by T. M. Cromer
Knox frowned, but Coop understood the underlying reason she could confirm the diagnosis.
“Will she need to be put down?” Coop asked.
Knox answered for her. “No. We aren’t putting Macy down.”
“She won’t need to be,” Summer affirmed. “Vestibular affects the balance. There is a good chance of her falling and injuring herself if we don’t create a counter balance.”
“How do we do that?” Coop asked.
“You aren’t going to like it, Sheriff.” Was she evil to take delight in the suspicion that crossed his face? Probably. “I want to put a cone on her head.”
“A cone? What kind of cone? Like what dogs wear to keep them from licking a wound?”
“Nope. I need you to run to the hardware store and see if Old Man Harkins has a street construction cone.”
Knox laughed even as Cooper swore.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, Summer! I can’t have my prized mare walking around with an orange construction cone on her head.”
Summer went toe-to-toe with him. “What’s the matter, Coop? Worried about appearances? That mare deserves a chance. Until the vestibular goes away, or she gets used to the new normal of a head tilt, she needs help.”
“Do I need to worry about the rest of my stock?”
“I would keep her quarantined. It’s possible this is virus related. There’s no way to tell.” She walked into the wash area and soaped up her hands. “Make sure you keep her buckets scrubbed and water fresh. Always wash your hands before and after you have had contact with her. Four weeks should do it.”
“A cone?” Coop asked again in disbelief.
“Do I need to write it down for you?” she asked innocently.
His brows dropped to a dangerous level. “I think I’ve got it.”
“Good. Would you like me to check any of the other stock while I’m here?”
Knox pushed off the stall wall he’d been resting his booted foot against. “This was the only emergency.”
“Okay. When Coop returns with the cone, you will need to slice off the base and utilize the top two-thirds of the cone. You’ll need to modify a halter to attach to her forehead and add about an inch of soft material or foam underneath to prevent sores. Since her tilt is to the right, the weight needs to be on the left between her ears for the counter balance.”
Knox grasped the concept right away. “We’re going to make her a lopsided unicorn.”
“Exactly.” Summer grinned up into his gorgeous face. “You always were the intelligent one of the group, Knox.”
“I’m standing right here,” Coop growled.
“I know,” she replied without bothering to glance in his direction.
Knox laughed and hugged her. “You’re adorable, Summer Thorne. Thanks for your help.”
“If I get hugs like that in payment, I’ll always be on-call for you, Knox.”
“That’s going to be hard to do since you’re leaving town,” Coop snapped.
Her warm bubble burst. Leave it to the fun police to cast a dark cloud over the day.
“Right. I’ll be back in the morning to check on her. I have a few other patients to check today. I’ll need to wrap up some things before I go, but I can make the time to come back later if I’m needed.”
“Summer, I didn’t mean—”
“Parsons can follow up with your mare if you have a problem with me.”
“Will you stop cutting me off?” Coop yelled.
“No, because I don’t give a shit what you have to say.” She sneezed. Within two seconds, squeaking drifted to their ears. A glance up at the rafters showed she’d attracted what few mice dared live on the Carlyle estate. “Don’t go near the traps or eat anything suspicious, guys. You stand a better chance in the woods behind the house.”
“You are Dr. Doolittle,” Coop breathed.
Without a backward glance, she left the two men staring, mouths agape.
15
After Summer had finished her appointments for the day, she pulled into her driveway to find Coop’s cruiser.
He leaned against the driver’s door, arms crossed, scuffing the dirt with his toe. The image of an impatient boy.
Why couldn’t he leave her alone? It wasn’t as if she kept seeking him out. With a sigh, she turned off the ignition and climbed from the vehicle. She didn’t want this confrontation, but better to get it over with.
“Is your mare okay?”
Coop grimaced. “Knox is working on what he is calling the unicorn contraption. But, yeah, I think she is.”
“Good.” Deciding she was a coward who didn’t want to fight after all, Summer turned to go.
“Can we talk? Without you interrupting me?”
“I need a shower and a cup of tea,” she hedged.
“Is that a no?” he persisted.
Knowing he wasn’t going to stop until she gave in, she said, “Fine. Go ahead. But can I at least sit down? It’s been a long day.”
She dropped to the porch step.
Coop sat uncomfortably close.
To maintain the distance her sanity required, she scooted away. “What’s up, Sheriff?”
“Coop. My name is Coop.”
“I think, after all this time, I know your name,” she said dryly.
“Then use it.”
“Another order, Sheriff?” Goddess, she was sick of this constant back and forth. She held up a hand and noted he cringed. “Whatever. You know what? I’m tired, and honestly, I don’t need your crap right now. Say what you have to say and go.”
“I came to apologize.”
Okay, she didn’t see that coming. “Fine. Apology accepted. Have a nice life.” She stood.
He rose to his feet. “Summer, please. I need you to hear me.”
“I’ve never not heard you, Coop.” She swallowed and blinked back the unexpected tears. For nearly eleven years, she hadn’t cried once. Now the waterworks threatened at every turn. “From the day I first saw you, I thought, he’s the one. I hung on your every word.” She swallowed and shook her head. “There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t wonder why you couldn’t see me as something more than an annoyance.”
She stepped off the porch and stared out over the land that had been in their family for over two centuries. “The one time you did, obviously you were out to make me a laughing stock.”
“It wasn’t like that,” he said gruffly, coming to stand beside her.
“Yeah, Coop. It was.” She faced him. “But I don’t hold grudges. Life is too short for most people. And, what’s the point? A grudge lets another person take up space inside your head, fills you with anger, self-doubt. No, thanks.”
He remained quiet and studied her set face.
She shrugged and said, “Mostly, I thought we were past all of that. Then the Morty incident happened.” She shook her head and graced him with a bittersweet half-smile. “I knew you came by here to see what you could discover to shut me down. To force me to get rid of Eddie and Morty.”
“If you did, why let me stay and help around here?”
Because he was curious and not confrontational, she answered. “I’d hoped if you got to know them, you’d understand what I was trying to do.” She waved her hand to encompass the land around them. “We don’t own this. No human truly owns anything. We are the custodians of the earth. Piss-poor ones at that. But my sisters and I decided a long time ago, we would do our part.”
She pointed to the greenhouse. “Spring grows rare herbs and replants them in their natural habitat when it hasn’t been completely destroyed.”
She nodded toward an outbuilding. “Winnie’s lotions and potions heal the sick and elderly.”
She faced her barn. “I do what I can for unwanted and abused animals.”
His face held a contemplative frown. “And Autumn?”
“When she isn’t maintaining the family bank balance and safekeeping our secrets, she’s an environmental activist. She and Aunt GiGi run a foundation t
o clean up the oceans.”
“I had no idea.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. You never bothered to see us as anything more than the Weird Season Sisters like the rest of this town.”
He didn’t try to deny it. For that, she was grateful. Platitudes angered her.
Coop cleared his throat. “I came to tell you that you don’t have to leave.”
Genuine amusement struck, and she laughed. “I never had to, Coop. I could’ve easily had one of my sisters wipe your memories.” She enjoyed the moment her words registered and his face turned ashen. Ah, it was the little things. “But I’m leaving for me. I need a fresh start.”
“Why?”
Because I’m tired of being invisible to the man I love.
She bent down and picked up Saul where he’d come to rest at her feet. She snuggled him against her cheek and absorbed the comfort from her familiar, exactly as he intended. With a kiss to the top of his adorable head, she released him.
“What difference does it make?” she asked after she rose.
“Why, Summer?”
“The next time Morty or Eddie escapes, and they will, because I don’t have an armed guard to prevent my mischievous friends from unlocking gates, you’ll be back. You’ll swear they are dangerous and do everything in your power to have them removed from my care.” She closed her eyes to gather herself before she met his troubled gaze. “Because you see me as an incompetent handler.”
“I won’t, and I don’t.”
“You do.”
“I don’t,” he argued. He stepped forward and tilted up her chin. “I just think sometimes it’s a lot more than you can handle.”
His gentle touch created havoc to her senses and clouded her mind. She jerked away to regain a semblance of reason. “I’ll see about hiring help at my next location.”
“Don’t go, Summer. This town needs you, whether they realize it or not.”
Coop, heart heavy, wanted to add he needed her too. If he did, she’d most likely laugh in his face. He’d done nothing to earn the love she had so freely offered. Now it was gone, he’d give anything to have it back. Regret was a bitch. All he could do was stare down into her impassive face, helpless and frustrated because of it.
“You really should make up your mind, Sheriff. The hot and cold routine gets old.” Autumn’s voice cut across the lawn to where Coop and Summer were locked in place by some strange cosmic pull. The snark was enough to snap him out of whatever odd enchantment had surrounded the two of them.
Relief flooded Summer’s face, and she hurried toward her sister.
Good to know she also experienced the sensation and he wasn’t alone.
“Summer cleared things up for me. I realize now, although you have the power to be, you’re no threat to my family or the people here.”
Autumn’s laughter contained a hard edge. “Really? I think there are members of your immediate family who feel differently. Now, run along, Sheriff. It’s a full moon tonight. Time for us witches to dance naked and collect newt for our cauldron.”
He narrowed his eyes, not caring for the dismissal.
Summer bit her lip to curb her own amusement. But seeing the twinkle return her eyes to a brighter blue, even for a minute, made all the difference and eased the ache in his chest.
The second half of Autumn’s comment sunk in. Dance naked under the moon? Did they really do that? Perhaps it was worth investigating, and not for legal reasons, but because hello, four gorgeous women naked in the moonlight!
The image of Summer’s creamy breasts rose up to taunt him.
Instead of ordering her to leave the morning she woke from the gunshot wound, he should’ve accepted the sleepy invitation in her soft eyes.
“I have one more thing to do before I go,” he heard himself say.
Both women stared in confusion as he stormed the porch and stopped in front of Summer. Coop cupped her face in his palms and lowered his head. “I want to clarify, there will be no more cold.”
His lips swooped down to claim her parted mouth. His tongue plunged into the warm depth, and her enthusiastic response was instantaneous. One of them moaned, and the other’s moan followed shortly thereafter.
After a minute, or ten, Coop drew back. “I hope you decide to stay, Summer Thorne. I have about fifteen years of stupidity to make up for.”
A slow, steady clapping ricocheted around them. “‘Bout damned time, Sheriff,” Autumn said. “‘Bout damned time.”
He paused and glanced around. “No mice.”
“It only happens when our reverse Disney Princess here swears.”
“Reverse Disney Princess?”
Summer rolled her eyes and stomped away, leaving him and Autumn on the porch. Coop curbed the desire to follow, scoop Summer up, and head for the bedroom. Too soon.
“Yes, Snow White and Cinderella sing to attract the wildlife. Summer swears and can’t carry a tune.”
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Cooper laughed. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. He sat on the porch step, and Autumn joined him. The two of them sat in a sort of unspoken truce.
“Don’t pursue her if you aren’t serious about your intentions, Coop. She doesn’t need her heart broken a third time.”
Third? “Was she in love with Henry then?”
“Henry?”
“Knox told me they were an item.”
“Pfft. Summer was never in love with Henry. The Thornes only ever have one true soulmate each.”
Summer’s words echoed about his head. “From the day I first saw you, I thought, he’s the one.”
Coop held his breath and slowly turned his head to meet the challenge in Autumn’s amber gaze. “Only one?”
“You aren’t as dumb as you look, Sheriff.”
“Thanks for that little vote of confidence,” he muttered.
“You have your work cut out for you, Coop,” she said in all seriousness. “None of us are going to make it easy for you this time around.”
“Nothing worthwhile ever came easy, Autumn.” He stood and dusted off the seat of his pants. “And I’ve always loved a challenge.”
“Just make sure you’re going after her for the right reasons. She’s not a challenge to be won.”
“I promise. I’m in it for the right reasons this time around.”
16
Stating intent and carrying through on that intent were two different animals.
Cooper found it difficult to get Summer to give him the time of day. Not dissimilar to their high school days after prom. If he showed up to help her with the barn work, she claimed a prior appointment and vamoosed. When he tried to hire her as the official veterinarian for the Carlyle barn, she turned him down flat. She insisted she was leaving town and easing her caseload.
Meanwhile, he continually maintained that he wanted her to stay. Nothing he’d done to sabotage her efforts to leave worked. Even with the help of her sisters and mischievous Aunt GiGi, Coop’s grand ideas died a painful death.
Today was one such incident.
Autumn informed him that Summer had placed a deposit and scheduled a closing on a property in North Carolina.
Coop swore long and hard, not caring if he singed the hair of the people around him with his fiery temper. “What do you mean? I thought you got the realtor to agree to say the property was under contract to another buyer?”
“I tried. The back-stabbing wench decided she wanted the commission more. There isn’t a lot of business in the area where she lives.”
Coop paced his office, his agitation directly at odds with Autumn’s calmness.
“Okay, let me think.”
“Not your strong suit, Sheriff.”
“I don’t need your attitude right now, Autumn.”
She grinned and waved a hand. “Carry on.”
The fission of unease when one of the sisters waved a hand was something that would take a long while to overcome.
“Sorry. I forgot. No sudden hand movements,�
� she laughed.
“I’m glad this is funny to you. The woman I love is determined to skip town.”
Her expression softened to amused affection. “Skip town? You make it sound so nefarious.”
He rolled his eyes and resumed pacing. “How much is this realtor’s commission supposed to be?”
“You intend to pay her off?”
“If I have to.”
Autumn straightened from her slouched position. “Just how wealthy is your family, Coop?”
“My parents are on an extended tour of Europe. What does that tell you?”
“Fucking A. I want to talk to your investment broker.”
“That would be Keaton. Should I set up a meeting?”
She deflated back into the visitor chair. “You sure know how to ruin a witch’s day.”
He cast a wary glance through the office window overlooking the deputy pit. “Shhh, not so loud.”
“They can’t hear us. Sound protection spell.”
“I…” Yeah, he had no words.
Autumn studied her nails before buffing them on her shirt. “I still think you need to storm the castle, sweep Summer into your arms, and screw her brains out.”
Once again, she stole his speech. Why had he never thought to use the sex option? Because Summer would turn him into a slug, that’s why. He said as much to her sister.
“Nah. She isn’t that powerful.”
“I beg to differ. Don’t you remember what she did the day she was sh—?” His throat seized. He’d almost killed her. The memory of her lying there as her blood stained the ground made him ill all over again.
Autumn was at his side in an instant. “Breathe, Coop. It’s going to be okay.” She hugged him. “We witches are harder to kill than all that.”
“Isn’t this cozy?” Keaton ground out.
His brother stood inside the doorway, arms crossed, and a stormy expression in place of his normally happy-go-lucky countenance. Next to him stood Summer, white lipped, trying hard to appear unaffected.