Page 44 of What it Takes
“It’s not like you to not plan out your year in advance.”
Laney grinned. “I know. Isn’t it great?”
They moved on to other topics, like a television show Nola had recommended and Laney was catching up on. Movies they both wanted to see badly enough to make the long drive to a movie theater. Whether or not Laney wanted Nola to teach her how to knit. But once they were done eating, they couldn’t linger because Nola had to get back to the town hall.
“You should take an actual night off sometime soon and come over so I can teach you how to knit.”
“I might do that.” She’d always been told knitting while watching television or listening to audiobooks was relaxing but the time she’d tried to teach herself how had been a disaster and pretty much the opposite of relaxing.
“Where did you park?” Nola asked when they left the diner.
Laney felt herself blush. “I parked at the market and walked over here.”
“That’s quite a walk.”
“I don’t have any trouble driving Andy’s truck in a forward motion, but backing up? It’s a little bigger than my Camaro. And there’s zero chance of me ever parallel parking it, so taking it straight to the market was safest for everybody.”
“I’m going the other direction, so I’ll see you later. Good luck shopping.”
Laney waved and set off in the direction of the market. She didn’t hurry, not minding the warm sun today, since the humidity level was low. She had told Rosie she might try to see if Nola could take a later than usual lunch and been assured they were in no hurry for the groceries, so she could take her time in town.
Despite the beautiful weather and the nice lunch she’d just shared with Nola, Laney couldn’t fully enjoy the walk. She wished Nola hadn’t mentioned her mother.
It did make her feel good to know her mother cared enough about how she was doing to reach out to Nola’s mom, but she wasn’t ready yet to let her parents back into her life. They’d encouraged her to stay with Patrick long past her realization she was unhappy, and they’d actively campaigned for reconciliation through the divorce process. In this case, reconciliation didn’t mean communication and compromise. It meant Laney giving up on whatever midlife crisis they imagined she was having and stepping back into the same life she’d been living for ten years. And she was having a hard time forgiving them for that.
She happened to glance over when a couple of kids shouted to each other, and she realized she was across from the fire station. The big, double garage door was open and a couple of men were standing outside talking. They were next to a four-wheeler, which was easily recognizable as Ben’s—and as she stopped walking, Ben stood up behind it. He must have been bent over at first, checking something on the machine.
Just the sight of him cheered her up and, before she could talk herself out of it, she looked both ways and then crossed the street to say hello to him.
* * *
Ben couldn’t think of a more welcome sight after a long, mostly sleepless night than Laney smiling at him. Except maybe a smiling Laney crossing the street to talk to him.
“Hey, you escaped for a while,” he said, noticing the other guys moved away to give them a semblance of privacy, though it wasn’t actually privacy since they made sure they were still in earshot.
“I’m doing errands for Rosie.” She looked at his ATV. “I was worried about you last night. It sounded like you were going so fast in the woods. But Drew told me later that everybody was okay and that you were with the other guys from the fire department.”
She’d worried about him. For some reason, that made him incredibly happy. “I never go faster than I should be. But I’m sorry you were worried.”
“Were the people in the accident okay?”
He shrugged. “I hope so. It made the news this morning and it sounded like she was expected to make a full recovery.”
“If you call the hospital, do they tell you how they’re doing? Since they started as your patients, it seems like something you’d be allowed to do.”
“No, I don’t call.” He wasn’t sure he could explain it to her. “It’s a little different here, but I spent most of my career in the city. There are so many calls. So many accidents and overdoses and injuries. I treat them the best I can and then turn them over to the doctors. My job ends there and I have to let them go. I think if I tried to do more, I wouldn’t be able to keep doing it.”
Her brow furrowed for a moment. “I guess I can understand that. But I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Always.” But he knocked on the wooden frame of the door behind him, just in case.
She looked at the machine again. “Josh told me the ATV trails closed when it snows and they switch over to snowmobile season. Do you have a rescue snowmobile, too?”
“No, I don’t. I mean, there is such a thing, and they make a sled that can be towed behind them. But I can ride my four-wheeler on the trails because they groom the snow, so it’s packed down hard.”
“You’re the exception to the rules, then.”
“Whenever I can get away with it.” That made her laugh, and his day got even better. He loved her laugh all the time, but he loved it even more when he was the one who brought it out. “So what kind of errands do you have to run?”
