Chemistry Lessons (27 page)

“And I thought you understood that I’m not giving up on our
relationship.” He sounded much calmer than Rosie felt. “I’m doing this for you,
you know. You’re the one who’s scared of driving on the same road as Janessa.
It won’t help if we bring in more people with the same issues.”

“It also won’t help if we ignore the problem.” She spat out her words
as if they burned her tongue. “Someone has to do something to prevent the kind
of tragedy my family experienced. At least Destry is trying.”

She turned and limped toward the overfilled parking lot, though as she
got closer to it, she remembered that she hadn’t brought a car. She had come
with Tanner
.
For a long time after her Grandma was killed, it had scared
her to drive on busy roads at night, much less to walk on them. Today, though,
she had no fear. Her anger fueled her courage. She hobbled down the road that
led away from the school, anxious to separate herself from Tanner.

Behind her, she heard the hum of a truck engine, and Tanner drove up
beside her. She kept walking as he rolled his windows down. “I don’t need a
ride,” she called. “You can go on home.”

He followed her, driving at a slow pace and yelling over the hum of the
engine. “I just want to say one thing. Maybe you’re right, and we shouldn’t get
married. But I still want to help you buy the ranch.”

She stopped and faced him. “You want to be business partners?” she
asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She knew of other friends investing in
ranches together. The only problem was that she didn’t know whether she and
Tanner could go back to being friends. He’d burned that bridge on so many
levels. She had a hard time feeling anything more for him that disgust at the
moment.

Tanner leaned over to open the passenger-side door. “We can split up
the property if you want. I’ll take a few fields to run cattle. You can have
the house and whatever acreage you need to keep your pets.”

What he said made sense. She still had money coming in from the art
auction—it might be enough to buy a house on her own, but not a ranch.
Partnering with Tanner could be the only way to keep her animals, and the ranch
was big enough to divide between the two of them.

“Or I could rent it out to you,” he added. “Why don’t you get in the
truck? We can talk about it on the way home.”

Tanner wanted to be her landlord? Reality swept in and blew out any
flicker of hope for a solution. As much as she wanted to accept his offer, she
knew him too well. This was his way of holding onto her. She had to turn him
down. “I appreciate you watching out for me, Tanner, but I can’t let you buy
the ranch. I’m going to walk home now.”

He handed her a flashlight from his glove box. “Well, let me know what
you decide.”

As he drove away, she turned on the flashlight. Its dim circle of light
barely reached the ground in front of her. A chilly breeze blew as she limped
along, stirring up memories of childhood Halloweens. It seemed wrong to be out
alone on such a night, especially when Grandpa was home by himself.

She drew her phone from her pocket to call him. He didn’t answer.

That wasn’t unusual. He often didn’t hear the phone. She called again.
He answered on the sixth ring. “Is that you, Rosie?” he answered, sounding out
of breath. “Where are you?”

“Walking home from the high school,” she shouted. “Where are you?”

“Out in the barn.” Grandpa paused to catch his breath. “I fixed that
squeak in the old baler.”

She groaned. What would his doctor think? She was supposed to be
keeping Grandpa in his wheelchair when he left the house. “I didn’t mean for
you to fix it.”

Ahead of her, a car pulled to the side of the road and Chase McFerrin
rolled down the passenger side window. “Would you like a ride?” he called.

She covered the bottom half of her phone to answer Chase. “Yes, please!”

“That baler’s right as rain now,” Grandpa went on. “There’s just one
problem.”

“What’s that?” Rosie asked as she hobbled to Chase’s car.

 “I’ve broke myself again,” Grandpa said. “I can’t move my arm.”

“Grandpa!”

Destry couldn’t fly to Philadelphia without dropping by the hospital to
see Rosie and Mr. Curtis. Rosie had been the only speaker to support his plan
at the town hall meeting, and he wanted to thank her. Not that he wasn’t
disappointed that she and Tanner appeared to have gotten back together. Tanner’s
words still echoed in Destry’s mind:
We want to keep Lone Spur as it is for
our children.
But he held back a grin, remembering how Rosie had stood up
to provide a rebuttal to everything Tanner had said. That couldn’t have helped
Tanner be any less jealous.

It was probably best that Destry’s travel schedule was so tight, he and
Mercedes had to visit the hospital on the way to the airport. With a pretty
woman beside him, he wouldn’t feel as tempted to flirt with Rosie.

Mercedes also knew her way around the hospital better than he did. They
found Mr. Curtis’s small room at the end of a hallway on the third floor. The
old man frowned from the bed as they walked in. “Haven’t you got anything
better to do?”

Rosie, sitting in a chair beside the bed, shook her head and smiled.

“Now that you mention it, I do,” Destry said, walking toward the bed
and raising his voice. “We’re on the way to the airport. I’ve got to clear up
some problems in Philadelphia before my company loses one of its major
accounts. Lucky for you, the hospital was on our way, and we brought you some
pie from The Little Red Hen.”

Mercedes held up the carry-out bag. “Destry said you would want the
pumpkin.”

Destry watched Rosie, hoping for her eyes to move toward his at the
mention of pumpkin pie. They didn’t.

Rosie got up and offered her seat to Mercedes. “Sorry he’s in such a
bad mood,” she whispered. “The doctor won’t release him to go home because he’s
fallen twice. It’s too much of a risk.”

“So he has to stay in the hospital?” Mercedes asked.

Rosie shook her head. “In a nursing home.” She delivered her words in a
monotone, so different from the sing-song way she talked to her animals.

What Destry wouldn’t give to help her bring Mr. Curtis home again. She
was such a caring granddaughter.

The old man flipped through the TV channels with his remote. “Why don’t
they show John Wayne movies anymore?”

“I’d like to say it was because they’re all sexist and some are also
racist,” Rosie said, raising her voice again. “But I think it’s just because
they’re old.”

“John Wayne married a Latina,” Mercedes said, staring down at her
phone. “He wasn’t racist.”

Destry squeezed Mercedes’s shoulder. “I always liked John Wayne, but
you’ve got to admit, if I tried the John Wayne method—flinging women around and
forcing them to kiss me—I’d most likely end up with a restraining order.”

“Not from me you wouldn’t,” Mercedes teased. She always had such good
comebacks to his flirtations. That was one of the things he liked about her.

Rosie laughed without smiling and picked at a piece of lint on her
grandfather’s blanket.

Destry glanced at her, lowering his voice again. “How long will he have
to stay in the nursing home?”

Rosie bit the side of her lip. “Until he has adequate supervision at
home.” Her words came out like a groan, and he noticed dark circles under her
eyes. After working full-time and keeping up the ranch, it was no wonder she
seemed so worn out and frustrated. “I don’t know how I’ll ever afford that kind
of help.”

Before he could speak, Mercedes looked up from her phone. “Did you say
you got us a hotel room, Destry? Or did you want me to do it?”

Rosie glanced from Mercedes to Destry as if trying to comprehend what
Mercedes meant.              

He probably should have told Rosie earlier about his plans to miss
three days of school—she was his mentor after all—but it had happened so fast,
and he felt it was more important to resolve the problem with Tanner.

“I must have forgotten to tell you we’re staying with my parents,” he
told Mercedes. He’d tried to explain his stance when it came to physical
relationships, but she kept pushing for the privacy of a hotel room. “They have
two guest rooms ready for us.” He felt himself flush as he turned back to
Rosie. “Mercedes has never been to the East Coast, so I thought it would be fun
to bring her along.”

“I’m going to apply for some jobs while I’m there,” Mercedes said. “Just
don’t tell Mr. Moore.”

He watched Rosie’s mouth drop and her forehead wrinkle as she processed
the information. She looked as if she might say something, but then, just as
quickly, she turned away, picking at a speck of dirt under her fingernail. “Oh.”

This wasn’t the emotion he had been expecting. It didn’t make any sense
for her to be upset about him taking a trip with Mercedes. Maybe she was just
tired from being in the hospital all day. “I’m not sure I can express how much
I appreciate what you said at the town hall meeting, Rosie.”

She continued to stare down at her nails. “After Tanner’s diatribe, it
was the least I could do.” Her voice quivered and she turned to look out the
window. “I hope he didn’t discourage you.”

What was troubling her so much? He rubbed the back of his neck. “There
were plenty of others to discourage me.”

“But you’re not going to give up, are you?” The fight had come back
into her words as she searched his eyes.

He gave a nervous chuckle. “I don’t have much choice. I was telling
Mercedes on the way over that I’m hoping to talk to your mom’s boyfriend about
selling the place.”

Rosie stared at him in stunned surprise, and then her expression turned
serious. “But you’ve already started construction. You’ll lose your investment.”

Her reaction surprised him, and once again, he had to remind himself
that she had rejected him, that she wasn’t interested in a romantic
relationship. “It hasn’t all been a waste,” he said. “Trying to build this
resort has helped me understand my brother in ways I never thought I could—he
never felt like he belonged in Philadelphia, and in some ways, I’ve felt that
here. I’ve also come to see that no matter how good the reason, it’s not a good
idea to keep doing something that’s not going to work. My brother ended up the
way he was because he kept making the wrong decision over and over again. I don’t
want to be like that. I still want to help people, but I need to do it my way,
and I need to find a place that’s a better fit for me.”

“You fit just fine in Lone Spur.” Rosie leaned forward, looking like
she wanted to say more.

He stared down at his shoes. “That’s not the prevailing opinion.”

“It’s my opinion,” she said, bending to reestablish eye contact. She
could hardly know that his happiest moments here were the times he spent with
her.

“It’s my opinion too,” Mercedes added, reaching for his hand.

Rosie’s eyes flicked toward her, and he wished he could read her
thoughts.

“I think you ought to give it a try,” Mr. Curtis shouted from his bed.

Rosie turned to him, a puzzled expression on her face. “Try what,
Grandpa?”

“The John Wayne method. I want Destry to try it. That’s the only thing
that would be worth the price of admission to this place.”

“Grandpa!” Rosie scolded, her face glowing red.

Destry shot a glance toward Mercedes, hoping she hadn’t caught on that
Mr. Curtis wanted him to kiss Rosie. Mercedes threw her head back, laughing. “You
old rascal! He doesn’t need to use force with me. I’m happy to kiss him
wherever and whenever he wants.”

A nurse came in then, ready to take Mr. Curtis’s vitals.

Before she placed the thermometer in the old man’s ear, he uttered his
final word of advice. “You don’t have all the time in the world, Destry.”

Mercedes stood, nudging Destry’s arm. “He’s right. We ought to get
going. I’d hate to miss our plane.”

Destry knew well enough that Mr. Curtis hadn’t been referring to his
travel plans.

Rosie didn’t seem at all amused. “I’ll walk out with you.”

He waited for the two women to exit the room ahead of him—definitely a
mistake. Rosie wore her cowboy boots, and when she walked, they put a sway in
her step. Then there was the way her jeans hugged the curve of her hips and
waist—not too tight, not too loose. He pulled out his phone to distract himself
as they walked down the hall, the two women chatting about tourist sites in
Philadelphia.

When they got to the front door, they paused. “It was great to see you
with Tanner last night,” Mercedes said, giving Rosie a hug. “I’m glad you
worked things out.”

Rosie shook her head. “We didn’t. We’re just friends now. It’s better
that way.”

“Seriously?” Mercedes latched onto Destry’s arm. “Aww, that’s too bad.”
Good thing she couldn’t see him try to hide his smile. As far as Destry was
concerned, it wasn’t bad at all. Rosie was better off without Tanner. But that
left one huge problem. He was still with Mercedes.