“I’ll give it some thought, Doc, and let you know what might be the best solution.”
Mason used his crutches to help him get out of the chair in Doc Johnson’s small office. Getting up from a sitting position was probably still his most difficult challenge. Walking was getting easier every day, at least with the aid of his crutches.
“Well, I’ll leave the rest of the day to you, then.” Doc held out his hand, and Mason shook it. “I’m just glad to have you back. I was getting mighty worried for a while. Now I can retire in peace.”
Mason chuckled. “I doubt you’ll ever completely retire, but at least now you can spend more time fishing or watching your horses run.”
Doc Johnson smiled and nodded. “Ah, two things I’ve really missed. I’ll see you after the weekend, Mason.”
Mason watched the old man leave the office. Doc Johnson had served the community of Burnt River for many decades. He’d dedicated his life to this town as the sole veterinarian for so long. His clients loved and trusted him, but he was at an age where he wanted to retire.
Since Mason had walked into his office as a sixteen-year-old, asking for a job cleaning kennels, it had been his goal to someday take over the practice. Doc Johnson had groomed him for the position since then. While that dream had been shattered for the better part of the year, Mason was fully focused on his goals once again.
He headed out of the office, and into the treatment room. Three patients were currently hospitalized, and four others were spending the day, either for observation, or waiting for their owners to pick them up. A young hound thumped his tail against the steel walls of his cage when he saw Mason. His loud brays echoed through the entire building.
“Can I please call the owner and tell them to pick up Rowdy?” Vanessa shot him a pleading look. She sat on a stool, holding her hands over her ears. “I’m going to go insane if he keeps up the howling.”
Mason grinned. “Check his vitals and incision, and if there’s no bleeding, he can go.”
Vanessa smiled in relief. “Your first office call of the afternoon is waiting in Room One. Mrs. Gamble with Daisy. Looks like she has another ear infection.” She held out the patient’s record.
“Have you seen Dr. Emerson? There’s something I need to discuss with her,” Mason asked before Vanessa sprang from her stool. By now, Lori should have been back downstairs. Her phone call must have been urgent or she wouldn’t have rushed off so quickly to go to her apartment.
Vanessa shook her head. “I haven’t seen her. I thought she was with you.”
Mason took the chart. Hopefully the afternoon wouldn’t be too busy. After his talk with Doc Johnson a few minutes ago, it was time to talk to Lori. His heart sped up at the thought of what he would say to her.
After prescribing some antibiotics for Daisy’s ears, and listening to the owner tell him how glad she was to see him back, Mason stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to Lori’s apartment. He couldn’t go up there. Stairs were still a problem for him. He reached for his cell phone and dialed her number. It rang. Since it didn’t go directly to voicemail, she’d most likely finished her other call.
“Hello.” Lori’s voice on the other end didn’t sound cheerful.
“Are you coming down, or am I going to have to see all the afternoon patients?” Mason kept his voice light.
There was a slight hesitation on the other end. “I think, since you’re back to full capacity, you can handle it.”
Mason frowned at the icy tone in her voice. “Sure. I guess I can see the rest of the appointments today, if you want to take the afternoon off. I really need to talk to you about something, though. Can you give me a ride after work?”
“Of course. I need to go. Call me when you’re finished.” With that, she hung up.
Mason stared at his phone. She’d sounded mad at him, and by the slight rasp in her voice, she might have even been crying. The call she’d received earlier had clearly upset her. He stared at the staircase again, cursing under his breath that he couldn’t go up to see her, and offer a shoulder to cry on. He headed to reception to check the rest of today’s appointments.
“Unless it’s urgent or an emergency, don’t schedule anything else after the last one at four, Sally.”
Sally smiled at him and nodded that she’d understood. A phone was pressed to her ear.
The afternoon dragged on slowly. Between office calls, Mason glanced at his phone. Should he call Lori again? It wasn’t like her to stay away from work. The cases this afternoon were fairly easy, and he didn’t need her help, but it was unlike her to not want to see patients. She’d been in such a good mood this morning, and if she had received bad news, he’d like to be there for her to comfort her. It might be the wrong time to bring up what he needed to discuss with her, though, but he’d already put it off long enough.
Four o’clock came, and Mason dialed her number. His heart rate jumped at the idea of what he had to say to her. How would he even approach the subject? For nearly a month, ever since he’d regained sensation in his legs and his future was back on track, he’d known he’d be having this conversation with her, but thinking about it made his stomach twist in knots.
Lori still sounded upset when she picked up the call.
“Can you give me a ride? I’m all done down here. I really need to talk to you.”
“I’ll be right down. There’s something I need to talk to you about, too.”
She didn’t even wait for a reply before hanging up. Mason stared at his phone. What was going on with her? He didn’t have long to wait. Lori appeared within five minutes, and headed out the door. Mason moved as fast as he could with his crutches to follow her. Something was definitely wrong. He stopped to give Vanessa some final instructions about the hospitalized patients, then rushed as quickly as he could out the door. Lori stood by her car, waiting.
“Would you mind telling me what’s wrong?” He stepped up to her and put his hand on her arm. He smiled. “You’ve been acting strange ever since you got that phone call.”
Lori looked up at him. Unshed tears shimmered in her eyes. She looked tired and dejected.
“Not here,” she whispered. She turned away from him and opened the door to the car. “If you’ll get in, I’ll take your crutches and put them in the back seat.”
“I think I can do it myself.” Mason walked around to the other side of the car.
“Of course. You don’t need anyone’s help anymore,” she mumbled.
Mason set the crutches on the back seat, then got in the car. He turned slightly to stare at her profile. Lori started the car and backed out of her parking spot, not looking at him.
“What was that comment supposed to mean? Would you mind telling me what’s wrong?”
Mason reached his hand out to touch her arm again. She jerked away. Whatever was up, it was going to be much more difficult to say the things he needed to tell her.
Instead of answering him, Lori asked, “Where am I taking you? Since you decided to leave so early, I’m assuming I’m not taking you directly to Taggart Ranch.”
Mason frowned. “No, there’s somewhere else I want to go first. Head in the direction of the ranch. I’ll tell you where to turn once we get closer.”
The silence that followed was unnerving. Should he talk to her in the car? No, it was best to wait. This was certainly not how he’d envisioned this conversation would start. He should probably find out what was bothering her before telling her what was on his mind. He’d thought of nothing else all afternoon. After his talk with Doc Johnson, he couldn’t wait any longer.
“Turn down this road.” Mason pointed at the unmarked dirt road that veered off the two-lane main road leading to Taggart Ranch. Wordlessly, Lori did as he asked.
A farmhouse and barn soon emerged on the left, and Mason pointed to indicate she should pull into the yard in front of the barn.
“Where are we?” Lori glanced at the barn, then turned off the engine, and stepped out of the car before he answered. She stepped to the other side and handed him his crutches without looking at him.
Mason stood with the aid of his crutches, then walked up to her. “This is the old Cramer place. My brother bought it a few months ago.”
Lori didn’t say anything. She looked at the barn, and simply nodded. Mason reached for her waist, and pulled her in close to him. He stared down at her when she glanced up.
“Will you please tell me what’s going on? Why are you upset, and why do I get the feeling you’re upset with me?”
Lori stood stiffly in his arms, as if she didn’t want him to hold her. She didn’t pull completely away, and Mason didn’t let go. Before he could say what was on his mind, he needed to find out what was wrong with her.
“That phone call earlier was from my father.” Her voice was devoid of emotion. She’d told him once before that her parents hadn’t been happy with her career choice, and especially that she’d moved to Burnt River.”
“Did you two get into an argument?” Mason ran his hand up along her arm to comfort her. If she’d fought with her parents, it would explain why she was upset.
“No.” Lori shook her head and snickered. “My father told me about a potential job offer from a veterinary ophthalmologist in L.A. It sounds perfect for me.”
Mason stiffened. His forehead scrunched and he searched her face. “And?” he fished.
“I’m going to go home, Mason. I’ve realized that I don’t belong here.”
Mason let go of her to take a step back. “You’re considering the job?” He continued to stare at her. Something painful twisted in his gut. “Why?”
Lori pulled fully away and glared at him. “Because I don’t fit in here, and I don’t think I ever will.” Her bracing tone was cold as ice.
Mason shook his head. “What are you running away from this time, Lori?”
“I’m not running away. Now that you’re back to work, I think it’s time for me to leave.”
Mason ran a hand over his face. She was making absolutely no sense. “What are you talking about? You’ve been the one who’s encouraged me all this time to come back to work.”
She nodded. “And now that you’re back, it’s time that I go where I’m needed and wanted. Everyone is happy to have you back.”
Mason sprang forward, closing the distance between them. He nearly lost his balance. Reaching for her, he pulled her into a tight embrace.
“I need you and I want you. Why are you doing this?”
She shook her head. The faint smile on her lips was forced. “How can you say you need me or want me after what I overheard?”
Mason’s frown deepened. Women were so hard to understand. He and Shane had often complained about it, especially growing up with Raine. He leaned forward, staring at Lori. This day, his plans, seemed to be crumbling right in front of him.
“You overheard what, Lori? Are we still talking about your phone call with your father?”
“I overheard your conversation with Dr. Johnson. Apparently, he’s glad you’re back so now he can fire me. I heard him say that he’d made a mistake.”
Mason’s frown deepened. Where was this coming from? He thought back on his discussion with Doc in his office earlier this afternoon. Slowly, he began to smile.
“You think this is amusing?” A flash of anger shone in her eyes. She tried to pull out of his embrace, but Mason held tight. It was all starting to make sense now.
“I thought you and I had something special, Mason. I was starting to feel at home here, even if I knew it would be a struggle to gain the trust of many of the ranchers and pet owners.” Her voice began to crack. “I thought . . . you and I . . . we could work together.”
Mason leaned forward and pressed his mouth to hers. She stiffened slightly, then her lips softened.
“Unless you leave, that’s exactly what we will do,” he murmured against her lips. “Dr. Johnson loves you . . . but no one will ever love you as much as I do.”
She leaned back. Her incredulous look brought an even wider grin to his face.
“I love you, Lori Emerson.” He let go of her waist and cupped her face between his hands, then brought his lips to hers again. “That’s why I wanted you to come here, so I could show you what I want our future to look like.”
Mason’s heart pounded in his chest. If she was thinking of leaving because of a silly misunderstanding, he was going to convince her otherwise.
Lori shook her head. It was her turn to look perplexed and confused. Her hands grabbed onto his arms.
“I don’t understand, Mason. Dr. Johnson told you he’d made a mistake when he hired me. I thought he knew all about my internship and what happened, but I heard him say he regrets that he didn’t look further into my history, and it was time to let me go, now that you’re back.”
Mason grinned. He chuckled, then pressed his lips to her forehead. “You have quite a wild imagination. You know that?”
“No, I simply know what I heard.” Her eyes narrowed in annoyance.
“If I recollect the conversation, your name didn’t come up once, did it?” He cocked an eyebrow. Time to put her out of her misery.
“What you heard was Doc telling me about a mare he bought a few months ago. Maybe you don’t know, but he loves his racehorses, and I had told him last fall I’d go look at a few mares so when he retires, he can start a small breeding operation. He bought a mare while I was in rehab that looked good on paper, but he didn’t really check her out carefully enough. It turns out she’s got all kinds of reproductive problems. I told him I’d take a look at her and see if anything could be done for her. He was angry with himself, and said it was definitely time to retire and let you and me take over the practice.”
Lori blinked. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and her cheeks turned rosy. No doubt she was embarrassed. Mason kissed her lightly on the lips. He chuckled again.
“You will be a great addition to the family, Lori. You fit right in with my sister and sister-in-law, and jumping to conclusions.”
“What are you talking about, Mason?”
Mason smiled. “You see, Dr. Emerson, no one here wants you to leave,” he murmured. “In fact, I brought you out here because this is the site of the new equine complex where Shane and I hope to break ground in the next month or so. I thought this was the perfect place to ask you something that’s been on my mind for weeks.”
Lori still stared at him, clearly rendered speechless this time. Mason reached into the back pocket of his jeans. He held up the simple gold band with a diamond solitaire. Shane had driven him to Missoula a week ago to pick it out.
“Mason,” Lori croaked, staring at the ring, then up into his face. New tears shimmered in her eyes. Mason cleared his throat.
“You and I are a great team, Lori. We work together perfectly, both professionally and personally. I was hoping you’d make it a permanent partnership by becoming my wife.” He grinned. “Unless, of course, ophthalmology is more important.”
Lori shook her head. She leaned up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to her.
“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions. It was silly and juvenile. I don’t want an ophthalmology internship. I want nothing more than to be your partner in all ways. I love you, Mason Taggart. You rescued me when I was scared to death of doing my job.”
Mason’s arms went around her, and he lifted her into his embrace. “And you rescued me when I thought my life and dreams were over.”
Lori pressed her lips to his, clinging to him as if she never wanted to let go. “We rescued each other, and now we can make our dreams come true together.”