I'd stopped by the hospital again to get Jack to sign off on a finance agreement for equipment he needed for the irrigation project I'd been working on in his fields. He'd barely been at Cross Acres since the accident, and the hospital seemed to be the only place I could track him down with any success. I found him in the same place I had the other times I'd come for one thing or another. I felt like I spent more time on the road to and from the Anston Medical than actually accomplishing what Jack was paying me to do. But right now, this was the only option. I either came up here, or irrigation stopped. And it wasn't just Jack who was affected. His entire staff needed this monkey off their backs with the drought we were dealing with, I'd planned time away from my family's farm-and Twin Creeks needed me just like Cross Acres did. No sooner had I sat down and started to explain the paperwork to Jack than a nurse appeared at the double doors that never seemed to open, or t
Before I drove out to Laredo, I decided to stop by Cross Acres to locate Jack. It was possible that one of his ranch hands knew where he was if he weren't on the ranch. When I turned down his gravel driveway, I passed the ornate wrought-iron gates that were always dripping with vines and colorful flowers. I'd asked once who kept them up, and Jack told me that was Sarah's doing. I wondered if Randi would take care of them in her sister's absence. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found Jack's F-350 parked in the circle in front of the farmhouse. At the very least, it meant I didn't have to make the forty-five-minute trip to Laredo or traipse all over town to track him down. Instead of pulling into the drive behind him, I parked in front of the barn next to what appeared to be Austin's truck. I hopped out of the cab, wondering what my brother was doing here at seven in the morning. I knew he'd been spending a ton of time with Randi, but this was early even for them. And
Time had slowed to a crawl once they transferred me to the rehab center. It wasn't like the hospital where people had come to visit and there were always nurses or doctors in an out of my room. The afternoons passed by hot and lazy because just like at home, the air conditioners couldn't keep up with the blazing summer heat. I kept my single window at the facility open even if all it did was invite in the warm, sluggish breeze and humidity. But it brought the smells of home with it-cattle, dirt, fresh grass, all the things I missed. I wanted to be back out in the thick of it or as much as I ever was. I might not have been in the fields working the head, but I missed cooking for the hands, doing the books, keeping track of the business side of the ranch. Even the trivial things like community events were passing me by as I stared at four walls and endured hours of painful therapy and isolation. I'd give anything for my life to return to normal. The reality of that neve
The next morning a new physical therapist came for her first visit. The first of many. And I knew the moment I saw her that I would hate every single one. She just looked severe. There wasn't a soft edge to the woman, and when she opened her mouth, she only confirmed my suspicion. "Hey, Sarah. I'm Karen." She had a tight red bun perched at the crown of her head, and her nose was as straight as her thin lips. Frankly, she was a bit scary. "I'm not going to like this, am I?" I didn't mean to sound ornery right off the bat, but she could have given me a little friendlier introduction, one that consisted of more than four words. Her green eyes met mine, and her pupils were tiny. The way she looked through me sent a shiver up my spine. "Not if you're looking for an easy fix." Well, that was pointed. "But if you're serious about the possibility of regaining mobility, then you'll suck it up and put in the work." Karen gave me the once over, and apparently didn't seem
Jack Adams was getting harder and harder to pin down. And when I was able to locate him, his mind was everywhere but on the task at hand. We didn't live in a huge town, but that man was covering more square miles than everyone else in the county combined. I wound up at the hospital because I couldn't find him at home, the bank, the hardware store, or my parents' house. It had been almost a week since Sarah's last surgery, and Jack was scrambling to keep things in order. Sarah was back in the hospital, recovering. I didn't know when they'd move her to the therapy center again since they had her in physical therapy at the hospital. I just knew it would happen because Jack had said it would. I'd done my best to avoid the hospital since the day she'd woken up, but after the surgery to try to repair her spinal cord, Jack was practically living here again. I think it had more to do with Sarah's mental state than his need to be present for anything going on. He floated back
I was mortified at the idea of anyone trying to make her feel bad about what she was going through. This was one of the hardest times of her life; hell, she was lucky to be alive. If I were ever privy to anyone trying to tell her to suck it up, I'd give them a clear message regarding their behavior. I'd be damned if I didn't put them through a window. "You're not making a scene." I wasn't great with words and even worse at empathy, so I tried to keep my voice gentle. I tended to have a rather deep timbre, and in this stark room, it reverberated rather forcefully. The last thing I wanted to do was come across as patronizing. "You've been through a lot. I think you're entitled to show some emotion." I needed her to look at me, to give me an indication that she heard me, but I got nothing. "Most people would have cracked under the pressure you've been under. You are an incredibly strong woman." She shook her head, and her messy blond curls bounced with the movement. "I'm
That moment-time with Charlie-stayed with me long after he had left. I couldn't stop thinking about him. The way he had touched my face, how his gaze almost caressed my soul, and when he parted his lips and my name flowed past-I didn't even realize he knew my name. He'd been under no obligation to stay. I wasn't delusional enough to believe he'd been there for me in the first place. Heck, he'd flat out asked for Daddy, but he hadn't left. Charlie Burin had seen me at my lowest, yet instead of turning up his nose in disgust at my injuries and the aftermath of what the accident had left behind, he'd been tender, gentle, kind. It was a side of Charlie I didn't know existed, and I fell that much harder for the boy whose heart I'd never win. Either way, it had been enough to carry my spirits through the rest of the day, and I woke up today filled with more hope than I'd had since I came out of the coma. And then, there he was. He appeared early in the morning with two cups
"Focus on breathing." His instruction was firm and left little room for discussion. "Deep, even breaths." He didn't move my knee while he spoke, waiting for me to align myself with what he'd told me to do. "When I bend your knee, I want you to take a deep breath in, and then as I straighten your leg, release the breath, trying to make the exhale last through the entire movement. Time your intake and exhale with each repetition, focusing on filling your lungs. It will bring oxygen to the muscles and help with the pain." All I could do was nod. The truth wasn't I didn't know if I could do it. I didn't deal well with pain, and this went beyond anything I'd ever experienced. "Ready?" Michael waited for my hesitant confirmation. "Here we go, then. Deep breath in, fill your lungs with as much air as possible. In, in, in, in." He chanted as he bent my knee to a ninety-degree angle, pressing my lower back into the immobilizer and my hip into the crummy hospital mattress.