Page 33 of Traces Of You

“Hey,” Blaze said. “Sorry I couldn’t make it to dinner.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Mom and Dad filled you in?”

“Clay did,” Blaze said.

Which meant Blaze got the more detailed version.

“Reenie Dupree, not sure if you remember Blaze. He’s an ER doctor. I want him to look at the cuts on your arm or anything else you want him to check over.”

Her face was flushed just as much as it’d been when he picked her up hours ago.

The cabin was still warm, but he should build the fire in the stove for her while Blaze did that.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“I’m sure you are,” Blaze said. “But my brother is stubborn and you can save us all some time if you let me look at the cuts and dress them.”

His brother would know how Reenie got them too.

“Fine,” she said. “Do you want coffee since I just made it?”

“I wouldn’t mind a cup,” Blaze said. “Been a long day.”

“Tell me about it,” Ford said. “I’ll get it. Reenie, how do you take yours?”

“Light. There is some powdered cream that is good enough for now.”

He wanted to pick her up more food tonight, but everyone needed to just take a step back. His mother gave her a few things from the house to help, like an extra blow dryer for tomorrow. Reenie had said she was going to order what she needed to be delivered to the farmhouse in his mother’s name.

Blaze set the bag down he was carrying. “Do you want to do this out here or in your room?”

“Here is fine,” she said. “There isn’t anything else wrong.”

Ford wouldn’t push. She didn’t appear to have any other injuries.

He made their coffees and set them on the table, then went to the wood stove and got that started for the night. He’d show her how to adjust the temperature of it too so she didn’t wake up freezing her ass off in the morning.

When he was done with that, Blaze was putting some ointment on Reenie’s cuts and leaving it on the table with bigger bandages to replace the ones he’d put on her. “You don’t need to have these on all the time, but it will stop the ointment from ruining your shirts. The cuts look clean, but let’s keep them this way.”

“I’ve been washing them and putting aloe vera on them.”

“That works too,” Blaze said.

His brother picked up his coffee and took a huge gulp.

“Jesus, you’re going to burn your mouth.”

“I drink like this all the time,” Blaze said. “I don’t get the luxury of sitting around sipping it and chatting or drinking it in my car like other people do.”

It was a shot at him for showing his face in the community and socializing. Picking up food and coffee.

“You chose your career and I chose mine.”

He cringed when Blaze downed the rest of his coffee. “That’s right. If you don’t need me for anything else, I’m going to bum dinner off of Mom. Is there any left?”

“Always,” he said.

“Nice to see you again, Reenie.”