by Cindi Myers
“It won’t be too long now,” he said. They were on the highway leading into the city. She checked the speedometer; he was doing eighty miles an hour, but traffic was light and the speed didn’t feel reckless.
“Are you sure it will be all right, your disappearing in the middle of a workday like this?” she asked.
“I’ll call my assistant and my boss once we’re at the hospital,” he said.
“Thank you. I’m glad I don’t have to do this by myself.”
“I’m sure if I hadn’t been there, Kelly would have gone with you.”
“She would have. But I’m glad it’s you with me now.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m glad I could be with you, too.”
She held on to him, his grip so reassuring and firm.
“I think that’s the hospital, up on the left.” He put on his blinker to exit the highway. Christa released his hand and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. As soon as he stopped the truck, she wanted to leap out, run into the building and demand to know what they had done with her mother.
But she restrained herself and settled for walking briskly toward the entrance, Ryder close behind her.
This was a different hospital from the one where her mother had had her surgery, and was disorienting, with many corridors branching off from the main lobby. “This way.” Ryder pointed toward a small information desk set in a back corner.
“I’m looking for Adele Montgomery,” Christa said, as soon as they were in earshot of the woman behind the desk.
The woman’s fingers clicked on the keyboard. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t see a patient by that name.”
“She was brought here by ambulance just a short while ago,” Ryder said.
“Oh, then you’ll want to go to the emergency department.” The woman pointed. “Down that hall on your left, through the double doors, then onto the second set of doors. Ask at the triage desk there.”
Their footsteps echoed on the tile floors as they hurried through the corridors. Everything smelled faintly of rubbing alcohol and floor polish—antiseptic and impersonal. At the emergency department, Christa waited impatiently for the woman behind the glass partition to look up. “May I help you?” the woman finally asked.
“My mother, Adele Montgomery, has been brought here by ambulance.”
“Let me check.” She consulted her computer and nodded. “Mrs. Montgomery was transferred to the MICU. Third floor.”
Christa turned and raced out of the department, back toward the elevator. “We’re certainly getting our exercise, running all over this place,” she said, as she punched the up button. She glanced over her shoulder at Ryder. “Thanks again for staying with me. You don’t have to if you need to get back to work. I can get a ride home with my dad.”
“I’ll stay until I make sure you’re okay. And I want to find out how your mother is doing, too.”
“Thanks.”
He took her hand and squeezed it, and she fought the urge to lean into him. If she did so, it would be too easy to stay there, head on his shoulders, his arms around her. She wouldn’t want to move for hours, and she didn’t have the luxury of relaxing just now.
A sign on the third floor pointed the way to the Medical Intensive Care Unit. Yet another woman at a desk guarded the entrance. “My mother was just admitted here,” Christa said. “Adele Montgomery.”
“Yes. She’s in room five.”
“Thank you.” Christa started toward the door.
“Wait a minute,” the woman called. “Who is he?” She pointed to Ryder.
He opened his mouth to answer, but Christa spoke first. “He’s my husband.” She grabbed Ryder’s arm. “Come on, honey. Let’s go see Mom.”
Once they were through the double doors, she leaned close and whispered, “I hope you don’t mind. They probably wouldn’t have let you in if you told them you were a friend.”
“I would have understood if I needed to wait outside.”
“I’d rather have you in here with me.”
He put his arm around her. “Then that’s where I want to be.”
She located room five halfway around the circle of rooms. Steeling herself for the worst, she knocked gently on the partially open door.
“Come in,” her father said.
“Hello, Christa. And Ryder, how nice to see you.” Mom greeted them as if she was welcoming guests in for a glass of iced tea. She sat up in bed, eating from a bowl of soup. Only the various tubes and monitors attached to her—and the blue hospital gown—gave a clue that anything was wrong.
“Mom! You look great,” Christa said.
“I don’t know about that.” She smoothed the hospital gown. “This was all a lot of fuss over nothing.”
“She needed a transfusion.” Dad stood and shook hands with Ryder, then gave Christa a quick hug.
“The chemotherapy drugs are working a little too well,” Mom said. “They killed off a few too many red blood cells along with the cancer.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” Christa perched on the edge of a chair beside her mother’s hospital bed.
“They can pump me full of new blood,” Mom said. “The good news is they’re killing the cancer.”
“That’s what they’re supposed to do, right?” Christa said.
“The new blood tests show the cancer marker levels are dropping,” Mom said. She sounded almost giddy.
“Mom, that’s fantastic news.” Christa jumped up and hugged her. The tears she’d been holding back all afternoon finally overflowed. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in weeks.”
“There’s nothing to cry about.” Mom patted her shoulder. “They’re giving me some medicine to help with the anemia. I can probably go home tomorrow.”
“That is good news,” Ryder said.
“Thanks for taking off work to bring Christa here,” Dad said.
“I hate that you went to so much trouble.” Mom pushed the empty soup bowl aside and lay back against the pillows. “I’m going to be fine.”
“Yes, you are.” Dad moved to her side and took her hand. “I hope you never need to be in the hospital again, but if you do, it won’t take over an hour to get you there.”
“That’s right,” Christa said. “Once the new highway is in—”
“I’m not talking about the new highway,” Dad said. “Your mother and I are going to be moving closer to the city.”
Christa blinked, sure she hadn’t heard him right. “But the ranch...”
“We’re selling the ranch to the state for the new highway project. Ryder and I have talked about it for a while now, and your mother and I agree it’s the right thing to do.”
She stared at Ryder. “You never mentioned this.”
He looked uncomfortable—like a guilty man caught in a lie. “I thought your parents should be the ones to tell you. And nothing was decided for sure.” He sounded so calm, so untouched by the fact that she was devastated by this news.
“It’s decided now,” Dad said. “Ryder, you bring the paperwork by tomorrow and I’ll sign it.”
“Daddy, you should think about this more,” Christa said. “The ranch has been in your family for years.”
“I’ve had months to think about it and I know what I want to do.” He clenched his jaw in a stubborn line.
“We were considering this even before I got sick,” Mom said. “The money the state will pay will give us a secure retirement, and we’ll have money and time to travel and do other things.” She smiled. “We know you’re not interested in raising cows and hay. And our neighbors and friends will get a lot more benefit from the new highway than from another piece of property sitting vacant.”
Christa sat back in the chair, reeling. When she closed her eyes, she had a vision
of a swath of concrete cutting through her childhood home. The fields where she’d ridden horses, her grandparents’ house—all paved over.
She opened her eyes to find her parents and Ryder staring at her. “I can’t believe you’d do this,” she said.
“That’s one reason I didn’t tell you before.” Dad said. “I knew you’d be upset.”
“We know you need a little time to get used to the idea.” Her mom’s voice was soft and low. “But it’s for the best. Your father and I are happy about the decision, we hope you’ll be happy for us.”
“I’ll never be happy about this.” She stood and faced Ryder. “And I can’t believe you would do this to me.” Blinded by tears, she raced from the room and out of the MICU. Bad enough that she was losing her home—but the man who was taking it from her was the one man she’d come to believe she could trust.
* * *
CHRISTA RAN BLINDLY until she reached the parking lot, then common sense returned. She couldn’t get back to Cedar Grove without a car. Why hadn’t she come to the hospital alone instead of letting Ryder drive her?
She knew why—because he’d been there, the big, strong man, happy to take charge.
But taking charge apparently also meant that he decided what she did or didn’t need to know. All those times they’d been together, on and off the ranch, and he’d never even mentioned the possibility that she might lose her home soon. Maybe places didn’t mean much to a nomad like him, but he had to have known what her family’s ranch meant to her.
She moved around the corner from the hospital’s main entrance, into a shadowed alcove, and pulled out her phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she found the number she needed and punched it in. A few moments later, a familiar voice answered. “Hello, Kelly? This is Christa. I need a really big favor.”
“Sure. How’s your mom?”
“She’s doing great. She needed a transfusion, but she should get to come home tomorrow. The good news is the chemo seems to be working. The numbers for the cancer markers in her blood are dropping.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!”
“Yeah, it is.” At least one positive thing had happened today. She needed to cling to that bit of good news in the midst of her loss. But why couldn’t she have her mom well and her home intact? If Ryder hadn’t come to town—if he hadn’t visited her parents and charmed them into selling out—her home would be safe, and her parents would be happy there.
“What’s the favor?” Kelly asked.
The double doors leading into the main lobby slid open and Ryder stepped out. His expression was grim as he scanned the parking lot. Christa shrank into the shadows and lowered her voice. “Can you come pick me up at the hospital in Dallas? I need a ride home.”
“What about Ryder? Did he leave already?”
“I’m not speaking to Ryder.” As she watched, the man in question turned and went back into the hospital.
“Christa! What happened?”
“I’ll tell you when you get here. Can you come?”
“Sure. I was about to close up the shop early. Where exactly are you?”
Christa gave her directions to the hospital. “There’s a coffee shop on the ground floor, near the main entrance. I’ll wait there.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. And you have all the way home to tell me what’s going on.”
Christa returned the phone to her purse. No more sign of Ryder. She went back inside the building and headed for the coffee shop. He’d probably already checked there, so she should be safe enough.
She ordered a cup of tea and settled at a table in a quiet corner. She tried reading from a novel she’d downloaded to her phone, but thinking about anything but how her whole life had been turned upside down—again—was almost impossible. Still, brooding wouldn’t do any good, and if she thought about things too much she might break down and cry—something she didn’t want to do in public. So she forced her attention to the book.
She was reading a page for the third time when the chair across from her scraped back. “How do you intend to get home if you don’t let me take you?” Ryder asked.
She glared up at him. Did he have to look so imposing, looming over her table like that? Well, he wasn’t going to intimidate her. “Kelly is coming to get me.”
“She didn’t have to drive out here. I would have taken you.”
“I don’t want to see you. And I definitely don’t want to talk to you.”
She shoved back her chair and started to stand, but he motioned for her to sit again. “You can’t keep running away,” he said. “I’ll just come after you again. I can be very determined when I have to.”
“So can I.” But she sat. After all, her only alternative was to wait in the parking lot, and he’d probably follow her there, too.
He lowered himself into the chair across from her and rested his forearms on the table. “I understand you’re upset with me,” he said. “But I promised your father I wouldn’t say anything to anyone until he made his decision.”
“I’m not anyone.”
“I didn’t like keeping this from you, but after you came home, Bud expressly asked me not to say anything to you. I tried to convince him to talk to you himself, but he said he wasn’t ready. He didn’t want to upset you when he hadn’t made up his mind yet.”
That explained why her father seemed to know Ryder so well; they’d obviously spent a lot of time talking. “You should have warned me somehow,” she said. “You know how much the ranch means to me.”
“Your memories won’t go away just because the ranch isn’t there for you to come back to,” he said.
“Oh, that is such an infuriating, insensitive thing to say.” As if some trite platitude could switch off her feelings. “Just because you’ve never had a real home that meant something to you doesn’t mean that my feelings aren’t real and deep and important.”
He drew back, his eyes reflecting what might have been real hurt. “I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to. It’s all there in your attitude. You never let yourself get attached to anything—or anyone. So you think if everyone else was like you, life would be so much easier. Well, it might be easier, but it wouldn’t be the kind of life I’d want to live.”
She jumped up and shoved past him, brushing against his shoulder as she did so. It was like brushing past a brick wall. An apt comparison, since he was just as cold and unfeeling as a wall. So what if he’d promised her father not to tell her about his plans for the ranch? His feelings for her should have outweighed his loyalty to her father.
That was her biggest mistake, of course—thinking he had feelings for her.
Thankfully, Ryder didn’t follow her outside. She was waiting on a bench in front of the hospital, shaded from the hot afternoon sun, when Kelly pulled up a half hour later. “I thought you were going to be in the coffee shop,” Kelly said.
“I changed my mind.” She climbed into the passenger seat. “Thanks for coming to get me. You’re a true friend.”
“I’m a true friend who wants the scoop on what’s going on with you and Ryder. A few hours ago, you two were getting along great.”
Christa fastened her seat belt. “I found out he’s been deceiving me. He pretended to care about me, but his actions prove he didn’t care at all.”
“Ouch! That’s harsh.” Kelly exited the hospital parking lot and headed toward the freeway. “What did he do?”
“He knew my dad was considering selling the Rocking M for the highway project and he never told me.”
“Wait—your dad is selling the ranch?”
“Yes. He announced it this afternoon, right after we got to the hospital. Ryder had known all along, and he never said a word to me.”
“That’s bad,” Kelly agreed. “But your dad never even hinted to you befo
re today?”
“No. And every time I tried to ask him about anything going on at the ranch, he changed the subject.” Her voice cracked and she blinked, her vision blurry from the tears she couldn’t hold back any longer.
“There are tissues in the center console.”
Christa found one and wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “Dad’s not at the top of my list of favorite people right now, either,” she said.
“That was a pretty big bombshell to drop.” Kelly signaled and slid the car into the left lane. “What did he say, exactly?”
“That he was selling the ranch to the state and he and Mom are going to move closer to the city.”
“Did he say why he decided to sell?”
“They want to be closer to the city for Mom’s treatments, and they want the money from the sale for their retirement and to travel. Honestly, I’ve never heard either of them mention those things before. I thought they’d be happy staying on the ranch forever.” Sure, maybe they’d take a vacation every now and then, but couldn’t they do that and keep the ranch?
“Wow,” Kelly said.
“Wow is right. I’d barely gotten over the shock of Mom being hospitalized and he drops that stunner.”
“I’m sorry,” Kelly said. “I can’t imagine how awful you must feel.”
“Thanks.” She dabbed at her nose with the tissue again. “It’s not just losing the ranch that hurts. It’s knowing that the people I love most didn’t trust me enough to include me when it came time to decide the fate of the only home I’ve ever known.”
Kelly sped up and merged with freeway traffic. “Not to defend them shutting you out,” she said. “But maybe your parents thought since the ranch belongs to them, it was their decision to make.”
She swallowed another knot of tears and nodded. “You’re right. Maybe that’s another reason this hurts so much. Even though I’ll always think of the ranch as my home, it really isn’t mine.”
“I’m sorry, hon,” Kelly said. “This is terrible.”
“Thanks for listening to me vent.” She wadded up the tissue and stuffed it into her purse. “Back in that hospital room, it felt as if no one was on my side.”