Page 44

“I need to check that everything is okay at the clinic,” Tiffany shared, as they were almost back to Timber’s place.

“Yeah, that’s probably not a bad idea,” he agreed. “Just so you know, I broke into the place. That’s how I knew for sure you were gone.”

She looked back at him in astonishment. “What do you mean, you broke into the place?”

“Well,” he winced and added, “I wasn’t really sure I should tell you that part.”

“I didn’t think B&E into my clinic would be that easy to do. I do keep drugs here, and that can be a draw to the wrong element.”

“It is kind of easy, so we’ll have to work on upgrading your clinic,” he muttered. “I was already headed that way because Toby told me that you didn’t call him back. So I had to confirm that you weren’t locked in the cooler or something. Then Andy called me and told me that Max had you.”

“I just wish I’d locked myself in the cooler. Max attacked me before I ever got the door open,” she replied.

“I’m so sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” she muttered, “and you’ll have to stop apologizing for it.”

“That’ll be hard to do,” he acknowledged. “I feel very responsible for it. Plus, it’s just been one hell of a day.”

“It has, indeed.”

Back at his place, he turned Sparky out into the paddock, gave him some feed, and then turned to her. “Come on. Let’s hop in the truck, and I’ll get you home.”

“Yeah, and, if you don’t, you know you’ll hear about it.”

“Good God,” he muttered. “Do you believe those two?”

“I kind of do. It’s very sweet.”

“ Sweet ?” he repeated. “Are you kidding? They’ll make our lives miserable.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think they’ll fill our lives with laughter and a whole lot of love.

All they want is a place to call home, to be a part of something, kind of like a family,” she explained.

“That’s why they want to stay on with you because you’re building something, and that’s what they need. Somewhere to be included.”

He looked over at her and smiled. “How did you get to be so wise?”

“Ah, it comes with age.”

At that he looked at her, startled, then burst out laughing when he saw the grin on her face. “I do love your sense of humor.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t come out all that often. I tend to be a lot calmer and quieter, but something about coming close to death changes your perspective.”

“I hear you there.”

They drove through the streets, quickly stopped by the clinic, secured it the best they could, then finally pulled up in front of her house.

She sighed as she looked at it. “It looks awfully lonely.”

“I’m bringing you inside to confirm you’re okay anyway.”

“If you don’t stay, they are so going to get you for it.”

“I know.” He groaned. “If I go back tonight, they’ll be all over me, but I certainly won’t take advantage of your hospitality because of those two knuckleheads.”

“I was kind of thinking that they might be right, you know, having the best idea.”

“What idea was that?”

“That you should spend the night,” she stated, with a smile. “God knows I don’t want to be alone, and, no, that’s not the only reason I’m inviting you.”

“So, why are you inviting me?” he asked, his gaze intent as he studied her.

She smiled. “Partly because I don’t want to be alone. Partly because I want to celebrate being alive. Partly because I never did get the dinner I was promised, and partly… I don’t know, but do I need any more excuses?”

“No,” he whispered, as he leaned over, grasped her chin, and pulled her toward him, kissing her gently. She moaned in joy as his lips touched hers. “I was so afraid Max had already hurt you,” he admitted, passion in his gaze, “and that I would never get a chance to do this.”

“I had that same thought myself,” she shared, pulling back. “How sad that it took something like that to get us here.”

“I was just waiting until we didn’t have a zillion people around.”

“I know. I kind of was too, and then you invited me for dinner, and I thought that maybe all the guys were gone, but that sure didn’t happen. There were still a ton of guys there.”

“I’m beginning to think that it might always be that way to some degree. I don’t really know.”

She burst out laughing, “That’s is a good point too. I guess you could always use a few good men around on a permanent basis.”

“Toby and Dwight are staying for sure, and I think some of the others are staying for a couple weeks. I don’t really know,” he said. “Honestly, I’m just trying to go with the flow, and that in itself is a challenge.”

“Of course it is,” she agreed, “and I think, for you, it’s a bigger challenge than most of us are aware.”

“When you’re used to planning your own life,” he noted, “having people around makes you stop and think about what is important and also understanding what’s important to them.”

“Good, then get your ass in the house. I’m so sore right now. I don’t really want to go to work tomorrow.”

“I understand, but you don’t want to cancel a full day of appointments either, do you?”

“No, I sure don’t,” she said, with a smile on her face. “Hopefully I’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Look. I’m only coming in if you want me to.”

“I do, and I don’t know quite what this is I’m feeling now.” She closed her eyes and added, “This feels more like panic, shock maybe. I’ve never seen someone killed in front of me before.” She stared at him, tears starting to form in her eyes. “It’s all just kind of hitting me.”

He held her close and whispered, “You should have a reaction to something like that,” he noted. “Feeling and seeing the horrors stirs up our emotions that keeps our humanity in touch, as we don’t want to be desensitized to something like that.”

He quickly unlocked the doors, came around, and helped her out of the truck. “I guess we should have brought your truck.”

“That’s okay. I’m in no shape to drive anyway,” she muttered. “You can drop me off in the morning—or whatever. We’ll figure it out,” she muttered, with a headshake.

“Come on. Let’s get you inside,” Timber whispered.

“I don’t even know how to feel all of a sudden.”

“There isn’t any right or wrong way to feel when it comes to this,” he said in a gentle voice.

“It’s just that you need to let it out. You need to feel what you feel.

You need to let go of the stress. The reality is, you spent hours in a traumatic and highly dangerous situation.

You almost died tonight. You had to fight for your life, and you watched your attacker die. ”

“And yet I don’t know that I’m as upset about him dying as I am hurt for everybody else in this scenario. I hurt for his son. I hurt for his father.”

“That’s what makes you so special,” Timber noted, “because they were part and parcel of a lot of it. Unfortunately it’ll be a long road to recovery for them, and hopefully there will be some therapy to help them.”

“I don’t know that Andy has a whole lot of time for that,” she murmured. “His cancer is back, and I don’t get the sense that he has very long.”

“Which means Brian will be the one who needs an awful lot of help,” Timber noted.

“Particularly if he’s about to lose his grandfather. When it’s all said and done, it might be a really good idea for him to go into the military after all.”

“Maybe that was why Andy was reluctant to do that.”

She looked at him. “Why?”

“Because Andy is dying. He didn’t want to ship Brian off to the military, only for Brian’s last living relative to die while Brian was away and alone.”

She winced at that and nodded. “Yes, you’re right. Andy would absolutely want to keep Brian close and maybe have a chance to heal some of the trouble between them,” she pointed out.

Timber nodded. As they walked up to the front door, she looked around. “Oh gosh, I don’t even have my purse with me or my keys.”

“I gather that’s at the clinic too?”

“Yes.” She stared up at him. “I’m so sorry. I should have thought about it while we were there.”

He asked, “Do you keep a key hidden somewhere?”

“Oh.” She frowned, thought for a moment. “Yes, yes I do.” She quickly retrieved it and sighed. “Jesus, I must be in worse shape than I thought.”

“You’re okay, and you’re still dealing with shock,” Timber noted. “And who wouldn’t be? Stop trying to be everything you think you need to be.”

She looked over at him and shared, “I’ve been alone a long time, and, when you’re alone, it’s all you really know how to be. You’re not so different yourself.”

“You’re not alone anymore, and honestly, if Toby and Dwight get their way, you’ll never be alone ever again.”

She burst out laughing, “They really are sweet, aren’t they?”

“I don’t know that they would accept that.

” Then he shrugged, shook his head, and added, “Who am I kidding? They would absolutely accept it from you. Now, if I were to call them sweet, I would probably get a fist in the mouth, but if you were to call them sweet?” He sighed. “It would be totally okay.”

She grinned at him. “They really are though.”

“Sure they are,” he quipped, with a look in her direction, “but you’re the only one who would get away with saying it.”

She smiled. “I still think they’re sweet.”

“Good, I’m glad you do.” He laughed. “But they’ll also try to maneuver you into my life, whether you like it or not.”

“I’m not against it and was kind of hoping we were heading in that direction anyway.”

“There was no hoping about it. We obviously were. We just didn’t get the chance to get very far on our own because of all the chaos of trying to support the huge work crew who showed up.

Now, we’re still not getting very far on our own because the two of them will be checking to confirm that I’m doing everything right. ”

She giggled. “I’ve never really had anybody around to do something like that. I didn’t have a father most of my life.”

“Tell them that, and they’ll be all over you.” Timber groaned. “It’ll make them even more impossible.”

She burst out laughing. “Maybe I won’t tell them that just yet.”

“Please don’t,” Timber pleaded. “I can’t imagine what my life will be like if they think they have to step into the daddy role too.”

“Oh gosh.” She giggled and quickly had the door unlocked and stepped inside.

Taking a quick turnaround, she noted, “It wasn’t even on my radar that I might not make it home tonight as I have two dogs but I’ll text my neighbor and ask if he can take them out and feed them considering the circumstances.

I have to admit there’s something very special about it. ”

“Absolutely, there is,” he agreed. “Now let’s get you upstairs, into the shower, and off to bed.”

She looked over at him and nodded. “A shower would be good. Getting knocked out and manhandled makes me feel especially grimy.”

“I also promised Toby that I would check that head of yours. It was either that or take you to the hospital,” he shared, with a wicked grin.

“ You can check it,” she muttered. “That hospital visit is not happening.”

“Yeah, I think they knew that. So you wouldn’t fight me on checking your head wound.”

“Right. I’m not really picking and choosing, as they already made that decision.”

Timber snorted. “That was pretty smart of them.… And tomorrow, we’ll have an awful lot to deal with.”

“I know,” she muttered, “not to mention the sheriff’s office. Is it wrong of me to be grateful that Max’s dead and gone and that there won’t be a trial or much of an investigation?”

“No, it’s not wrong at all,” Timber said, as he led her upstairs, and nodded at the master bedroom. “Where are your clothes for tonight?”

She walked over to the dresser, pulled out a clean nightgown.

“Now, let’s take a look at that head wound before you go in for a shower, and then we’ll see about getting it shampooed.”

When he took a look, he wanted to kill the asshole Max all over again, and was shocked that she was doing as well as she was, but he knew that as soon as she collapsed after cleaning her wounds, her head would really start hurting.

“I don’t even want you to touch it,” she said.

“I know, and I can see why, but I need to confirm that you don’t need stitches because it bled quite a bit. It’s mostly dried up, but I need to see what’s under there.”

She turned and looked at him. “Really?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “You did get knocked down.”

“That wasn’t very nice of him, was it?”

He just smiled and let her keep talking as he closely examined her head. “I think it’s probably fine, but it’s likely to bleed some when you get in the shower.”

“Then it can bleed because a shower is absolutely on my to-do list right now.” She got up gingerly, and he frowned at her.

Watching her closely, he asked, “Do you feel faint at all? I don’t want you passing out in there.”

“No, I don’t feel faint.” Yet she turned to study him intently. “But you can always come in and help me anyway.”

He rolled his eyes and muttered, “That is playing with fire.”

“We’ve been playing with fire for a while now,” she said. “This is just making sure I’m good enough to play again some other day.”

His eyes widened, and he nodded. “That’s not a bad point.” He quickly shucked off his clothes and walked into the shower. He adjusted the water and waved her over. “Come on. Let’s get that head of yours cleaned up.”