The Cowboy's Heart, page 8
Janice leaned forward and kissed Nate on the cheek. “Behave,” she said. “I need to help my dad.”
“Is Frank all right?”
“He’s fine. Be a good patient.”
Nate snorted, then winced.
Janice looked back as she jumped down from the ambulance. She was second-guessing herself. She wanted to go with Nate, but she was worried about her father. In the end, her dithering caused the decision to be made for her as the ambulance crew got back inside and sped away.
“Can’t afford another hospital bill,” her father mumbled.
“Can’t afford not to have one,” she said lightly, but knew he was right. They both were.
Leaving the Gator, Janice sent a text to Emily to come pick it up. She drove carefully back to the ranch house and met her mother at the door.
“We need to take him to Jameson for some tests.”
“I said I’m fine.” Frank slid out of the truck and stood shakily on his feet.
“The paramedic wanted you to get looked at.”
“You need to see about that horse.” Frank walked gingerly on his own to the porch steps. “I’ll be all right. I just need to sit a spell. Sarah, can you get me a cold drink?”
“Fine,” Janice said. “I’m going to the hospital, then.”
But as the words left her mouth, Doc Pete pulled up.
“I need you to go with him out to Bushwacker and take a look at the horse.” Her father named his pastures after famous PBR bulls. “I’m glad to see you, Pete. But I wished she hadn’t called you.”
“We don’t have any antitoxins,” Janice said.
“Maybe we should.” Her father arched her a look.
Janice glared back at him. Now was not the time for him to start in on her about her occupation.
“It’s all right. I’m here now. We’ll figure the rest out later.” Pete laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and she sagged in defeat. If she didn’t go with Pete, chances were, her father would. If he wasn’t going to the hospital, he needed to stay here under her mother’s watchful eyes. And Nate was in good hands at Jameson. She could go visit him once her guests were settled.
Janice nodded. “I suppose I should keep more supplies stocked for emergencies.”
Her father grinned wide and waved as she got into Pete’s truck. Janice wasn’t convinced he hadn’t hit his head as well.
Chapter Nine
Brussels sprouts.
Saddle sores.
Nate was still groggy from the anesthetic they gave him before putting his dislocated shoulder back into position. Yeah, that was fun. Now, he was trying to list all the things he liked better than being in a hospital. And to put the cherry on this shit sundae, he couldn’t even take a nap. If it wasn’t all the movement in and around his room, it was his mind thinking of something else that needed to get done. Every time he tried to drift off, something startled him awake.
He was waiting for his CAT scan appointment and he was sure that he was just about to fall asleep when they woke him up to take him down there. Nate tried to use his phone, but he couldn’t seem to get his eyes to focus. Maybe this was a weird kind of karma. It had been a nap that got him into this mess in the first place.
Damn it. He knew better than to be distracted in the saddle. He hoped his horse was all right. If Nate hadn’t been snoozing in the saddle, he might have seen or heard the rattlesnake and guided Jonas away from it. But Jonas stuck his big nose into the snake’s personal space and got bit. Nate might have stayed on if he had a better grip on the saddle horn, but when Jonas jumped and tore off, Nate had taken a header.
He supposed he should feel lucky that Jonas dragged him away from the snake before Nate kicked out of the stirrups. But man, he had done a number on his shoulder. He didn’t remember hitting his head. Didn’t remember much of anything until Janice kissed him in the ambulance. Nate frowned, and then winced as the pain hit him hard. Where was she?
Using his phone when one arm was in a sling made his shoulder scream in pain. He dialed her number, slowly, painstakingly, and his head was throbbing by the time the call connected. It rang forever and then went to her voice mail.
“Hey, can you bring me a beer and a pulled pork sandwich from The Hut? Call me. I feel like shit.”
Nate huffed. That really wasn’t what he had wanted to say. After all, last night had been so fantastic that he almost stayed in bed with her for the entire day. Of course, someone would have come looking for him—probably her father—and he didn’t want to have to deal with that baggage so early in the morning. Or ever, really.
It wasn’t that she had worn him out. He’d never complain about that. But he had been going nonstop for most of the year. Having the best sex of his life must have signaled his body that it was done working overtime. And while it was taking it easy in the warm sun, Nate paid the price for sleeping on the job. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to pay the price for sleeping with the boss’s daughter.
He tried calling the ranch. And after the third time, Nate managed to punch in the right numbers.
“Sullivan Ranch,” a bright and cheery voice said.
“Janice?” he croaked.
“No, this is Emily.”
“Emily, it’s Nate.”
“Nate!”
Her squeal made him wince and pull the phone away from his ear.
“How are you?”
“I’m all right. Where’s Janice?”
“She’s still with Doc Pete.”
What the hell? “I thought she was heading up here with Frank?”
Emily sighed. “Yeah, that stubborn old coot is refusing to go.”
“I heard that,” Frank yelled out in the background. “Tell Nate not to worry about anything. We’ve got it covered.”
“I’m sure you can hear him,” Emily said. “Esteban is going to step up while you’re gone.”
“I’m not gone,” Nate grumbled. “I just have to stay overnight.”
Why is Janice with Doc Pete?
“They’re looking at Jonas. It doesn’t look good.”
“Damn it, Emily. Don’t tell the man that,” Frank snapped.
It took Nate a minute to realize that he had asked the question aloud. He had better be more careful. It took another second or two before he realized what Emily had said. “Jonas? Damn. Was it the venom?” He couldn’t believe a rattlesnake could take down a big horse like that.
“No. It was a reaction to the bite. He was having trouble breathing and then his nostrils closed up. I guess they have him on some kind of horse Benadryl or something. I’m going out there in a few minutes because Janice’s retreat group is going to arrive very soon.”
Right. That was today. Hell, his head hurt so bad, he was having trouble concentrating or remembering things. “Tell her to call me,” he said.
“I will. But you get some rest and let the doctors and nurses take care of you. Give us a call when you’re allowed to come home and one of us will come and get you.”
“Thanks,” he said gruffly and hung up the phone before Emily could hear the emotion in his voice. The Three Sisters Ranch was his home. He couldn’t just lie in bed while the bill collectors came knocking on the doors.
Nate squinted around the room, looking for his clothes. All he saw were faded holiday decorations and a tree that Charlie Brown would be embarrassed to own on the window ledge in the corner. He tried to get up, but sitting made him dizzy and he slumped back into bed. He supposed one day of rest wouldn’t hurt. It seemed like such a waste that he’d have to be alone though.
Especially when Janice had spent her day with Doc Pete.
Nate tried to take advantage of being prone and groggy to catch up on some much-needed sleep, but he still couldn’t get his mind to shut down. The antiseptic smell bothered him and the strange noises kept him on edge.
What if Esteban does a better job than me?
What if they realize that they don’t need me anymore?
What if Janice really does marry Doc Pete?
How am I supposed to act seeing them together?
Groaning, Nate shifted on his good side and stared at the wall. This wasn’t him. It must be the stupid medication they gave him. Closing his eyes, he tried to shut it all out. But the unfamiliar atmosphere kept him on edge and allowed the monkeys in his brain out of their cages for the first time in twenty years.
He was seven years old again, sitting on a box in a back room somewhere, watching an illegal poker game. They were in Odessa, maybe or El Paso. The places they went all blurred together. His father was losing money he didn’t have, and Nate was worried he was going to take it out on him later. Nate remembered wondering if he could steal a bottle of whiskey to distract his old man with later.
“I don’t want to think about this,” Nate said aloud.
But it didn’t stop the memory. He almost called for the nurse. But what if she gave him something that knocked him out? Then he’d be helpless against the rush of feelings coming at him.
“It’s bullshit,” he muttered. “All bullshit.”
He had tried not to fidget or distract any of the players. Why the old man hadn’t left him in the car, he didn’t know.
Yes, he did.
“Are you looking forward to Christmas, kid?” one of the poker players asked during the shuffle.
Christmas was just another day, but Nate knew enough not to say that. That would call attention to himself and earn him a beating.
“Yes, sir,” he had said, hoping that was the end of it when his father had glared at him.
“What do you want Santa to bring you?”
“A puppy,” he had blurted out. Stupid. They didn’t even have a house. Heck, they could barely feed themselves. Getting a puppy was about as real as Santa coming down a chimney they didn’t even have.
“Every kid should have a dog,” another player had said.
The other players had nodded, while his father had just grunted.
“It was a long time ago,” Nate said aloud.
The game hadn’t been going well for his father, but he had built up a substantial stack of chips. Still, it hadn’t been enough when it was down to him and the leader.
“I’m all in,” the leader had said, pushing in several stacks of chips—a lot more than what his father had in front of him.
“I know you’re bluffing.”
But his father’s pile would only earn him double what he put in and Nate had seen the glimmer of greed in his father’s eyes.
“How much you got there?” he had asked the leader.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Nate’s father had trickled his chips through his fingers. “I’ve got five.”
“Five will get you ten.” The leader had grinned.
“I want to bet the full twenty-five.”
The leader had chortled. “Too bad you don’t have that.”
His father had jerked his thumb at him. “The boy’s worth the difference.”
“Jesus,” one of the other players, who had mucked his hand a few bets ago, had said.
Another player, who had busted an hour ago, turned around from the makeshift bar and said, “Now, we got a card game.”
The leader had looked Nate over critically. “Why not? It’s Christmas after all.”
“Are you ready for your CAT scan, Mr. Pierson.”
“Hell, yeah,” Nate said, relieved to be interrupted.
*
After the CAT scan, Nate was hoping they would let him go home. But it was another waiting game. At least he wasn’t assaulted by memories this time. He glared up at the ceiling and willed himself to fall asleep. And he did, in fits and starts. His head hurt like a bitch.
The doctor came in a few hours later. “You’re cleared to go home.”
“Finally.” Nate tried to drape his legs over the bed, but couldn’t quite get them to move.
The doctor held up a hand. “Hold on there. I want you to stay the night, just in case. You can go home first thing in the morning. I wanted to talk to you about some other symptoms we noticed.”
Nate suppressed a groan. That was the trouble with doctors. They always found something wrong with you. “Is it my heart?” He wondered if he was going down the same road Frank was traveling.
“No, your EKG matches the baseline that you took at your last physical. But I’m not too happy about your blood pressure.”
“I feel fine,” Nate croaked.
“I was looking at your answers on your intake form and I think there’s a bigger problem going on, aside from your concussion.”
Nate should have prettied up what he had put on the forms, but his head had hurt too much to think up good lies. He knew he was burning the candle at both ends and it was starting to catch up to him. There wasn’t a hell of a lot he could do about it until they could hire more men, Frank got better, or they brought the ranch back into the black. There was no sense wishing things were different.
“I’ve got everything under control,” he said.
“What were you doing before your horse got bit?”
He gave a long sigh. Nate just wanted to go home. Or have the doctor leave him alone. But the best way to do that was answer his questions. “We had just finished bringing the cattle into Bushwacker pasture. I was supervising the feeding and checking the cattle.”
“Have you been getting enough sleep?”
“I had a late night, last night.” Nate refused to elaborate. It was none of the doc’s business what had happened.
“Does that happen a lot?”
Nate couldn’t resist a bark of laughter, but immediately regretted it when pain lanced through his skull.
“Not as much as I’d like,” he said, accepting the Tylenol and the water that the doctor handed him from the side table.
“You mentioned having trouble sleeping.”
“I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“And that things seem to bother you more than they should. Have you noticed a difference in your appetite?”
Shrugging, Nate crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m all right. I eat when I’m hungry or when I get back from the barn.”
“Have you been more stressed at work lately?”
“You could say that.”
“Care to elaborate?”
Nate wondered if the doctor was a headshrinker, because Nate didn’t need to get in touch with his feelings. That was Janice and her retreat’s area. “My boss, Frank Sullivan, has been in and out of the hospital and I’ve been picking up the slack for the last year. There’s been a lot of long, hard hours, but that’s what ranching is.”
“I hear the ranch is in trouble.”
Nate bristled. “Well, don’t believe everything you hear.”
“I only mention it because I think you’re emotionally exhausted.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I think you’re burned out.”
“Better to burn out, than fade away,” Nate quipped.
“Not really,” the doctor said dryly. “Look, you need to give your body what it wants.”
An image of Janice naked, underneath him, floated through Nate’s mind. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Sleep at least eight hours a night.”
Nate snorted. “Doc, I’m up at four a.m. and I don’t get home until six. You can’t expect me to go to bed at nine. I’m not a kid.”
“Then you’re going to have to play catch-up on the weekends.”
“I don’t have a Monday through Friday job.”
“You need to take a few days off or work shorter hours.”
Nate shook his head, but immediately regretted it. “I can’t do that.”
“If you want your shoulder to heal, you have to keep it in a sling, ice it down, and let it rest. While you’re resting it, you need to concentrate on keeping your stress levels down.”
“I don’t sit still well when there’s things to be done.”
“Then, it’s time to delegate.” The doctor ticked off on his fingers. “Sleep, relaxation, eat three healthy meals a day, and get a better work-life balance.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Nate tried to be pleasant, but it was wearing thin.
“Look, your body is going to revolt. First, it’ll be nodding off in the saddle.”
Nate clenched his jaw.
“Then, your irritability, brain fog and other symptoms will get worse. Nip it in the bud while you can. And if you can’t, we can talk about some medication that can help you.”
No more medication. It made him dwell on the past. And the past couldn’t be changed. “I’m all right, Doc. I just need some sleep and what you said, life-balance shit.”
The doctor gave a resigned sigh. “All right.” He put out his hand to shake. “I hope I won’t see you back here anytime soon. I’ll arrange for your discharge paperwork so they’re ready for you first thing in the morning.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Nate said.
“Get some rest.”
“I’ll try.” But Nate was already thinking about the work he would need to catch up on when he got back to the ranch tomorrow.
Chapter Ten
Janice was still trying to memorize the women’s names. She had written them down in her book of lists with a description to help her remember something unique about them. But she was too distracted about Jonas and Nate.
She hoped Nate was doing better than Jonas. She didn’t want to call Nate’s hospital room in case he was sleeping, but he sounded so grumpy on her voice mail, she didn’t want to deal with his temper if she didn’t call.
Slipping the phone in her pocket, she decided to call him later that evening. Rita helped Janice settle the women into their rooms. A few of them turned their noses up at the simple accommodations, but there wasn’t much Janice could do to help them out.
Rita had a session with them after they settled in and Janice took that time to make sure her supplies for building the dressage ring had come in. That was the group’s first project after they got the lay of the land tomorrow morning, along with an early breakfast with the ranch hands. Janice was hoping that at the end of the day tomorrow, they’d go to bed tired, but with a feeling of accomplishment. Then every day, they could build on that.
