Always For You (Always Love Book 1) (16 page)

Ali had hesitated for about half a second. “Would you really? That would be great, Reenie. I just want to sleep.”

“Then you do that, and I’ll come over and take care of everything.”

I’d had a lovely evening at my brother’s house, taking care of Ali, who truly did look miserable, and spoiling Bridget and Flynn. I loved their sweet little home in the woods, with the perfect view of the lake, and making dinner in their kitchen let me make believe I was cooking for my own family. I’d sighed, melancholy once again until Bridget came dancing in to help me set the table. No one could stay sad around that child, with her bright eyes and ready smile.

By the time I’d gotten home, Smith had gone out to the Watsons to take care of their sick pig Petunia, and then from there, he was called to a home in town to help with a cat who was having trouble delivering her last kitten in a litter of four. I went to bed and was only vaguely aware of hearing the Corvette pull into the driveway much later that night.

When I finally did see him at home the next day, I pasted on a bright smile and kept up a steady patter of conversation that stuck strictly to work-related topics. Smith related the story of his very first after-hours call, making me laugh as he described Farmer Watson’s taciturn ways.

“. . . so I asked him what made him suspect Petunia had a problem. And he answered me, but you know, he had this huge wad of something in the side of his mouth—”

“Tobacco. I’ve never seen Bill Watson without a cheek full of the stuff.”

Smith grimaced. “Yeah, I figured that out later when he spit a stream of it. Nasty shit. Anyway, I couldn’t understand what he was saying, and I kept saying, ‘Pardon?’ and then he’d say the same damn thing, just a little louder. And for the life of me, I could’ve sworn he was saying, ‘Herpes red.’ So I’m thinking, the pig has herpes? And how the hell did she get that, and ewww, and what the fuck am I supposed to do about it?”

I had already guessed the truth and collapsed on a kitchen chair, holding my stomach as I laughed.

“Then finally his wife comes out and hears us going around and around, and she says, ‘Lawd, Billy, speak clear! The Yankee don’t understand you.’ Then she wheels around and looks at me and says, in this really slow, loud voice, like I’m some kind of moron, ‘Her pee is red. The pig. Her pee is runnin’ red.’”

I managed to get myself under control long enough to speak. “And just what did you do then?”

“Left them with Lincomycin and said I’d be back next week to do a recheck. I also treated the boar, since they’d recently mated.”

“Sounds about right. So, you survived your first farm call. You’ve been initiated.”

“I guess so. It wasn’t that bad. Mrs. Watson made me come inside for coffee and cake, and then just as I was finishing, I got the call for the cat.”

“And how did that—oh, wait a second, that’s my phone.” I jumped up and grabbed the buzzing phone from the counter. Tim’s name was splayed over the screen, and without meaning to, I glanced at Smith.

“Go ahead and get it.” He waved his hand, and I figured he was going to leave the kitchen to give me some privacy. But no. As I hit the accept button, Smith leaned against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched me.

“Good morning, Tim.” I kept my eyes on Smith as I spoke, never dropping them as Tim responded, asking if I might want to go to a movie with him on Monday night.

“Um . . .” I tried to think of a reason to say no. I liked Tim, but my initial response—that I wasn’t attracted to him in the least bit—was right on the money. I didn’t want to be mean by saying no, but neither did I want to lead him on. “Oh, crap, Tim. I’m on after-hours call tomorrow night.” Burton didn’t have a movie theater, so we’d have to drive at least one town over, too far for me to go in case I was needed by a patient.

Smith waved to get my attention. “I’ll cover for you,” he said in a loud whisper, as though he was trying to be discreet in front of Tim. As if.

I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. You have the weekend. It’s my turn on Monday.”

He shrugged. “I don’t have any plans. You should totally go out with Tim.”

“I should?” I stared at Smith for a minute, puzzled. Friday night, he’d acted like he was almost jealous of my date with Tim. He’d painted an all-too-seductive word picture of how he’d kiss me. And now he was encouraging me to go out on a second date?

“Sure. Why not?” He raised one eyebrow, as though daring me to come clean and tell the truth about exactly why I shouldn’t spend tomorrow evening with any man other than him.

I’d nearly forgotten that Tim was on the other end of the phone, waiting for my final answer. “So what do you say? I’ll pick you about five, so we can get a little something to eat before the movie starts.”

“Uh, fine, I guess.” I couldn’t have sounded less excited if I’d tried. “See you tomorrow.” I clicked off and set down the phone. “You didn’t have to do that. We have a schedule for a reason. It wouldn’t have mattered to me to say no.”

Smith grinned. “Like I said, I don’t have any plans. I’ll just be sitting around here, so there’s no reason both of us should stay home, right?”

I narrowed my eyes. “I got the impression you didn’t want me to date Tim. That you didn’t really like him.”

“Really? Well, if I did or said something to make you think that, I’m sorry.” He came over to where I stood, bracing one arm on either side of my body, caging me in. His face was very close to mine, and I found it was suddenly hard to breathe. When he spoke, his voice was low and husky.

“I think if you’re going to date anyone who isn’t me, Tim’s the perfect choice.” He hovered there for a minute, his eyes dropping to my mouth, and I was certain he was going to put his words from Friday night into action.

But he didn’t. Instead, he pushed away, straightening up as he stepped back. “I think I’m going for a run. I’ll take my phone with me, and I won’t go too far, in case someone calls in.”

I recovered enough to nod. “Okay. Oh, I’m going to be here, so don’t worry about your phone. If anyone calls, I’ll take it.”

“You sure?” He cocked his head.

“It’s the least I can do, considering that you’re taking tomorrow night. Go, enjoy your run.”

“Thanks.” Smith winked at me, whistling as he turned to jog up the steps to his apartment, leaving me frowning and more than a little confused.

The next two weeks fell into an easy if slightly uncomfortable pattern. Smith had reverted to his old self, friendly and teasing. We worked together so well that sometimes it felt as though we’d always been partners. At home, he respected my boundaries, staying up in his apartment whenever Tim came over, though I suspected that he walked extra-loud at those times, making sure I remembered he was up there.

“So you think he’s stomping around on purpose?” Ali took a swig of her water. “Why would he do that?”

We were sitting in the living room at Rilla’s house for our monthly girls’ night get-together. She was days away from her due date and claimed she was too huge to get out the door, so we’d all agreed to spend the evening here with her. Mason’s mother was upstairs with Piper, and the men had all gathered at the Road Block.

“Who knows why Smith does anything?” I kicked at the leg of my chair. I realized that it didn’t make any sense, not really, but his new laid-back attitude was really starting to piss me off. “At first I thought he had a ‘if I can’t have her, neither can you’ attitude about Tim, but that can’t be it, because clearly
he
doesn’t want me. Unless maybe he thought if Tim and I really clicked, he might have to find a new place to live.”

Rilla shifted in her chair, sighing loudly. I was uncomfortable just looking at her, so I couldn’t imagine how she felt. “Men are weird. Maybe Smith didn’t know how he felt about you until you started seeing Tim. By the way, all you’ve talked about tonight is Smith. How’re things going with Tim?”

I lifted one shoulder. “Fine. He’s fine. I’m fine. We’re fine together.”

“Has he, um . . .” She rolled her hand and wagged her eyebrows. “You know. Has he made a move?”

Sighing, I slumped in my seat. “Not really. He’s kissed me good night, and when we were at the movies, he held my hand. But nothing more than that.”

“And do you wish he would, or are you, um, fine that he hasn’t?” Ali cocked her head at me.

I blew out another breath. “I don’t know. I guess I’d be okay if he did, but I’m not pushing the issue. I feel bad because I don’t think there’s ever going to be anything between us. I keep saying yes when he asks me out, but that’s just because it’s easier than finding a reason to say no.”

“Still no spark?” Meghan spoke up for the first time. She’d been unusually quiet all night, at least since we’d begun talking about Smith.

“Definitely no spark. And I hate that. Tim’s so nice, and he has this great family, and he loves what he does, and he loves kids, and he loves helping kids. So why can’t I love him?”

Rilla smiled. “The heart wants what the heart wants. You can’t force yourself to fall in love with someone.”

“I guess not. Still, if I could, it would be Tim. He’s so damned perfect on paper.”

“Perfect on paper doesn’t always translate to perfect in real life, Reen. Don’t get discouraged. We’ll find you someone else. There’s got to be other single men in Burton.”

“Under the age of sixty?”

Ali winced. “Well, that does cut pretty deep into the pool. But they’re here. We just need to find them.”

“I only need one.” I poured the rest of my beer into the pilsner.

“Once upon a time, I would’ve said, there’s always Trent, but now that’s not even true.” Ali broke a piece of cheese in half and popped one bite in her mouth, then glanced apologetically at Rilla. “Sorry, Rilla. I forgot for a minute.”

She shook her head. “You didn’t offend me. What happened with Jenna and Trent broke my heart, but I can’t find it in me to blame him too much. I know that’s crazy. But between us girls here, Trent never pretended to be any more than what he was, right? I saw him at the Road Block, and from what I heard, he was always upfront. Unfortunately, Jenna didn’t believe him. She thought she could make him fall in love with her, and she could change him.”

“Yeah, that never works out.” Meghan nodded. “Speaking of Trent, he called me the other day.”

Silence fell over the room for a minute. If Meghan had said the president of the United States had rung her up, we’d probably have been less surprised. We all knew that during her very first visit to Burton, quite a while back, Meghan had gotten completely wasted and indulged in a hot and heavy make-out session with Burton’s favorite bad boy. But that had been long before she’d met and fallen in love with Sam. None of us had really known Trent very well, though I remembered that he’d been part of Ali and Flynn’s crowd back in high school.

“Care to elaborate on that, Meg?” Ali lifted one eyebrow at her sister-in-law. “Inquiring minds and all that.”

Meghan propped her feet on an empty chair. “He’s living with his uncle in Michigan. His uncle owns a Christmas tree farm, and every year they drive down to Florida to sell the trees. But I guess the place they usually rent out for setting up the trees was sold to a developer within the last year, and now they don’t have any place to use. Trent remembered that I was from Florida, and he thought I might have some connections who could help them out down there.”

“And did you?” I knew Meghan’s mother and step-father had many different business interests in their community of Crystal Cove, a small beach town on the east coast of Florida.

“I gave him Logan’s number. There’s got to be some place in the Cove that would work for them.” Meghan shrugged a little. “He sounded . . . different. More serious. And maybe this was just me projecting, but he almost seemed a little sad. Weary.”

“Trent never really had much of a chance.” I remembered him back in elementary school, sometimes coming to school in ripped or soiled clothes, hair always a little too long, with a defensive look in his eye. “His mom was a piece of work.”

“Still is.” Ali looked pained. “I feel bad. We were friends, sort of, back in high school. Flynn always treated him well and made sure he was included whenever we all did something as a group. But then after Flynn . . . well, the summer after graduation, Trent made me a little uncomfortable. He’d come and sit down next to me, which was fine, but it was always just a touch too close. I felt like he was biding his time until it was cool to ask me out.”

“And then you married Craig, and he missed his chance.” I didn’t mean the words to sound accusatory, but I saw a flash of hurt cross Ali’s face. I reached over to squeeze her arm. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I was just remembering that I ran into Trent at the library that summer, a few weeks after graduation. He asked me all these questions about Flynn, about whether I thought he was ever coming back and if I thought you two would get back together. When I told him I couldn’t imagine that you wouldn’t, he looked really disappointed. I think he was hung up on you, Ali. Maybe his whoring ways were because you broke his heart.”

“Thanks. That’s just what I need. Another reason to feel guilty.” Ali nudged my leg with her foot. “Shove over a little, so I can put up my feet.”