Missy's Moment (The West Series Book 4) (6 page)

“Roy has nothing to do with the sickness his wife has,” she said, glaring at him.

“No, of course not, but…” He shrugged his shoulders. If she could get over something like that than she was a better person than he was.

“What?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for him to speak.

“Nothing.” He smiled over at her.

“Besides, I know for a fact that it’s a pretty good-sized apartment.”

“How do you know that?”

She shrugged her shoulders and looked out the window. “I went out with their son once.”

“You went out with Travis? Alex’s ex-fiancé?”

“Sure, it was during one of their break-ups. Alex knows all about it.” She looked out the window again.

The thought of Melissa and Travis together had his stomach turning for some reason.

When they finally pulled up in front of her brother’s place, he desperately wished she had a place of her own so she could invite him in. The front porch light was on, but the rest of the house was dark.

“I had a really wonderful time,” she said as she started to reach for the door handle. He stopped her by putting his hand on her arm and pulling her towards him. When he took her mouth, he thought he heard her moan. Maybe he had made the sound, since her fingers were digging into his shoulders and holding him close.

When he finally pulled back, he smiled when he heard her breathing hitch a little. She reached for the door again.

He stopped her a second time. “My mother died when I was young, but she still taught me some of the more important values in life.” When she tilted her head and looked at him questioningly, he laughed. “Missy, let me open the door for you.” She smiled and nodded. He got out and walked around his truck and helped her down. He held her close until her feet hit the dirt driveway. Her body felt so good up against his, he didn’t want to let her go.

“I’ll see you next Friday,” he whispered before giving her a light kiss.

She nodded and smiled back, and he watched her walk up the porch and into the house.

When he got back in his car, he couldn’t have stopped the smile on his face if he’d wanted to. For the first time since his brother had left him, he was feeling like he had someone he could talk to, and it felt great.

“
W
hy do I have to have a new cast?” Libby Jackson, one of Melissa’s favorite patients, was asking. The little girl was holding her right arm against her chest and frowning up at her through thick glasses.

“Because your arm isn’t healed yet.” She leaned down and looked the little girl in the eyes. “But, this one you can pick the color of.”

The girl’s eyes got a little bigger. “You mean it won’t be white?”

Melissa shook her head. “I have six colors you can choose from. Would you like to see them before the doctor comes in?”

Libby nodded her head.

Ten minutes later, as the doctor wrapped the little girl’s arm in a bright green cast, Melissa stood by and talked to Libby’s mother, Cara.

“Thank you. I didn’t know how to tell her that she’d have to have cast on for a few more weeks. She hated the last one so much.”

Melissa smiled. “I remember having a cast on when I was about her age.” She shook her head remembering the nuisance. “This one will be lighter and a lot smaller than the first one. Maybe it won’t be so bad for her.”

“I hope so. It’s hard enough that she’s hasn’t gotten to play with her brothers in the last few weeks, but now that school has started, she’s not allowed to play on the playground until the cast comes off.”

“Oh, well, that doesn’t seem fair.”

Cara shrugged her shoulders. “School rules. Until she gets a clean bill of health, they don’t want her re-injuring herself.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Melissa said, frowning down at the little girl. Still, part of her thought it was unfair to keep the little girl inside while all her friends got to play.

Then she remembered Reece. Hadn’t she just told him the same thing a few days ago? No riding horses until his leg was healed. It was just a scratch. A scratch that had to have nine stitches. She shook her head clear and tried to concentrate for the rest of the day. She’d found herself thinking about Reece a lot in the three days since their date.

In those days, she’d finally settled on a place of her own and had signed the lease on a small green house just a few blocks from the clinic. The place belonged to Sheriff Miller, but ever since he’d moved in with Jamella, the place had sat empty. He’d overheard her making a call from the diner about an apartment for rent and had told her right there that she was welcome to his place for whatever price she could afford. She’d been hesitant at first until he’d told her that the place was already furnished and that she could do whatever other decorating that she saw fit.

After getting a quick tour of the house, she’d given him a check and had settled on moving in the following day.

When she’d asked Dr. Conner for the day off, he had quickly replied yes and asked if she needed help moving in. She’d told him no, since all she had were a few items that she’d put in storage in her brother’s garage. What she really needed was someone to do some shopping with her at the secondhand store, since she needed a few other amenities.

Since Alex was busy that day, she’d called Haley and asked if she wanted to do some shopping.

The next morning when she walked downstairs, she was happy to see Haley and the twins in the kitchen eating breakfast already.

“Good morning.” Her friend looked up at her with a smile. Haley hadn’t changed in years. Her long dark hair still hung below her shoulders with a light wave, and her rich green eyes still sparkled with mischief. And even after giving birth to two very healthy boys, she still had a figure Melissa would have killed for.

“Morning. How are my two favorite boys this morning?” She walked over to the highchairs and kissed both of the chubby cheeks as the boys plowed Cheerios into their mouths.

“Well, Conner decided he was going to spill all his juice instead of drink it, and Cooper thought it was great fun and joined in.” She stood up and Melissa saw the large stain on Haley’s shirt. She tried not to laugh, but since Haley had a large smile on her face, she couldn’t help it.

“I’m sure I have a shirt that would fit you upstairs.”

“Don’t worry.” Haley bent down and pulled out a shirt from the enormous baby bag sitting next to her on the floor. “I come prepared. Would you mind watching them while I run up and change?” She looked down at the soaked shirt, sniffed, and frowned. “Maybe I’ll shower while I’m at it.”

Melissa laughed. “I’d love to. Take your time.” She leaned over and picked up one of the boys. She thought it was Conner, but she had a hard time telling them apart.

Haley started to walk out of the room, but looked back over her shoulder at her. “That’s Cooper.” She nodded to the boy in Melissa’s arms and then smiled and left.

“Well, Cooper.” She looked down at the boy who was trying to pull her earrings out of her ears. “What do you say we see about cleaning you two up?”

It took longer than she thought possible to get both the boys’ hands and faces cleaned from the gummy Cheerios.

“How is it”—she blew a strand of her blonde hair out of her face—“that you two can make such a huge mess with just Cheerios?”

She was sitting on the kitchen floor. Cooper was cleaned up and playing with a stack of blocks while she tried to clean up Conner. But the second boy was having none of the warm washcloth. The chubby kid could fight like a pro. His little legs and arms flailed about, causing her to almost drop him several times. That’s when she sat on the floor, just in case.

“Awww, is there a price of admission for the show?” someone said from behind her.

She gasped and looked quickly over her shoulder to see Reece standing in the back doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and his boots resting against the door frame.

“Don’t just stand there.” She turned back to the wiggly kid in her arms. “Come give me a hand.” She heard him laugh as he sat next to her on the kitchen rug.

Upon seeing Reece, Conner quickly threw his hands up towards him and started begging. Melissa let the kid crawl across her lap towards Reece, where he plopped down in his lap and leaned his messy face on Reece’s clean shirt.

“There,” Reece said, stroking the kid’s dark hair. “The torture ends.” He smiled up at her as Conner’s big eyes looked at her with distaste.

“Well, really.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll have you know that Cooper cooperated just fine. Didn’t you?” She leaned over and picked up the happy kid who was now chewing on a large block.

“Maybe all he needed was another man,” Reece said, rocking the kid gently back and forth in his arms.

“You would think that he’d take a hint from his brother.”

Reece shook his head. “Conner is his own man.” He smiled down at the boy’s face. “He’s shy and doesn’t like to be forced, whereas Cooper is more relaxed and just goes with whatever is going on.” Reece looked over at the boy in her arms. “They’re as different as Ryan and I were.”

“How can you tell them apart?” she asked looking between the boys. “Other than the fact that Conner won’t let me touch him.”

“Cooper has a small freckle on his chin. Ryan had a scar above his left eye that I was told I gave him when we were in diapers.” He reached over and brushed the small spot on Cooper’s chin, which Melissa wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. “Conner here”—he rubbed the little boys legs—“is a daddy’s boy and is always wearing Cowboy socks.”

Melissa looked down and noticed the Dallas Cowboy socks on the boy. When she looked down at Cooper, she noticed he was wearing red and blue Houston Texans socks.

“It’s an ongoing fight between Haley and Wes.” He chuckled.

“Really?” She smiled and when Haley walked in, she asked her about it.

Haley laughed. “Yes, it’s also my way of telling the two apart.” Her smile fell away. “But if you tell their father that, I’ll deny it.”

Melissa laughed. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, all cleaned. At least until they decide to throw more food at me.” She reached over and took Cooper from her, giving him playful kisses on his chubby cheeks. The boy’s laughter was contagious.

“Where are you two…four, off to today?”

“Shopping,” Haley broke in. “Missy’s rented Sheriff Miller’s place. She moves in tomorrow.”

“Sheriff Miller moved?” He frowned, trying to remember where the man lived.

“Now that he’s living with Jamella, the old place downtown is empty. It’ll be good to have someone in it again,” Haley said, putting Cooper into his carrying seat. The kid played with the toys dangling down in front of his face.

“Is it the dark green place on the corner of Magnolia and Center Way?”

“Yes. I couldn’t believe my luck when I bumped into the Sheriff,” Melissa said.

He started to put Conner into his matching seat, but Conner was having none of it.

Haley took the wiggly boy from him. “You have to bribe him.” She pulled out a cracker from her bag and handed it to him.
“There, now we’re all ready.” She picked up one carrier then moved to grab the other one.

“Hold on there, Xena.” Reece grabbed the carrier before she could break her back. “Sometimes you just need to ask for help.”

He helped them out to Haley’s SUV and Melissa was happily shocked when he leaned over and kissed her on the lips right in front of his cousin. She tried not to look out the side mirror at the image he made standing in front of the big barn, his worn jeans ripped at the knee and his Stetson low on his head. Damn, she was in trouble.

“Sooooo,” Haley said as they pulled out of the driveway. “Are you going to tell me all the juicy details?”

Melissa laughed. “There aren’t any…yet.” She relaxed in her seat and prepared to enjoy a day shopping with a good friend.

Reece stood in the dirt and looked at the little patch of green land. He knew with some sweat, he could make it work for him. The house that sat in the middle of the twenty acres needed some TLC, but it would keep the rain off his head. The question was, could he afford it?