Page 55 of A Love So Sweet
“Well, how about you worry about yourself. Andyou.” He pointed at Treat. “Your mother is worried sick about you. What the hell are you doing about that sweet girl, Max? I met her, you know. We all did. Reminds me of your mother. She’s a darlin’ thing, and I bet she’s got a stubborn side, too.”
Treat smiled to himself, thinking about their morning. “Yes, she does.”
Luckily, before they went any further down theyour motherroad, the doctor came into the room. Dr. Mason Carpenter had been their father’s physician for as long as Treat could remember. When he retired two years earlier, his son and partner in the medical practice, Ben, had taken over. Ben and Treat had grown up together, and Treat not only trusted his medical judgment, but he had always found Ben to be a loyal friend. He shook Ben’s hand.
“Treat, good to see you,” Ben said, his eyes shifting to Savannah.
Ben had harbored a crush on Savannah when they were younger. Treat remembered the summer after Savannah had completed ninth grade and he and Ben had been home from college. Savannah had realized that her body was no longer that of a young girl and had flaunted it as such, much to Treat’s dismay. Ben hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her then, and from the looks of him now, those feelings hadn’t changed.
“Savannah, you’re still here,” Ben said with surprise. “Nice to see you heeded my suggestion to go home and relax for a while.”
“Yes, and I’m not leaving anytime soon.” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.
“Benjamin, when am I getting out of this place?” their father asked.
Ben smiled and said, “Well, Mr. Braden, I have to ask you a few questions. What were you doing when your symptoms began? Savannah wasn’t sure. Were you doing anything strenuous?”
“I told you. He was in the barn when I found him—”
“The last time I looked, honey, I was Mr. Braden,” their father said. “Now, he might have been talking to Treat, I suppose, but Ben here has been to medical school, and I can’t imagine by the way he looks at you that he would mistake you for amister.”
Ben blushed.
Savannah stewed.
Treat laughed under his breath.Yup, Dad. You’re just fine.
“To answer your question, I was in the barn with Hope,” their father answered. “And, Ben, call me Hal, please. How many years have I been telling you that?”
“And were you brushing her? Mucking out the stall?” Ben asked. “What exactly were you doing?”
Treat had to smile at the way Ben ignored his father’s request. Ben had told his father at least a dozen times that he had too much respect for him to call him by his first name, and his father still hadn’t stopped grumbling about it.
Hal set his mouth in a serious line and crossed his arms. Treat watched his father’s biceps bounce to the same rhythm of his clenching jaw, reminding him so much of Rex, it was uncanny. Sitting up straighter, with annoyance stewing just under his skin, his father no longer looked small or sickly in the hospital gown. He looked like he was ready to haul his butt out of bed and get back to work.
There’s the dad I know and love.Treat looked up at the ceiling and mouthed,Thank you.
“Mr. Braden?” Ben urged.
Hal grumbled under his breath, then said, “Oh, all right. But I don’t want to hear any crap about this, you hear me, Benjamin?”
“Yes, sir. No crap,” Ben said with a nod.
Ben had seen Hal through every mood on the spectrum. He and his parents had enjoyed many barbecues at the ranch with his family.
“I was talking to Adriana.” Hal scanned his children’s faces first, then his doctor’s.
Treat knew his father saw exactly what he did on Savannah and Ben’s faces—pity. He used to have to work hard to keep that same look from his own, but after the Cape, he was no longer certain of anything where his mother was concerned.
“Don’t look at me like that. It doesn’t matter what you think of it. Adriana was there, and she was watching over Hope the same way I was.” He shifted his eyes to Treat and pointed a finger. “She’s worried that you’re going to get so lost in your own little world of resorts and whatever else eats up your time, you’ll forget about the thing that matters most.” He patted his heart.
Ben drew his eyebrows together, and Treat held his hands palms up, as if to say,That’s Dad for you.But Treat couldn’t lie to himself. His father’s words spoke directly to his thoughts where Max was concerned.
“Mr. Braden, I don’t doubt that you believe you saw your wife,” Ben said carefully, “or that you have ongoing conversations with her.”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Ben,” Savannah said with a sigh.
Treat touched her arm and shook his head. She sat down and crossed her legs, bouncing her foot up and down.
