An Accidental Hero. Loree Lough
them at the table. Spreading homemade raspberry jam on her bread, she asked, “You okay this morning, Reid?”
He looked up, more than a little surprised at the question. Later today, she’d drive her husband all the way to Fort Worth for who-knows-what kind of prognosis. “I’m fine. How ’bout you?”
From the day Reid’s mom brought him and his beat-up cardboard suitcase into this house, Martina had taken Reid under her wing, treated him like the son she’d never had. He couldn’t love her more if she were his mother. A guilty thought rapped at the edges of his mind: Reid did love her more than his own mother. But then, Martina had earned that love.
“Never mind about me.”
“I’m fine,” he said again.
Her left brow rose, the way it always did when she thought he was holding something back. “You’re not all stiff and sore? After that collision last night?”
He reached past the Eiffel Tower saltshaker and the Big Ben pepper mill to grab her hand. “Nope.”
She still didn’t believe him, and the proof was that in addition to raising her brow, Martina had tucked in one corner of her mouth.
God knows the poor woman had enough on her slender shoulders, what with all she did around the house and helping Billy with Rockin’ C business. And now this mind-numbing death sentence…. “Honest,” he added in a voice much too bright for his mood, “I’m right as rain. Fit as a fiddle. Sound as a dollar.”
Billy chuckled as Martina sighed and shook her head. “Well, all right. If you say so. But there’s a bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet, just in case.”
Reid couldn’t help but smile around a bite of spicy sausage, because truth was, his neck did feel a speck creaky, and a cramp in his lower back had nagged at him several times during the night. He blamed the long, sleepless hours for his minor discomforts; seemed every time he closed his eyes, he saw Cammi, smiling that smile of hers…brown eyes flashing, dimple deepening, musical voice reminding him of the wind chimes outside Martina’s kitchen window. How was a man supposed to get any shut-eye when—
“What in thunder did you put in those sausages?” Billy asked his wife.
Her brow furrowed.
He used his butter knife as a pointer. “You can see for yourself the boy’s off in la-la land.”
Reid stopped chewing and smiled nervously under their scrutiny. He looked from Martina to Billy and back again. “What?”
The couple exchanged a knowing glance, and Martina giggled.
He put down his fork. “C’mon guys. Cut it out. You’re gonna give me a complex.”
“This girl who ran into you,” Martina began, “is she pretty?”
Reid felt his cheeks flush. Because Billy and Martina were on to him? Or because Martina’s question gave him yet another mental picture of Cammi? “She’s okay,” he said, though pretty didn’t begin to describe her.
“What’s her name?” Martina asked.
“Cammi Carlisle.”
“Carlisle,” Billy said out loud. “Don’t know the name.”
“Must be new in town,” his wife told him.
Reid helped himself to another sausage. “She was on her way home from spending a couple years in California when we, uh, met. Said she’d lived here all her life before that.”
Billy and Martina looked puzzled.
“Maybe Carlisle is her married name. Maybe her parents are divorced and—”
Reid didn’t hear Billy’s explanation, because his mind had locked on the word married. Unconsciously, his fingers tightened around his fork handle. Heart thundering as his ears grew hot, he remembered asking Cammi if her husband’s job had taken her away from Amarillo. The only word he could come up with to describe how she’d looked was sad. Even now, he heard the sorrowful note in her voice when she’d answered. Her reaction conjured more questions than answers.
Maybe Cammi had followed some guy to California. Maybe they’d tied the knot while they were out there, and things went sour, so she’d come home to put an end to it. That sure would explain why her mind hadn’t been on the road when she ran the red light.
Then again, maybe there hadn’t been a husband at all, and she’d come home for no reason other than that she couldn’t cut it in Hollywood.
The real question was, what did he care?
At that moment, all Reid wanted was to get off by himself. It would take half an hour to drive to Amanda’s hotel. He’d have plenty of time to roll those notions around in his head a time or two on the way over, see if he could figure out why the idea of a man in Cammi’s life nagged at him like the after-affects of a bug bite.
Reid scooted his chair back and got to his feet. “Great meal, Martina, as usual.” He carried his plate and silverware to the sink, grabbed his jean jacket from the wall peg and opened the back door.
He was half in, half out when she said, “Where are you going in such an all-fired hurry?”
“Got those new guys starting work today, remember. Don’t want them lollygaggin’, ’specially not on their first day.” He nodded toward the outbuildings. “Might as well put them right to work on that fence.”
Billy was leaning back in his chair, preparing to agree, when Martina said, “Before you go, I have a favor to ask you.”
Reid stepped back into the kitchen. “I’ll do it.”
Her brows rose. “But you don’t even know what it is yet!”
“Can’t think of anything I’d refuse you.”
She smiled, then folded her hands in front of her. “Well, you know how terrible I am with directions.” She bit her lower lip, glancing quickly at her husband before meeting Reid’s eyes. “And you know Billy can’t drive anymore, so I was wonder—”
“Say no more,” he interrupted. “What time were the two of you planning to hit the road?”
“Right after lunch,” Billy said.
Reid put his hands in his pockets and nodded. More than enough time to get this nasty business with Amanda and the new ranch hands taken care of. “I’ll just get the boys started, make sure they have enough to keep them occupied till we get back. I have a, uh, errand in town, but I’ll be back by noon. We can head out whenever you’re ready.”
Martina gave a relieved sigh. “I had a feeling we could count on you.” She brightened to add, “I took the liberty of booking a room for you at our hotel.”
The long drive before and after the doctor’s appointment would wear Billy to a frazzle, so despite the fact that he hated hotels, Reid would stay the night.
“All I can say,” Billy put in, “is this doc better be worth the trip.” He gave Martina a stern yet loving look. “Those last four quacks weren’t worth their weight in feathers. You’ve run me all over, looking for a—”
“A miracle. Yes, that’s right,” she finished for him. Tears filled her dark eyes. Suddenly, she gripped her husband’s hand, gave it a little shake. “I have faith, mister, and I won’t rest until we’ve exhausted every possible option!”
On his feet now, Billy gathered her close and nuzzled her neck. “Aw, now, honeypot, don’t get all weepy on me.” He pressed an affectionate kiss to her cheek. “Don’t pay me any mind. Y’know I love you to pieces for all you’re doin’ to save my ornery hide, right?”
Eyes closed, Martina nodded and pressed her freshly kissed cheek against his knuckles. If Reid hadn’t already known how absolutely devoted she was to Billy, this scene would have made it obvious.
Her