***
Charleigh was sitting in her office when Dillon came to see if she could lend him a hand. Sam Gregory had brought a load of bull calves into the clinic that he needed to be wormed and cut. Oh, lovely! It was her most favorite— Yeah, right! — task to perform on any male animal. Especially on ones that weighed twice as much as she did.
“Where’s Sidney?” She asked, taking off her glasses. Invoices and paperwork were a close second on the list.
“She’s working in the OR with Jared. Somebody brought a stray dog in that got run over. They’re having to amputate one of the front legs.”
“Preston?”
“He’s in with Everett. Emergency Caesarean on Amelia Rowan’s Dachshund.”
“Eric?”
“Same.”
She went down a long list of employees. Dillon had an answer for everyone. “There’s no one else?”
“Expect for John or the office staff, there’s only you.” He smiled when Charleigh rolled her eyes.
“Okay.” She shook her head, rose from the chair. “Okay, let’s go. You owe me, Dillon Hodge. You owe me big time.”
“Fine,” he said over his shoulder, “Just tell me where you’ve registered for wedding gifts. The biggest, most expensive item is on me.”
“I haven’t registered yet, but I’ll keep that in mind when I do. Thanks.”
There were twelve calves. It took two hours to wrestle the poor, scared, crazy things into the shoot and do what needed to be done. By the time it was over, Charleigh was sunburned. She’d been stepped on and fallen on. Cow manure was smeared all over her scrubs. Luckily it was high noon, time for lunch, when they stepped back into the cool, air-conditioned building. Unfortunately, she had no appetite for food.
“I was wondering what you and Jamie had planned for an engagement party?” Madie asked when she came into the office in her horse stable. She found Charleigh leaned back in the chair, with her feet propped up on the desk, eyes closed.
“I, uh…” The young woman wasn’t asleep, but she was pretty close. Charleigh put her feet on the floor, taking a moment to clear the clouds away from her mind. She yawned, “We haven’t thought about it. We haven’t even talked about a date for the wedding yet.”
“I know it might be a little soon, but Lenore, John, and I have tossed around a few things. We want to host the engagement party here at the ranch, if neither you nor Jamie minds.” Madie sat down in the chair in front of the desk. “Talk about a date and what you want, and we’ll take care of the rest.”
“It’s not a big deal. Something simple would be fine, Madie.”
“It certainly is a big deal, doll. My oldest grandchild is getting married. Unfortunately, we’re going to want both sides of the family there, though.”
Charleigh’s eyes grew wide. “I don’t think Claudia knows about…”
“Well, probably not. I’m sure we would’ve heard from Greg if she’d had a stroke.” The older woman shrugged. “It doesn’t make a difference, at any rate.”
“You better believe she’ll have something to say about her son marrying ‘that girl,’ Madie. Claudia hates me. She—”
“She is an awful woman, Charleigh. I’ve never understood what my son saw in her.”
“Oh, well. I guess I’ll have Jamie call his mother. Maybe he can get Kevin or Jenna to tell her.”
“I wouldn’t count on that, dear. She scares those poor kids to death.” Madie laughed, standing up.
Just as Madie was leaving, Charleigh’s cell phone began to ring. She looked at the caller id to find that it was Jamie.
“Hi, there,” she answered it. “How’s it going?”
“Terror-ific, focusing on the terror part.” Jamie sounded just as much. “I went to lunch with my bosses, and I told a bad joke. You can guess what happened next.”
“Dead air, huh?”
“Nothing. Not even a courtesy laugh. It was humiliating.”
Charleigh got up from the chair. She walked out into the main corridor of the stable and looked around. She was completely alone. “Luckily for you that you’re banging the boss, then.”
“Yeah. No kidding,” he sighed.
“Oh, don’t worry so much about it. I’m sure you’re doing better than that.”
“I don’t have as much confidence in myself.”
Charleigh could hear the frustration in Jamie’s voice as she walked down toward the rear stalls. Cassiopeia, a sorrel brooding mare, was the only horse still in the stable because she was nearing her due date. Charleigh didn’t like the idea of the horse getting out in the pasture somewhere when she began to foal.
“It’ll all come out in the wash, honey. Don’t worry, okay?” She gently ran a hand down the horse’s face.
“Yeah, I guess. I got to go. See you at home later?”
The sound of the large back door opening made Charleigh turn around to see who it was. She’d expected to see Cordell or one of the other ranch hands. It was like a punch in the solar plexus to see the person who was standing in the open doorway. Why did Gavin come there? What did he want? She turned and retreated back to the office.
“Charleigh? Charleigh, are you still there?” Jamie asked, thinking the cell phone reception had been cut off.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m still here. I’ll see you at home.” She was almost breathless.
“I love you.”
At that moment, Gavin appeared in the doorway, holding a halter and lead rope. His face held an expression that made Charleigh squirm uncomfortably.
“I love you, too.” She snapped the phone shut, looked at Gavin.
“I can’t find the saddles,” Gavin spoke up. “Gram said they were all in the new tack room, but I’m not exactly sure where that is.”
What was Charleigh supposed to do? She wasn’t quite sure what to say to him. After everything, she’d come to understand that they just weren’t meant to be together, and she was happier with Jamie than she’d ever been with Gavin, but could they really be civil to one another? After all the schemes the man had pulled? Maybe if a miracle occurred, but Charleigh wasn’t holding her breath.
She could only nod, standing up to lead him toward his destination. They walked in silence to the tack room. Gavin followed a few steps behind. Charleigh wasn’t sure what to say to him. Did she have anything to say to Gavin?
When they reached the door, she opened it, standing back to let him go inside.
“So, I hear you and my cousin are getting hitched,” Gavin said as she went to walk away.
“Yeah, I’m hoping this one will stick.” Oh, God! Did I really say that out loud?
“Maybe. At least one of us deserves to be happy, you know.” He looked over the saddles.
Each one of Madie’s grandchildren had one specially made for them in the tack room. Some of them, like the ones for Jenna and Kevin, had never been used. It seemed to Charleigh that he couldn’t find his, or wasn’t sure which one belonged to him. Gavin wasn’t necessarily a horse-riding enthusiast.
“Well, Gavin,” she sighed. “We both did a few things we shouldn’t be proud of and made some mistakes.”
“You mean I did things that I shouldn’t be proud of. I made the mistakes.”
“No,” Charleigh replied with a shake of her head. “I made mistakes too, as far as we were concerned. As far as life goes.”
She brought a hand up to her face. Gavin saw the twinkling diamond on her ring finger.
“Nice ring. Sorry I couldn’t get you anything as fancy as that.”
“It’s not what counts at the end of the day, Gavin. I’m happy with Jamie. Really, really happy.”
“Like I said,” Gavin said almost in a growl. He grabbed the closest saddle by the horn, not paying attention that it was too small for him.
“What is wrong with you, Gavin?” She stepped back so he could get past.
He took several long strides until he was out in the main corridor. Dropping the saddle to the floor, Gavin took a few more steps and kicked a nearby stall door.
“The fact that everyone thinks I royally screwed up my life. When I climbed into the backseat with Andrea, I admit it, I knew what I was setting myself up for, but I love my daughter, no matter how she came to be.”
Charleigh brought up her arms across her chest and calmly spoke, “That is all that should matter.”
Letting out a heavy breath, Gavin turned back to Charleigh. He stared at her as if she was from another planet. He stared at her the same way he had that day when she’d handed him the court order to repossess the truck.
“Well, Charleigh, what do you want me to say? I know I screwed up with you. I’m sorry. Isn’t that enough for you?”
The question brought a smile to Charleigh’s face. It was nowhere near being funny, but she did find the situation somewhat coincidental. “You have no idea how many times I asked myself that same exact question, Gavin. ‘Why wasn’t I enough for him?’ ” She shook her head. “I’ve come to terms with everything I couldn’t be and gotten on with life. You need to start living for you and do what’s best for Brea, discounting everything else.”
“If you say so.”
Gavin left the saddle where it was on the concrete floor and walked toward the door. Charleigh watched him leave, not sure what to do. There wasn’t anything she could say to make it better, to make him understand that what had gone awry with them was really for the best, if guilt over that was what his problem was. Charleigh had dealt with the pain and the anger, and now it was Gavin’s turn.
For the first time in a long time, she felt it was the truth when she said that she’d accepted all of her imperfections. It had taken a miscarriage, the death of her father, and an emotional breakdown to realize how she’d been living was wrong.
Because of so many things— Charleigh couldn’t quite put her finger on the catalyst; there really hadn’t been just one— she’d built up walls around herself. She’d tried to be something and someone that she could never be— perfect— which only held her back and hurt more than it actually helped.
He’d made his bed, and he was going to have to lie in it. Charleigh just hoped Gavin didn’t end up holding a grudge against his daughter because of it. After all, if she’d never been conceived then Charleigh would’ve never found out about his infidelity. Really, she didn’t think it mattered. Their relationship had been wrong prior to the betrayal, but Charleigh was certain the marriage wouldn’t have lasted for very long either way, because it was based on a lie.
Oh, well. No more worrying about Gavin. There were so many other things she needed to be dealing with— like helping Jamie figure out how he was going to ‘break the news’ of their engagement to his mother. There weren’t enough minutes in the day to do that and worry about Gavin.
Chapter Five
Slumped down in her chair, Charleigh emerald green eyes were locked with Jamie’s brown ones as they listened to his mother rant and rave over speakerphone that sat on her office desk at their house. Jamie stood close by with a bitter expression on his face. They’d just told his mother about their engagement and upcoming wedding. The good news— or the bad news, whichever way you wanted to look at it— was that Claudia didn’t have a heart attack.
They decided to get married while it was still warm enough to have an outdoor wedding. The weekend of September fifteenth would do just fine. Nothing elaborately formal. Charleigh’d already been there and done that planning her wedding with Gavin, and it had proved to be more of a headache— and heartache— than a joyous occasion.
Something simple yet elegant, Madie suggested having the wedding in her garden at the ranch.
“… I cannot believe this. If you’re really going to marry that girl, Jamie, you can at least do it in style,” Claudia went in an annoying, high-pitched voice. “We can reserve the ballroom at the Plaza for sometime next autumn.”
“Claudia, it’s their wedding,” Greg interrupted, “If they want to have it at my mother’s ranch, then that’s the way it should be.”
“But what about all of my friends? I can’t have them coming to Podunk to attend my son’s wedding. It’s bad enough that he has to marry that ‘Ellie Mae.’ Her family is practically something out of The Dukes of Hazzard.”
You don’t even know my family, you old bag, Charleigh wanted to scream into the phone.
“I’m sorry,” Jamie mouthed to Charleigh when he saw her shoulders sink even lower. She only closed her eyes, shook her head in response.
“Ellie Mae was a character on The Beverly Hillbillies not The Dukes of Hazzard, Claudia. That was Daisy.”
“Whatever, Greg.” Claudia’s voice was filled with venom.
His parents went back and forth for a while. Jamie couldn’t care less as far as his mother was concerned. She could come to his wedding and keep her mouth shut, or she could just stay at home. Either way, he was marrying Charleigh on Saturday, September fifteenth.
He watched his bride-to-be squirm in her chair, with aggravation from a horrible sunburn. She also had red splotches all over her arms and legs. There were several on more Charleigh’s neck and stomach and other places on her body that would remain unmentioned. Sunburns. Poison oak. Sunburns and poison oak, Charleigh thought the combination tied with Claudia for the most gruesome thing in the world. Jamie ranked a close second on that list because he wouldn’t let her scratch it.
He’d dragged her kicking and screaming to the doctor’s office for some ointment earlier in the day because of the rash, where she ended up having to get a shot in the rear. Where Charleigh’d become infected with the pestilent, bothersome… disease, she wasn’t sure. Maybe she touched it when she went fishing with her cousins earlier in the week. Maybe she’d gotten it a few days before then. Maybe the calves she’d helped to sterilize had come in contact with it. It didn’t really matter because she was cussing it all underneath her breath.
“I couldn’t care less if any of your socialite friends come to my wedding, Mother,” Jamie interrupted his parents. “It wouldn’t be the end of my world, and if you find that insulting, then you’ll just have to deal with it or stay at home yourself.”
“Well, I never—” Claudia gasped as if she’d never been talked to so antagonistically. She probably hadn’t.
“Deal with it. I’ll call later with the details.” And Jamie hung up. He looked up at Charleigh and smiled.
“I’ve never found you sexier than I do at this moment.”
“You’re just saying that because you itch.” He laughed. “Do you need me to put some more of that cream on for you?”
“I’d rather scratch it.”
“That’ll only make it spread more.” Jamie picked up the tube and rolled his eyes. He’d picked up that annoying habit from Charleigh somehow during their time together. “Doctor Cahill said that shot would take some time to kick in. Take off your shirt.”
“No. Not unless you ask.”
“Fine. Will you take off your shirt?”
“Nicely.”
“Will you take off your shirt, please?”
Charleigh wore only a cotton tank top and a pair of lacey, green boy-short panties. “I don’t know why you don’t have this, too…” The rest of her words were muffled as she slipped the shirt up over her head.
“She said I might not be allergic to the poison oak. I’ve never had it so I wouldn’t know.”
“Aren’t you just special? Do you want a cookie with your name on it?” Charleigh turned her head so Jamie could put some on the hives just below her left ear.
“A gold star would work just as well, thanks.” Jamie tossed the cotton ball in the trashcan at the end of the desk. He headed to wash his hands but stopped in the doorway. “Do you want some soup or something?”
“That would be nice.”
It was something of a Deja vu moment. Jamie returned to the living room with a serving tray piled high with grilled cheese sandwiches and two bowls of tomato soup. Although it wasn’t a difficult meal to prepare, it was an improvement for Jamie’s cooking skills. What counted w
as that he was at least trying, and he was getting better.
“It seems like we’ve been here before.” Charleigh put the television on mute and proceeded to sit up on the couch.
He put the tray on the coffee table and sat down on the love seat. “I was thinking the very same thing. Although, the difference is that, this time, you’re not wondering if I put something in your soup.”
“Actually, you’re wrong. I am wondering that.” The comment caused Jamie to sit back and look at her. Charleigh only smiled. “Did you remember to put the milk in it?”
“Yes, I remembered to put the milk in it,” he mocked and tossed a throw pillow in Charleigh’s direction. Barely dodging, she laughed.
“Now, I was thinking about wearing boots with my wedding dress. What do you think?”
Lifting his spoon to his mouth, Jamie stopped and stared. It seemed like a casual enough question. His bride-to-be asked it straightforwardly, never taking her eyes awake from her food. However, he didn’t think of it as simple.
“You have got to be joking.”
“Nope, I’m as serious as the plague. I found a dress in one of these magazines.” Somehow, though Charleigh had no idea how, she kept a perfectly straight face. “It’s really pretty, and lacey. The front hem is kinda short but the back is long and comes down to make a train. And it pushes everything up.” She cupped her breasts and pushed up to demonstrate.
Jamie stared. He had to clear his throat before he could speak. “That would be fine with me, but… My mother will just love that.”
“I’m counting on it, solely for that purpose. It’s no secret that she hates me. I figure that I might as well give my future mother-in-law an actual reason.”
“You’re not going to start anything, are you?”
“Of course not.”
“Charleigh,” he warned.
“Why would I need to start anything?” She flashed a brilliant smile Jamie’s way, but he saw the sparkle in her eyes. “Odds are: she’ll see my wedding dress and do it all by herself.”
“But you’ll be dangling the bait.”
“What do you take me for? A ne’er-do-well?”
You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) Page 4