by J. H. Croix
She reached the gravel drive leading to her cabin and turned into it. When she came to a stop and looked up at the charming little cabin with its bright red roof, a pang of longing hit her. She wished Quinn were here so much it almost hurt.
Chapter 13
Quinn’s phone buzzed in his coat pocket, indicating a text had arrived. He was in the middle of helping his mother into a recliner. It wasn’t just any recliner, but a rather elaborate recliner that slowly rotated from standing to sitting. He’d purchased it this morning once he heard from Amelia their mother had fallen already getting out of her chair.
“All you need to do is rest your hips on the edge here,” Quinn paused to gesture to the chair. “Then, you push the button here on the armrest, or on the remote, and the chair will slowly move back on its own. When you need to get up, it does the opposite. Try it.”
His mother rolled her eyes, but she gamely rested her hips on the edge after leaning her cane against a table beside the chair. She pushed the button and the chair eased back. When it stopped moving, she grinned up at him. “Okay, I’m sold. With this, I probably won’t fall trying to get up.”
Quinn stepped away and sat down in a nearby rocking chair. “Glad you like it. I set up a walk through with the woman from the rehab center. I don’t know why you didn’t let them do that before you moved back. She’ll go through the house and make suggestions for modifications to minimize the chance you’ll hurt yourself. I’m glad you’re home and mobile again, but it’s going to be a while before you can manage without support. I don’t want you here alone unless we can at least try to make it easier on you. It’s plain luck Amelia happened to stop by right after you fell.”
His mother looked away from him to stare out the window. Her home in Willow Brook was situated at the edge of the forest with cottonwood and birch trees to one side and spruce on the other. The home faced a field with a view of Denali, the tallest peak in the North America, in the distance. A lake centered in the view was host to a flock of trumpeter swans every summer. His mother loved her home. He’d always known it wouldn’t be easy on her when age started to catch up to her, but he hoped they could make the home more easy to navigate for now. She looked back to him, her dark brown gaze resigned.
“Fine. I thought I could be careful enough that it wouldn’t matter. As happy as I am to be back home, even I have to admit I’m not getting around the way I used to. I never thought I’d be attached to that damn cane, but I’m getting there,” she said with a soft laugh. Her eyes sobered. “Thank you for helping. I need to apologize to your sister. She tried to insist on the same thing before I moved home last week. I pooh-poohed it and told her she was being silly.”
Quinn shrugged. “She’ll appreciate your change of heart more than the apology.”
His mother threw her head back with a laugh. “So true.” Her laugh slowed and she glanced to him again. “How long will you be here before you move to Diamond Creek?”
“Another week or so. Dr. Daniels said he could be flexible about when I start, but I’d like to get there and settled as soon as I can. I don’t like too much time on my hands, so…”
Sarah’s lips quirked. “No, you never were one to twiddle your thumbs. I had a feeling this would work out, so I’m thrilled it did. How’s Lacey doing?”
Sarah had met Lacey a number of times over the years when they had breaks between backcountry trips. Quinn hadn’t been able to bring himself to fill her in on whatever was going on between him and Lacey, but he had shared his concerns about Lacey’s medical issues.
“All in all, she’s annoyed as hell, but doing okay. You know Lacey. She thrives on living on the edge. She’s not too pleased to think any medical issue might get in her way.”
“Can’t say I blame her,” Sarah said with a wry grin. “Tell her if I can accept it, she can too.”
Quinn chuckled. “You got it.”
Their conversation moved on to more mundane topics before Quinn waited patiently while his mother made her way into the kitchen. She was bound and determined to make dinner for him and Amelia.
Hours later as Quinn closed the door on the guest room in his mother’s house, his phone buzzed again. As he was slipping it out of his pocket, he recalled he’d never checked it earlier. Lacey’s name flashed on the screen for texts and a missed call. Her latest text was brief.
Never mind.
Never mind what? Quinn pulled up his messages and saw she’d left two messages hours ago. As he read them, his chest tightened with worry and annoyance with himself for completely forgetting to check his phone earlier.
Got the results from the MRI. Not looking too good.
His heart clenched and his stomach churned with worry. He wished like hell she’d called him. Uh, dude, she texted you and you ignored it for like four hours. Hey, I didn’t ignore it on purpose. I was busy and forgot to look. Okay, fine. On her end, it probably seemed like you were ignoring it. He shook his head, frustrated with the back and forth in his mind. He scrolled down on the phone screen to see her next text, which came roughly an hour after the first.
Just tried to call. Guess you’re busy. Let me know a time I could maybe call.
He glanced at the time. It was past ten, but she’d just texted him, so he knew she was awake. Without giving himself a chance to reconsider, he tapped the screen to call her.
The phone rang enough times that Quinn was about to hang up. As he pulled the phone away from his ear, he heard Lacey’s hello.
“Hey!” he said as he almost slammed the phone against his ear. “Sorry I missed your texts and your call earlier. I was helping my mom, then we had dinner and then…well, you know how it goes.” He paused for a breath. “Tell me what Dr. Marshall said about the MRI results,” he said softly, cutting straight to the point.
Lacey sigh came through the phone, weary and strained. “She confirmed two areas of nerve damage. She still won’t say it’s MS because she said she has to rule out some other things first. I’m just tired of it already. I’d rather know for sure and then I know what I’m dealing with.” Lacey’s voice vibrated with frustration.
Quinn considered how to reply. He wished upon wish he were there with her because what he really wanted to do was pull her in his arms and hold her. He didn’t think there was much he could say that would alleviate how she felt right now. Her frustration and impatience were entirely understandable, but he knew what was bothering her the most was how this struck at her view of herself. “Look, I know it’s frustrating, but Dr. Marshall is right to wait.” He bit back the urge to run down a list of questions about what she planned to test for rule outs because it wouldn’t be productive and would likely send Lacey on an online investigation. He figured she’d ignored his suggestion to steer clear of researching on her own because that was the kind of thing she’d do.
“I’ll be back by tomorrow,” he said, surprising himself with his announcement. He could finish taking care of what he needed to here tomorrow morning, but he would be pushing it. Yet, all he wanted was to be back by Lacey’s side. Hearing the undercurrent of anxiety in her voice prompted an almost visceral response in him.
“Really?” Lacey asked, the hopefulness in her question making it a certainty he’d be there.
“Absolutely. I’ve taken care of a few things for Mom. I still have to empty my stuff out of storage, but that won’t take more than the morning.”
“Oh good. How’s your mom?”
“All in all, she’s pretty good. She’s home, and I’ve set it up for someone from the rehab center to do a walk through and make recommendations for modifications around the house.”
Conversation moved onto a few other mundane matters, while Quinn shrugged out of his shirt and kicked his jeans off to climb in bed. Roughly an hour later, he found himself resting against the pillows, chuckling as Lacey shared a story of an errant salmon while dip-netting last summer. When his laugh faded, he realized he just plain didn’t want to get off the phone. He felt like a schoolboy from
days gone by, back when talking on the phone was the end all be all.
Lacey quieted, and he heard the soft sound of her taking a breath. “I suppose we should get off the phone, huh?”
“If we want to get any sleep, then maybe so.”
She laughed softly, the sound curling around his heart. “You have a long day tomorrow if you’re packing and driving all the way here.”
“It won’t be too bad,” he said, failing to keep from yawning.
“Where are you staying?” she asked suddenly.
“Uh, haven’t really figured that out yet. Marley said I could stay at the lodge until…”
“You can stay here until you find a place,” she said quickly.
Startled, all he could manage was a nod. After a long silence, he realized she couldn’t see him. “That’d be great. I looked into a few options for rentals, but I haven’t hammered anything out yet.”
After a few beats, she spoke again. “Good night. Call me when you’re almost here.”
“You got it. Good…”
The click of the phone in his ear cut off his words. He slowly lowered the phone and set it on the nightstand, a small smile curling his lips. He figured Lacey had just about outdone herself actually inviting him to stay with her. As he drifted off to sleep, it occurred to him he’d committed himself to an insanely busy day tomorrow—all because he couldn’t bear to go any longer without seeing Lacey.
Lacey tugged on the heavy door to the lodge and stepped through with a gust of icy wind. She pushed her hood back. “Whew! It’s hella windy out there today,” she said as Harry looked up from the reception desk.
He arched a dark brown and grinned. “Definitely. You here for breakfast with the girls this morning?”
“Of course. Is Marley still upstairs?”
He shook his head and gestured through the archway into the restaurant. “She’s in the back booth with Delia.”
Lacey gave a little wave as she walked past him. “Thanks Harry! See you later.”
As promised, Marley and Delia were seated in the back corner booth, the one permanently reserved for friends and family. It was conveniently tucked so close to the kitchen, it wouldn’t have been considered a good place to sit as a paying customer. It was immediately beside the swinging door into the kitchen as well, which meant for an almost constant flow of traffic. For friends and family, it was perfect. Lacey slipped into the booth beside Marley and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “Hey sis! Where’s Holly?”
Marley turned to her with a wide smile. “With Mom for the morning. She wanted some baby time, and I get a break.”
Delia cast her warm smile between them. “A few hours baby free is awesome, but it’s weird. Or it was for me when Nick was little.”
Marley twirled a loose lock of hair around her finger and cocked her head to the side as if she was considering it. “I suppose it is odd. I’m so used to being with Holly all the time, it’s weird.” She shrugged. “But it’s okay. Mom came by to pick her up first thing this morning. Showering without racing through it was pretty sweet.”
Delia burst out laughing at the look on Lacey’s face. “Trust me, if you ever have kids, you’ll find yourself unbelievably excited about the most mundane things, like an uninterrupted shower.”
Lacey giggled. “Okay, I get it. Anyway, so what else is new?”
Harry stopped by the table. “Okay ladies, do you need me to assign someone to your table, or is everyone doing the buffet this morning?”
“Buffet!” They all spoke at once.
Harry grinned. “Got it. I’ll get fresh coffee for everyone.”
He spun away and pushed through the swinging door into the kitchen.
They collectively rose and filled their plates at the buffet. After they were seated and Harry delivered their coffees, conversation moved on to the slow wind down of the crazy tourist season in Diamond Creek. Every summer, the population of the community effectively quadrupled with the amount of tourists flocking to the area.
Marley finished a bite of eggs and gestured with her fork. “They have to put in stop lights at those two main intersections soon. I waited over ten minutes to turn onto the highway a few weeks ago.”
Delia shrugged. “Every time it’s come up, too many people say it will ruin the town’s character. Anyway, things don’t slow down as much as they used to with the lodge back in business,” she said with a satisfied smile.
“We bring plenty of business to town, but it’s not quite the way it is in the summer,” Marley replied.
“The lodge brings just enough people here to keep town from being too sleepy in the winter, but I wouldn’t want the summer season all year. It’s too crazy,” Lacey added.
A customer stopped by, interrupting their conversation, and asked Marley about the hiking trails. While Marley chatted with the customer, Delia caught Lacey’s eyes. “Any word on when Quinn is officially moving here?”
“He’ll be here later today,” Lacey said, her heart giving a little kick at the thought.
She’d managed to fall asleep last night, but it had taken a while. Between being out of sorts over her medical tests and missing Quinn like crazy, her mind had been spinning in circles.
Delia’s eyes crinkled at the corners with her smile. “I guess that’s a good thing, huh?”
Lacey flushed. Before she had a chance to reply, Marley finished her other conversation and turned back to them as the customer walked off. She took a sip of coffee, her eyes bouncing between them. “What?”
Lacey’s cheeks got hotter. She shrugged and took a gulp of her coffee.
Delia glanced from her to Marley. “All I did was ask when Quinn would be back.”
“When will he be back?” Marley asked, her eyes turning to Lacey.
“Later today,” Lacey mumbled before taking a bite of scrambled eggs.
“Oh great. Did he mention if he needed to stay here? I told him he could.”
Lacey swallowed and pointlessly moved her food around on her plate as she answered. “He’s staying with me.” Somehow saying aloud that he’d be staying with her made things feel quite real.
She could feel Delia and Marley’s eyes on her. She finally gave in and looked up.
“Well, that’s good then. I don’t think he spent a single night at the lodge when he was here. Might as well stop tiptoeing around. Have you two actually talked yet?” Marley asked.
Delia muffled a laugh behind her hand when Lacey’s mouth dropped open. Lacey swung her gaze to Delia. “What’s so funny?” she asked, trying to tamp down her embarrassment.
“Just you. You’ve always been such a badass. I don’t think you ever even noticed a guy before, not even Quinn. Now, you’re so obviously head over heels with him,” Delia replied.
Lacey figured her face must be practically neon red at this point. She took another gulp of coffee and tried to marshal her composure. Delia’s eyes softened. “I can’t help but tease, but I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
Lacey bit her lip and shook her head, fighting the sudden tightness in her throat and the tears threatening. After a few deep breaths, she managed to beat back her tears. She glanced between Delia and Marley who were both quiet. “I’m fine. It’s just…ugh…” She paused to wipe at her eyes, the tears immediately welling again. “This is ridiculous. I’m an emotional mess, and I hate being like this.”
Marley slipped her arm across Lacey’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Is everything okay with Quinn? I thought you were happy he was moving here.”
Lacey dragged her sleeve across her eyes and nodded. “I am. I just, I don’t know. I’ve never been like this about a guy, and I feel stupid and silly. There’s that and then I saw Dr. Marshall the other day, and…” A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.
Marley and Delia waited patiently, which made Lacey want to cry even harder. She quickly filled them in on the details from Dr. Marshall and the continued uncertainty. Delia, the calm center of their small social cir
cle, nodded solemnly. “So, when will you see her to review the lab results?”
Lacey took a shaky breath and let it out in a sigh. “See, that’s the problem. I blew off going to the lab for the follow up tests. I was tired and I just didn’t want to deal with it.”
“Want me to go with you tomorrow?” Marley asked, her eyes concerned.
Lacey shook her head. “I’ll go. I promise. If I don’t, Quinn will drag me down there anyway.”
Marley smiled softly. “That’s one more mark in his favor. I have no doubt he’ll make sure you get your butt down to the lab.” She paused, her eyes assessing. “You know, it’s not so bad to be confused about this thing with Quinn, but I mean it when I say I think you two could have a real chance. Just be careful not to get in your own way.”
“What do you mean?” Lacey asked quickly.
“Just that. You saw me stumble plenty before I got my head clear when it came to Gage. You’re one of the strongest women I know. I’m guessing it’s not exactly easy to feel the way you do about Quinn. That’s all.”
Lacey chewed on her lip and brushed her hair away from her eyes, thinking it was so not easy that it made her half-crazy. “Maybe so. How come there aren’t instructions for this kind of thing?”
Delia almost spit out her coffee at that. Her burst of laughter was infectious, lightening Lacey’s mood as she realized how ridiculous her question was.
Chapter 14
Quinn stared into the empty storage space. With his lifestyle, he hadn’t had much to store beyond extra gear for backcountry trips and some books. Every box was stacked tidily in the back of his SUV. He stood there, an odd feeling washing over him. His life for the last decade or so had been one temporary situation after another. He always circled back to Alaska, but even then nothing was settled. He was about to move to Diamond Creek and commit himself to a place and a life in a way he never had before. Lacey bolted into his thoughts, and he chuckled to himself. Even his mind conjured her just as she was—bold and strong. Lacey wasn’t one who strolled anywhere. She walked with purpose.