Life's Next Chapter (5 page)

I’m about to put the stethoscope to my ears when Jacob calls to me as he starts to head out of the stable, “Just do what you can, I got to go. Elizabeth is home, freaking out.”

“Jacob you can’t leave me!”

“Kate, I’ll call you. I’ve got to go see how Elizabeth is.” And he disappears through the stable door. I shake my head and turn my attention to Pebbles. I check her pulse, respirations, temperature, and heart rate. I look at her gums, which are still pink. Good sign.

“Hang in there, sweet girl.” I whisper to her. I can barely hear her whimper. “Luke, grab me that bag of fluid; I need to start an IV on her. Do you have your cell on you?” He pulls it out of his pocket and sets it next to me on the table. “Thanks.”

I go into doctor mode and begin cleaning the blood, throwing the bloody gauze on the floor near Luke’s feet. I insert a catheter into her front leg and connect the tube to the port. I pause to make sure the fluid is dripping with ease, and then begin to examine her body. I feel her back leg, which is incredibly swollen and she yelps when I touch it. Yep, it’s broken. Picking up Luke’s phone, I dial Dr. Pierce’s number, and when she answers, let her know I’m bringing in Pebbles, and relay the full assessment, finishing with surgery being needed for the leg. When I ask if she’ll need me to assist, Dr. Pierce assures me she and her staff have it covered and Pebbles will be taken care of. Letting out a relieved breath, I end the call and give Pebbles a shot of Morphine for pain and start splinting her leg.

“Luke, I need a huge favor. On the hook by the fridge in my house are my truck keys. I need you to back the truck as close to the entrance of the stable as possible. Then I need you to get the crate out, so I can put her in it.” He is running across the yard before I can finish my instructions. Pebbles leg is taped, and within minutes my truck is by the entrance.

“Where’s the crate?” Luke says, catching his breath. I point to it. “It’s best if we place her in the crate, then both load it in the truck.” I grab hold of Pebbles and pick her up and direct him to place the crate on the table. Then, with his help, we ease her into the crate. Finally, we load the crate into the bed. I hook her crate into place, climb behind the wheel and speed off for Dr. Pierce’s office.

Once on the road, my adrenaline begins to ebb and I’m suddenly aware of Luke beside me in the cab. I look at him and he looks like he’s in shock. “Thank you for your help, Luke. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if you weren’t here.” I say, placing my hand on his arm. He flinches, and looks at me with such sadness in his eyes.

“You’re welcome,” he whispers. The drive to Dr. Pierce’s office is quiet, but quick. We pull up and she’s waiting for us with her staff. I walk in with Dr. Pierce and repeat the report on Pebbles and her current stats. Once she has what she needs, I walk to the front, leave Beth’s number at the desk and head back outside. Luke is leaning up against the truck, still looking shaken up.
What the hell is wrong with him?

Back in the truck I call Beth and give her the rundown on Pebbles, reassuring her everything is going to be fine. Finally, I give her Dr. Pierce’s number and end the call. I put the phone in the console and look over to Luke, who is just staring out the window. I place my hand on his arm, “Luke, are you okay?” I quietly ask as he turns to look at me.

“Yeah, sunshine, I’m fine.” He turns his head and resumes staring the window.

“You want to talk about it?” I ask, rubbing my hand up and down his arm. He just shakes his head. I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know what to say or ask. Minutes go by, and we are about to pass a pizza place. I pull in and put the truck in park. “I’m starving. I’m going to put in an order. Any toppings you want on the pizza?” He barely turns his head toward me and just shakes it.
What the fuck?

I place the order and sit at an empty table to wait out the ten minutes I’m told it will take. No point of waiting in the truck if he isn’t going to even look at me. I sit and wonder what the heck happened for him to shut down like that. Did he have a dog that ended up dying? Still baffled at Luke’s behavior, eight minutes later I’m walking out with a large pepperoni pizza. When I reach the truck, I notice he hasn’t moved; he’s still staring out the window.

I place the pizza on the floor in the back seat and climb in the driver’s seat. Pulling out of the spot, I look at him and can see that he has had tears run down his face. We’re almost back to my house, and he hasn’t said a word. “Luke, you’re kind of scaring me, you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to call Brody or someone?” I quietly ask. He grabs my hand and entwines his fingers with mine. Pulling my hand to his mouth, he kisses it.

“I don’t ever want to scare you. I’m sorry. I’m alright,” he musters on a deep breath. “What kind of pizza did you get?”

Obviously, he’s not letting go of my hand. I manage to squeak out that it’s simple pepperoni, still at a complete loss as to what’s just happened. He holds my hand the rest of the drive home, and it’s comforting, despite the odd circumstances. I keep glancing at our joined hands, wondering why he is holding my hand.

Luke silently follows me into the house. I place the pizza box on the table and pull two beers from the fridge. Holding them up I ask, “You want a beer?” Washing his hands in the sink, he looks at me, and smiles.

“I’d love a beer.”

I hand him the beers, wash my hands, grab two plates and napkins, and head to the table. We eat in silence until he finally tells me what happened.

“I’m sorry I scared you.” He begins, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s just, seeing you in action, asking for supplies, and seeing the blood…it just brought back some horrible memories. I was in the Army. I was in it for a long time, and saw things I’d never want my worst enemy to witness. I joined when I was eighteen, right after I graduated high school. Then September eleventh happened and I was shipped off to a foreign place where humans should never be, and saw things that never should be seen.” He grabs his beer and takes a few swigs. Setting the bottle back down, he looks at me with such sorrow in his eyes. “I’ve struggled a lot with what I went through, and even though I try to block it out, something as simple as seeing a dog get hurt brings the nightmares back.”

I lean across the table and rest my hands on his arm. “I’m so sorry you went through that. If I would have known, I wouldn’t have asked for your help.”

“No, no, I’m glad you asked for my help. You needed me, and I wanted to help. I always want to be here for you.” He raises his hand and pushes the few strands of hair behind my ear. “I know I shouldn’t say this because you’re my client, but do you know you have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen? You’re truly beautiful, Kate.”

I bite my upper lip, not knowing what to say. My body wants to scream Hallelujah! My brain, being the sensible one, says, “Thank you. You’re beautiful, too.” He flashes me his sexy smile.

While we finish up the pizza, I get a call from Dr. Pierce. Pebbles is stable and will be fine. Nothing more than a few pins and bolts to hold her leg together while it heals. She can be released in forty-eight hours. Luke takes the trash out for me while I load the dishwasher. When Luke comes inside, I hear my mom’s van pulling up. “My girls are home,” I say, drying my hands on the dishtowel.

“Well, I better get going. I have a huge job in the morning. I don’t want to piss off my new client by being late,” he says, giving me a wink. We both walk out the door as my girls run up to the porch.

“Momma…Momma, look what Gamma got us!” Showing me their new sparkly pink and purple ballet shoes.

“Wow, girls look at those fancy shoes. Can I wear them?”

“Momma, you can’t wear them, you feet too big!” Nicole exclaims in silliness.

“Momma, your beast friend is here,” Julia states.

Squatting down to their level and looking them in the eyes, I say, “Girls, it’s not nice to call him a beast just because he is tall. He has a name. Call him Mr. Luke, please. No more name calling. Got it?” They look at me, then to him, then to each other.

“Sorry, Momma, we won’t call him beast no more.” They both say in unison. I just smile, and then they run to Luke and give him a hug on each leg. “We sorry, Mr. Luke, for calling you beast. We won’t call you beast no more,” Julia says as Nicole just nods. He bends down and scoops up the girls, and they start giggling. He interacts with the girls so well; he’s a natural.

My mom walks up to us with bags and bags of clothing and supplies. “Mom, this is crazy. You didn’t have to buy the store. How much do I owe you?” She hands me the bags and tells me not to worry about it.

“Nonsense, Katie, I wanted to do this, you don’t owe me anything.” She leans in and gives me a hug.

“Mom, this is Luke. Luke, this is my mother, Mary. Luke is the contractor doing the remodeling. He helped me clean out the clinic this evening.” She gives me her sly smile. I just smile back
. I know, Mom, he’s hot!

“
I’ve got to run, cupcake. Thanks for letting me take the girls. Girls, give Gamma kisses.” Luke lets the girls go so they can give my mother hugs and kisses goodbye. My mother waves goodbye as she pulls away from the house.

“Girls, go upstairs and get into your pjs. I’ll be up in a minute.” The girls hug Luke again, say goodbye, and walk into the house. “I’ll walk you to your truck,” I say to Luke, sitting the bags next to the door.

Walking to his truck, he starts talking. “Your mom could pass as your sister. She looks so young.” I just laugh, I’ve heard this my whole life.

“Mom is young, she had me at nineteen. Her college boyfriend knocked her up and left her to raise a baby. I never met my father and he never desired to meet me. So, it’s always been my momma and me. My granddaddy was my father figure, and I couldn’t have asked for a better male role model. It’s because of him I have all this,” I say as I wave my hand to all the land around us.

Looking at Luke, I see he is pissed again. Shit, what the hell did I say or do? I feel like I’m walking on eggshells around this man. I watch him un-hitch the trailer off the back of the truck. Once the trailer is off, he looks at me. His look is sincere, yet riddled with frustration. “Thanks for dinner, Kate. I’ll see you in the morning.” With that he gets in his truck and leaves.
Well, I’ll be damned. What the hell just happened?

MY WORLD HAS been turned upside down in less than a week. Six days ago, Luke came into my life. Six days of my head being consumed by that man. I have no clue what it is about this man, but I’m drawn to him like a moth drawn to a flame. I know I should walk away. He has shown me he has issues—issues I really don’t need in my life—but I have this irresistible tug towards him. I only hope he’s feeling the same thing for me.

As I drive up the driveway, the guys are going to town on the clinic. It’s bittersweet to see the old place being reconstructed. On my way back from dropping the girls off at school this morning, I picked up Pebbles at Dr. Pierce’s office for Beth. Still in a heat wave, and with Beth being pregnant, I’m driving Beth’s Suburban, to keep Pebbles as comfortable as possible, and to make sure Beth wouldn’t have to lift her.

Getting out of the SUV, I pause for a moment and take in everything that’s happening on the property, and notice a bright yellow sports car, which wasn’t there yesterday. Snapping myself back to the moment, I move around to the back of the Suburban and open the rear hatch where Pebbles is laying down on mounds of blankets. “How’s my sweet girl? You thirsty, sweetie?” I say, rubbing behind her ears. My phone vibrates with a text message letting me know Beth is still ten minutes away, so I get a bowl of water for Pebbles from the house and sit on the tailgate to wait and keep her company.

Wasting time rummaging through my phone looking at emails, deleting messages, and looking at Facebook, I look up in time to see Luke walk out of what’s left of the clinic, wearing jeans, a tight grey company t-shirt, black baseball hat, and black work boots. He is indescribably sexy in anything he wears, but there is something about a man that works with his hands that just sets me tingling. Finally, I notice, a young brunette walking next to him, laughing while Brody trails behind them. She has long, wavy brown hair, sunglasses on her head, and is wearing green tank top with cleavage falling out, short frayed denim shorts, and brown flip-flops. I pull my sunglasses back on, from their perch on my head, trying not to be obvious that I’m gawking at them. To my own shame, I can’t take my eyes off of them.