Love Inspired April 2021--Box Set 1 of 2, page 28
Mary winced as Jess pulled into the parking area adjacent to the high school. “Ed can’t handle them on his own. They can barely handle it together, and if the county looks into things, we’ll have a problem. Ed and Hassie aren’t the type to hand family over easily, so it’s a bind. We pray. We counsel. We move on,” she told Jess.
Practical. Straightforward. Focused.
Her mother was all of these things, but the thought of spinning that many plates boggled Jess. She was accustomed to having a plan. Even in the chronically busy E.R., there was always a plan.
The life of a country doctor was quite different.
A couple of men were smoking outside. They raised their hands to Mary. “Good to see you, Doc.”
“Sorry about your place, Doc,” said the second man. “I’m making a table for your new setup,” he added. “And I picked up the old one to refinish. There’s life in it yet.”
“Thank you, Willis.”
“My pleasure, Doc.”
Jess spoke softly as they approached the door. “I don’t know how to do this.” She swept the damaged town a look of consideration. “People and places and tables, kids in rough situations, weighing the odds and knowing who to call an ambulance for and who to let fade away. We’re making life-and-death decisions we have no right to make, Mom.”
“We’re letting them make the decisions, honey.”
That was another minor shock wave.
“You’ve been part of a big team effort in New York.” Mary drew Jess to one side as a middle-aged couple approached. “There’s a practiced method for every situation, correct?”
“Because we have hundreds of people seeking care every day,” Jess replied. “It might look confusing to others, but it’s organized chaos because everyone knows their job and does it. Like a well-oiled machine.”
“It’s different here,” Mary admitted. “Each person, each situation, each family, is unique. Down here, I work on saving lives week to week. Month to month. Year to year. I know my patients. And they know me. And so it’s different.”
She knew her patients.
Her words humbled Jess. She’d been in Manhattan for over fifteen years and could honestly say she only knew a handful of people. She saw tons of patients, ran a tight ship, and worked with dozens of folks, but she could count only a handful of people she knew personally. Some of her friends had married and moved on. Some had left the city to work elsewhere. Now, it was a smattering of friends she rarely saw, because no one had time to see anyone.
“Ladies, I saved seats for you two.”
Shane’s voice interrupted her thoughts as he came their way from inside the school hall. She shifted her attention to him. “That’s real nice, Shane. Thank you.”
“Pure selfishness, ma’am.” He smiled down at Jess and she found herself smiling back as if they were old friends when they were anything but. That didn’t change the warmth of his smile or the effect on her pulse. “I want to keep people who might support my ideas close at hand in case they don’t go over well.”
“I expect Miles paid you a visit.” Mary sent the brash property owner a sideways glance but kept her attention on Shane. “He tried to get my attention at the clinic, but we were busy with patients and I sent him on his way.”
“He came by. I called him out. He went away. I was pretty sure he’d be here, but he doesn’t have a leg to stand on for the rebuilds, and that’s going to scorch him.”
“Nothing new about that,” Mary noted and then walked forward, head high, taking a seat right up front, next to Shane’s computer bag.
“I need to learn that trick,” Jess said.
Shane tipped his gaze back to hers. “What trick?”
“Keeping my cool. She gives and gives, and never loses her way. I thought my life was frenzied in the ER, but it’s mostly ordered and ridiculously efficient.”
“I sense a ‘but’ coming.” He stepped aside to let her precede him as they moved left to access the front of the filling room.
“But I don’t know a soul,” she told him. “I don’t know my patients, or their families, or what’s going on in their lives. They’re just a scrawl on a whiteboard or letters on a computer screen, and then they’re gone.”
“Normal for the city, isn’t it?” he asked as they got to the front of the auditorium.
Five board members took seats on the old stage, three men and two women. Flora Buckner had done her hair for the meeting while Jordan Ash’s long, blond ponytail was pulled up in a messy knot on top of her head, looking a lot like it had looked a quarter-century ago.
She spotted Jess, grinned and waved, then took her seat as the meeting was called to order.
Jess sat beside her mother, surrounded by people who’d just gone through a disaster. Yet the room wasn’t anxiety-filled; it teemed with hope.
When Shane gave his short presentation of how he saw the new and renovated buildings on their short Main Street, the majority didn’t scorn a former thief.
They welcomed his help and expertise in something so close to a benediction she didn’t know what else to call it.
Then Miles Conrad stalked to the podium.
His stance, his presence and the coldness of his expression cast a chill. He swept the room a long look before raising a sheaf of papers in his hand. “We’ve stood together in tough times before.” He raised the papers higher. “We gathered right here nearly twenty-eight years ago after a storm turned the creek into a raging river that created a disaster for a lot of good, hardworking folks. And when we set up a plan to raise money to fix things, to make things better for those who suffered most, a local boy tried to steal thousands of dollars that you raised.”
He paused to make eye contact with as many people as possible. “Your good will raised those funds. And then Shane Stone tried to steal them. Bold as brass, that boy, sitting right there—” he pointed to Shane “—tried to turn your efforts into nothing. Why, if it wasn’t for Mary’s girl, finding him red-handed, he might’ve gotten away with it. But he didn’t.” Miles gripped the podium with both hands, like a revival preacher, while Jess’s heart hammered in her chest, wishing—
Wishing he hadn’t done it. But he had, and Miles wasn’t about to let bygones be bygones.
A ripple of unease passed through the crowd, but when Miles held up a paper, a mugshot of Shane taken at age eighteen, murmurs increased.
“We’re not a big town,” Miles reminded them. “This is a small town, with small-town values, and we stand with one another when things get rough. There’s no way we should be embracing help from someone who tried to steal from us once, because the old sayin’ holds true. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...” He paused and let his gaze wander the room. “Shame on me. And I’m here to say that if we let the likes of Shane Stone try to mess with us again, then the fault isn’t on him.” Miles shook his head and had the nerve to look aggrieved. “It’s on you and me. And that’s all I’ve got to say.”
When the central valley landowner walked back to his seat, Jess expected Shane to stand and refute his words.
He didn’t.
He sat right there, letting Conrad’s words sink in and maybe take root, as if a person couldn’t grow and change and—
“Shame on you, Miles.” A strong male voice rang out from the back of the room. Jess turned.
So did Shane and her mother as Bobby Ray moved forward. “I am not registered to speak tonight,” Bobby Ray told the council, “but my mama would take a switch to me if I let something like this go past and not raise a ruckus. This ain’t about what’s gone on nearly thirty years back.” He braced his hands on his hips when he got to the front of the room and faced the council, then the crowd. “This is about good people reaching out. In these past three decades, when has Miles ever reached into his back pocket to offer a hand out or a hand up?”
Bobby Ray knew enough to pause and let his words sink in.
“But when Shane Stone heard about our troubles, he didn’t just jump in his truck and head south with two little kids he uprooted. He brought a pack of trucks and know-how. My mama always taught me how actions speak louder than words, and I think we have a prime example of that right here in Kendrick Creek this week.
“Now while some folks have turned their Christmas lights off because the holiday season just ended, I say we drag them lights back out, and light up this town with hope while Shane and his crew are here. Welcome them the way a town like ours should. Because there are givers and there are takers in this world, and no matter what went on in a boy’s head twenty-seven years ago, the man that’s here tonight is a giver. And me and my boys, we’re going to be working alongside him. And that’s all I’ve got to say.” He nodded to the council, then crossed the room to shake Shane’s hand. When he did, he clapped Shane on the back. “It’s good to have you back, Shane.”
Shane looked at Bobby Ray directly. “Good to be here.”
Miles stood again.
The council ignored him.
Instead they thanked Shane for his ideas, offered quick approval, then adjourned the meeting to let everyone enjoy the Kendrick Creek Ladies’ Fellowship’s punch and cookies at tables set up along the far wall.
People surrounded Shane. He spoke to everyone, taking notes on one of the smallest scratchpads Jess had ever seen.
“I’d like to stay and mingle for a few minutes, Jess.” Mary stood slowly, staying in place for a few seconds to gain her equilibrium. “Not long, though.”
It wasn’t the red punch and cookies that drew her mother to the gathering area. It was the people, and Jess walked alongside her as she moved forward. As folks greeted Mary with a mix of smiles and commiseration over the damage her properties had suffered, the real affection was apparent.
I know mine and mine know me.
Emotion rose within Jess as the old words from John’s Gospel came back. She’d forgotten what it was like to be known. Even being on extended sick leave for almost a year of cancer treatments, there were few people in the city who’d looked in on her. Except for her mother’s steady calls and a few medical buddies, that was it.
She watched people gather around her mother in an outpouring of affection and gratitude, and for the first time in a long time, she recognized the wealth in Mary’s life. Wealth that had nothing to do with worldly goods and everything to do with gifts of the heart.
“We all love your mom.”
Jess turned to see that Jordan had come up alongside her. “I haven’t seen you since I left for med school, Jordan. How are you? How is everything? You look wonderful, and I’m pretty sure that you’re the only person from our graduating class who hasn’t changed because I’d recognize you anywhere.”
Jordan hugged her.
Though Jess often claimed she wasn’t a hugger, it felt good to hug her old friend.
“I am caught in a storm of what-ifs. And who knows how that’s going to come out?” Jordan told her once she’d stepped back. Then she noted Jess’s chemo hat with a sympathetic grimace. “Who’d have thought things would be this way when we sat in that gymnasium on graduation day?”
“Not me,” Jess said honestly. “I had my life all planned out.”
“Always did.” Jordan commended her. “From the time you were a little kid, you planned your work and worked your plan. No one was surprised to see you become a big-city doctor, Jess. But I’m real sorry about the cancer.”
“You sent me a card last year.”
“Well, you were up there all alone. I didn’t even know if you’d remember me,” she admitted.
Jess hadn’t thought to send notes back, to thank people for their good wishes. Now she realized she should have done that. “How could I forget one of my best friends in school? The Four Musketeers, remember?”
“How could I possibly forget?” Jordan laughed, then squeezed Jess’s arm. “You, me, Devlyn and Amy Sue. We had so many plans, didn’t we? Chock-full of dreams and goals. Good things,” she added with a wistful note.
“So what happened with yours?” asked Jess, and Jordan frowned.
“Engaged twice, broke it off both times, ran the Dollar Friendly until the fire took it, and saved money to open my own general store,” Jordan told her. “So now—a crossroads.”
“I don’t even know what a general store is,” Jess confessed.
“Think eclectic and cool, a mix of old-fashioned items, pure South and fun new ideas. My goal was to rent one of your mama’s buildings, the old hardware store. It’s in plain sight of the Foothills Parkway. A plan like Shane’s could help draw some of that tourist money in, and that would be a blessing.”
“I couldn’t believe how things have grown,” Jess replied. “Pigeon Forge. Sevierville. And Devlyn said it’s the same in Gatlinburg. Can a little town like this do enough business, Jordy?” The old nickname seemed just as natural today as it had twenty years ago.
“I think it can,” Jordan replied. “There are a bunch of cabin rentals here now. And if folks get off the parkway at Wilton Springs, a cozy ride through small-town America brings them to our doorstep, but we need to have a reason to make them stop to check things out. That beautiful apple orchard draws its share, but then folks motor on through.
“The cabin rentals will help,” she pointed out. “A lot of folks like the peace of the mountains even though they want to visit the attractions. I think we’ve got a solid shot.” Jordy indicated Shane with her eyes. “If Shane’s right, maybe this fire will be a blessing in disguise for some. And then those can help others. Having him and you back to help makes it seem like there’s a power shift going on, and that’s what we need to have things happen. Between your mother, Shane, and now Bobby Ray, we could see real change here. And I’m glad you came back to help your mom.” Jordan laid a hand on Jess’s arm. “It’s good to have you here, Jess.”
Jordan’s sincerity only increased Jess’s guilt. “It’s good to be back. But it’s weird, Jordy, and I can’t pretend it’s not.”
“Then give it time to get unweird,” Jordan told her as they moved toward Mary.
“I’m ready for twenty minutes of reading and a good night’s sleep,” announced Mary when they approached.
Mary said she wanted normal, so Jess answered in kind, though she could clearly see the weariness in her mother’s expression. “Sounds good.” She smiled at her mother then lifted her gaze to Shane. There it was again. That connection.
As if something new and maybe even beautiful happened whenever their eyes met. When that lower muscle in his cheek flexed slightly.
Mary tucked her arm through Jess’s and she understood the unspoken message. Mary needed to get home. “I could use a solid night’s sleep myself,” Jess agreed.
“Shane, we’ll see you tomorrow, all right?”
“First thing,” he promised. “Thanks for being here tonight. Both of you.”
“Glad to do it,” said Jess as she guided Mary to the door. “Jordy, so nice to see you.”
“You, too, Jess. Mary, are you all right?” Jordy might not have a medical background, but she’d known Jess’s mother since the girls had started playing together nearly forty years ago.
“Tired, Jordy. And maybe a touch of that stomach bug rolling around.”
Jordy put her hands out, palms facing Mary and Jess. “I’m backing off so I don’t catch it. See you both soon.”
“Will do,” Jess replied. No stranger to the indignities of cancer, she asked her mother in a softer tone, “Are you going to be sick?”
“Yes.”
When Mary was more in control a few minutes later, Jess tucked her into the SUV and drove up the road.
It had felt odd to pull into the driveway last week, but now the mountain house seemed to welcome Jess, which made this whole thing feel more like home than anything she’d known in a long time.
But how was it going to feel once her beloved mother was gone?
* * *
Pete met Shane at the door of the cabin. He’d taken charge of the kids so that Shane could make his presentation to the town. “Went well, I take it?”
“It did.”
“Good.”
Pete shrugged into his jacket. “Kids are asleep. Dishes done. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thanks, Pete.”
Shane tossed his jacket onto a wall hook and drew a deep breath. When he’d brought his crew down to offer assistance to a town that believed he’d betrayed them, he couldn’t have anticipated the pull on his heart the moment he spotted Jess in that car.
They were both here to help, and that put them on the same side at long last. And when she’d cheered his proposal, when he’d met her gaze from the podium, he hadn’t wanted to break the connection.
The internal warning bell sounded more like a gong right now. Jess was amazing, but she put more faith in the teachings of man than God. He embraced the thought that the two worked hand in hand. He had to keep the truth from the kids, which would be tougher than he’d thought given the people who knew what actually happened. And, to top it off, he didn’t dare put the kids in cancer’s crosshairs again.
But as he set the coffee maker to switch on automatically in the morning, something else stirred him.
Change.
Shane didn’t like change. He preferred to know what was happening in two weeks, six months, the coming year. He scheduled jobs inside of jobs to layer the most effective work production he could maneuver and kept his finger on the pulse of every project. Here it was different because old ties tugged him in multiple directions.
His phone buzzed a text. He lifted the phone and saw Jess’s words. Great job tonight.
He wanted to text her back. Have one of those silly text conversations that moved things forward between them.
