With These Two Hands

by Lori Ryan

  “Okay.”

  “I was raised as a debutante, bred to be a Stepford Wife. At least that’s what my mother wanted.”

  “And you had different ideas?”

  “That would be an understatement.” She laughed. “I did all the finishing schools and put up with the whole debutante ball. Have you ever seen that show called Gossip Girl?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

  “Well, my life was a lot like that. Keeping up with the Joneses even though the Joneses had a shit ton of problems within the four walls of their mansion.”

  “Did you grow up in a mansion?”

  “Depends on how you define mansion. If it’s a house over 11,000 square feet with a full-time household staff including a cook and gardener, then yes, I grew up in a mansion.”

  Aaron sank back, linking his hands behind his head, sandwich long since gone. “Wow, Kayleigh. I’d never picture you as the high society type.”

  “I actually take that as a compliment.”

  “So what’s the deal now?” he asked. “Do you speak to them?”

  She fumbled with the hem of her yoga pants. “Very rarely. My mother and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.”

  “Let me guess,” he said. “She thinks you should be the high-society wife of a politician or lawyer.”

  She raised a finger in the air. “Or doctor. Any of those would have been acceptable.”

  “Anything except actually becoming a doctor, is that it?”

  “I’m sure she might have come around to the idea of me being a doctor one day. But not a pet doctor.”

  Aaron laughed and Kayleigh felt her anxiety ease. She was surprised at how comfortable and at ease she was with a doctor from a big city, someone her mother would have loved.

  “I bet your mother would have loved me, huh?” he asked.

  “I was actually just thinking the same thing. She would love it if I brought you home.”

  “So what keeps you from going back?”

  Here was the part she really didn’t want to discuss.

  “I’m sorry, I’m prying. You don’t have to say anything.”

  “No, it’s okay. It’s just that, well, no one knows about this so I’d appreciate it if it doesn’t go any further.”

  “Okay.” His face became serious.

  “I was almost engaged once.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. But it wasn’t a good thing, trust me.”

  “Why?”

  “Well Bryce—Bryce Van Wyck, that’s his name, even though I call him Van-Dick.”

  Aaron bellowed with laughter. “Of course you do. To his face I hope?”

  “I haven’t seen him since the night we broke up.”

  “What happened?”

  “I knew from a very young age I wanted to work with animals. They gave me the kind of unconditional love I didn’t find in my home. My father was gone a lot and my mother’s love was always contingent on how I did in society, which wasn’t very well. That’s why I lived for the summers when I could go to my Grammy’s.”

  Kayleigh leaned back on her elbows and gazed up at the sky.

  “I’m sure she would be very proud of you, Kayleigh,” he said, scooting closer to her.

  She smiled. “That’s what I tell myself.”

  “So, anyway, what was this fight with Van-dick? Why did you break up?”

  She laughed, happy that she’d shared part of her story but wondering how much more to tell him, considering he’d shared nothing of his own secrets. Her heart told her to press on, or maybe it was her grandmother’s spirit. She used to be able to talk to her grandmother about anything.

  “My family wasn’t happy about me pursuing veterinary medicine, obviously. Well, I should say my mother wasn’t. My father would have supported me if push came to shove. My brother was already almost finished with med school himself. It was my mother who was so opposed. She’d never understood why someone would want an animal in their home.

  “Once, I’d rescued a set of kittens under a bridge by our house. I left them in the mud room and cared for them for almost a week. One day I came home and the box was gone. I searched all over the house and couldn’t find them. I asked our house keeper, my nanny, everyone, but no one had seen them. Finally my mother came home and told me she’d taken them to the pound to be destroyed.”

  “Holy shit. For real?” Aaron asked.

  Kayleigh had forgotten that story until just then. “Yeah, for real.”

  “I’m sorry.” He slid his hand over hers and squeezed.

  She turned to stare at him. He was butted up next to her now. “Thanks,” she said quietly. “So as you can see, not the most nurturing of mothers.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Aaron laughed but there was no humor in the sound.

  “Anyway, like I said, they weren’t happy about vet school but my boyfriend at the time…”

  “Van-dick,” Aaron said.

  Kayleigh giggled. “Yes, Bryce Van Wyck.”

  “What a douche.” Aaron rolled his eyes.

  She smiled, feeling as if she had someone on her side in this whole family drama that she’d avoided for almost seven years.

  “Bryce and I were really serious. His sister Brittany and I had been close in high school, that’s how Bryce and I met. I dated him all throughout college. We both went to Boston University. Bryce was three years older than me and going to law school. Of course, my mother wouldn’t let me go any farther than Boston for school, especially if it meant Bryce and I would have to break up.”

  “Of course,” Aaron said, mockingly, but not toward her.

  “Bryce was supportive of me going to vet school, though. At least, I thought he was. I was home for Christmas break. I’d already filled out my application for vet school and had been accepted at Texas A&M.”

  “And your mom was not happy about that, right?”

  “Actually,” she said, wrinkling her nose, “I hadn’t told anyone other than Brittany and Bryce that I was applying.”

  “He wasn’t happy?”

  “Oh, he acted happy on the outside. He was very supportive. We’d talked about marriage. He had just finished law school and studying the bar. I seriously thought we were going to be the sweet, happy family that I hadn’t had growing up.”

  “What happened?”

  “It was my parents’ annual Christmas Eve party. Bryce was in my father’s study. I was about to go in and tell him dinner was being served when I overheard him talking to his best friend, Chet.”

  “Chet?” Aaron said, scrunching his face. “What kind of people name their kid Chet?”

  “Why, Jacob and Kitty Davenport do, of course,” she said in her hoityest voice, fluttering her eyelashes like an idiot.

  “Oh, God,” he rolled his eyes, “you didn’t stand a chance, did you?”

  “Nope, not really. So, anyway, I stood outside the door and eavesdropped. Bryce basically said he would let me,” she added air quotes, “do this whole vet school thing, even though it was a pipe dream. He told Chet I’d never be able to make it through school, let alone become a vet. He said I couldn’t survive on my own without my daddy’s money, but that he’d give me a semester, at most, to play with my little kitties. After that, if I hadn’t figured things out on my own, he would demand I return to fulfill my duties as his wife, the way my mother had raised me. Can you believe he actually said fulfill my duties as his wife?”

  Aaron laid back and shook his head. “Nope, I seriously can’t. Total douche.”

  “What the fuck does that even mean?”

  “No clue.”

  “Bryce told Chet that once my parents found out they’d flip. At least that part he got right. But him saying I existed off my parent’s money and that I could never make it on my own...”

  “Set off a fire in you, didn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it really did. On Christmas Day I told my parents I was going to vet school and just like Bryce had predicted, my mother practically had a c
oronary. She refused to support me if I went through with this lame-brained idea, as she called it.”

  “Wow,” he said. “That must have been hard. My parents were always supportive of us. Well, except that time when Grant wanted to join the circus when he was eight. And Ben dropped out of college freshman year. My dad was seriously pissed about that, but I guess he turned out okay.”

  Kayleigh smiled, barely holding in her jealousy. What would it have been like to have such supporting, loving parents? “The funny thing was,” she said, “apparently Bryce was going to ask me to marry him on Christmas Day. He came to our house and went down on one knee…”

  “Oh, shit, what did you do?”

  “He opened a black velvet box. I stared at the ring inside. I was still furious from the night before.”

  “He didn’t know you’d overheard?”

  Kayleigh shook her head. “No, no clue. So I stared down at the ring and said, ‘Is that the best you could do, Bryce? If I’m going to fulfill my wifely duties for you, I’m going to need a hell of a lot bigger diamond than that.’”

  Aaron laughed, clutching his belly. “Oh, God, I’m afraid to ask what the poor bastard said after that.”

  “He didn’t say anything, just sat there dumbfounded like the ass he was. I told him off, admitted that I’d overheard everything. I guaranteed him that not only would I graduate, I would make something of myself without my daddy’s money.”

  “Why do I get the feeling there’s more?”

  Kayleigh grinned. “I got right in front of his face and said, ‘I’ll play with my kitties all right, but you’ll never touch mine again.’” She cringed as she told that part. It had been funny at the time, even though her mother had heard the whole thing. Still, it hadn’t been one of her finer moments.

  “Holy shit, Kayleigh.”

  “My mother, of course, apologized for my behavior, right before I kicked him out of my house. It pretty much went downhill from there. My brother had to carry me upstairs before I kicked Bryce’s face in. But the thing I remember the most about the whole thing was my father.”

  “Why?”

  “He just sat there, on the couch, watching it all, like he was watching a movie, completely unaffected. He never once defended me or supported me. Not that I expected him to.”

  “He was probably in shock.” Aaron laughed.

  “Probably,” she laughed. “I mean I’d always raised some level of hell, but never like that. Anyway, now my brother is getting married and my father is asking me to come home.”

  “How long has it been since you went back?”

  “Since the day I left for vet school.”

  “That’s was what, like eight years ago?”

  “Seven, and some change.”

  “Why haven’t you gone back?”

  “I still feel like I haven’t accomplished what I promised Bryce that day, you know?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  She looked away. “Manny already told you the clinic isn’t doing well.”

  He nodded.

  “I’ve been here for almost three years. It should be doing better by now.”

  “I’ve only been here a short time and I’ve seen and heard people talk about all the free stuff you do for their pets.”

  “I know,” she sighed. “Not the best way to do business. But a lot of these people in the remote rural spots can’t afford things. It’s hard for me to say no.”

  “I get it.” He stroked her back. “I’m not judging.”

  “The town knows I’m here on a grant from the AVMA.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The American Veterinary Medicine Association.”

  “What kind of grant?”

  “In exchange for serving a rural area in the United States, they pay back a portion of my student loan debts.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Aaron nodded, “I think we have something like that, as well.” He stared at her. “So what does that have to do with Van-dick?”

  She drew in a deep breath and fell back, covering her eyes with one forearm. She hadn’t admitted this to anyone, not even Maggie. But today Aaron had quite literally saved her on the mountain. She trusted him. She knew her secrets would be safe.

  “It’s okay, Kayleigh.” He reached over and took her hand. “You don’t have to tell me. But if you do, I swear I won’t say anything.”

  She turned and stared into his face. “I know,” she said exhaling. “Thank you.”

  His smile was breathtaking and soothed her restless heart. Aaron Sumner might possibly be the most beautiful man she’d ever seen, inside and out.

  “My contract expires in four months.”

  “Does that mean you won’t stay here in Canyon Creek then?”

  “I want to stay. I love small-town medicine, and I love Canyon Creek.”

  He raised up on one elbow and stared down at her. “But?”

  “But, the association only covers a portion of my loan. It doesn’t pay it off in full.”

  Aaron nodded. She knew he’d understand. He probably had outrageous medical school loans to pay off as well. Or, maybe his parents had helped.

  “There’s no way I can stay here and pay off the loan on my own, not with the way the clinic is operating now.”

  “Do you mind me asking how much money you have to pay?”

  She hesitated, only because saying the number out loud scared the shit out of her. “Let’s just say, it’s a lot. A lot more than I’m making at the clinic. The monthly payments would wipe me out.”

  He stared down at her, compassion in his green eyes. “I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

  She shook her head. “Not unless you can figure out a way to make this clinic profitable again. I just barely scrape by as it is.”

  Aaron sat up. “Wait, don’t you have the Rutherford Ranch account?”

  “Yeah, it’s a good source of money, but it costs a lot to run a vet clinic. More than I realized. I feel stupid that I wasn’t prepared for the business side of it. If I can’t make a go of it, it feels…”

  “Like failure?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  He glanced up at the sky. “I know a lot about that,” he said.

  “About being a failure?”

  “Yeah,” he said.

  “How?”

  “No, no.” He laughed. “No deflection. We’re talking about you right now.”

  She was about to interrupt him when he pushed on.

  “What about renewing your contract?” he asked.

  “I can’t. You’re only allowed three years, no renewals. And the association already indicated they have another graduate ready to come to Canyon Creek for the loan forgiveness program if I decide to not stay in the town.”

  “Does the town know any of this?”

  “No. I haven’t said anything.”

  “I’m pretty sure the residents of Canyon Creek would never let you go if they knew.”

  She sat up, her heart racing as she glared at him. “I don’t want anyone to know, Aaron. Promise me you won’t say anything. Not even to your brothers.”

  “I won’t. But it sounds like people already know. Manny’s the one who told me.”

  “Yeah, some people know. They just don’t understand how serious my situation is.”

  “And I’m assuming there’s no way you’ll ask your dad for—”

  She narrowed her eyes and gave him that look. Thankfully, he didn’t finish.

  “Yeah, that would be like admitting defeat. Well, shit,” he said.

  She loved the fact that Aaron understood exactly how she felt and didn’t judge her. She fiddled with a thread of the blanket again. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

  “Okay, wait, is that why you’re not going home, because you don’t think you’ve made something of yourself?” He used air quotes.

  “Yeah, that’s part of it.”

  “Kayleigh, that’s absurd. Do you know how many people I’ve talked to that admire you? Th
ey appreciate all you do for the town, for the animals, and their owners. Hell, I never knew how important Lucky was to Ben and Maggie until he got a respiratory infection and they had to bring him in to see you. Trying to get that cat in a crate. And you took care of him easy-breezy like he was no big deal. Shit, man, you deserve a medal.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, Lucky is a tough patient, that’s for sure.”

  “But that’s not all, Kayleigh. These animals are your passion. I saw it when you worked on Sunshine. It’s like your personal mission to save that horse, and all the animals and livestock in Canyon Creek. You can’t put a price tag on that. I know the residents would say you’re invaluable.”

  She sat silently, absorbing his kind words.

  “Do you love what you do?” he asked.

  Her face split into a huge grin. “I love what I do.”

  “Why isn’t that success enough? There are a lot of people in this world—pretty wise ones, actually—who would say that getting to do what you love every day is the very definition of success.”

  She shrugged. It was, but still, she needed money.

  “And who the hell cares what your family thinks anyway?”

  She eyed him closely. The trembling in his hand during different points of their afternoon together hadn’t escaped her.

  “Are we done talking about me yet?” she asked.

  “Nope. You said earlier that your lack of success,” he said sarcastically, “was part of the reason you don’t want to go home. What’s the other?”

  And there it was. Another topic she didn’t want to discuss. But she was finding with Aaron, he wasn’t going to let her worm her way out of full disclosure.

  “I’ll tell you on one condition,” she said.

  “Uh-oh.” His brows shot up. “I’m afraid to ask.”

  “You’ll tell me what’s going on with your hand and why you’re really home.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Aaron knew this question would come up eventually. Kayleigh was in the medical profession. And even if she weren’t, she would have noticed his tremor.

  She’d been so open and honest with him today, relying on him, asking him for help. It was something he knew had to have been difficult for her. Hearing her childhood stories and how much it still affected her today made him realize he needed to open up to her.