take you to X-ray. I need to be able to get up to your knee and get this sock off. Can I cut your jeans?”
“I don’t care.”
“I could get you a gown if you’d rather take them off.”
If she could even get them off, there’d be no way to get them back on over a cast. The thought of riding home in a hospital gown with Matt was not appealing. “Cut the jeans.”
The doctor came in. “How are we doing?”
“You’re definitely doing better than I am right now.”
He pushed and prodded and asked her a multitude of questions before sending her off to X-ray. Afterward, it didn’t take long for them to confirm what she’d feared. She’d broken her ankle and a small bone in her foot.
When the nurse wheeled her back out, Liz had a soft cast up to her knee, a pair of crutches, a prescription for pain medication, and an appointment to see an orthopedist in a few days when the swelling went down.
Chapter Twenty-six
Liz shook her head. There was no way she was staying with Matt. She could take care of herself.
“It would be so much easier, and I have satellite television, and…”
“No, thank you, Matt.”
When they got to the cabin, he carried her inside and set her up in the bed with her foot propped up on pillows. “It has to be above your heart so it won’t swell. I have a flex-fit bed in one of my guest rooms. I can put you in the zero-gravity position and you’ll be all set. It’s really comfortable.”
“I can prop it up on pillows. The nurse already explained all of this to me.”
Matt sat on the edge of the bed. “I’d feel so much better if you were staying at my house in one of my guest rooms. You’d be a lot more comfortable. Plus, if you have trouble, I’d be there to help.”
She closed her eyes. “All I want to do is go to sleep. I don’t need help for that.”
“That’s the pain pill at work. They’ll knock you out. I don’t feel good about leaving you.”
“Thanks for the rescue, but I’m not leaving here. Go home. You need to sl
eep tonight too.”
“Keep your phone next to you, and call me. Or call someone. Anyone. If you need help. Don’t be a fool and not ask for help.”
“I promise I’ll ask for help … if I need it.”
He wrote down a list of phone numbers and set them on the night table, but she was already asleep.
When she woke up she was groggy. It wasn’t until she tried to get out of bed that she remembered what had happened. As soon as she put her casted foot on the floor it ached, and it all came rolling back.
According to the clock, she’d slept either ten minutes or nearly twelve hours. It definitely hadn’t been just ten minutes. She remembered Matt coming in to check on her several times through the night. And Elvis. Elvis had been here. Even sleeping on the bed with her at one point, unless that was all just a dream.
She got herself to a standing position. Elvis trotted into the room. With the crutches under her arms she could barely get herself propelled forward.
Using the crutches was a joke. She finally ended up putting them down, and using the bed and the dresser to push off and hop her way to the bathroom. It was just easier that way.
Her head was in a fog. There was no way she was going to be able to accomplish anything today. Probably not for a few days while she was on these pills.
A pang of guilt … or something … shot through her.
Was this the sign she’d been asking for?
Had her fall been some kind of warning? A catalyst to get her back on the right track?
If Matt had fallen on her property he might have sued her and she could’ve lost everything. She needed to make sure she had this place properly insured, with all the workers that were going to be around for the coming months, not just for the value of the home but for accidents like the one she’d had. Thank goodness she still had good insurance through work.
She should have had her phone with her, but it worked only about half the time anyway. She could’ve frozen to death out there.
That morbid thought left her feeling lonely and a little afraid.