Crossroads (Chance City Series Book Three)

by Robin Deeter

  He took his time ending their kissing, lingering as long as possible. Nora opened her eyes and the desire in their blue depths almost broke his resolve.

  “I’d say we definitely have some chemistry.”

  His slightly huskier voice and accent made her shiver. “Yes, I would say so, too. Thank you for such a wonderful evening.”

  “Likewise. Thank you for listening and not running away.”

  She embraced him. “I promise that I’ll never run away from you.”

  “It wouldn’t matter if you did. I’d catch you one way or another.”

  Nora kissed his cheek. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  His brow knitted as he let her go. “I don’t like you walkin’ home by yourself.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said.

  “I’d go with you, but I can’t.”

  “I know. I’m perfectly capable of going home by myself, Wheels.”

  “All right,” he said. “But you call me as soon as you get home so I know you’re safe.”

  “I will.”

  He saw her to the door where she gave him a last kiss before going out the door. Wheels couldn’t stop grinning as he waited by his telephone. His soul felt so light that it seemed as though he should be able to walk.

  Was that what being in love felt like? He’d loved Nora as a friend, but what he felt for her had drastically changed. Wheels knew how silly he was being and he took some deep breaths to calm down.

  Then he figured what was the harm in letting himself be happy? Didn’t he deserve it? If he and Nora made each other happy, then so be it. He didn’t care what anyone thought.

  There were parts of his body that he couldn’t feel or didn’t work, but his heart wasn’t one of them. It was young, strong, and ready to run. Letting out a shout of laughter, he did a fast spin and let his heart fly.

  *****

  Wheels wasn’t the only one who felt lighter than air. Nora was barely aware of her surroundings as she walked home. She’d claimed Wheels for her very own. Joy sang in her heart, filling her with warm light. Reliving their kiss made her feel even warmer and desire made her stomach drop pleasantly.

  Arriving home, she floated in the door and went straight to the kitchen telephone. She asked for Wheels’ exchange and he came on the line very quickly.

  “Hi, sugar.”

  “Hi. How did you know it was me?”

  She heard the grin in his voice. “Because you’re the only lovely lady I was expecting to call me.”

  “I better be.”

  “Don’t worry. You’re the only woman I want calling me again,” he assured her.

  “Good.”

  He was quiet for a moment, then, “Nora, are you as happy as I am? Am I imagining things? I didn’t drink that much wine, but I feel drunk.”

  Nora put a hand to her mouth to smother her giddy laughter. “No, Wheels. You’re not imagining it. I thought I was.”

  “Whew! I’m relieved to hear that. Damn, Nora. I wish I’d have said something sooner.”

  She giggled. “Me, too, but I guess it happened when it was supposed to.”

  “I guess so. All right. I’m gonna go before I say a bunch of other sappy, unmanly stuff. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Ok. See you then.”

  “Sweet dreams, honey.”

  Nora hung up with him, got herself under control, and hurried upstairs to her room.

  Chapter Four

  Sheriff Rob Anderson rolled his eyes heavenward as he sat in his office. Even with his door closed he could hear the bickering out in the main room. He’d never seen anything like the constant fighting that had been going on lately. His nighttime deputies were the only two officers who seemed to have retained their common sense.

  When the volume of the voices rose even more, Rob reached the end of his patience. Getting up, he slammed out of his office, striding swiftly into the other room.

  He let out a shrill whistle. “Shut the hell up!”

  His four daytime officers stopped shouting immediately.

  “What’s the matter with you all? Have you lost your minds? What if the mayor walked in here with you acting like that? Do you think you should be paid for standing around yelling at each other when there’s important work to be done?” he demanded.

  Cy clammed up, scowling at Brock who glared back at him. Ellie flopped down in her desk chair and stared at her desk. Hunter wasn’t sure what to do, so he just stayed standing by his desk.

  Rob pointed at Cy and Brock. “You two need to grow the heck up and stop baiting each other. You’re acting worse than my grandkids do. I know that you weren’t best friends when Brock married your sister, Cy, but I thought you’d come to an understanding.”

  Cy said, “He always wants things his way and it’s my house.”

  “Correction; used to be your house. You and Leigh are moving to the new house, which I wish was already built.”

  “You’re not the only one,” Cy said.

  “Enough! This is exactly what I’m talking about!” Rob said. “Cy you’re gonna have to accept that Brock and Daphne will do things differently once you and Leigh move out. Brock, Cy and Leigh are still in the house, so be more respectful of that fact.” He looked at Ellie and Hunter. “What’s wrong with you two?”

  Ellie crossed her arms over her chest, staying silent.

  “They’re fighting about Walt,” Cy said.

  Ellie’s head whipped around, her blue eyes spitting fire. “He didn’t ask you, Cy.”

  Rob shook his head. “Why do you care so much about whether Ellie sees Walt, Hunter? I thought you were seeing Georgia?”

  Hunter shook his head. “It’s not like that. I am seeing Georgia. I’m just worried about Ellie, that’s all.”

  “I can take care of myself, Hunter. Besides, I’m not seeing Walt,” Ellie said. “So don’t keep acting up whenever he comes in here.”

  “I can’t help it. I hate the guy,” Hunter said. “There’s something wrong with him.”

  Rob rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Ok. Here’s what’s gonna happen. Until you can all start acting like adults again, no more discussing personal matters at work. You come in, you do your job and leave all that other stuff at home.

  “Hunter, control this hate of yours. Walt comes here to do a job and I expect you to do yours. Ellie, I don’t know what happened with you and Walt, but it’s nobody’s business, either. I want you working with Cy this week, Ellie, and Brock, you work with Hunter. Maybe changing partners will help things,” Rob said. “And if that doesn’t solve it, I’ll fire all of you and find people who can put the job first.”

  Giving them all a steely look, he went back into his office and slammed the door shut.

  As the four officers stood around looking at each other, Walt came in the door, giving them his usual affable smile. Ellie and Hunter both groaned in dismay, but for different reasons.

  Walt stopped, his brow knitted in confusion. “Good mornin’,” he said, uncertainly.

  Hunter’s expression darkened. “It was until you showed up.”

  In seconds, Walt’s expression turned hard, his jaw clenching and his gaze cooling as he focused on Hunter. “Look, boyo, I’ve done nothin’ to ya. I don’t know why ya have it in for me, but ya need to use yer noggin’ and look at the evidence.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Cy barely suppressed a smile. Hunter was about to get a taste of Walt’s courtroom prowess.

  Walt took off his glasses and cleaned them with his handkerchief. “Name one thing I’ve done wrong, whether to you or anyone else. Just one thing.”

  Hunter crossed his arms over his chest. “You broke Ellie’s heart.”

  Walt laughed and Ellie gasped at his statement.

  “I didn’t break her heart. Not that it’s any of yer business, but she broke mine. She doesn’t love me, but I love her. However, she made it clear to me that she’s not interested in a relationship with me. So, ye
r assumption is dead wrong. What other accusations do I need to address? Brock, ye’ve known me for a long time. Have ya ever known me to be negative in any way to you or anyone else?”

  “No. Never.”

  “Exactly. Oh, that reminds me. May I use yer telephone when I’m done with my client so that I can call Wheels? I want to see if he’s available later today so I can discuss his case with him.”

  Brock nodded. “Sure. I know he really appreciates your help.”

  Walt noticed Ellie’s pink face, but he never addressed her. “So, Hunter, what else do ya have against me?”

  Hunter’s blood boiled because he had no evidence that Walt had done anything wrong, as his silence denoted.

  Walt gave a curt nod. “Right, then. Well, if someone will let me back to my client, I’d appreciate it.”

  Brock motioned for Walt to come with him. “I’ll take you.”

  Walt ignored Ellie and Hunter, smiled at Cy and went with Brock. Ellie rose from her desk and hurried through the kitchen, exiting out of the door that opened into the yard. Cy’s dogs came running to her and she pet them as tears streamed down her face. She jumped when she felt hands on her shoulders.

  “Come here, Ellie,” Cy said.

  She let him turn her around and fold her in his embrace. A sob escaped her and she hung onto him as she cried.

  “That’s it. Let it out,” Cy said. “If you want to talk about it, I’ll be happy to listen. No judgment, no criticism.”

  Ellie smiled against Cy’s chest. Outside of arguing with Brock, Cy was usually quiet and steady, having a calming influence on her. Sniffing, she pulled back and brushed away her tears.

  “Thanks. Walt was good to me. Always doing nice things for me and sort of taking care of me. He knows how busy we get and he tried to make sure I ate and rested. It was sweet.”

  Cy’s forehead furrowed. “Was it that you didn’t have any romantic feelings for him?”

  Ellie groaned and put a hand to her forehead. “That’s just it. I did, I do.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “It’s too much. What I feel for him is too strong.”

  “I don’t understand,” Cy said.

  “Rob told me that Walt can be possessive. I’ve been through that before with a man and I don’t want to go through it again. I want to be my own person, not be told what to do or when to do it,” she said.

  Cy pursed his lips for a moment. “Ellie, you should’ve taken what Rob said with a grain of salt and told Walt your concerns. Take it from me: talking to the people you care about is important. Leigh taught me that. You know how buttoned up I used to be.

  “I’m still not a chatterbox, but I talk a lot more than I used to. My advice to you is that if you care about Walt, talk to him about it all.”

  Ellie nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

  “Good. Come with me and I’ll bring you up to speed on our cases,” Cy said.

  Ellie followed Cy to the Dog House, feeling a little better. Her mind was still confused about the situation with Walt, but she thought that Cy was right. She would talk to Walt soon. With that much decided, she focused on work, letting her personal issues go for the time being.

  *****

  “Come in!”

  Wheels hoped that Nora heard him. She must have because his door opened and shut.

  “Wheels?”

  “In my office, honey.”

  He couldn’t believe how happy just the sound of her voice made him.

  Nora walked through his house to the office. She stopped cold when she saw Wheels standing in front of a book case.

  “Oh, Wheels! Look at you. You’re standing!”

  Wheels looked down at himself. “You’re right. How did that happen?”

  “Smart ass.”

  She walked over to him and looked up at him, something she’d never done. “You’re tall. I kind of thought so because you have long legs.”

  “About six-two.”

  “A very handsome six-two. So what’s all this?” She motioned at his braces.

  He explained to her how Vern had gotten the idea to use the lower half of a suit of armor to make braces, but that they’d had to modify them using a combination of other metal supports and leather straps. “We immobilized the ankles, knees, and hips so that they wouldn’t buckle since I can’t control them. We also added some improvements to them.”

  Nora looked over the braces, amazed at the level of ingenuity required to come up with such a brilliant invention. “What kind of improvements?”

  “Well, before, my legs and hips were straight the whole time, which made it hard when I wanted to sit and take them off. It was awkward getting back in my chair. But Daddy came up with a solution to that. I’ll show you when I go to sit down. It feels so good to stand that I hate taking them off, but I also get tired, so I can’t overdo it.”

  “That’s incredible.”

  “Yeah. God bless Daddy. Standing is the easy part. Walking is another matter.”

  “How do you do it?”

  Wheels took hold of the leather straps on the outside of each of his thighs. “Like this.”

  Nora backed off to give him plenty of room. Wheels used the strap to lift his right foot barely off the floor. Moving it forward carefully, he put it down, making sure he was balanced correctly before doing the same with his left leg.

  Nora bounced up and down a little, clapping her hands. “You did it! You’re walking.”

  He grinned at her enthusiasm. “Sort of shuffling, but I’ll take it. If I was paralyzed up higher, I wouldn’t have the sense of balance that I do or the strength in my back and stomach area to help move me.”

  “I’m glad your injury was further down.”

  “Me, too. Come here.”

  Making sure he was balanced, he opened his arms to her. Nora smiled and went to him, carefully embracing his waist. Wheels closed his arms around her, sighing in contentment. It was the first time since his injury that he’d held a woman while standing up. He couldn’t feel her against his legs, but he could partially feel her against his hips and fully against his upper body. It was an incredible experience.

  He pulled back and tipped up her chin. Their eyes met and held before his gaze lowered to her mouth. Sliding his fingers into her hair to cup the back of her head, he dipped his head to capture her lips with his. Nora knew what to do now and she responded eagerly to him.

  As their mouths melded, she felt as though she was dreaming. Kissing the man she’d had feelings for was a little surreal. She ran her hands over his back, thrilling to the strong muscles that flexed under her palms. A moan escaped her when he kissed her harder and moved his arms down to encircle her waist.

  Holding and kissing her while standing up was so novel to Wheels that it set off a strong reaction in his body and he felt a stirring in his loins. The intensity of it startled him and he pulled back abruptly.

  Nora’s eyes held confusion. “What’s wrong?”

  He smiled. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything is very right. I should get back in my chair, is all. Did you bring more cookies?”

  Chuckling, at his hopeful expression, Nora stepped away from him. “Yes, I did.”

  “Good. I’ll make some coffee and we can have a snack. You’re not gonna take my cookies away again, are you?”

  A scowl replaced her smile. “Not as long as you behave yourself.”

  “Ok.”

  It was slow going, but he made it out to the parlor and over to his wheelchair without mishap. He unfastened the straps that held the metal frame around his hips. Reaching back, he caught himself on the arms of the chair as his legs suddenly bent at the hip, slowly sitting down instead of falling into the chair.

  Bending over, he unfastened what to Nora looked like slide locks for a door at the knee area. Now that he could bend his knees, he lifted his legs and pulled them towards him, which made it easier to reach the straps that held the braces in place. Once he had them off, he leaned back in the chair,
his breathing a little heavy.

  “Are you all right?” Nora asked.

  “Yeah. I just need to rest a minute.”

  Nora picked up the braces, looking them over intently. “If I didn’t know what these were, I wouldn’t know what they were.”

  Wheels laughed. “You should’ve seen us trying to make them. We didn’t know what they were gonna turn out to look like.”

  Nora put them over in the corner where she’d seen them sit.

  “Thanks,” Wheels said. “It tires me out, but it feels good, too. I’m gaining the strength to stay in them longer. It’s mainly my back that needs the most work. I spend so much time bent at the waist that my lower back muscles are weak, so standing for a long period of time is taxing.”

  “Well, I’m very impressed.” She kissed his cheek. “I’ll go make the coffee.”

  “I’ll be right with you,” Wheels said, leaving the room.

  Nora was startled when Ollie dropped down onto the counter from on top of the kitchen cupboards. He jumped over to her, grunting and squealing faintly.

  “It’s ok, Ollie. Daddy’s back in his chair,” she said, soothing him.

  She remembered Wheels telling her that Ollie hated the braces. Reassured, Ollie kissed her and swung to the floor, running from the kitchen to go find Wheels. Nora chuckled and went back to making coffee.

  *****

  A couple of hours later, Wheels sat in his parlor, stunned into silence. Walt had been there and gone, informing him that Luther was suing him for ten thousand dollars. He didn’t have that kind of money. He’d been going to offer Luther two thousand, but ten was completely out of his range. Walt had said not to worry, that he would take care of it, but Wheels couldn’t help being anxious.

  Nora sat on the sofa with him, holding his hand.

  “It’ll be all right. I believe in Walt. He’ll set things right.”