Page 23 of The Fault Between Us
“I swear, I didn’t know,” Frannie said when they reached the river. “I thought she said teaspoons.”
Red selected a fly and tied it on the end of his line.
Frannie sat down on a rock, her shoulders slumped. “Will Jenny be okay?”
Red gave her a look that might have been sympathetic. “No harm done other than a sleepless night for your sister.”
“I told her I was sorry.”
“Did you?” Red asked as he threw out his line.
Frannie watched the fly on Red’s line land on the far side of the river and scowled. Maybe she hadn’t exactly apologized, but Claire knew she was sorry. She picked up a rock and tossed it into the rippling shallows. “Claire and Bridget treat me like I’m still a kid and I’m not.”
Red gave her a sideways glance like he wasn’t buying it. “Why do you want to grow up so fast, anyway?”
Frannie watched Red flip his fishing rod, the fly whizzing back and forth over their heads. She knew Red had been raised in an orphanage. She’d overheard Claire telling Bridget that he’d run away when he wasjust a kid and had been on his own ever since. That sounded kind of cool to her, and it didn’t seem to have hurt Red any to not have a family telling him what to do every second. She threw another rock in the river. “Because I want to do what I want.”
Red let out a bark of a laugh like she’d said something funny. “I hate to break it to you, little sister, but growing up is mostly about doing things you don’t want to do.”
“That doesn’t sound like very much fun.”
“Sometimes it isn’t.” Red turned back to his fishing, but not before Frannie saw a troubled look on his face. She didn’t get a chance to ask him, because a man was making his way down the riverbank toward them. He was tall and skinny and had white-blond hair and a tanned face that made it hard to tell his age. His jeans were dirty and he wore a cowboy hat that looked about a million years old.
Red nodded to him, then to Frannie. “Bucky, this is Claire’s sister, Frannie.”
Frannie forgot all about Claire then. “You mean,theBucky?” she squealed, jumping to her feet. “The one who was Claire’s date to the dance?”
Bucky froze and looked from her to Red.
“You are,” Frannie crowed. This was terrific. “Millie told me all about it. She said she called dibs on Red but Red only had eyes for Claire.” Frannie had pestered Millie until she spilled the whole story about how Red and Claire met. Millie told her how she’d literally run into Red on the sidewalk of West Yellowstone that summer Claire had worked at Old Faithful. He’d apologized and set her back on her feet, but Millie had taken one look at him and finagled a double date for the West Yellowstone Grange dance. She’d told him she and her friend were only in Yellowstone for another two weeks. “We have to go to a cowboy dance with real cowboys,” she’d pleaded. By the end of the night Claire had stolen Red’s heart. It was a dreamy story, and Frannie could understand why Claire had fallen for Red like a ton of bricks. He really was handsome with that red hair and blue eyes, like a cowboy out of the movies.
Bucky’s ears were pink and he looked back up the river where he’d come from like he was going to make a run for it. Then Red asked him what kind of fly he was using and Bucky started talking about boring fishing. Frannie lay back on the grassy bank and closed her eyes, soaking in the sunshine. “Wait until I tell Millie I mettheBucky,” she said. At least this day hadn’t been a total disaster.
chapter 14:BRIDGET
Bridget stood outside the Mammoth Hot Springs hospital with her suitcases stacked beside her and the odor of rotten eggs making her eyes water. Red had driven her past a white-and-yellow hotel, a post office, and the park information center. He parked the truck in front of a three-story hospital, unloaded her cases, and left her at the curb without a word of goodbye.
She was just as glad to be done with him.
Bridget was determined to put Red and Claire from her mind for the moment. She needed to make a good first impression on the head nurse, who would—she hoped and prayed—write her a glowing letter of recommendation to the Mayo Clinic at the end of September.
She was ready to put her best foot forward.
There was only one problem. Lying on the grass—right next to the sidewalk that led to the double doors of the hospital—was an immense animal with extremely dangerous-looking horns. Her legs refused to move one step closer to the beast.
“It’s a Roosevelt elk,” a friendly male voice said behind her.
She didn’t take her eyes off the animal. “Is it dangerous?”
“As long as you don’t make eye contact, he’ll leave you alone.”
She quickly averted her eyes and took in the shorts-clad stranger with a collarless shirt, overlong hair, and suntanned face. The man gestured to her suitcases. “Do you need some help, Miss...?”
“No, thank you,” she answered quickly. Bridget didn’t want Nurse Larkin’s first impression of her to be sullied by her walking in with someone so... unpresentable. She walked past the elk, keeping her eyes averted as she opened the door and traded the acrid stench of sulfur for the satisfying scents of antiseptic and floor polish. She stepped smartly through a cramped waiting room to the front desk, where she met the flint-gray gaze of an older nurse. A junior nurse sat behind a desk and smiled at her in a friendly way. “Good afternoon,” Bridget said. “I’m Nurse Reilly.”
The matronly nurse took in her appearance with a frown.
Bridget knew her windblown curls were a mess, her skirt and blouse were wrinkled, and she’d perspired through her dress shields. She’d just have to comport herself in a way that overcame those defects. The nurse glanced past Bridget and her frown deepened. Bridget looked over her shoulder and irritation flashed through her. Putting her best foot forward would be easier if she wasn’t being followed by a long-haired beatnik who had appointed himself her porter.
