One Hundred Promises

by Kelly Collins

  People who knew Ray best said a few words, and the sheriff ended the celebration with a reminder to not drink and drive. Before he gave up the mic, he said he was glad someone returned the lost items. He stared at Wes and Lydia, who hadn’t thought to steal something of their own in order to blend in with the other victims.

  It never occurred to the others to think Ray had an accomplice. Funny how several dozen items could show up at the cemetery and no one questioned where they came from. Then again, Sheriff Cooper was trained to catch criminals.

  “Anyone know who TP’d my house?” His eyes never left Lydia and Wes. When he hopped off the tiny stage used for karaoke, he headed straight to them.

  Wes shoved his hands inside his pockets, hoping it would make it more difficult for the sheriff to cuff him. Maybe he could convince him to wait until after the celebration of Ray’s life.

  He nodded. “Wes.” He looked to Lydia. “Dr. Nichols. It’s good to see you both.”

  Lydia smiled, but one look at her dilated pupils and he knew she was nervous.

  The sheriff leaned in and spoke softly. “While I don’t condone theft, I can see the value of a little prank, but why couldn’t you steal something from me rather than TP my house?” He set his hand on the butt of his pistol and Lydia’s eyes grew wide. “That shit took hours to clean up.”

  Lydia looked at Wes. “We have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Sheriff nodded slowly. “Right.” He set his hand on Wes’s shoulder. “I hear you’re handy and I’ve got security cameras I’d like installed. Shouldn’t take you longer than an hour.” He looked between the two. “I figure you owe me that much.”

  Wes laughed. “I’ll be over tomorrow.”

  Sheriff Cooper stepped back. “You’re a good man, Covington.” He nodded toward Lydia. “This one’s going to be trouble.”

  “She already is, Sheriff.” Wes slid his arm around Lydia’s shoulder and pulled her against him. “The thing is…I like trouble.”

  “Never a dull moment.” The sheriff moved to the buffet table.

  “So, I’m trouble?” She leaned into him and they fit together like puzzle pieces.

  In his heart he knew she was the one. “Trouble with a capital T, my love.” He hadn’t meant to call her that. Hadn’t really considered what he felt but his love was undeniable. It hit him as fast and as hard as the chicken pox virus had hit the town, but this wasn’t something that would go away with rest and time.

  “Your love?”

  They made their way to the food table, where Wes handed her a plate. “Can’t deny it anymore. I feel about you the way I feel about chicken wings.” He tossed a few hot wings on his plate and moved down the row.

  “How do you feel about chicken wings?”

  He reached back and grabbed another one. “After one taste I always want more.”

  Lydia opened her mouth to respond when her phone rang. She rummaged through her bag and pulled it out. She turned the screen to show him it was Memorial Hospital calling.

  The silver specks in her eyes sparkled.

  “I’ve got to take this.” She pressed Answer and moved outside.

  Wes watched her from the window. He saw a range of emotions crossing her face, from confusion to elation. When she turned and saw him looking at her, he knew right then, she’d been granted her greatest wish. She’d been offered her dream job.

  She hung up and paced the sidewalk in front of the window.

  Wes tossed his plate of food into the trash can and moved her way. This was one of those moments he wanted to be selfish and tell her she couldn’t go. If she left, she’d take his heart with her.

  He was stupid to fall in love with her. She’d been clear from the start what her goals were. How many times had she told him she wanted more? All the anger he’d felt over the years at being almost enough burned inside him. Just once, he wanted someone to choose him for who he was and what he offered.

  “Let’s go.” He didn’t mean for his voice to be so stern and unyielding. It wasn’t like him to take his frustrations out on others, but he’d risked so much with Lydia and by the look on her face he knew he’d lost it all.

  “Go where?” She twisted the strap of her purse around her hand.

  “Home so you can pack.”

  “You don’t even know what that was about.” She swung her purse in a circle, almost taking him out twice.

  “Give me that before you hurt someone. Namely me.” He swiped her purse from her grip. “I know they offered you a job. I know you better than you think. Your eyes light up like sparklers when you’re happy. Watching you was like watching the Fourth of July. Are you telling me I’m wrong?”

  She lowered her head. “No, you’re right. The person they hired didn’t work out.”

  “Let’s go then.” He walked to the truck and tossed her purse inside. “I’m sure they want you there right away.”

  “Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?”

  “Because I know I can’t keep you.”

  Wes jumped in his truck and started the engine. The deep throaty sound of the diesel growled louder than he could so he gunned it and let the cloud of black smoke speak for his mood.

  “You don’t get to decide for me, but it would have been nice for you to fight for me,” she yelled loud enough for him to hear.

  By the faces pressed to the bar window, he wasn’t the only one listening. He rolled it down and yelled, “Are you coming or not?”

  She looked between him and the crowd gathering in the window. “No, I’m walking. I need to think.” She took off down the street in her four-inch heels.

  “You’re so stubborn.” She was already halfway down the block and didn’t hear him. All he wanted to do was get her into the car and kiss her until she forgot about everything but him. Instead, he drove home, knowing she’d need to soak her aching feet when she arrived.

  When he got there, the first thing he did was dial her number to apologize, but he had her purse and her phone. He’d have to wait until she got home to make amends.

  He had no reason to be angry with her. She’d never lied to him. He’d taken a chance she’d change her mind, but when he saw that smile on her face, he knew the job was what she wanted, or at least what she thought she wanted.

  While he waited for her, he poured her a glass of wine and ran her a bath. No doubt even a few blocks in those heels would be torture. Ten minutes passed, and then fifteen. When it got to thirty he worried. Back in the truck, he drove the route he knew she’d take. A block from the house, he found her lying on the ground, lips blue and unresponsive. A large red welt took up the right side of her cheek. She’d been stung.

  Wes panicked. On the sidewalk by her side he shook her. Her breath was wheezy and shallow. Thankfully she was breathing.

  Shit, shit, shit, shit. How long did she say she had until death? He raced to the truck to get her purse. Dumping it on the seat he found her EpiPen. As soon as the syringe was in his hands he raced back to her.

  Paste white, she looked dead. Maybe he was too late. “Don’t you die on me. We still have to argue about you leaving me.”

  He glanced over the directions, pulled the shot out of the cylinder. The dizziness overwhelmed him. Stars danced in front of his eyes. He removed the cap and realized the needle was hidden. With a firm grip he held the pen, exposed her thigh muscle and injected her for a count of ten just like it said on the label.

  When he was done, he scooped her up, put her in the truck and raced to the clinic. People were milling around outside the bar. When Wes double-parked in front of the clinic, he yelled for help. Seconds later Sage and Doc rushed toward him.

  Lydia was awake but dazed. Her lips were literally bee-sting swollen. Her cheek looked like she’d been on the losing end of a prizefight. None of that mattered because her chest moved up and down and her hands gripped his shirt like she’d never let him go.

  As soon as the pharmacy door was unlocked, Wes raced her to the examinatio
n room and laid her on the table.

  Sage had oxygen on her sister quickly. She took her pulse while Doc listened to her heart.

  Lydia tried to sit up, but her sister pushed her down. “You need to stay put.”

  Her tiny pale hand lifted the mask from her face. “I’m okay.” She looked at Wes with such sadness in her eyes. “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left you. I was hurt and afraid, but never more afraid than finding you lifeless and thinking I was too late.”

  Doc tapped Sage on the arm and motioned for her to follow him out.

  “You saved me.” She pulled at the table mechanism to get the back to lift.

  “Let me do that.” Wes adjusted the exam table so she was sitting. “You should go to the hospital.”

  She looked down at the clip Sage had put on her finger. It flashed red with the number eighty-five. “No, I’ll be okay. Doc will make me wait until I get over ninety-two to go home, but I will, I bounce back pretty well. I’ll just be tired.”

  She patted the space beside her and Wes took a seat and pulled her against his chest.

  “You scared the hell out of me. This is my fault. I had your purse. You could have died.”

  She buried her face against his chest. “Not your fault. Sometimes…” She shook her head. “I don’t respond with maturity. My sister reminds me I got stuck at sixteen when my parents died. I’m impetuous and childish.”

  “I love you anyway.”

  “You love me?”

  “As much as I love chicken wings.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Wes tucked Lydia into their bed. He even let Sarge sleep beside her. These were the men in her life. Both loving and protective.

  “It’s meatloaf Thursday, I’ll pick up dinner at the diner later.” He went to leave and Lydia stopped him with a touch.

  “Please don’t leave me.” She pulled him down next to her. “I don’t want to be alone.” It was silly because Lydia had spent most of her life alone. She was used to being alone but she didn’t like it. Even when she lived with Adam and Sage, she’d been alone. They all moved through their lives like ships in the night. Passing off Starbucks and hugs when they met in between.

  He cupped her cheek and kissed her. “Doc said you should rest.”

  “I am resting, and I’ll rest better if you’re here.”

  He looked torn. “I’m here for you.”

  “The call…”

  “We don’t need to talk about that right now.” He pulled her close to him so her face was against his chest.

  “We do.” She pulled back and looked into his eyes. “They offered me the job I’d applied for, but I don’t know if I want to take it. They didn’t choose me first. Makes me feel like I’m on the B team.”

  He rolled to his back, and she rested her cheek against his chest. Beneath his breath, she heard his heart race.

  “They were idiots. They chose poorly the first time around and now they’re being smart.”

  She wrapped a leg over his leg and an arm over his stomach. Nothing like a brush with death to make her feel uncertain about everything—almost everything except him. That was the one thing she was positive about. She loved him. She had no intention of leaving him, no matter how much she’d wanted the job originally. Did that make her fickle? She didn’t care. What she cared about was how comfortable it was to lie in his arms.

  “I don’t want to go. I lo—”

  “Don’t say it, Lydia, because if you do, I’ll never let you go.” He nudged her off his chest and rolled to his side so they were face to face.

  “I don’t want you to let me go.” She tried to snuggle into him but he held her in place.

  “You have to go. I can’t keep you here.”

  His words hit her like a boulder to the chest. “What do you mean?”

  He took several deep breaths before he spoke. “If you don’t go, you’ll never know if it was the right choice. In the back of your mind, you’ll wonder what if?” He ran his hand down her side, resting his palm on her hip. “I refuse to be another person’s almost good enough when I want to be someone’s everything.”

  “But you are.”

  He shook his head. “Lydia, from the moment you stepped foot in Aspen Cove all you talked about was leaving. I set my sights on making you want to stay. That was selfish of me.”

  “You succeeded. I want to stay.”

  “Until you get a taste of what you asked for, you’ll always wonder. I never want to be a regret. You need to go. You didn’t tell them no already, did you?”

  That question broke her heart because she didn’t tell them no. She told them she’d call them back, which meant in the back of her mind she was still considering the offer.

  “No.” She swallowed the answer like bitter medicine. “I wanted a day to think about what I wanted to do.”

  In his eyes she didn’t see anger. She didn’t see hurt. She saw nothing but understanding. “That’s why you need to go.”

  “Why can’t you be selfish and tell me to stay?” Tears came easy to her in her exhausted state. They slipped silently down her cheek.

  He brushed them away. “Because what I want may not be what you need. I walked away from my family business. It was the most selfish thing I’ve ever done. My father didn’t beg me to stay. He told me if I left I could never return.”

  “That’s awful.” Her parents pushed her to be the best. It was part of her driving force but had she failed at something, they would have never turned their backs. In that second, she had an epiphany. She’d been lying to herself all these years. Telling herself success would honor her parents. Even if she’d failed, they would have been proud that she’d tried.

  “I chose. I walked away from a successful career because I needed to know if I could succeed on my own. I did. You need to go to Colorado Springs and see if your dreams are there.”

  He was right, but he was wrong too. “You’re part of my dream. I want it all. I want you and the hospital and everything.”

  His eyes turned soft and sad. “I belong here.”

  Lydia cupped his face. “You told me you love me. Ask me to stay and I will.”

  Wes pressed his lips together. “It’s because I love you that I want you to go.”

  Lydia knew she lost the fight when he rolled off the bed and left. She wanted to call after him and tell him because she loved him she’d stay, but he’d already stopped her from saying the words. He was right. All it would take was their next argument for her to wonder if she’d made the right choice. He knew her better than she knew herself.

  She slept the rest of the day. Woke to join Wes for diner takeout only to fall asleep again. When she got up the next morning, Wes was gone. He’d made her coffee and left a tented note beside it.

  Call Memorial. They won’t wait, but I will.

  Love,

  Wes

  What did he mean he’d wait? Surely he wouldn’t wait forever, but she loved him even more because he put her needs first. She also hated him that he didn’t demand she stay. She picked up her phone and made the first call to her sister.

  “You feeling okay?” Sage asked.

  “No. I’m not.” She felt sick to her stomach. Was it excitement or anxiety that twisted her gut? Maybe it was that Wes loved her enough to let go or maybe it was he wouldn’t fight for her. She was conflicted.

  “Shall I get Doc?”

  She sipped her now-cold coffee. How she slept past ten didn’t compute. She’d gotten lazy living in Aspen Cove.

  “No, it’s not that. I didn’t have a chance to tell you that Memorial Hospital called and offered me the position. It was what Wes and I were arguing about when I stomped off and got myself stung.”

  There was a length of silence followed by, “Oh. So when are you going?” Sage’s tight voice asked. “You are going, right?”

  “I have to.” She had to know for sure.

  “Perfect. Just when we’re o
pening the clinic to three days.”

  “I’m sorry. You knew this was temporary.”

  In the background, she heard the familiar sound of Sage’s microwave beeping, which meant something awful had finished cooking. Most likely lasagna.

  “I thought you’d stay. I mean you and Wes…”

  “He told me to go.” Just saying the words made her heart hurt. She closed her eyes and imagined a day without him. Everything inside her ached, from her brain to her stomach, with the biggest pain felt in her chest.

  “What? Are all men assholes?” Sage mumbled something about commitment and love.

  “Wes isn’t an asshole. He’s probably the most unselfish man I’ve ever known.”

  “Ouch, shit.” The sound of Sage blowing on something filtered through the line. “Sorry, burned myself.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yes, just pissed that he didn’t fight for you.”

  The same thing had crossed Lydia’s mind a time or two, but telling her to go was fighting for her. “He wants me to be happy, and he knows I’ll always wonder if I don’t take the chance. He’s putting me first. Not sure I’ve ever had a man do that.”

  Sage sighed. “I get it. I get why you have to go, but I don’t have to like it. I don’t have to like him for supporting you because something tells me if he asked you to stay, you would. You may not be willing to admit it yet, but I see you look at him. You love him.”

  “I do and I love him even more because he’s willing to let me go.”

  “What if you get there and hate it?” Hope hung on each word. Lydia knew Sage didn’t wish her bad, only bad enough to get her to come back to Aspen Cove.

  Lydia opened the back door to see if Sarge was on the porch. He was nowhere in sight. This would be her new norm. No dog. No boyfriend. No coffee. No notes. Her only hope was that the job was perfect. Exactly why she’d spent eleven years training.

  “What if I get there and love it?”

  “When will you leave?”

  When Lydia spoke to the head of HR yesterday, they seemed pretty desperate. “Probably over the weekend.”

  “Shit, shit, shit.”

  “Burn yourself again?”