Far Country (23 page)

           
Steve nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”  

           
A few minutes later Pete wandered into the kitchen, his towel draped over his
shoulders. Chuck got up and poured him a glass of tea.  As they all sat at
the table, Steve studied Pete’s expression.  “Are you still mad?” He asked
at last.

           
Pete shook his head. “It was a stupid thing to say.”

           
“It was stupid,” Steve agreed.

           
 “Just don’t do it again,” Pete warned him seriously.

           
Steve raised his right hand.  “Promise.”

           
Pete grinned at him and Steve grinned back, feeling as if his world had just
regained balance. When Deborah came downstairs at last, still toweling her
shoulder length hair, the three men were busy talking about the last
Nascar
race.

           
She eyed them as if they had been caught playing hooky from school. 
“Don’t tell me you two are ready to go?”

           
“Just waiting on you,” Chuck said.

           
“Chuck, you get first shift.” Pete informed him.

           
“No surprise there,” Chuck grumbled.  He rolled his eyes at Steve. “I get
to chauffer the ‘Love Bug’.”  He gave Deborah and Pete a long suffering
sigh.  “Promise me you won’t be making disgusting kissy noises in the back
seat?” He begged, looking from Deborah to Pete.

           
Pete reached out and took Deborah’s hand.  She leaned against his chair,
resting her hand on his shoulder.  “You’re driving first, Chuck, because
you slept all the way here, remember?” Pete reminded him calmly. “Not just so
Deb and I can make out in the back seat.”

           
“No, but what a lucky coincidence, huh?” Chuck muttered to Steve.

           
Pete smiled serenely, kissing Deborah’s hand. “You know you’re just jealous,”
he told Chuck.

           
Chuck looked at Steve again. “How do you like that?” He said in mock disgust.
“Using my own lines against me!”

           
“Bummer,” Steve agreed with a straight face.

           
Deborah collected the wet towels kissing the top of Pete’s dark head as she
slipped his off his shoulders. “I’m throwing these in the washer,” she told
Steve, heading for the little utility room off of the kitchen.  Pete
watched her walk away as if he still could not believe his good fortune.

           
Chuck glanced down and studied the ice pack on Steve’s knee, noting the cane
leaning against the chair. “How bad?” He asked quietly.

           
“Not too bad,” Steve lied, praying he was wrong.

           
Chuck pushed back his chair and called out loudly.  “All right, class. The
bus is pulling out in five minutes. Last call for potty break, ‘cause I’m not
stopping.”

           
Leaning heavily on his cane for support, Steve limped to the door to say
goodbye. Deborah lingered behind the others, worry lines creasing her smooth
freckled forehead.

           
“You won’t like hearing this,” she told him abruptly. “But it’s such a strange
coincidence, I’m afraid there’s more to it. You should be careful.”

           
Steve raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. He waited while she struggled
with her thoughts for several seconds.  Finally, she took a deep breath.

           
“David and I may have broken up a long time ago, but I still hear things about
him. No matter how he tried to make it sound that day in the parking lot he
hasn’t spent the last couple of years pining after me. In fact, he didn’t stay
single for long, and he’s dated several girls then. Last summer while I was
home, Navy Relief sponsored a blood drive.  A bunch of us went on base to
give blood. This tall blonde nurse hooked me up, and then she went on her break.

           
“Steve, while I was lying there, I saw David come in, and this nurse met him at
the door and took him off behind the screen so it wouldn’t be obvious to
everyone, but it was pretty clear that they were seeing each other
romantically.”

           
Deborah paused. “He didn’t see me, and I am pretty sure she had no idea who I
was.” She smiled up at Steve. “I didn’t really care anymore, but when you break
up with someone in a town the size of Jacksonville, everyone seems to go out of
their way to tell you what your ex is up to. Beth Stewart was the name of that
nurse, and I had it from several sources that they were dating hot and heavy,
right up until his deployment.”

           
Deborah gave Steve a rueful smile. “It’s no secret that I thought you and I
would be together one day, but I swear Steve, this is not sour grapes! 
What are the chances that you would wind up dating the same girl that David was
seeing?”

           
Steve was stunned. “You really are sure of this?” He asked

           
Deborah shrugged.  “That’s one reason I didn’t want to say anything
earlier. I guess I could be wrong, but I know that I’m not.”

           
Steve took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  “Okay, then,” he answered.

           
Deborah looked at him suspiciously.  He was too calm.  “What are you
going to do?” She asked

           
Steve shrugged. “What can I do? If it is true, it’s a really ironic joke, don’t
you think?

           
“Steve, how can you just dismiss this?” Deborah protested. “What if David finds
out and does something stupid?”

           
“There’s no reason, Deb, to think that Beth knows anything about David and me.
If she’s still dating David, then why would she risk messing around with
me?  They must have broken up after you saw them at the blood drive,”
Steve told her firmly.  “I can’t see how this is some kind of evil plot.
At most it’s sheer coincidence.”

           
They stared at each other for a moment. Deborah could see that there was no
point in saying more.  Steve seemed determined to dismiss her fears.

           
Steve seemed to understand what she was thinking. “Thanks for telling me,
though,” he assured her. “I promise I will be careful.” He gave her a lopsided
grin.  “At the least it will save us from an awkward moment in a parking
lot.”

           
Deborah attempted to return his smile, but her breath caught in her throat in a
tiny sob of regret. For just a moment, Steve could feel the stirrings of the
old electricity between them, but just as quickly it faded into a ghostly
memory.  He gently touched her cheek. “You’d better go,” he reminded
her.  “Pete’s waiting for you.”

           
Still Deborah lingered.  “What about your knee, Steve? Is it going to be
all right?” She asked anxiously.

           
“You know me,” he answered back with bravado. “I overdid  it at the beach
– aggravated it some. But I’ll be fine. This is just a small setback.  I’m
coming back to Hanging Rock,” he said with absolute certainty.

           
“Right.” Deborah seemed slightly reassured by his assertion. She looked out the
window in the door.  Pete stood by the SUV, leaning on the door
frame. 
Waiting for her
.  Her heart did a joyful flip when he
looked up and caught her watching him. Her legs turned to jelly when he smiled.
How had she been so blind to him before?
She wondered again.

           
“Call when you get back tonight, okay?” Steve asked.

Deborah nodded, surprised to
find she was still standing at the door. “Sure,” she replied a little
distractedly. She kissed Steve’s cheek lightly. “See you soon, then.  Let
us know what the doctor tells you.” Then she turned and hurried down the steps
to Pete. 

           
A moment later Steve waved cheerfully as Chuck maneuvered the SUV out of the
driveway, and disappeared around the corner of his subdivision.  As soon
as the SUV disappeared, Steve limped into the living room and slumped onto the
couch, feeling completely drained. Deborah’s words had upset him more than he’d
let her see. Once again, David was intruding into his life.

           
What if Deb was right about Beth? What
were
the chances of this being a
coincidence? Steve rubbed his head. It was throbbing almost as strongly as his
knee. Everything he tried to do seemed to bring him back to face David in one
way or another. Would this nightmare ever end?

           
Steve stared glumly at the x-ray on the wall of the examination room. He barely
heard Doctor Tate scolding him.  The words were unnecessary.  The x-ray
laid the facts out in black and white.  Despite his brave words to
Deborah, Steve had known in his heart that he’d done more than simply aggravate
the old injuries; he’d added a new one. The wave that had twisted and tossed
him around had caused him to tear some cartilage. The bottom line was that he
would need several more weeks of therapy and healing before he could hope to
return to Hanging Rock. He would be very lucky if he didn’t end up having
surgery to stabilize the region…

           
Surgery? Again?
Steve groaned in dismay. He had had to have surgery
initially, and he knew how long it had taken for him to really recover from
it.  After working so hard, and after being so careful, one careless
afternoon had put him back almost to square one!

           
Thoroughly depressed, Steve thanked the doctor, picked up his cane and limped
to the waiting room.  Beth was there, paging through a dog eared copy of a
travel magazine. She smiled as she caught sight of him, but sobered instantly
as she read the taut expression on his face.  Silently he followed her out
to her car and collapsed on the seat.

           
“So?” She asked him as she turned the key and backed out of the parking lot.

           
Steve stared out the window gloomily. “I tore the medial cartilage around my
knee,” he answered shortly.

           
Beth sighed. “I was afraid it was something like that. It’s so swollen.”

           
“Yeah, I’ve got some ‘scripts to fill, and I get to use a ‘state of the art’
cryogenically cooled wrap.” He gave a bitter laugh. “No simple bag of ice for
me this time.

           
Beth’s blue eyes shadowed with sympathy. “How far does this set you back?”

           
Steve clenched the door handle in bitter frustration. “If I’m a good boy and do
all of my exercises, and am very careful and extremely lucky, six to eight
weeks. Maybe. He’s still threatening me with surgery.”

           
“Well, let’s hope
your
lucky then,” Beth replied
grimly.

           
“Yeah, let’s hope,” Steve mumbled. For the next thirty minutes as Beth drove
him to the pharmacy and back to his house, Steve studied her surreptitiously.
Was Deborah right? Had she been the nurse that David got ‘hot and heavy’ with
after breaking up with Deborah? What were the chances he would be involved
somehow with two girls that had been in relationships with his former best
friend? And Beth, what did she know? Anything at all? Steve wracked his brain
but could not come up with a motive for Beth.

           
Steve shook his head. She was fun, good natured, sexy and sympathetic. They
shared a lot of interests. Suspecting her of some sinister ulterior motive
seemed ludicrous and ungrateful! No, Deborah meant well, and there was no doubt
it was weird, but Steve was sure that she was wrong about Beth.

           
Beth followed him into the house, carrying his prescriptions and the cryogenic
icepack. She collected pillows from his bedroom, spread out a clean sheet and
made him a comfortable daybed on the living room couch. Chatting about simple
things, she set up the cryogenic unit and arranged the pillows comfortably
under his back and leg. After rummaging in the kitchen cabinets for a few
minutes, she reappeared with a plate of peanut butter crackers and a huge glass
of milk.

           
“Beth, you don’t have to do all of this,” Steve admonished her, a smile coming
reluctantly to his lips as she bustled around the house.

           
“Nonsense,” she told him airily. What kind of friend would I be if I just
dumped you on your doorstep and left you to fend for yourself? Your mom won’t
be home for hours yet!”

           
“You’d be a good friend who had already done more than was necessary,” he
answered her seriously. “I could have driven to the appointment myself.”

           
Beth snorted in a most unladylike way. “Sure,” she agreed, setting up a TV tray
by the couch and placing the snacks on it. “I’d feel really safe knowing
there’s a crazy guy out there driving around with his leg so messed up he
couldn’t possibly step on the brake in an emergency. This is self preservation,
buddy.”

           
She fished the TV remote out from under a chair and added it to his table, then
straightened up and placed her hands on her hips. Her blue eyes were teasing
and absolutely guileless. “Anything else I can get you before I go?” She asked

           
Steve shook his head, his mood lightened by her kindness and care. “Nope.
Thanks, mom.”