Page 10 of Texas Daze (Texas Montgomery Mavericks)

“Why don’t I just meet you there? It’d beeasier.”

“Absolutely not.” He sounded aghast. “Will seven-fifteenwork?”

“It’ll work fine. I’ll see you onSaturday.”

She hung up and flopped back on her bed with a giggle. She felt like a sixteen-year-old getting asked to prom instead of a thirty-year-old being asked to a stuffydinner.

But she did have that greatdress.

* * *

Eli hungup the phone with a grimace. He was out of practice when it came to asking a woman on a date. His late wife had been the last person he’d asked out and they’d both been about seventeen at the time. Damn, he’d almost blown it with the most interesting woman he’d met in a long time, like maybe eighteenyears.

He missed Gina, but she’d been gone for over seven years. Initially, he’d dove headfirst into his residency. He’d stayed at the hospital almost nonstop for the first three years. The long hours, the mental grind and sheer exhaustion made the days pass inablur.

Then, late in his residency, being allowed to go to the frontlines of the war to get surgical experience with traumatic injures had been thrilling and mind-numbingly terrifying. Occasionally, it had flittered through his mind that if he died over there, it mightbeokay.

But he hadn’t and he told himself it was time to move on with his life, a major factor in his decision to take this temporary position in Texas. Sure he was helping out a classmate, but physically separating from New York City and the memories it held to a house in a small town in Texas did help with his mindset. Her parents, his in-laws, had been fabulous in the years since her death, even going so far as to help him remove Gina’s clothing and shoes. But her touches in the apartment hadremained.

The painting over the fireplace that she bought in Paris on theirhoneymoon.

The four million pillows she insisted their bedneeded.

The grand piano sheplayed.

It all finally became too much for him to endure. Last year, he’d sold everything, including the apartment, and moved to his parents’ place in the Hamptons. The wind, the sand, the salt air helped piece him back together, not the way he’d been. That man was gone. Today he was a different man molded from life experiences and a lot of beach time. He was ready tostartover.

Of course starting over would be back in New York City, not Whispering Springs, Texas. He’d agreed to do these six months for Hank as a favor. As soon as the position at New York Midtown Orthopedic Practice was finalized, he’d be joining the largest, and most prestigious, orthopedic practice in New York. He’d be back in his element, back into the societal strata he’d grownupin.

Besides, who in the right mind would turn down a partnership in New York Midtown OrthopedicPractice?

The rest of the week flew. Joe gave him tons of grief about horseback riding, but that dare had gotten the teen out of his chair and onto prosthetics. He was making remarkable progress, which he never failed to point out to hisdoctor.

What Eli hadn’t said aloud was that he’d tried horseback riding at summer camp when he’d been about ten, once on his honeymoon and again a couple of years later on vacation. His late wife rode like she was one with the animal. Eli rode more like a melting scoop of ice cream on a hot day, slowly sliding offtheside.

Eli was used to being the smartest guy in the group. As a kid, he’d been overweight and more interested in chess than athletic endeavors. His father had insisted Eli be enrolled in a summer camp that focused on outdoor activities like horseback riding. The camp had been the stuff of every kid’s nightmares. Using intellect and reason, he could usually work through any problem until it came to horses. His horse anxiety and his lack of ability to overcome it was a tough pill toswallow.

When he reached high school, he’d lost his baby fat, gotten contacts and learned he was pretty good at running, earning a spot on the high school track team. But he always remembered being the teased, fat kid. Only the new girl in school saw him for how he was then. Gina only knew the tall, confident track star with brains. He liked that about her. Their history didn’t contain those painfulyears.

He wished he hadn’t even raised the issue with Joe, who was like a dog with a bone on the topic. Still, he found ways to put the teen off each time he asked about Eli’s progress with riding. The time was quickly approaching when he’d be forced to admit that he hadn’t done anything about the dare. That might be misconstrued by Joe that his doctor had been bullshitting him all along. That would certainly drive a serious wedge in the doctor-patientrelationship.

Saturday came and Eli found himself unexpectedly nervous about the date. Marti had been released as a patient, so it wasn’t as if he were breaking any medical tenet. Still, it’d been a while and dating in high school had been easy compared to dating as anadult.

The drive to the Flying Pig Ranch took about five minutes longer than he’d planned. Since he’d left early, he arrived in plenty of time, but thank goodness for GPS. He might have never found his way along the unpaved backroads of thecounty.

He turned off and drove between the ranch’s gate posts. The drive was dirt and gravel, and his car’s tires threw up both behind him. His first view of her house was exactly what his mind had envisioned. A two-story, white, traditional ranch with a wraparound porch complete with a couple of rockers and ferns hanginginpots.

Climbing from his SUV, he immediately noticed the aroma of sage and fir that gave the air a freshly clean scent. He drew in a deep breath. His mother paid a fortune to housekeepers to get this type of fresh smell in thefamilyhome.

Horses in the corral nickered as they studied the new arrival, probably judging him inadequate. In the distance, a barn that appeared freshly painted stood with entrance doors securely closed but a smaller one in the loftstoodopen.

On the other side of the house, a large pasture that looked to go on forever held various groupings of brown cows. Most of the cattle had settled down in the grass for the night. An owl hooted from somewhere. A light breeze made the leaves rustle. Peaceful but notquiet.

Turning back to the horses, he studied them. They were beautiful creatures, no doubt about that. However, the thought of being on the back of one of them sent chills down his spine. The horrible memories of summer camp came rushing back. More than once, he found himself flat on his back after falling off. The counselors had assured him that the horse had only taken a couple of steps, but Eli called bullshit. That horse had bucked him off. Of course, falling off a horse who basically wasn’t moving made Eli the target of lots of crueljokes.

The next summer, he convinced his parents to send him to band camp, not that he was great with his saxophone. But at least he wasn’t the butt of all thejokes.

By high school, most of the geekiness stayed inhispast.

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