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The three of us fell into a routine. It was almost like being back in high school when I was dating Kade and part of the Kisment family. Kaleb had breakfast going when I got up. He read the paper as I made the coffee because Kaleb’s coffee was awful. He left for his day on the ranch and I went to check on Kade. He was either up watching the tiny TV on his dresser or scrolling through his phone. Or if he had a rough night with the pain, he might still be sleeping. This morning was no different. The last few nights were good as his ribs finally started to knit together. He could lay down to sleep instead of sitting up. He also was able to use his crutches for short distances. I swung open the door, carrying a tray of scrambled eggs and salsa. Kade was curled over on his side, squinting at his phone.
“Hey, Kade, what are you looking at?” I set the tray down and counted out the medications he needed to take with his food.
“The videos of the bull ride last night. But they are so small on my phone, it’s hard to watch the guys ride.” He glared at his phone before sitting up. “The eggs smell good.”
“Kaleb made them,” I said, earning me a brilliant smile from him in the morning as I wasn’t a good cook. “Who won?” With that simple question, his smile turned upside down.
“Jose Garcia... again. He’s been winning everything since I’m out of the picture.” He stabbed his eggs harshly sending bits and pieces flying throughout the air. “What I wouldn’t give to wipe that smug smile off of his face.” He shoveled his eggs into his mouth like a starving man.
“When’s the next competition?” I picked up power bar wrappers and sports drink bottles from his nightly snack. Then, opened the drapes.
“Tonight.” Kade squinted at me in the sunlight. The doorbell peeled throughout the house causing Zip to leap off the bed, barking in the direction of the front door. “Are you expecting anyone?”
“No, it’s not even seven AM... I’ll go see who it is,” I said as I made my way to the front of the house.
A shadow in the shape of a woman darkened the window in the screen door. I swung it open to see a woman with bright red hair standing with her finger raised to ring the bell, again. She had a large suitcase next to her with giant flamingoes parading around. Her red lips opened and closed into a large O. She was beautifully dressed in a flowing western dress with a silver and turquoise belt wrapping around her hips. Her eyes fell to my worn-out blue jeans and faded T-shirt. I tucked a hair behind my ear, trying not to feel like a slob.
“Oh, darling.” She extended a well-manicured hand towards me. “I’m Veronica.” Her hand was limp in mine. “I came to help Kade get better.”
“Kade?” I asked, my brain not catching up on what was going on.
“Yes, darling. He lives here.” She gave me a strange look and flounced by me into the house. She wheeled her suitcase into the kitchen and looked around. “Well, where is he?”
“Hang on, I’ll go tell him.”
I shook my head as I made my way down the hallway. I opened the door and stuck my head in. Kade was sitting in the middle of the bed, trying to get his pants over the bulky cast on his leg.
“Let me help you.” Sighing, I marched over to him and yanked the jeans off his skinny legs. I adverted my eyes from what was above his knees. “There’s no way these jeans are going to fit over this cast.” I went through his dresser drawers and pulled out a pair of basketball shorts. “Here, wear these.”
I tossed them at him. He caught them with one hand and winked at me.
“Who was at the door?” He slid into his shorts.
“She said her name was Veronica.” I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms. A smile split his face before confusion clouded his eyes. “I take it you know her.”
“Yes, I told her not to come.”
“Is she an old girlfriend? Or a current girlfriend?” I tried to keep my tone light, but my voice cracked.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Not really.” He reached for his crutches and left the room.
I had sunk on his bed. What did that mean? Who was this person to him? Why had he not said anything? Why did I care? That thought concerned me more than the woman in the kitchen. Maybe, I wasn’t as impartial to him as I led myself to believe. Fury at myself and my unwanted feelings curled in my belly. I clutched the bedsheets in my fists and gritted my teeth. From the kitchen, happy screams in response to Kade’s deep voice. I whipped the sheets from the bed and threw them into the pile at the door. “That man.” It was going to be a long week for me. I sighed as I gathered up the sheets and stomped to the laundry room. The door slammed shut behind me
WHEN A DOOR SLAMMED further within the house, I cringed. That was Delilah. My gaze fell to the woman draped around my neck. I guess she was pretty, but I’d never thought of her in that way. Many of the other bull riders drooled over her when she was around, but Ben, my traveling partner and Veronica’s husband, always kept them away. He had been my closest friend on the circuit. A couple of years ago, he had an accident like mine, but he didn’t make it. I made a promise to him on his death bed to watch out for Veronica and their little girl. I was caring for them ever since. I pried her fingers from around my neck and steered her towards the living room.
“Would you like something to drink? Tea, coffee, something stronger?” I asked.
Her big eyes slid down me from my cast to my crutches to my panting breath. Nodding, she brushed her fingers along my cheekbone, fluttering her eyelashes.
“We can sit in here and catch up.” I motioned to the living room and hopped my way to the doorway.
“That sounds fantastic.” She smiled brightly at me and sunk into the couch cushions. “Come sit next to me.” She patted the cushion next to her and fluttered her eyelashes.
“Um, I’ll get drinks first.”
What was going on? Veronica had never acted like this before. There were no sparks or connection between us. The eyelashes, really. A sinking realization settled in my stomach. She had more than friendly feelings toward me. Why else would she be here? None of my other friends came to visit. Not that I blamed them. I had been a horrible friend to everyone from Sunnydale. I poured water into the coffee pot and pressed start. It gurgled and bubbled to life. Within a few minutes, it was filling the carafe` below. As most of the mugs were mismatched, different shapes, and chipped, I reached for the largest clean one to pour the coffee in it.
“What exactly do you think you are doing, Kade Tanner Kisment?” The voice startled me that I spilled some coffee on the counter. I wiped at it with my sleeve.
“Getting coffee for the guest.”
“Obviously, but how do you intend to carry it without spilling?” Delilah stood in the doorway with her arms crossed and feet spread. Anger rolled off her towards me.
“I can manage.” I chuckled inwardly. Delilah was jealous. It looked good on her.
One dark eyebrow arched upward as she watched me. I grabbed the mug with my good hand and held on to the crutch. I pivoted in place. My balance swung forward and backward, and the coffee lurched in the cup like it was on a ship. She smirked at me. I tried again, but I could not get myself to move forward. “Dee, please help me.” I pouted and gave her big sad eyes. “I can’t figure this out.”
“It’s not meant to be figured out. It can’t be done without spilling or you falling,” she said as she took the mug from me. She poured two more mugs and found a large cutting board that she improvised into service as a tray. “Let’s go entertain your guest.” She rolled her eyes when she thought I wasn’t looking.
Veronica sat on the couch flipping through a cattle producer’s magazine. Her stilettoes rested on the coffee table. Delilah snorted and then coughed behind me. Veronica glanced up at the noise.
“Kade, sit next to me.” She purred as she moved over, patting the seat next to her.
“If it’s all the same to you, the recliner is more comfortable for my leg.” I hopped over to the overstuffed recliner in the corner. Delilah put down the tray, handing the largest mug to Veronica, and then she came over to help me get my leg elevated on a pillow.
“I’ll be right back with some ice.” She whispered in my ear. Her soft breath caused a shiver to go down my spine. Then, she was gone before I could respond. Veronica cleared her voice, drawing my attention over to her.
“Your maid is very pretty.” She stirred sugar into her coffee. I shot her a look, but she avoided my eyes, concentrating on her coffee.
“She’s not a maid. She’s a good friend of mine who also happens to be a nurse.” I reclined the chair back. “Her name is Delilah.” My gaze held steady on her. She blushed and added more cream to her coffee. Delilah came back into the room carrying an arm full of reusable ice packs. She packed them around my leg before taking the chair in the opposite corner with her coffee.
“Veronica, where are you from? Kade has never mentioned you.” Delilah smiled sweetly before sipping her drink.
I sighed. Oh man, the claws were out.
“I’m from Amarillo. Kade and I have been friends for an exceedingly long time.” She handed the sugar to Delilah. “I haven’t heard of you, either... Now that you mention it.”
Should I leave the room? Should I feign sleep? The tension in the room increased exponentially as each woman sized the other up. I cleared my throat, trying to interrupt the conversation. Both women looked at me. Oh no, I hadn’t thought past the diversion. What to discuss?
“Veronica, how’s Claire?” I mentally slapped myself with that one.
“Little Claire so wanted to come and see you. But as it is a school night, she is staying with my mother and father.”
“Who’s Claire?” Delilah looked from me to Veronica and back again.
“She’s my daughter and Kade’s helping me raise her. He’s such a good dad.” Veronica smiled at me with her eyes shining. If she were a cat, she’d be purring. I glanced over at Delilah. Her eyes were shining, too, but I expected for a vastly different reason.
“You have a daughter?” Delilah’s words were low and raspy as they cut right through me. My heart shattered at the sadness, loss, and yearning in her eyes.
“Dee.” I started. The shrill ring of her phone interrupted me.
“I’ve got to take this.” She stood up, dabbing at her eyes. “Don’t forget you need more meds in one hour.” She strode from the room and out the front door. The screen door slammed in the breeze. My head spun with the look on her face. The loss of our child still hurt her, and I had inadvertently rubbed it in her face. I was such a dense fool. Sadness for what could have been for us filled me. How did one ever get over the loss? Was it even possible?
“MELANIE,” I BREATHED into the phone. I hurried to the barn across the drive. “You couldn’t have had better timing. Did you get my message?” Images of Kade and Veronica laughing together at me danced through my mind.
Her laugh sounded in my ear. “Yes, but first you have to elaborate on how good my timing is.”
“Fine.” The barn door swung open with a squeak. The horses stuck their heads over the stall doors as I walked past them to the office at the end of the barn. I shut the door and sunk into a worn-out office chair.
“Are you in the barn?” Melanie asked.
“I had to go where Kade can’t sneak up on me,” I sighed. I spun around in the office chair.
“Isn’t he on crutches?”
“Yeah, so?” I grabbed a piece of twine off a hook and looped it around my fingers.
“How much sneaking can he possibly be doing?” She had a fair point with that one. “Just tell me what is going on.” She sounded like she was talking around a mouthful of pins.
“Are you working?”
“I have a mother of the bride dress I am finishing. I can listen to you talk. Out with it, girl.”
“A woman showed up today, claiming that she came to take care of Kade.” I bunched my hair on the top of my head before letting it all fall back down, sighing. “Evidently, they are, or were, involved.” I blew out a breath and my hair fell down my back.
“Did Kade say they were involved?”
“No,” I answered.
“Did he give her a kiss or hold her hand or give any indication that they are a couple?” Melanie mumbled into the phone.
“Not really.”
“O.K., being the voice of reason. Number one, why do you care? And number two it doesn’t sound like they are an item.” Melanie was always the practical one.
“But there’s a child involved.” I bit my fingernails. A horse neighed and stomped its feet.
Melanie sucked in her breath and coughed. “Ouch, pins...I think that you need to talk to him before getting too upset.”
She was right. Why did I care what he did with other women? “You’re right. Anyway, did you talk to Pete about when the vet is coming out to his place?”
“Of course, I am right.” She paused and I could hear a heavy object being moved around. “He’s coming out next week. He said that should be enough time to float all of your horses’ teeth if you could trailer them over to Pete’s ranch as he doesn’t have time to drive over to Lindsay’s place and work on them there. It would be a hundred dollars per horse.” I sucked in my breath at that, but they did need their teeth worked on. A couple of the older horses were dropping their feed as they ate and losing weight. Plus, their teeth hadn’t been looked at for over a year.
“O.K., that will work. There isn’t a nice place to do them at Lindsay’s anyway. They are all out in the pasture. Would Pete pick them up for me? I don’t have the money, but they desperately need to be done. Jasper, the black Quarter horse, is dropping grain as he is eating.”
“I know, I wish I could chip in, but I had to buy materials for the costumes for the San Antonio Opera.”
“I’ll figure it out.” We finished the conversation, quickly. After Melanie hung up, I spun around in my chair. The barn was quiet in the morning. All the horses were happily munching hay. I steeled myself to face both Kisment brothers: Kade with his lady friend and Kaleb for an advance on my paycheck. I was not sure which one I was more nervous about.
MY BLADDER WOKE ME up in the middle of the night. I made my way down the hall. The crutches made soft scuffing noises on the floor. The room Delilah was staying in was dark with the door open. That was weird. It’s late enough she should have been sleeping. Kaleb settled Veronica at the end of the house in my parents’ room. The light was on in the kitchen and voices drifted down the hall toward me.
“So, Kaleb, I know we agreed at the end of his recovery but that’s why I need an advance.” Delilah’s voice was soft. A clink of a spoon in a bowl sounded. She needed money. That was news to me. What could she possibly need money for? She was living here for free while she was taking care of me.
“It sounds like they need it. He is a busy person so if you got into his schedule you can’t pass it up.”
“Kaleb, thank you so much.” She let out a little squeal. I hopped closer to the doorway and peered. She jumped up from her seat and hugged him. “I’ll go call Melanie.” She bounded up and started towards me. “Oh, hi, Kade. I didn’t see you there.” She patted my arm and bounced to Kate’s room as I wobbled to lean against the wall.
“What was that about?” I made my way into the kitchen. Kaleb looked up from his laptop screen.
“Delilah needs some money.” He shrugged and went back to the screen.
“For what?”
He stopped and stared at me. “She has been here for almost four weeks. Do you ever talk to her?”
“Can’t you tell me?” I asked as I poured water into a glass.
“Not my business. Talk to the girl, bonehead.” Great, he was back to calling me my childhood nickname. Evidently, that was the end of the discussion. He shut the laptop and left the kitchen. Talk to the girl, I wish it were that easy. My throat got tight every time I tried.