Last Chance Hero

by Cathleen Armstrong

  Kaitlyn nodded as she left. “Be right back with that.”

  “Excuse me, do you need this chair?”

  Andy looked up at the man standing next to him with his hand on the back of the empty folding chair. He was about to tell him to take it when he caught sight of the ticket table on the edge of the parking lot.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s taken. The party I was holding it for just got here.” He pushed back from the table. “Be right back.”

  Jess was standing next to the ticket table scanning the tables with a bright I’m-going-to-look-confident smile on her face when Andy reached her.

  “Hey, you made it. I’m sitting with some friends and there’s an empty chair if you’d like to join us.”

  Jess actually looked glad to see him, and with her coppery hair fluffed around her face and just a little makeup, Andy had to admit that she cleaned up real good. “I’d like that,” she said. “Goodness. You said everybody in town would be here, but I had no idea that Last Chance was so . . . big.”

  “Spread out, it seems pretty small. Bunched up like this, well, there’s a lot of us. Plus, from what Rita tells me, people come from all around. Anyway, we do have a place over here. I’m sitting with an old friend I grew up with and his wife, who I just met. I think you’ll like them.”

  He led the way back to Ray and Lainie and began the introductions. The trouble with introductions in Last Chance was that they never stopped with just names. Lineage, relationships, and connections all had to be explained. Jess’s smile began to look a little fixed and her nod a little automatic.

  Lainie laughed and reached across Ray to touch Jess’s arm. “Don’t worry about getting everything straight. It’ll take weeks, months. I’m not sure I’ve got it all, and it’s been two years since I came to Last Chance.”

  “Wow, practically a native.” Jess grinned, and as she and Lainie went on talking, Andy sat back and watched.

  Jess smiled a lot, and her eyes crinkled at the corners when she did. There was an eagerness about her when she met folks that seemed to say she had been looking forward to the pleasure and was delighted that it was finally taking place. When Andy thought about her introduction to the town earlier that day, he felt kind of bad. Oh, they had been friendly enough, and Last Chance was probably a lot more welcoming than a lot of small towns, when you got down to it, but they did have to look you over a bit first, bide their time before they made up their minds about you. Clearly, Jess hadn’t been quite ready for that, and Andy was glad that Lainie, a newcomer herself by Last Chance standards, had cut right through all that reticence and was making Jess feel right at home—at least he hoped Jess was beginning to feel at home. He certainly wanted her to.

  “So, what do you do, Lainie?”

  Andy winced a little. The question, the first one asked in so many places, was not so common in Last Chance. In the first place, everybody pretty much knew what everybody else did, and in the second, what you did just wasn’t the most interesting thing about you. But Lainie seemed to take it in stride.

  “I work here, actually. The woman who owned the Dip ’n’ Dine before Chris gave me a job when I first got here, and I just love the place. If Times Square is the crossroads of the world, the Dip ’n’ Dine is the crossroads of this whole area. Take a booth in the corner, and you’ll see everyone from miles around pass through.”

  “Here you go.” Kaitlyn was back and placed the plate she was carrying in front of Andy. “And what can I bring you?”

  She smiled down at Jess, who looked around and shrugged. “Menu?”

  “Combination plate or rellenos?” Lainie, Ray, and Andy spoke in unison with Kaitlyn.

  “But the word is that rellenos is the dish to order,” Andy finished up.

  Jess eyed the dish in front of him and nodded. “Looks good. I’ll have that too.”

  “Here, take mine.” Andy set the plate in front of her and looked up at Kaitlyn. “Just bring me another like it.”

  “No, no. This is yours.” Jess began to protest.

  “It’s fine. It won’t take Kaitlyn a minute to bring me one, will it, Kaitlyn?”

  “I wouldn’t dream of taking your dinner.” Jess set the plate back in front of him with a little thump and turned her crinkly-eyed smile back up at Kaitlyn. “And take your time. No need to rush.”

  Andy sat back, not knowing quite what to do. He had been raised with “ladies first” and “don’t eat until everyone is served.” Now here he sat with a plate of cooling food in front of him while the lady sitting next to him had just told the server to take her time.

  “You eat that while it’s hot.” Jess jabbed a finger at his plate. She sounded awful bossy, but her eyes still smiled. “My dinner will be here soon enough.”

  “If I were you, I’d do what she said.” Ray nudged him with his elbow. “Times are a-changing, even here in Last Chance.”

  Andy shrugged and picked up his fork as Jess picked up the conversation that had been interrupted by the arrival of his dinner.

  “So, I have to ask. If you love working here and everyone connected to the place or the family is working this fiesta, how come you’re not?”

  Lainie slid a glare toward Ray. “Because Ray and his grandmother, who we live with, ganged up on me, that’s why. They say if I’m on my feet during working hours, I need to be off my feet when my shift is over.”

  “Well, congratulations!” Jess’s face lit up, and Andy noticed that when she really smiled, her eyes almost crinkled shut. But he still had no idea what they were talking about. “But you know, they’ve got a point. First trimester?”

  Lainie nodded. “Ten weeks.”

  Ooooh. Andy got it. And fervently hoped this wasn’t going to be that kind of conversation.

  “All the more reason to get as much rest as you can. You’ve got a big job ahead of you.”

  Andy was of two minds. As Jess leaned to give advice to Lainie, who was sitting two seats away, her arm and shoulder pressed against his, and he liked that. But he sure wished she were talking about something else.

  3

  Well, you win some. You lose some. Jess smiled to herself as she locked the dead bolt in her room at the Last Chance Motel and shut the blinds. She didn’t know if it was her or if Andy Ryan liked taking care of everyone, but he sure had his knight-in-shining-armor helmet on, even if it did resemble a battered cowboy hat. It wasn’t that Jess went around with a chip on her shoulder; she knew how to ask for help when she needed it. But when people wanted to rush in and take care of things for her, her back went up, and her independence became a battle to be won. Again.

  In the win column: her refusal to be his date at that Red Chile and Bluegrass thing, her insistence that he eat his own dinner while she waited for hers to arrive, and her rejection of his insistent offer of a ride back to the motel when the evening was over. In the lose column, if you could call it that, was the fact that she wound up sitting with him all evening anyway and his announcement that it was a free country and he could walk beside her all the way back to the motel if he wanted to, even if it did mean walking all the way back to get his truck.

  Funny, it was all the things in her “lose” column that made her smile. Sitting with Andy and his friends had been fun, and there had been no hint that he thought of her as his date. In fact, they had wound up switching seats around so she could talk to Lainie while Andy caught up with Ray. When it was time to leave, she refused offers of a ride from both the Bradens and Andy, claiming the walk was both short and necessary after her huge meal. It was Andy, of course, who fell in beside her as she headed back to the motel. The walk and the conversation had been so easy that it didn’t even occur to her to wonder what he had in mind until he stopped back a few feet from her door and stood, hands in pockets, while she fitted her key in the lock before lifting his hand in a wave and ambling back across the parking lot.

  Jess winced as her mother’s voice and her litany of warnings sounded in her head. She was pretty sure there was some
thing in there about watching out for strange men. But truthfully? Even though eighteen short hours ago she didn’t even know he existed, Andy didn’t seem like a stranger at all. Neither did his friends the Bradens. And even though within the week she expected to be so immersed in her work that she wouldn’t have time for anything, it was good to have friends.

  The phone on the bedside table startled her with its old-fashioned jangle as she headed to the bathroom to run a bath.

  “Dr. MacLeod, it’s Rita. I didn’t wake you, did I? I saw your light as I came in.” How did she manage to sound as brisk and energetic at 11:00 at night as she did first thing in the morning? Especially after the day Jess knew she had put in.

  “No, I’m still up. And please, it’s Jess.”

  “Just wanted to make sure you got back okay. I noticed you didn’t drive over this evening.”

  “I made it just fine, thanks. It was a nice night for a walk. Where I’m from it can get cold and damp after dark. The warm air felt good.” Jess saw no need to mention she hadn’t made the walk alone, but then, she had the feeling that Rita probably already knew that. She had to have passed Andy as she drove back.

  “Get plenty to eat? Meet some folks?”

  “Yes and yes.” Jess was about to elaborate, but Rita had apparently found out what she needed to know.

  “Well, good. If you need anything, the number’s right there on the phone. Good night, now.”

  Jess looked at the receiver, connection gone dead, for a moment before replacing it in its cradle. Egalitarian to her soul, she had always maintained that people were the same everywhere, but maybe that was restricted to basic wants and needs. Because the people she’d met in Last Chance were different from the people back home; there was no other way to put it.

  Jess stepped out the door of her motel room and lifted her face to the predawn breeze. Only a little more than a week had passed since her arrival and her feet-first leap into Last Chance society at the Red Chile and Bluegrass fiesta, but Last Chance was beginning to feel like home. Something about these early mornings in the desert reached deep inside Jess and filled her with well-being. Maybe it was the coolness of the air or the vivid colors of mountains, sage, and sky, all of which would soon be sucked up by the sun just cresting the peaks to the east of town. She leaned against the post just outside her door with one hand and pulled her leg up behind her with the other, holding it a few seconds before repeating the action with the other leg. After a few more stretches, she headed across the parking lot for the side of the road at an easy pace. This was going to be a big day, and she couldn’t wait to get started.

  Despite the lack of running trails in Last Chance—despite, in fact, the lack of anything but a few paved and dirt roads—running was easy. Traffic was light, almost nonexistent once she turned off the highway that ran through town, and she fell into an easy rhythm as she pounded past small, flat-roofed houses still silent except for the occasional sprinkler sparkling in the early sunlight as it watered a small patch of lawn. On days like this, she felt as if she could run forever.

  “To your left.”

  Jess heard the voice behind her about the same time she heard the approaching steps, and she moved to the right.

  “Mornin’.” Andy appeared at her left elbow and matched his pace to her own. “You’re out early.”

  Jess glanced at him before turning her attention back to the road in front of her with a little smile. “Yep. Every morning if I can possibly make it.”

  “Really? I’m surprised I haven’t run into you before this.” From the looks of him, Andy had to have been running quite a while, but his voice came clear and easy. “You sure you didn’t hear from someone that I go for a run every morning and decided to try to run into me? ’Course, I’m used to stuff like that, being a big football star and all, but I just hadn’t expected it from you.”

  “What?” Jess may have been getting a little winded, because her protest came as more of a squawk than she intended, and she slowed down to stare at him.

  Andy didn’t slow his pace, and Jess had to quicken hers to catch up. “You sure think a lot of yourself, don’t you?”

  “Me? Nah. I’m just a local boy who caught a few breaks. But you fans just won’t leave me alone.”

  “Fans? Leave you alone?” No doubt about it, talking and running was leaving Jess puffing a bit. Or maybe it was talking, running, and indignation. “Give me a break.”

  “Save your breath. We still have two miles to go.” Andy’s eyes were on the road ahead. His pace hadn’t changed since he caught up with her.

  Three things kept Jess running along at his side. In the first place, even though she hadn’t known Andy very long, she had seen him say the most outrageous things with an absolutely bland expression, and she was beginning to believe this was one of those times. Second, in case he really did think she was stalking him, she wanted to set him straight in no uncertain terms at the end of this run. Finally, she had no idea where to go, and clearly Andy did. He led her through the awakening streets of Last Chance and down a dirt path that ran along the top of the irrigation ditch.

  Everything had appeared so barren at first look, but as she ran, Jess became aware that there was life everywhere. White blossoms bloomed on trailing gray-green vines at her feet, and a lizard skittered across the path just ahead. She turned her head to find the source of the trilling birdsong, and Andy pointed at a bird perched on a fencepost singing his heart out.

  “Red-winged blackbird. Sounds like he’s having a good time too.”

  Jess just nodded. The sun was well up, and the day was beginning to warm up. Even Andy’s breath was coming in short puffs now, and Jess was glad when he led the way through an empty lot on a cul-de-sac and onto a paved road again. A battered pickup was backing out of a driveway, and they moved to the side of the road to let it pass.

  “Whatever’s chasing you, I think you done outrun it.” The truck crawled by, and an older man with a grizzled mustache leaned out the window. “Nothin’ back there as far as I can see.”

  “Thanks, Les. I appreciate you watching out for me.” Andy slowed to a slow jog and then to a walk, and Jess gratefully matched his pace.

  “Looking to see some good football this year.” The truck began to pick up speed. “You take care now.”

  “You too. Tell Evelyn hi for me.” Andy returned Les’s wave as he drove away and turned to Jess. “Les Watson. Makes the same joke every day.”

  Jess didn’t answer. She was concentrating on getting her breathing back to normal. The run had been amazing. Walking was even better.

  “But I guess when you’ve worked outside with your hands every day of your life, working up a sweat for fun just seems plain crazy.” He grinned and swung his arms in circles to stretch them out.

  “If it gets this hot, I think I might agree with him. How much farther?”

  “Not much.” They were walking down the middle of a quiet residential street now. “Turn left at the corner down there, and you’re almost to Main Street. The motel is in the next block beyond that.”

  As she walked, and her breath returned to normal, and the air, warm as it was, began to cool her a little, Jess felt her spirits rising. This was why she ran—this sense of strength and well-being that followed all but the longest of her runs.

  “Morning, Miss Elizabeth. Here, let me do that for you.” Andy opened the gate of a small brown house they were passing and took the sprinkler a white-haired lady was trying to drag across the lawn. “Where do you want it?”

  “Thank you, Andy. I appreciate it.” She lifted a cane she had been leaning on and gave it a shake. “Now that I have to take this thing everywhere I go, it’s a lot harder to do what I want to. I forget that sometimes.”

  “Here you go.” Andy put the sprinkler where she indicated and extended his arm to include Jess in the conversation. “Miss Elizabeth, have you met our new doctor? This is Jess MacLeod.”

  A warm and delighted smile filled the lined face. “
I have not, although of course, I’ve heard all about you. Please come in. Lainie’s over at the diner working, and Ray’s already left for his studio, but I’ve got some coffee cake left, and it won’t take a jiffy to make another pot of coffee.”

  “Ray and Lainie live here too, Jess.” Andy stooped to run a finger under the chin of a huge gray-and-white tabby that had been rubbing against his leg. He looked up at Elizabeth. “Ray was saying you had quite a fall last winter, Miss Elizabeth. Glad to see you on your feet.”

  Elizabeth flapped her free hand. “Oh, pshaw. The way my family fusses, you’d think I already had one foot out the door. I’m fine, just a little inconvenienced, that’s all. You’re sure you won’t change your mind and come in for coffee?”

  Jess had started shaking her head when Elizabeth first mentioned the coffee and was a little surprised to find that Elizabeth had noticed. “I’d love to some other time, but I really need a shower before I’m going to be very good company at all.”

  “Then come to dinner. Lainie and Ray will be home, and I know they’d like to see you again. Lainie was telling me this morning how much she liked visiting with you last weekend and how much she’d love to get to know you better.”

  Dinner? Jess didn’t know quite how to respond. Who invites a sweaty stranger to dinner? Who, in fact, invites anyone to dinner these days? But Miss Elizabeth, smiling at her with expectation, clearly meant what she said.

  “I do thank you, Miss Elizabeth.” Jess could only imagine what Lainie might say coming home after being on her feet all day to find out a dinner party was in the offing. “But my movers will be here soon, and I’ll be busy with that all day. I’d love to stop by for that cup of coffee some day soon, though.”

  “If you’re moving in today, that’s all the more reason to come for dinner. You probably won’t have a thing in the house to eat, and the Dip ’n’ Dine closes early, you know. Shall we say about 7:00? You come too, Andy.”