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The steady, hypnotic beat of the windshield wipers almost put Thomas to sleep as he drove the quick fifteen-minute trip to the house just south of town. Driving in sleet after working sixteen hours wasn’t among his favorite things, but a promise was a promise.
And he always kept his promise.
When he pulled up to the place, the muscles in his neck immediately tightened at the work ahead.
The bitter cold made his lungs clench. He coughed to loosen them, but to no avail. All the way out here, he’d fought to open his airways after sucking in that frigid wind as he walked to his car, but he’d made little progress.
“Dammit.” Reaching into the glove box, he reluctantly pulled out the inhalers he’d been stuck with since his injuries. “I never thought I’d have to take these again.”
As best he could with his floppy lip, he sucked in each puff of the medication and held his breath after each inhale. This sucks. Thought I’d left my asthma days when I hit puberty.
When he exhaled before the last puff, he sighed and touched his lip. A tingling radiated through his lower jaw and into his teeth. “Guess that’s wearing off. Great. Fix one problem and get two more.”
He gave himself the last inhale of medication and let his eyes focus on the monumental task at hand as he held his breath.
The ranch style home had seen better days. The brick exterior, faded from the multiple hard winters, needed a good scrubbing. The rotting boards along the roof and gutters should have been replaced years ago. Small flower gardens were nothing but frozen weeds now, their plastic borders broken and falling over.
Even the voluptuous garden gnomes were practically void of color.
At least the snow covered roof appeared in relatively good shape, but Thomas knew once the snow melted, leaks would certainly appear if they hadn’t already.
The entire scene had his stomach twisted in one hard knot, knowing he’d sent Jade here more than fifteen years ago.
Please tell me the old man kept this place decent when she was a kid. Took good care of her.
His lungs began to relax and recover, bringing down his heart rate and lessening his misgivings.
Thomas never regretted making that phone call so long ago to CPS after seeing the abuse she’d suffered at the hands of her mother and her stepfather, but he’d lived with the responsibility of taking her away from everything she knew at the time.
Staring at the house, guilt slithered into his soul, giving him little comfort to what life had been like for her here in Marietta.
When he’d ask her, she’d said little more than it was fine and Thomas knew women well enough to know that the words “it was fine” usually means anything but.
Leaning the seat back slightly, he closed his eyes and listened to the soft pats of sleet coming down on his car. He willed the kinks in his body to relax before he went inside to tackle another round of repairs and find something more to fix.
Wasn’t that long ago, I could do a long shift and stay up afterwards, no problem. Since the attack two years ago, his endurance for chaos had waned and he hated how weak it made him feel. Although he’d passed physical therapy with flying colors, his body never felt the same energy it had for so many years.
His phone buzzed. A text popped up with Jade asking, “You going to sit in your car all day, brother?”
Her message made him smirk. After everything she’d been through, he sighed at his arrogance at being inconvenienced. Driving through some crappy weather to help repair an unrepairable house, was a small price to pay to the woman who saved his life back in San Diego.
The twenty-year-old heater barely kept the house in the sixties during the weeks prior. After struggling to stay warm a few nights ago, Thomas woke up exhausted and aching. Jade hadn’t fared much better after he saw her that morning at the kitchen table.
Even though she’d grown up here, the bitter cold and a barely warm house easily stripped anyone of true rest, as shown by the bags under her eyes when he left for work yesterday evening.
He couldn’t go on much longer like this. Maybe if he offered to pay for each of them to have a room at the Graff or Bramble House Bed and Breakfast, she would agree. That way they could come out to work on the place on days off, go back and truly rest.
Quit your bitching, get inside, and go to bed.
Cringing, he opened his car door and immediately a hard gust of frigid wind knocked the air from his lungs, burning his bruised lip.
The ice and snow crunched under his shoes as he quickly made his way to the front patio. He anticipated the thin wall of warmth that would hit him in the face when he walked in. Instead, only a slight shift in temperatures occurred.
“Jay-d?” He pressed his tongue to his floppy lip to warm it up. The entire way here, he practiced talking and made some progress. “R-r-roomie. Woomie. Dam-wit.”
His foot came to a sudden halt as he rounded the corner, but his body continued, landing on his bags. “What the hell?”
“Sorry. The heat went out sometime early this morning,” Jade called out.
Of course it did. “Why are my bags packed?” Thomas quickly got to his feet and walked into the kitchen.
At the table, Jade Phillips sat wearing a heavy coat, a ski cap, gloves, and snow boots. She wiped away tears as she spoke. “I figured you’d want to stay somewhere else than here. It’ll be ridiculously cold without the heater.”
“What about you?”
She pointed at the floor. “I’ve got these.”
Peeking under the table, Thomas saw her sitting between two small space heaters. “Jade. You gonna sleep in that chair between those two things? You can’t stay here. Let me get you a room in town.”
“I can’t leave Fred.”
The hound mix poked his head out from underneath a pile of blankets on the couch, his happy tail made the corner of the blankets bob up and down.
“I’ll call Brett. Maybe Fred can hang out with Duke. Or maybe Kyle. He has a backyard and Gabby’s dog would play with Fred.” The cracked linoleum floor creaked under Thomas’s feet as the smell of caffeine drifted about the stripped kitchen.
“He’d have fun with Duke.” She pulled her coat closer around her body and looked up at him. “I need to stay here—what happened to your face?”
“Got punched by an asshole patient. His stupid jagged ring split my lip.” Thomas ran his tongue around his half numbed mouth. “Come on. Get packed.”
Giving him a weak shrug, she sighed. “It’s not that bad.”
“It’s twenty degrees outside before wind chill.”
Jade’s eyes went wide with surprise as she hopped to her feet and cupped Thomas’s chin between her thumb and index finger. “Wow, whoever did it, did beautiful work. The edges are perfect.”
Thomas had always been amazed at Jade’s ability to turn a conversation on a dime, especially when discussions turned to something she had no intention of resolving.
“I guess hell froze over.” The pressure of her fingers hurt his face. Thomas pulled his chin out of her touch.
“Why?”
“Because you said something nice about Lucy.”
“She did that?” Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her half full coffee mug and refilled it. “Oh, she’s Lucy now, not Dr. Davidson?”
“You know, you’re the only one up there who doesn’t get along with her.”
“I’m not going to apologize for that.”
“Man, you’re stubborn, Jade.” Thomas filled his own mug and sat down at the table. “If we were biologically related, I’d say you took after our mom.”
Jade ran her finger along the rim of her cup. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.”
“Served her well being in the air force.”
“Then I’ll thank you and as for your Dr. Lucy, she’s ridiculous.”
After seeing how caring Lucy had handled not only his wounds, but took care of that jerk of a patient, Lucy was anything but ridiculous. “Whatever your beef is with her, you’re gonna need to get over it.”
“She’s taking my job.” Jade navigated between the heaters back to her chair. “And she’s gonna change my schedule, I know it.”
“No, she isn’t and she might. Working seven to three Monday through Friday isn’t a schedule anyone else gets to have.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “She’s taking back the duties that you said should never have been yours to begin with.”
She waved him off. “Dr. McMasters needed help.”
“No, he was lazy and counting the days to retirement.” His breath came out in subtle puffs of smoke. The cold air pinched his lungs. “Jade, come on. Pack your bags.”
“Dr. McMasters was burned-out and more than ready to retire.”
“Doesn’t matter why. He didn’t want to do his work.” He shook his head. “You said yourself that you’d rather be the ER director than work the floor.”
“So sue me. I’m tired of clinical medicine all the time and I like having control over the schedule.”
“He handed his work to you and you took it. You knew they weren’t yours to do in the first place.”
Crossing her legs, she clenched her fists in her lap. “Dr. Davidson has to get through her ninety-day probationary period first anyway, so this isn’t even—”
“Don’t worry. She will.” Thomas chuckled as he attempted to navigate around his wounded lip. After a couple of tries, he turned his head to the side and got a few drops of precious coffee into his mouth without spilling it all over his coat. When the bitter taste of the caffeine seeped into his veins he sighed in relief. “Nice.”
“Ugh! Whose side are you on?”
“Why are there sides, Jade? Can we all work for the good of the patients?”
“You sound like a greeting card.”
“And you sound like you need a time-out.” He laughed when she glared at him. “Seen a lot of kids lately who need time-outs. You’re acting like them.”
The howl of the winds and the tapping of sleet against the windows made him shudder.
Before he could add anything, she held her hands up in surrender. “I know what you’re going to say. Sell the place.”
“You can’t stay here with no heat.”
“The Native Americans lived on the plains and in the mountains here for years.”
“They were prepared for it.”
“I can get prepared for it. This isn’t the first winter I’ve spent in Montana, you know.”
“Great. You planning to skin a buffalo and live in a teepee, then? Because that’s one way the Native Americans stayed warm.”
Her shoulders drooped. “No.”
“Jade, you can’t even run the fireplace because of the exposed framing.”
She sank her chin into the thick collar of her coat. “It’s going to be fine. Really. It will.”
“It’s not fine, Jade. This is l-l-looo-nancy.” He flinched when the tingling sensation of his nerves waking up radiated to his gums.
Her eyebrow cocked. “Do you know the name of the guy who punched you?”
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Oh, please, there’s no such thing as HIPPA in a town like Marietta. As soon as Betty heard it on dispatch, she told Carol Bingley. I promise you, if those two know, everyone knows.”
“Then call Carol and ask her.” He tried to sip his coffee again, but his lip wouldn’t cooperate and he ended up dripping it on his coat. “Dammit.”
She grimaced, her eyes focused on his mouth. “You in a lot of pain?”
“Not as much now, but the lidocaine is wearing off. I will be.” Thomas grabbed a dishcloth and dried his jacket. “This sucks.”
“Sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t punch me.”
“But that asshole patient with the jagged ring?” She replied sheepishly, “He’s my brother, Junior.”
Shock caused the handle of the coffee mug to shift from between Thomas’s fingers. A puddle formed on the table. He used the tablecloth to dab up his mess. “Your brother? How do you know—”
“I had to come get him this morning.”
“I didn’t see you there.”
“That’s because Tate took Junior into an observation room and waited for me. Gavin asked we clear out the trauma room in case they needed it. Guess Dr. Fancy-Pants was stitching you up.” She slouched in the chair and rubbed her temples. “I had to use the rest of the money in my father’s account to post bail and for a lawyer’s retainer.”
Thomas’s heart sank. “The money you were going to use to fix up the house?”
“Yes.”
“How much of a retainer did you have to fork out?”
“Apparently, my brother has some other matters to deal with. It didn’t come cheap.”
The urge to scream common sense into her sat on the tip of his tongue. “Jade, let me pay for you to stay in town for a couple of months. Sell the place and be done.”
“You promised to help me get the house ready.” She shot to her feet.
“And you said you were fixing it to sell.”
Without looking at him, she played with the corners of the papers on the table. “Junior called last week and said he didn’t want me to. That’s why he’s here. To talk me out of it.”
“But your other brother, James, said to sell, right?” Thomas tried to keep the insistence out of his voice, but if he could get her to see reason...
“Junior said he’s too attached to the land to sell.”
So much for that.
“Then Junior can buy out you two and be done with it.” His rib caught as he took in a deep breath of the increasingly colder air. He needed more consistent workouts than home repair and they needed to be in a warm environment. The few sessions he’d been able to sneak in at Carter’s Gym had been more than productive, but Thomas craved getting in the fresh mountain air, hike in the silence, and make his lungs ache from a good day’s exercise. Revive his body and get back to who he was before he’d been brutally attacked.
He would have done all that sooner if he didn’t have to struggle to stay warm inside and not feel spent as soon as he woke up. A good meal and some much needed sleep without nine thousands layers of clothes would solve most of his aches and pains. At least he’d been able to get a hot shower in the call room early this morning.
The corners of her mouth curled down as she rubbed her temples. The bags under her eyes spoke volumes. “I’m really sorry I dragged you into this.”
Disappointment clenched his gut, sending the slow burn of frustration up his throat at his friend’s situation. “Is this the brother who always has money problems?”
Silence.
The papers on the table were her father’s bills she’d slowly worked through and been paying off for months. Even with the work she’d done before Thomas’s arrival and the inside repairs he’d been able to finish, that stack of bills never seemed to thin.
After hearing his friend’s plea for help several months ago, Thomas told her he could take an assignment to Marietta and assist her in getting the house ready to be put on the market. Then he’d be on his way.
During his first week here, he froze his ass off every time he walked to his car. The constant, exhausting attempt to visualize the bright sun through the gloomy grey clouds wore on him through those first few weeks of experiencing the harsh winter. As his time progressed, he’d gotten to know the staff, the first responders and more on the house completed, his sprits started to lift and his guilt began to lesson.
After hearing about how beautiful the springs were and never having lived in this part of the country before, he seriously considered the possibility of requesting his contract be extended. It would give him time to explore and they needed additional and permanent ER doctors.
Plus, his pulmonologist in San Diego said it might be the best medicine he could take. He hadn’t been totally convinced of such a possibility until this morning.
Getting to know Lucy Davidson a bit more certainly made the idea of staying longer appealing even with the gloomy grey clouds. But if he did, he wouldn’t stay in this place. “Jade, I came here to help you put this house back together to sell. That’s what you said before and when I got here. All you’ve been able to do is find one problem after another. It’s a money pit.”
“I know.”
“You’ve already spent more on fixing it than what it’s worth.”
She sniffed. “You’re right, but dad asked me—”
“Your dad left you a disaster. I know he and your brothers stepped up when you came to live here instead of with your mom and her husband.”
Her lips went thin as her cheeks reddened. “I was really mad at you for a long time. Sending me away from everything I knew.”
“I didn’t send you away. I only wanted to help.”
“And you did.” She slouched in the chair, giving him a weak smile. “Don’t get me wrong, you helped, but it took a long time for me not to be mad at you for it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I look back on it, why did I ever want to stay with her?”
“Love. Commitment. Faith in family. You name it.”
“Okay, Freud, calm down.” She put her hands up in mock surrender. “I’m guessing the house is the same way, huh? To an impartial eye, it’s a wreck. To me, it was where I felt safe for a long time. Hard to walk away from it.”
Her confession punched him in the gut. “Your heart is solid, but whether he meant to or not, your dad dumped an unfair situation on you. It’s not your job to fix his mess or to hold on to it for your brother. It’s your job to handle his estate and move on with your life. That’s why he put you in charge and not James or Junior. He knew you’d be fair. Sell this place so someone can tear it down and start over.”
A gasp escaped her as she wiped away tears. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I told her she couldn’t,” an oily voice crept in and crawled up Thomas’s neck. “That she owed me a favor.”
Thomas stood up so fast, the chair crashed to the floor.
Fred popped up from his nap and whimpered.
“What in the hell are you doing here?” Moving away from the table, Thomas wanted plenty of room should this get ugly.
Junior casually moved to the table and picked up the chair. “Better question is, what are you doing here? This is my house.”
“It’s your sister’s house, your dad left it, all of it, to her.”
Junior’s upper lip, twitched as fury flashed in his eyes.
Guess he doesn’t like that.
Spinning his ring on his finger, Junior snarled, “Careful, you don’t have sugar tits here to defend you.”
Rage surged through Thomas’s body. His jaw clenched, making his teeth ache. “Don’t you ever call her that again.”
“Who’s sugar tits?” Jade’s forehead furrowed.
“That sweet-assed doctor I saw there this morning.” Junior mimicked humping the chair. “One sweet-assed doctor.”
Without thinking, Thomas grabbed the chair and moved it well out of Junior’s reach. “Enough!”
“Don’t like that, Dr. Fat Lip?”
Rolling her eyes, Jade groaned. “As if you couldn’t make my life even more complicated, Junior. Now I’m gonna have to apologize to her.”
Thomas scoffed, “Why should you apologize? He’s the one who’s an asshole.”
Storming up to Thomas, Junior went nose to nose. “You’re the asshole. Get the hell out of my house!”
Jade’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates as she tried to pull her brother more than an arm’s length away. “Junior. He’s my guest.”
He fought her like a child fighting a mother to get to the candy aisle. “You ain’t sleeping with him. He ain’t no guest.”
“It’s not like that. I’ve known Thomas for a long time. When we were kids and I lived with Mom.”
Junior stopped fighting her. “You’re the one who called, huh? Got her out of there? That’s you?”
“That’s me.” Thomas held his ground, waiting for Junior’s next move. A nod of respect from the man lessened Thomas’s anxiety for only a moment. “Why don’t you want her to sell the place?”
“I got my reasons.”
“You haven’t helped her with it.”
“Neither have you, freeloader.”
And the respect is gone.
Jade finally stood in front of him, her hand square on her brother’s chest. “He came here to help me.”
“With what?”
Thomas leaned against one of the stripped studs near the window. Even through his coat, he could feel the cold seeping inside. “The house.”
Holding his arms out like a circus ringmaster, Junior laughed, “Doin’ a fine fucking job. Place looks like shit.”
Jade shoved him. “Well, maybe if you’d come and helped Dad while I was working my ass off in California a year and a half ago instead of taking off.”
“Why are you taking that out on me?”
“Junior, I’m still trying to make the money to pay the back taxes on this place. Dad didn’t pay any for the past three years before he died. A year and a half ago, you rode into town saying you’re going to stay and take care of him. Then you take off right after Labor Day. No one knew where you’d gone. You left him here by himself. He died alone.”
That raised an eyebrow. As long as he’d known Jade, Thomas had never heard her say an unkind word about her father or brothers. In fact, she’d only spoken favorably of all of them. To see this side of her concerned him.
She shoved him again, making Junior bump into the coffeemaker. Coffee sloshed out, spilling down the cabinet doors.
“Settle down. I had shit to do.”
“You always have shit to do, Junior, and it’s never to help anyone but yourself and now I’ve had to use the rest of the money in dad’s account to cover your attorney’s fees.” She ran her hands hard through her hair. “And tell me this. Why the hell is that guy’s retainer so high?”
Two reasons, he charges way too much or Junior’s got a long list of offenses.
“What is your shit, Junior?” Out of respect for Jade, Thomas asked in the calmest voice he could muster despite his anger being this side of volcanic. “Other than wrapping your car around a tree?”
“I fix cars.” With grubby fingers, Junior pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his jeans pocket.
Ironic. “You’re a mechanic, then?”
“No, I take them apart. Put them back together.” He pointed at the window. The ring that cut Thomas’s lip, sat on his finger. “That place out there. It’s my shop.”
Casually, Thomas leaned against a bare wall stud. “Take them apart, huh. Like a chop shop.”
“No, body repair specialist.” Junior replied like a kid who didn’t want to admit he’d taken the last cookie when he had chocolate on his face.
Jade buried her face in her hands. “Ugh, you make me nuts, brother.”
“How many cars you have in your not chop shop?” Thomas’s heart raced in his ears as he watched every move of Junior’s with intense scrutiny.
I’m ready for you this time.
Junior lit a cigarette, took a long drag, and tossed the pack and lighter on the table. “No one wants those cars. I take them off people’s hands.”
“Legally?”
“Yeah, legally. Not that it’s any of your damned business, Dr. Fat Lip. Unless you want to buy something. Got a sweet ride out there. Just need to fix the grill.”
“What did you hit, now?” Jade picked up her coffee and took a long drink.
Thomas wondered if she had spiked it. “Now? Does he hit things often?”
“Enough to cause concern.”
Harsh criticism sat on Thomas’s tongue, but the frustrated look on his friend’s tired face kept him from speaking his true feelings. “No thanks. My car works fine.”
Running her fingers through her hair again, Jade looked like she may yank it all out. “Junior, you can’t run a business out here. We need permits, have to get zoned for it, pay taxes. There are safety concerns, OSHA—”
“I ain’t doin’ any of that, shit. No one cares what we do out here. This here’s private property.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and plopped down at the table. “As long as you own the place, no one’s gonna tell me what to do.”
This guy’s like lice. Gonna take some heavy pesticides and a whole lot of patience to get rid of him.
The look of utter defeat on his friend’s face hurt Thomas’s heart, but nothing he said would change anything unless she made it so.
As Thomas moved over toward the couch, Fred’s nose stuck out from the blankets. Thomas held his hand out, the corners of the pile bobbed up and down and the dog’s head popped out and he licked Thomas’s hand. “Good pup.”
“Thomas?” Jade’s voice dripped with sadness. “Can you do me a favor?”
He paused since the last time he promised to do something for her, he ended up in this frozen tundra. “What?”
“I need you to go.”
If she’d professed her undying love for him, he would have been less shocked. “You want me to leave?”
Junior threw a few fist pumps in the air. “You heard my sister. She said get the fuck out.”
“Shut up, Junior. That’s not what I said.” She wiped away tears and moved around the table, taking the stack of papers with her. “I’ve got to take care of something today and I think it would be best if you went ahead and got a place in town.”
Keeping his eye on her brother, Thomas asked, “You gonna be okay?”
“I’m gonna be fine. Would you take Fred to Brett’s?”
The harshness of reality floated through her tears, but he hoped she’d figured out how to save herself. “I’d be glad to.”
When the last load of his bags were in the car, Fred walked out with him, Jade behind them with Fred’s blankets. The dog hopped in and sat in the passenger seat.
“Thank you, Thomas, for helping me.” The wind slapped her hair in her face. She defiantly brushed it away. “I know it was a lot to ask you to come here, especially in winter.”
“A promise is a promise.”
“I think you more than fulfilled that when you called CPS that day. Saved me from a fate worse than death.”
He hated how matter-of-factly she said it as if she’d become dull to the horrible memories. “Sorry I couldn’t help more with the house.”
“Oh that?” She motioned toward the house. “I guess the heater going out was a cold shock of reality. Sometimes you can’t fix what’s too broken.”
Thomas noticed a flash of movement in the window. Junior stood with a cigarette hanging from his lip and both middle fingers pointed straight up. “Nice.”
Without looking, Jade smirked. “My brother’s flipping you off, isn’t he?”
“You sure you’re going to be okay?”
“He’s a harmless idiot.” She rested her hands on his arms. “Thank you for helping me so much over the years. It took a lot of bravery to call that day and to step up for me again when... you know.”
“I don’t think either time was brave, but it was—”
“The right thing to do. Yeah, I know your tagline.”
Sadness settled in his gut for her. “I sent you away from everything you knew—”
Jade waved him off. “No, you did the right thing. The adults there weren’t good for me. Despite what the place looks like now, Dad and my brothers did take good care of me. Just sad to see the place falling to ruin.”
“Wish I could do more.”
“You’ve done plenty. This was a pretty big payback and more than I should have asked of you.”
“You saved my life, Jade. I don’t think I can owe you enough.”
“You’ve more than kept your promise, Thomas.” She looked back toward the house. “It’s simply time for the hard choices and to move on.”
He gave her a strong, brotherly hug. “Did you want me to get you a room reserved somewhere?”
“Um, no, I’m going to stay with a friend.”
The uncertainty of her words worried him. “You sure?”
“I promise.”
Fred barked as if to say, “Let’s get moving.”
“I think you’re being paged.” Jade laughed and gave him a gentle nudge toward his car. “Go on. Get out of here.”
When he got in, the dog tried to crawl in Thomas’s lap, but he cracked the passenger window, piquing Fred’s interest. He spent the ride into town with his nose crammed up against the one inch of air that poured in as Thomas cranked the heater, hoping he’d thaw by the city limits.
