SAM’S GLARE AS he stared from the doctor to his mother and back made Avery grin as she pulled to a stop under the hospital’s pickup area. The day was full of sunshine, the skies blue and the cold air crisp after the storm, but Sam might as well have been sitting under his own rain cloud. Add that to the unnatural way he was posed in the wheelchair and it was clear Sam was over his stay at the Sweetwater hospital.
The doctor pulled open the passenger-side door and bent to offer Sam his hand.
Which was soundly rejected.
Sam eased up on his own and settled against the seat with a huff. He snatched the seat belt the doctor helpfully held out and shoved it at Avery. She didn’t say anything but sent him a warning glare as she took the belt and clicked it in place.
Then they listened to Regina and the doctor share niceties back and forth until Sam had enough. He grumbled, “Regina Blackburn. Hickory Lane. Look her up in the phone book. We need to get this show on the road.”
Avery wasn’t certain but she thought she heard Regina’s mouth close with a snap.
When everyone was seated and buckled, Avery eased away from the curb. “Tell me if I need to slow down.”
Sam grunted and the silence inside the SUV was oppressive. She glanced in the rearview to meet her mother’s stare. Her shrug showed she had as little understanding about how to proceed as Avery did.
When Avery made the turn down Hickory Lane, Regina said, “You didn’t have to be so rude, Samuel.” Her sniff was all about disapproval. “This new job of yours won’t take you far enough away that I’ll let you forget your manners.”
Avery wasn’t sure he was going to answer, but he closed his eyes. “You’re right. When I go, you’ll have plenty of time to fill. You need to find someone else to cook for.”
Avery bit her tongue. While she and her mother had spent plenty of time going round and round over the years, sometimes loudly and with the intent to win, Sam and his mother had been peaceful neighbors. His mother doted on Sam, and he was careful to let her.
But Avery could feel the eruption building and set the car in Park as quietly as she could, aware the simplest thing could lead to a meltdown.
They were out of the car and following Sam slowly up the steps to his mother’s porch when Regina stopped. She propped her hands on her hips. “You think I have nothing better to do than stack up leftovers, Samuel Blackburn? I ran my own business for more than thirty years. I’ve started a new business with Janet. You might not think much of my brains, but I can keep myself busy without you or any other man to cook for.”
Sam’s lips were tight as he sat down carefully on the porch swing that had hung on the Blackburn porch for as long as Avery could remember. They’d once spent an afternoon jumping from the swing as it swung back over the edge of the porch.
The fact that neither she nor Sam had any broken bones was a miracle.
Then he wrapped his arm over his ribs and she realized that she was the only one who’d never broken a bone. That was a nice competition to win.
“Mom, of course not, but I know you enjoy cooking and it’s hard for one.” He shook his head. “I would have told you this eventually, but I got the job offer yesterday. I can’t believe how quickly they moved, but they’re building a special team, one that splits duties with fire and search and rescue, a year-round on-call crew permanently stationed on Copper Mountain. They want to start training in January. Possibly the worst time for fires but the best for search and rescue.” Sam closed his eyes. “I need your doctor friend to clear me to fly to Colorado in two weeks, so I can find a place to stay.”
His eyes were serious as they met Avery’s. They didn’t have a psychic connection but she was nearly certain he wanted to say he wished he wasn’t leaving so soon.
Or that was what she wanted to say.
“I was planning to give my notice and make the move, begin working on acclimatizing to the altitude. I didn’t have too much trouble with the fitness test, but their search-and-rescue training could be a different story.” Sam cleared his throat. “It would be nice to get some climbing in before the snow makes some trails impassable.”
Avery crossed her arms over her chest, the threat of impassable trails something she’d never considered. Here in the Smokies, they got snow, but winter was as unpredictable as the rains. One day might be freezing, while the next week was full of sunshine and spring temperatures.
In the Rockies, the snow would be no minor inconvenience to the crews called to work it.
Something else to worry about. Great.
“You’re talking about moving in weeks?” Regina asked as she sat down next to him. “Can’t you wait until January?”
Sam took her hand in his. “I could, but I want to do this, Mom. I want to try this, and the longer I stay here, the harder it will be.” No one looked at Avery at that point, but she could feel the weight of unspoken words.
Regina didn’t say anything as she stared down at his hand. “Well.” She licked her lips and blinked rapidly. “Don’t you worry about me. I’ve got a business to build. We’re about to buy Smoky Joe’s, too. Avery still needs her head screwed on straight, so I can focus my efforts on her instead.” She shook a finger at Sam. “And I will go out with that handsome doctor if he asks me. I can get by without cooking as long as I got plenty of other excitement in my life, right, Sammy?”
Her disgusted expression matched his so perfectly that it was impossible not to laugh.
Janet was shaking her head as she opened Regina’s front door. “Y’all are discussing your business out here on the front porch for all the neighbors to enjoy, and wasting daylight. We’ve got things to do.”
Regina snapped to attention and marched in behind Janet. “What neighbors? You’re the only one who could listen in and you were standing right there. If we’d disappeared inside and slammed the door behind us, you would have wheedled everything he said out of me anyway. And what are you talking about, too much to do?”
“We’ve got to do some research on Copper Mountain, Reggie.” Avery couldn’t see her mother from the spot she’d taken on the porch swing, but her mom’s tone made it easy to imagine her face. “He can’t find his own place to live without our help. I also think you ought to check into plane tickets. He’s injured. He doesn’t need to fly across the country by himself. Who will carry his suitcase, and what happens if he misses a flight?”
Avery stood up to pull the door closed behind the two of them, their voices fading into a muffled jumble. “Let’s give them a minute to settle. I imagine they’re overtired.” She studied Sam. “You are, too. Want to sneak into my mother’s house? The sofa’s pretty comfortable and you’ve got at least an hour before they know you’re missing.”
Sam took a deep breath. “Don’t suppose you’d try to get me home? I want to go home.”
She scooted over to rest her shoulder against his. “You’re about to have a brand-new home. Maybe it’s a good thing to say goodbye to this one.”
“You promised it would still be here for me whenever I wanted to come back.” The faint line on Sam’s forehead could be fatigue, but Avery was nearly certain he was worried about the changes.
“It will be. Doesn’t mean it will be exactly the same. You might as well soak it up. Staying here will please your mother to no end. I can bring you fruit pies and generally badger you off of your fainting couch, and when you leave, you’ll miss us. That’s the way it should be.” Avery didn’t want to be too sentimental. He’d handle it like a hero, but she’d be mad as a doused cat if she showed any tears. The afternoon was too pretty to fret over the future.
“Fine. I’ll stay here. I’ll take my mother to Copper Mountain with me on one condition.” He leaned down. “You find something to occupy your mother. I cannot even imagine making it through a trip like this with them trailing me like ducklings.”
Since Avery had recently had the experience of herding her mother through an airport, she could imagine the trouble the two of them would get up to.
“Deal. And I’ll ask if the handsome contractor’s father might like a home-cooked dinner.” Avery sighed.
“You’re going to set your mother up? Who’s the handsome contractor?” Sam grumbled. “Pace. You have to be talking about Pace.”
Avery nodded. “He’s handsome. I’m guessing his father is, too. Regina said you connected them to the Paces for the reno work. I think it would be a good idea to distract my mother, because the time has come for me to get serious about whatever comes next.”
“It’s not Ethan Pace, is it? What comes next?” Sam asked. “Because I had this dream that you told me you weren’t ready for me yet. If you fall for Pace while you’re getting ready, I’m not sure my good nature will hold.”
“He’s handsome enough to have his own show. You know that, right?” Avery asked. “But I think, instead of falling for him, I’ll see how he feels about the benefits of working with independent contractors instead of hiring someone on full-time. He wants advice. I’m as qualified as I ever was to offer that.”
“Uh-huh. You never needed a degree for that.” Sam tapped his chin. “But what does it say that, no matter how hard you try, people keep pulling you back in? It’s almost as if you were destined to be a lawyer.”
Slowly but surely, that was the understanding Avery was coming to. Even when she could hardly look at the possibility of returning to the University of Chicago head-on, the universe was telling her that she needed to be a lawyer.
And it felt right.
In the spring, she’d say goodbye to Sam and weigh her options. Until then, she would distract him and fail miserably at story time, and she would pester her mother about the mysterious elder Pace and do her best to take Regina away from her worries and sadness when Sam went. She had a full to-do list for now. Law school could wait.