Page 19

CHAPTER 19

Tom jerked awake and sat straight up in bed, staring around in confusion when he didn’t recognize the room, or bed he was in. It clicked that he was in Lorissa’s bed, and he remembered waking her several times in the night. He thought the last time was around four in the morning, and he didn’t hear his alarm after that. He flopped back and sighed heavily as he scrubbed his face. He looked toward the door and sat up when he saw Lorissa stick her head in.

“You awake?”

“Yes. What time is it?”

“Around eight. Don’t be mad at me, but the last time you woke me, I was fine, and I shut off your alarm so we could both get some uninterrupted sleep. I’m fine. I’ve only been up long enough to let the kids out and make the coffee.” She opened the door and came in with two steaming mugs. “I don’t normally drink coffee in the bedroom, but you were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t want to disturb you.” She started forward with a shake of her head. “I didn’t know what was on your agenda for the day so I thought waking you at eight would be okay.”

“Thank you. I don’t know if I’m that exhausted, or if it’s this bed, but I slept like a rock. I swear after waking you, I would pass out to an unconscious state between each wakeup call.”

“Yeah, it might be the mattress. I bought it brand new when I moved here.” Lorissa smiled at him and sipped her coffee. “I didn’t know if you had to be at the office, or what time the clinic opened, so I didn’t want you to sleep too late. I’m going down to start breakfast. Pru came over yesterday with several dozen eggs, so I thought we could have omelets.”

“That sounds wonderful, do you mind if I shower?”

“Not at all, you can use my bathroom through that door, or there’s one in the hall. I don’t mind which one you use.”

Tom nodded and after she left, he tossed the blankets back and rushed into the room attached to her bedroom. He had to empty his bladder or embarrass himself. He sighed in contentment when the pressure was relieved, then stripped his lounge pants and boxers off before turning on the water and climbing beneath the spray. Twenty minutes later he walked into the kitchen just as Lorissa was dishing up the food. He rushed around to help her and was able to get the juice out of the refrigerator, and butter the toast. They settled down and began to eat.

“Can I ask you something?” Lorissa asked after they had eaten several bites.

“Sure.”

“Why did you sign up for that dating app?”

Tom looked at her in shock, then sighed heavily. While still eating, he gathered his thoughts, then looked directly at her. “I didn’t. I’m not blaming anyone, but Miriam, my office manager signed me up. Just yesterday when I went into the office I told her that if she didn’t get me off that site she would be fired. I told her what Gallagher and Warren did to me, then to you. She deleted my profile in front of me.”

“Why did she do it in the first place?”

“I asked the same thing. She said she wanted me to have a chance to love. Don’t get me wrong, I love Miriam, but in a grandmotherly way. It’s hard to explain, but she’s older than your mother, but younger than your Nana. She started in the clinic years ago when my grandfather was still running it.”

“Ah, she was looking out for you in a parental way?”

Tom looked off to the side, then nodded. “Yeah, she was. After she deleted the profile, I told her not to worry about me. She didn’t want me to be alone. But I told her I was dating someone. I didn’t tell her your name, I figured she didn’t need to know it until we at least went on our first official date.” He grinned when she snorted a laugh.

“So, you don’t figure we’re dating after we had a take-out meal, then had sex, and you slept in my bed last night?” She laughed right along with him.

“Well, if you put it that way, then yeah, I consider we’re dating. We just jumped to the sex and sleeping together before the going out part.”

“Going out is overrated in my book. I would much rather have a meal at home, then snuggle on the couch with a good book, or a good movie. Not that I know about the movie part, since I don’t pay attention to what Hollywood is doing. It doesn’t mean anything to me, so why bother?”

Tom couldn’t resist, so he stood, reached out, took the back of her neck in his hand, and kissed her. When he settled back down, he grinned at her. “I totally agree with what you just said. Maybe I’m too much of a homebody, but what you described is the perfect night for me.”

“Good, now we’ll just have to take turns, or work together on getting the meal together.”

“How about this? I’m not saying I’ll be moving in with you right now, we might have to talk to Erin about it, but if one of us cooks, the other does the cleanup. I’m talking taking care of the leftovers, doing the dishes, and wiping down the counters as well as sweeping the floor. ”

“I can wrap my head around that.” She smiled at him, then leaned back to cradle her coffee cup to her chest. “What do you have planned for today?”

“Not much, I don’t have any ranches to go to, unless someone calls. I was going to go into the office and check in with everyone there.” He sighed heavily and scrubbed his face before he slammed back in his chair.

“What’s wrong?”

“After I talked with Miriam yesterday, she told me that one of my vets gave their two weeks’ notice.”

“Why? I’m sorry, it’s none of my business how you run your clinic.”

“No, it’s okay, and it’s nothing I did. Dr. Pam is engaged to a military man. She gave her two weeks, then they’ll pack up their belongings and leave for his next assignment. He was given orders to report to the East Coast in thirty days. I wish her well. She was a good vet, and I’ll miss her.” He shook his head and gave her a grin. “You looking for a job?”

Lorissa threw her head back and laughed. “Nope. Not really, however, if you’re really in a pinch I wouldn’t say no to helping you out. We might even be able for us to work it out that I could work in your clinic one day a week.”

“We can sit down and discuss that, however, I have something else I’d like to discuss with you.” He didn’t wait for her to respond before he launched into his explanation of what Miriam had told him the day before about turning people away for the farrier business.

“Really?” Lorissa asked in shock when he completed his story.

“Yes. Old Man Atherton was in his eighties when he passed. He started the business at his father’s elbow. He quit school at the age of thirteen to apprentice for his father, then he took over the business. Don’t quote me on this, but his own children died before he retired, and that’s why he left it all to his grandchildren. I have no idea why Shelly’s brothers didn’t step up to the plate. From what I knew of them, they would never have left it all for her to deal with.”

“ I was told by Erin herself that Shelly had two brothers, but they were killed in action while in the military and deployed overseas. That left Shelly. I never met the woman, but Erin also told me that her grandfather’s will stated they had to live here and operate the farrier business for two years after he died. If they didn’t, then the entire five-thousand-acres he owned would be given, not sold, but given to a housing development company. Shelly talked with the lawyer and said if she worked for two years and two days, could she sell it and pocket the proceeds? The lawyer said yes. Again, according to Erin, after the funeral Shelly spoke with Erin and asked if she would be interested in purchasing this property in two years. Erin told her to come to her first. She came back when there was thirty days left on the stipulation of the will. Erin got the paperwork started, read Clark into the deal, and I think it ended up being roughly, but don’t quote me on it, but roughly ten days after the stipulation of the will was finished that they closed on the place. Shelly handed over the keys, took her check, and left. Not all, but most of the equipment out in the farrier shed was left.”

“Damn, she didn’t take anything with her?”

“Not that I’m aware of. Again, I’m only speculating on this next part, but after piecing together gossip I have heard while working on Jared’s horses, and he had some local ranchers stop by, it appears that Shelly’s grandfather was old school.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“That a woman shouldn’t work outside the home. They needed to stay-at-home, take care of the house, the kids, and wait on their man hand and foot, while he went out and got a job to pay for everything. It was his belief that the woman also did as the man said.”

“Damn, that is old school.”

“Yeah, I also heard that Shelly had a high-powered executive job in some city on the West Coast and she was able to work remotely as well as be a farrier. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do both. It’s been roughly five months since Erin took possession of this place, but I’ve only been here for almost three months.” She shook her head in awe as she rose and got them each a cup of coffee. She didn’t speak again until she settled back in her seat. “Again, this is from Erin, but she offered Mom, Nana, and me this place to live because she didn’t want to place to sit empty. Nana wants to grow and can food for everyone, and Mom starts next month on her six-month rehabilitation course to try to get her knee better. I have no clue what she’ll do afterward. I do know that she’ll have to go back east several times for the trial against my sperm donor.” She grinned when he sputtered after taking a sip of coffee. When he frowned at her, she only shrugged.

“Trust me, that is all he was in my life. He never, ever held me as a baby, never hugged me, and never attended anything I participated in. He only came home to rest when he was between affair skanks.” The look on her face showed Tom that she wasn’t bursting his balls. “Again, trust me, the world is a better place with him and his mother locked up behind bars.”

Tom didn’t know what to say, and by her expression he knew she was serious, so he nodded, and said, “You’ll have to tell me about him sometime.”

“Sometime.” She sighed and shook her head. “What’s on your agenda for the day?”

“I’m going to go into the office. You?”

“Mom’s going to take me over to Erin’s so I can tell her I’m fine, then she’s taking me into town so I can get a police report.”

“For?”

“I have to take that, along with the medical statement over to my insurance company. Don’t quote me on this, but the frame broke on my truck, I need to see whether they’ll be totaling it out or not. I also need to gather my tools, and clean out the vehicle.”

“Remind me when the doctor told you that you could drive again?”

“Definitely three days, but he preferred to wait until the stitches come out in ten days.”

“Okay, I’m not forcing you, but if you need a vehicle to drive, you are welcome to drive my good truck. The one we went out on our date with. The one you drove home.”

“Thank you, but I’ll wait to see what the insurance company says. It’s not like I can’t afford one, but I want to see what they say first. I want a different truck than I had before.”

“How different?” Tom asked and listened to her explain what she wanted. He grabbed a pad of paper from the counter and wrote something down on it before he passed it to her. “Check these people out. When I was looking for my new truck, they had what you were looking for there. I had my work truck, or I would have purchased one of them in a heartbeat.”

“Thanks, I’ll have Mom swing by today so I can get an idea in my head,” she said, and put the paper in her pocket. As they cleaned up the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around her and leaned in to kiss her nose, her forehead, then finally her lips. They broke apart after several minutes and he sighed heavily.

“I don’t want to go, but I must.”

She laughed as he dropped his arms, and went out the door. After he left, she checked the contents of her refrigerator and freezer. She pulled a packet of meat, and sat down to make a list for the store. She only hoped her mother wouldn’t mind all the stops she wanted to make.