Cowboy for Keeps (9 page)

Amanda’s cheeks warmed.

“You know Esther Mae is right,” Roy Don said, turning his attention on Wyatt as the ladies walked off. “If you were sitting in the pew and I didn’t know any better I’d never a thought you couldn’t walk—not saying you can’t. But you know what I mean. It’s a pure act of God Himself that you’re sitting here. There’s no doubt about it.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Hank agreed. “God don’t just let everybody fall out of the sky and live to tell about it.”

Wyatt’s eyes darkened and he didn’t look happy at all. Amanda braced for stormy weather.

“Well, fellas,” he drawled. “You two sure know how to make a man feel good.”

Both older men grinned. “We’re glad we could help,” Roy Don said. “Your daddy would want us to keep you knowing from where your blessings come.”

“Yes, sir, he would,” Wyatt said gruffly as they followed their wives into the church.

Amanda looked down at Wyatt as they went up the ramp. “Have you already thought about that?”

“You mean about how my dad would want me to know that God saved me for something?”

“Yes.”

“Every single day since the crash,” he said quietly, then drove through the doorway.

B
abies. Meeting Lacy the day before should have prepared her for seeing other women who were expecting, but it didn’t. There were pregnant women everywhere! Lacy gave both of them a big hug the minute they entered, then introduced Amanda to her husband, Clint. Obviously Clint and Wyatt knew each other well because they launched into a conversation immediately while Lacy began introducing her to the women as they passed by heading for their pews.

Thankfully there was so much going on that no one seemed to notice that she didn’t ask the usual questions like “When are you due?” or “Is it going to be a boy or a girl?” She was able to smile, and she tried really hard to mean it. Meeting Lacy the day before she’d been able to focus on their conversation and not Lacy’s pregnant state, but today it wasn’t so easy. They were all so happy. She understood their joy completely.

She was relieved when Seth motioned to them from his pew to come join them.

“I never expected to turn around and see y’all here,” he said, his disbelief apparent.

“Thought I’d see if I could shake things up a bit.” Wyatt gave him a handshake.

Seth bent forward and grinned. “It’s good to see you haven’t lost your touch.”

Amanda crowded into a pew next to Seth while Wyatt parked himself at the end of the pew. Melody, Susan and Cole all greeted them just as a cowboy stepped up to the mic and got the music started. From the choir Norma Sue and Esther Mae—surrounded by cowboys—smiled and she got the uncomfortable feeling they were grinning too big as their eyes kept going from her to Wyatt.

No sooner, it seemed, was the music over than the visiting preacher stood up and gave a sermon that ended almost before it had begun. The man told a joke—and not even a very good one—then he talked about an article he’d read in a popular magazine about some folks who’d done a good deed. Then it was over.

“We didn’t pay him fer
that,
did we?” A tall, skinny, older man boomed in disgust as they were leaving. His thin face was rippled with frown lines.

Melody whispered to Amanda, “That’s Applegate Thornton. He’s hard of hearing and ornery but a total marshmallow. He’s always looking out for Mule Hollow. I knew he wasn’t going to be happy about this.”

Seth stopped to talk. “Applegate, there’s no need for you to get upset about this. I’m sure there are plenty of churches across the country who might like a five-minute sermon. We just aren’t one of them.”

“That’s the surefire truth,” a plump, balding man standing next to Applegate grumbled. “App, ole hypocrite, ya know good and well you got your moments when that’d be fine by you, too.”

Melody leaned in close. “And that is Stanley Orr, Applegate’s GBFF.”

“What does that stand for?” she whispered. She could text message with the best of them, but those initials didn’t compute to her.

Melody chuckled. “That stands for grumpy best friend forever.
Remember
I teach middle school.”

Amanda bit back a laugh, totally picturing the two as “grumpy best friends forever”! While she and Melody were whispering, Applegate gave his GBFF a glare that would fry bacon it was so hot and a comeback—

“I ain’t no
hypocrite!
Shor I might want ta go fishin’ early ever once in a while, but I still expect a message. Even if it is a short one. That right thar was a touchy-feely piece of hogwash. That’s what that was.”

Amanda had to agree. There hadn’t been one sincere thing in the sermon that spoke of being a word from God. But she wasn’t worried about that, she was worried about the two old men as Seth, Cole and even Wyatt began to try and calm them down. “Are they okay?” she asked softly.

“Yes,” Susan said, sidestepping the guys to stand beside Amanda and Melody. “They just get excited and they talk to each other like that all the time.”

“They like to harass each other.” Melody shook her head. “They can get pretty funny sometimes.”

From behind her she heard Wyatt chuckle. It was a low rumble that made her want to smile. The sound of him chuckling and to see the way he’d relaxed were total reassurance that she’d done the right thing in trying to convince him to come to church. She still wasn’t sure what had changed his mind, but she was giving all the credit to God.

“You hang around long enough and you’ll see App and Stanley a lot. They’re down at Sam’s every morning playing checkers. They pretty much keep everyone in line and they can come up with some of the funniest things.”

“Whatever you say. I’d have to see it to believe it,” Amanda said. Her gaze was drawn to Wyatt. He was smiling and at ease as he got involved with the conversation. It was wonderful to see him this way. She was so glad he’d chosen to come with her.

Where had the man who’d been so adamant about not going to church in a wheelchair gone? This guy was the life of the party—and totally unknown to her.

“You’ve helped him already,” Melody said about thirty minutes later.

She and Wyatt had gone back to Seth and Melody’s for lunch along with Cole and Susan. She was in the kitchen with Melody and Susan helping get lunch ready to serve.

Melody was a pretty brunette with violet eyes whose color and intelligence were accentuated by her purple glasses. Amanda could totally see her as the middle school history teacher that she was. “The fact that you got him to come to church in the wheelchair was amazing.”

“And he actually smiled a couple of times,” Susan said as she chopped tomatoes up for the salad. She was tall, blonde and beautiful—not at all what Amanda pictured as the local veterinarian when they’d met. But she was, and according to Wyatt her work was well-respected.

Amanda liked both women a lot. She still had a hard time looking at them and believing that one was married to a Turner brother and the other was about to be married to a Turner brother all because Wyatt had set them up. Wyatt Turner did not look like a cupid or a matchmaker. And he most definitely didn’t look like a romantic, but that was exactly what he was in her eyes. She wondered why he didn’t have a special woman in his life. Or maybe he did back in Dallas. What did she know?

Remembering the sound of his husky chuckle caused her pulse to skitter just thinking about it. That was a dangerous thing and she knew it. Today had been an awakening on many levels and she was seeing danger signals. The more he came out of his shell the more trouble she could have with these unwanted feelings of attraction.

“I’ve only been here this past week and a half, but I think he’s doing better because he sees we are making progress.” Eleven days she’d known Wyatt. It seemed longer. “I’m surprising him tomorrow with a walker.”

“Oh, Seth is going to be ecstatic,” Melody gasped.

“Cole, too. Oh, Amanda, you are amazing,” Susan said. “I’m telling you, getting him out of that chair is going to bring out a whole new side to him. If you think the change over the last few days is something, this is going to blow you away.”

Amanda could believe that. She already was, truth be told.

W
yatt studied Amanda as she drove them back home. He was glad he’d gone to church. But he’d been thinking about Amanda most of the time. Maybe what she said about God having a reason for placing him in this chair was true. Maybe. But how did she view the fact that she’d lost her leg? Had this been the reason her fiancé had broken off their engagement? The idea had hit him not long after she’d jogged past him. It had plagued him all through church, when he had to pretend to everyone that he was great—he was great from the standpoint of what she’d done for his physical therapy. But from the standpoint of how he’d behaved from day one of meeting Amanda until now, he was about as shamed as a man could get. And he had been trying to figure out the best way of going about giving her an apology.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your leg?” Not exactly tactful but it got things moving. It wasn’t as if he could get any more sorry than she probably already thought he was.

She turned her head. “You saw me this morning?”

“If you don’t want to talk about it I understand….” He paused and decided to open up and lay it on the line. “But, look, I owe you. I needed everything you threw at me yesterday. And today was good for me. I’m glad you opened my eyes and got me there in this wheelchair. It was a good perspective for me to see. I don’t know why you haven’t told me about your leg, but I can make an educated guess.”

She looked at him apologetically. “I meant to tell you. But you’d already fired me once for looking too young. I didn’t think my having only one leg would give you any confidence in me.”

They crossed the cattle guard and stopped in front of the house. She didn’t have to say that she’d thought he’d look at her handicap as a negative. He felt sick. “Honestly, I probably would have done that then. But now that I’ve seen you in action, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been thinking that either way. But I can’t change it. All I can do is tell you I’m sorry now.”

“I feel like I should have said something. Don’t apologize.”

He touched her arm. “Amanda, I’m about to get out of this chair because of you and I’m grateful for all you’re doing for me—I owe you that since I haven’t been the best patient. You weren’t the only one. My brothers knew, besides. It was on your résumé.”

She looked as if she hated admitting this even more. “Yes. But I assumed they were waiting on me.”

“I said something to them. They told me they didn’t want to give me any other reason not to let you stay. So they kept quiet. They laughed and said it was my fault for being so pigheaded. I have to agree.”

“I’ve had tougher, believe me.”

It was his turn to be skeptical. “No kidding?”

“Kids can be tough when they are adjusting to loss of a limb. I understood.” She turned the ignition off and their eyes held.

The silence cocooned them in the vehicle and Wyatt felt transfixed by the understanding and forgiveness in her eyes. “You’re a good woman, Amanda.” He was startled when her eyes suddenly grew bright with tears. He reacted by reaching to touch her arm again, but she blinked hard, opened her door and was gone. He got out slowly and waited while she unloaded the motorized wheelchair from the ramp. He told himself to remember this was strictly a business relationship and he would not cross the line.

“I think you’ll be happy to know that this is your last ride in this thing,” she said, too brightly. “You are moving on to the next step as soon as you drive into the house. Starting then, you will be on your walker.”

“That’s great.” He figured he should have been elated. But all he could think about as he drove up the ramp and into the house was Amanda and what she was hiding behind that too-bright smile of hers. Why had she almost cried when he told her she was a good woman? Did she think she wasn’t?

Did she think the engagement ending meant she wasn’t a good woman? Questions swirled in his brain.

Had she been told she wasn’t?

He wheeled the chair around, ready to ask and find out.
Strictly business, cowboy,
the voice in his head warned.

She glanced at him and immediately disappeared inside the workout room. When she returned a few moments later she carried the walker over and set it down in front of him.

“Let’s try this out.”

He stared up at her, contemplating the right move.

“Well, don’t look so excited,” she said. Her serious eyes seemed to beseech him not to continue with where his thoughts were going…he’d seen that look before. From people who’d sworn to tell the truth and had just realized they were about to be asked questions that would pry into an area of their life they didn’t want to talk about.

“It’s time to stand up, Wyatt. Stand up and let’s park that scooter.”

“You’re right.” She didn’t want to talk about her personal life and had come here for a job to escape talking and thinking about her breakup. Wyatt reminded himself that he was her work. Not her friend or her keeper. He was her client.

And he’d do well to remember that.

There was an uneasy tension between them. It ran just beneath the surface of their cordiality, as if she was afraid if he studied her hard enough he’d see all the way through her.

It made her uncomfortable.

“That’s as far as it will go,” Wyatt said on Thursday morning. It had been four days since he’d started using the walker.

She smiled encouragement. “Don’t worry, you’re coming along great. Okay, stand and do the weights.” She watched him stand up. He was growing stronger by the day. She handed him the five-pound weights he would use to strengthen the rotator cuff and stabilize it.

“How did you sleep last night?” she asked, watching as he held the weight in his hand, kept his arm close to his body, elbow tucked in at his side, and then swept the weight out and away from his body. She touched his elbow to make sure he kept it motionless. “That’s good.” She watched him do his repetitions. “Sleep?” she asked when he’d set the weights down and turned toward her. Weariness met her eyes as she looked up at him.

“Rough,” he admitted. “But that’s nothing new. This thing is just uncomfortable as all get-out at night.”

“Are you placing the pillows like I showed you?”

“Yes, it’s helped some.” He was staring down at her, searching her eyes. It felt personal. She was so close to him that she felt the heat of his arm against hers. Her mouth went dry and her pulse quickened. This was trouble. He was her patient—racing pulses were totally off-limits. Bottomless stomachs and breathlessness were, too. She backed up—so quickly she ran into the weight rack. It wobbled and she stumbled as she reached down to steady it, but Wyatt’s hand closed securely around her arm.

“Easy there. We don’t need you falling and hurting yourself.” His blue eyes bored into hers before dropping to her mouth. “We would be in a mess, both hobbling around here.”

Her skin burned—of course it did—where his fingers closed around her arm. She couldn’t have formed a coherent sentence to save her life. All she could do was nod up at him.

“You don’t sleep much yourself.” His voice was as smooth as his hand was steady. His gaze lifted back to hers.

“What do you mean?”

“The jogging at sunrise, that’s what.”

She smiled tightly. “It’s something I love to do. No big deal.”

“No big deal. You and I both know you running is a big deal for you—and impressive. You’re gone hours.”

He’d really been watching her. The thought pleased her more than she could have known. “Why have you been paying so much attention?”

His lips curved gently and he dipped his chin as if talking to a child. “Amanda, I pay attention because you’re alone in my pasture in the wee hours of the morning. I worry about you. I like to know you get back safely.”

“I’m safe.” Amanda took a breath and tried to calm the butterflies rolling around in her stomach as disappointment washed over her—he was concerned because she was on his property.

For a moment she’d thought—
hold it, sister, just one minute there
—what had she thought? That he was watching out of concern for her because he
cared?

The very idea sent her into a tailspin. Yes, she was attracted to Wyatt like she’d never been attracted to anyone…not even Jonathan. But she’d just been engaged—dumped didn’t matter—she’d been engaged and now she was seriously having thoughts of another man this soon after thinking she’d been in love. What kind of woman did that make her?’

No, Wyatt was wonderful, handsome, built like a dream and deserved better than she could give him—so why was she even thinking about that? Besides, she knew now that she could never risk being rejected again. She needed to keep her head on straight and remember this was a patient/client relationship and would never be anything more.

“You’re doing good with this exercise,” she said.

“You’re building strength, and you should be feeling relief soon. Like I tell my kids, no matter what you do, keeping good muscle tone is the secret key.”

“I’m not complaining.” He continued with his exercise, slowly going through different sets of exercises she’d shown him.

“So the kids you worked with were mostly amputees like you?” Wyatt asked after a few repetitions.

“Yes. I loved working—I mean, I used to enjoy working with the kids because they’d been through so much and it was an awesome feeling to be able to ease some of their fears of the unknown and also prepare them for life after their loss.”

“I bet that was rewarding.” He paused and studied her.

What did she say to that? It had been rewarding until the reality hit her that she could never have her own children. “It was. I didn’t like it when insurance coverage ran out and I had to leave before I felt like they were ready.”

He set the weights down and eased into the cane-backed chair at the table. “Did that happen a lot?”

She huffed with frustration. “Too often. Amputees—uninsured and insured alike—have a hard time with the expense of prosthetics. I’ve always wished I could do more. But I haven’t figured out how to do that. I could only give them as much help as I could in the time I was there and leave them with an in-depth plan of action for when I was gone. That and my phone number in case they had any questions. It seems to work fairly well.”

“You sound really dedicated. I’m amazed you decided to move to working with adults. Sounds like those kids really need you out there showing them the way.”

Why had she even let this conversation get started? Her mouth was dry as she tried to look unshaken by his words.

“There was a lot of stress. I’ve been comfortable with the decision I made.”

His gaze seemed to sharpen as he studied her with piercing eyes.

“What are you not saying?”

She stood up and glanced at her watch. The session was over. “I’m not saying anything except that you did a great job today and should be proud. You did great on your walking exercises, too. Keep it up and before you know it I’ll be handing you a cane.”

The expression on his face told her that he wasn’t fooled by her. “Sounds like a plan,” he said, much to her relief.

She would eventually grow more at ease talking about this. Surely the pain she felt about losing her ability to carry a child would ease. At least to where she could function and have a conversation about it.

“My back and hip are feeling better every day, I have to admit,” Wyatt said a week later. He was practically giving himself a pep talk! She was proud of him.

“And you are using a cane. Don’t forget that.”

“That is correct,” he said in that way of his as he held up the cane. “Thanks to you, I’m almost a brand-new man.”

His smile was a dazzler and sent butterflies fluttering inside Amanda. “That’s good to hear,” she croaked, trying to ignore the growing attraction and feelings toward him. “H-how about your shoulder? Start your exercise and tell me how it feels today.” She zeroed in on his shoulder and avoided his gaze. He placed his pointer finger and index finger on the wall like she’d shown him. Starting at shoulder level, he slowly walked them upward along the wall. His shoulder extension was improving incrementally.

She watched as he did the exercise again. She still couldn’t believe the change in him since Sunday a week ago. “Good,” she said. “This time continue higher if you can.”

He nodded and concentrated hard on extending his arm higher.

Ever since he’d found out about her amputation, he’d been different. He worked hard, complained less and was easier to get along with. He’d told her what she’d said had done him good. That he’d needed to hear it. But she could also tell that he felt remorse about her leg as if he felt guilty he’d complained.

They’d been working hard. Wyatt wanted to be ready for Cole’s wedding, but it also seemed that he worked hard to please her—or maybe to make her feel better. It was almost as if he didn’t want her to feel like he was taking her for granted. Why she got that feeling she wasn’t sure—maybe it was because he’d been so careful to thank her. So careful not to complain.

Even so, that hadn’t stopped him from trying to find out more about her. As if he wanted her to talk about Jonathan…as if he thought talking might help her. And it had almost worked several times—he was an expert at leading the conversation toward her. She could see where this uncanny ability of his would come in handy in his career choice. But she had been equally determined to not go there if at all possible. She was struggling as it was with finding her footing, and so she’d led all conversations right back to something general.

Each time, he’d backed off with a small smile. A smile that told her he knew she was evading him. It was a challenge not to let herself spill her every troubled heartache to him.

“You’ve been working overtime,” he said, drawing her thoughts back to the moment. “But I’ve been behaving and doing just what the doctor ordered.”

She gave him a thumbs-up. “Yes, you have. Now let’s see you walk across the room with just this cane. Take it slow. We are pressing things a bit, but I know you can do it.”