One Hundred Promises

by Kelly Collins

  “No. Now I’m just pissed that you’re leaving.”

  Lydia walked around the house while they spoke. She loved the old place. The way the floors creaked and the trees outside rustled. The old dining-room table that spoke of a family to Wes. After he told her his father disowned him for leaving, she could see why refurbishing his ancestral home was so important. It symbolized everything he’d lost.

  “I’m only a few hours away. It’s not like I’m moving to another country.” Lydia went back to the kitchen and put her cup in the dishwasher. If she planned to leave tomorrow, she needed to pack.

  “I know you, you’ll bury yourself in work and never have a minute to visit.”

  No doubt Lydia would bury herself in work but it would be so she wouldn’t have time to miss Sage and Katie and Samantha and Doc and mostly Wes.

  When he came home from work that night, her car was packed. They spent an hour at Bishop’s Brewhouse, where karaoke was a town ritual. Lydia told everyone how wonderful they’d made her life in Aspen Cove.

  That night, Wes made love to her. There was no place where he ended and she began. Connected by their bodies and heart and minds, they were one.

  The next morning he kissed her goodbye. By the time she reached the edge of town she couldn’t see through her tears. Each mile she drove made her mind muddy and her heart heavy. She tried to remember why it was so important for her to leave when all she wanted to do was stay.

  Wes’s voice kept her foot on the gas pedal and her car pointed south. “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.”

  It was a no-win situation because now that she’d driven out of Aspen Cove, her mind kept asking, What if I’d stayed?

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  How sad was it that the best part of his day was waiting for a call from Lydia? She’d literally hit the ground running. With twelve to fourteen-hour shifts, she didn’t have the time to house hunt. He hated her living in a rent-by-the-week hotel room, but this was a journey she needed to travel alone.

  Sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, he stared at his phone, silently begging for it to ring. Even Sarge had looked forward to her calls. Wes would turn on the speaker so the dog could hear her voice. He’d get excited and then lie by the front door for hours waiting for her to come.

  Wes hadn’t washed her pillowcase since she left two weeks ago. It still had the faint smell of her peach shampoo. He buried his face in it each night before he went to sleep.

  When her face popped up on the screen, he didn’t waste a second to answer it though he toned his excitement down. The last thing he wanted was to appear pathetic.

  “Hey, how’s it going?”

  She laughed. “I don’t know if I’m coming or going. All I do is work and sleep.”

  “Living the dream.” He hated that her life had turned into less and wondered if she saw that for herself.

  “It’s a nightmare. Big car accident today. Three dead, and two who won’t ever be the same.”

  “That’s awful. The worst thing going on here is Bailey Brown and poison ivy. I hear she got the rash in her nose.”

  “That kid needs to learn not to put stuff in her nose.”

  “Appears she hasn’t learned that lesson yet. I ran into Doc today, and he said to say hi. He’s off oxygen now.”

  “That’s great news. Odd as it may seem, I miss the old duffer and the days when the most serious injury is some hot guy slicing his hand on window flashing.”

  “What an idiot. Everyone knows window flashing is dangerous,” he teased.

  “I miss you.”

  “Miss you, too.” He hated this part. The part where all he wanted to do was tell her to get her ass home but couldn’t because if she came back to him it had to be her decision.

  “How’s Sarge?”

  “He’s back in your bed.” The dog slept there all day. “I tried to change the sheets last week and he growled at me.”

  “I’ll have to straighten him out when I come for a visit.”

  “You’re coming for a visit?”

  He could almost imagine the smile on her face. “Yes. Can I stay with you?”

  “You’re not staying with anyone else.” Though it had only been weeks, he missed her like it had been years. Long distance wasn’t what he wanted, but until Lydia was certain she’d stay in Colorado Springs, he’d take what she could give him. “When are you coming back?”

  “I thought Sunday after my shift. I have to be back on Tuesday for a twelve hour.”

  If she was coming home in three days, he didn’t have much time to get the place ready. “Sunday is great. Should I invite your sister and Cannon over? I can barbecue.”

  She was silent for a breath. “No. I want you all to myself. We can meet on Monday for dinner if she wants to see me.”

  “Sunday it is.”

  The next few days he left the Guild Center and the firehouse to his subcontractors. There was something he wanted to do for Lydia. His house was an accident waiting to happen. With a garden filled with flowers and not a place for her to sit that wasn’t exposed, he re-landscaped with evergreens and succulents. While he couldn’t produce a bee-free garden, he could reduce the flybys by reducing the flowering buds.

  After screening the porch and the pergola, he raced to the shower, hoping he’d timed it all right.

  He’d just stepped out of the water when Sarge barked. Wes debated on whether to take a minute to throw clothes on or race to the door in a towel. His childlike excitement had him taking the stairs two at a time and barely getting the towel wrapped around his waist before he flung the door open.

  Lydia stood there in jeans and T-shirt. Though she looked tired, he’d never seen her look more beautiful. Just the sight of her made his towel tent. Something she didn’t fail to notice.

  “Happy to see me?”

  He didn’t have time to answer because Sarge barreled down the hallway and knocked them both over. Wes had never seen a dog so attention starved. It didn’t matter that he’d spent hours giving the mutt love. All Sarge wanted was Lydia. In that way, he and the beast had a lot in common.

  “It’s nice to be missed.” She wiped the dog kisses from her face. “While I like Sarge’s enthusiasm, I’d rather have your kisses.” She pushed the dog off and pulled Wes on top of her body.

  Sarge skulked into the living room while Wes made love to Lydia on the floor of the entry. With the first round out of the way, he led her to the back porch where he lit candles and poured wine. He covered her naked body with a blanket and they sat together on the settee and watched the sun set.

  “You screened the porch?” She nuzzled up against him. He reveled in her presence.

  The moment was perfect. He didn’t expect to ravish her on the hardwood floor, but any second spent not touching her body was a second wasted.

  “I wanted to provide you with a safe place to relax. I screened the pergola too. You once said you’d love to sit out there and read a book. I want you to be able to do that when you visit.”

  He saw the appreciation in her eyes. As tired as she was, there was a sparkle in them that wasn’t there when he answered the door. It made him wish he could put that light in her eyes each day. It wouldn’t be a problem if she’d just come home.

  “You’re too good. I don’t deserve you.” She never complained about her job or the hours. Not really. Something told him she wanted to, but he knew she thought he’d tell her she’d chosen poorly. He believed that deep in his bones, but he’d never tell her to her face. That decision had to be hers and hers alone. “What if you f-f-find someone else?” She stuttered on the words.

  He pulled her into his lap. “I’m not looking for anyone else.”

  “Not yet but…” She finished her wine and snuggled into his side. He loved how she felt in his arms. How she smelled and tasted.

  “Don’t borrow trouble that’s not here.” They both knew long distance wouldn’t
work long term, but for now it was fine.

  “Thank you for forcing me to go.”

  He didn’t expect that. Was she telling him the choice was a good one? “Are you happy?”

  “No, but I’m happy I went. It was something I needed to do. I needed perspective.”

  Something told him this conversation wasn’t going in the direction he hoped. What he wanted was for her to tell him she’d made the wrong choice and fought for the wrong thing.

  “It’s important to fight for what you want.” He knew all too well. He’d given up everything for his dream. If she needed to give him up, he’d understand. It would hurt like hell, but it would be for the best.

  “I’m still figuring it out.”

  “Nothing to figure out tonight except whether you’d like another glass of wine before I take you to bed and ravish you.”

  She dropped the blanket and raced him for the stairs.

  They spent hours in bed loving each other and finally came up for air when their stomachs were louder than their moans of pleasure. They needed nourishment to continue at their pace and food became the new priority. They showered, dressed, and left the house in search of food.

  Word got around town she was back for a visit. By dinnertime the diner was full of people wanting to hear about her new life. She visited table after table telling them how busy the city was. How the housing market wasn’t good for buyers. How the traffic backed up for miles on the highway. She hated the wait times at restaurants and ate in the cafeteria at work most days. Though she smiled while she spoke, there was no sparkle in her eyes when she talked about the hospital and the people she worked with.

  That night he took her home. They sat under the twinkling lights on the pergola. “What’s your schedule like this week?” he asked.

  “Oh you know, I’m sure I’ll see at least two dozen runny noses that were described as life-threatening on the intake form. Someone will cut their finger off with a mower or a weed whacker. There will be an animal bite or two, no doubt several car accidents. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to deliver a baby in the hallway. What about you?”

  “I’ve got electrical inspections at the Guild Center this week. If I can squeak in some free time, I need to pick out paint for the house.” The paint was still peeling. It was the last thing he needed to do on the exterior to bring it up to date. “What color would you paint it?”

  “I know nothing about paint.”

  “You don’t have to know anything. You have to have an opinion.”

  She thought on it for a minute.

  Moths flew into the screen, trying to get to the light. He knew how they felt. Lydia was the light and he was the moth.

  “What about butter yellow with cream trim and rust accents?”

  He pictured that in his mind. A yellow house with cream colored trim and rust shutters, corbels, and accents. “That would work.”

  “You’re easy.”

  He pulled the plug on the lights and tossed a few chair cushions to the floor. His yard was private so there was no real risk of them being seen. “And cheap.”

  He laid her down on top the cushions, removed her clothing and set out to make love to her in a way she’d remember until the day she died.

  He covered her with kisses from her toes to the top of her head. She wiggled and writhed beneath his tongue. The louder she got, the more he gave her. He didn’t care if the universe heard her scream his name. In his heart, she belonged to him and that scream proved it. He pulled her to pleasure several times before he sank himself inside her. There was nothing sweeter than when she gave herself to him completely.

  He inched himself inside her until their two bodies became one. He pulled and she pushed. He gave and she took. Slowly, he brought her to the peak. He expected her to call out his name like she usually did. But tonight she said, “I love you,” and his heart filled with her love.

  He wasn’t sure of anything but love. There was no guarantee that after tonight she’d ever come back. Part of him wanted to ask her if love would ever be enough, but he was afraid of her answer. Was this trip to Aspen Cove a litmus test? Was it everything she remembered it to be or was it less? He wanted to make sure it was more.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  By Wednesday, Lydia was crawling the walls of the ER. Everything irritated the crap out of her from the brightness of the lights to the smell of the wax they used on the floor. Despite the chaos that came with working in emergency medicine, she was bored.

  She thought back to the day she removed Wes’s stitches. The day he told her about his friend’s cancelled trip to Paris.

  She wanted to smack herself upside the head. Wes knew if the choice had been hers, she would have found a way to Paris. Hell, she had. She’d gotten to her Paris, which was Memorial Hospital. While it was a great place for most people, it wasn’t the place for her. It had everything she wanted, and nothing she needed. She worked around the clock and her reward was sore feet and dark circles under her eyes. There were no smiley-face stickers. No tamale pies. No Bailey Brown. Most of all there were no slobbery dog kisses. No Jiffy Pop and scary movies. No yard art hostages. No Wes.

  Grandma Dotty always told her to fight for what she wanted. Lydia had fought to get where she was now but surely wants had to come second to needs. The biggest battle to fight and hardest to win was a battle for love. She’d raised the white flag with Adam before the battle had begun because deep down she knew he wasn’t a prize worth fighting for. Wes was a different story. He’d thrown up the white flag so she could retreat with honor. Did he somehow know she’d come back to him?

  Nothing was certain, but when he made love to her that last night, it wasn’t him saying goodbye, but him begging her to stay. She felt the tether of his love with each caress and each kiss. She wanted more. Needed more.

  When the head of the department walked in, Lydia asked him for a minute of his time. They retreated to his office, where she thanked him for the opportunity to work there but told him the job wasn’t everything she needed it to be.

  “Do you know what you’re giving up?” he asked.

  She smiled. “Yes, but I know it’s nothing compared to what I’ll gain by leaving.”

  She finished her shift and went back to the hotel to pack. She had a lot of planning to do. Wes was a romantic. He’d shown her from the twinkling lights on the pergola to the coffee he served her in bed. He never failed to show her how much she mattered. That’s all she needed—to matter to someone.

  She spent hours writing the reasons she loved Wes on six thousand Post-it Notes. It was what she needed to cover his truck. Go big or go home.

  She’d parked down the street in the dark of the night and snuck back to Wes’s house like a thief. Funny how when she’d arrived in Aspen Cove all she thought she needed was a prominent position, a generous paycheck and a caffeine IV drip. She’d never been more wrong. Writing notes with all the ways she loved Wes made her realize there were three things in life she couldn’t live without. Wes’s kisses, Wes’s hugs and Wes’s love. Everything else was noise. She pasted the last Post-it on the car. It was a simple smiling face because that’s how she felt in his presence.

  She stood back and found herself washed in light. As luck would have it, Sheriff Cooper had caught her.

  “Are you being bad again?” he asked.

  Lydia smiled. “I’m so bad, I’m good.”

  The sheriff exited his cruiser and walked around the truck. “Does this mean you’re back to stay?”

  She stepped back and looked at her masterpiece. It had taken four hours to cover every bit of black paint in yellow sticky notes. “I’m back if he’ll keep me.”

  “Are you going to wait until he wakes up to find out?”

  “You got another idea?” She hadn’t thought past putting the notes on the car. She’d considered a ding-dong ditch where she’d push the doorbell and hide behind a tree.

  The sheriff grinned. “I do.” He took the handcuffs from his belt and put t
hem on her.

  She didn’t like the feel of the metal on her wrists. Despite them being loose, they bit into her skin.

  Playing her part as the convict, her head hung low as she stood on the front porch while Sheriff Cooper beat on the door. Beneath their feet was a new addition. A smiley-face welcome mat. Looking at it told her she was home.

  First to arrive at the door was a barking Sarge. Next came Wes, who opened it looking just-out-of-bed sexy. When he saw Sheriff Cooper his eyes got wide. When he saw Lydia they nearly popped out of his head.

  “What the hell?”

  “Found her vandalizing your truck.”

  Wes looked past them to his Post-it Note-covered truck. “Wow!” Barefoot, he walked outside and circled his truck. He plucked note after note. His smile grew with each message.

  “You want to press charges?” Sheriff Cooper asked.

  Wes brushed his hand over his scruff. “I think there should be some kind of punishment or restitution, don’t you?”

  Sheriff Cooper led Lydia to Wes. He pulled the cuff key off his ring and handed it to Wes. “I’ll leave that up to you. Bring back my cuffs when you’re done.”

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Lydia complained. “You can’t leave me cuffed.”

  “I can do what I want, I’m the sheriff. Before you complain, don’t forget I’m still picking toilet paper off my trees.”

  He walked to his squad car and drove away.

  Wes continued to pluck yellow notes.

  “You love me?” he asked.

  “I do.”

  “What does this mean?” He pointed to his truck.

  Lydia moved next to him. “It means I went to Paris and thought it sucked. Paris didn’t have you.”

  “I don’t want to be almost enough, Lydia.”

  “You’re more than enough. You’re everything I need.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. “You’re just plain everything.” He kissed her long and deep. “Not everything. I want marriage and kids.”

  “You want a lot.” She shook her cuffed wrists. “Uncuff me.”