The Comforts of Home (43 page)

Not that he wanted to. He wanted to die and lie next to his wife in the cemetery. He just wasn’t able to kil himself. It bothered him that he was just one breath away from her. Al he needed to do was not breathe and he’d be with his Lori.

Only God had played a trick on them. He’d made Lori fragile and him strong as a bul . She couldn’t make it to her twenty-seventh birthday and, with his bad luck, he’d probably live to be a hundred. Maybe if he kept drinking and fighting, one night someone would get lucky and put him out of his misery.

The blood dripping off his forehead bothered him enough to make him climb out of his pickup and head for the emergency room door. He didn’t much care about the pain, but he hated bleeding al over everything. He’d get a doc to stitch up the cut and then he’d go back to his farm and drink until he washed memories away and final y slept.

Through the blood, he saw Nurse Veasey. She was frowning at him. Hel , he thought, she was always frowning at him. “Evenin’, Georgia,” he said, thinking she had that same look when she first saw him sitting next to her in the second grade more than twenty years ago.

“Shut up, Tinch. I don’t even want to talk to you.” She grabbed his shirt and pul ed him toward the first little examining room. “Didn’t I tel you I’d beat you up myself if you came in here after a fight again? I swear if there were two like you in this town we’d have to build another wing onto the hospital.”

Despite a headache the size of a mustang bucking in his brain, Tinch smiled. “You did threaten me last time, Georgia, and the fear of it kept me away for weeks, I swear.”

She slapped him on the arm and he thought of suggesting that might not be protocol for nurses, but Tinch decided to wait until he could see to run before he upset her more. He’d gone to school with her and her two sisters.

Al three were good girls determined to make the world a better place, or at least improve Harmony. Maryland taught school, Virginia married a preacher, and Georgia became a nurse. They were women on missions. The type Tinch had spent his life avoiding.

“Sit down on the table and keep quiet,” Georgia said as she shoved his chin back and poked around the wound running the length of his forehead. “It doesn’t look al that bad. If you had any brains, they would have dribbled out a long time ago. I’l send in the doctor.”

“Aren’t you going to give me something for the pain?” She shook her head. “Judging from your breath, you’ve already had enough.” She tossed him a towel. “Try not to bleed on anything.”

Tinch grinned. “Thanks, darlin’.”

“Don’t you dare
darlin’
me, Tinch Turner. You’re a walking one-man demolition derby. Stay here; I’ve got people who care about themselves to take care of.” She was gone before he could bother her more. Tinch shrugged. He liked
the states
, as everyone cal ed her and her sisters, but he had a feeling they were passing around a petition to have him banned from town. Maryland had told him the last time she saw him that the way he drove was a bad influence on her high school students, and Virginia had been praying for him for so long, her knees were probably cal oused.

Tinch lay back on the examining table, wishing he’d brought the rest of the bottle of whiskey with him. When the door opened, he didn’t even look up. He was just about beyond caring for anything or anyone in his life.

“Mr. Turner, I’m Dr. Spencer,” someone said as she moved close to the table.

Tinch opened one eye, but he couldn’t see much through al the blood.

“Lie stil and I’l take a look at that cut.” He didn’t move as she cleaned the blood away with a warm towel. “Any chance it’s fatal?” he mumbled.

The al -business voice answered, “Afraid not. You al ergic to anything?”

He closed his eyes. “Work. Women. Hospitals.” He felt a shot poke into his arm. “Silence. Snakes. And Wednesdays. I hate Wednesdays. And kids.” He thought of more things he was al ergic to, but he couldn’t seem to get the words out.

For a few moments he knew the doctor was stil there.

He felt her pushing his hair away from his forehead like Lori used to do. He could almost see Lori smiling at him, saying she wanted to see his beautiful blues better. She claimed she could measure his love for her in his eyes and he’d never doubted she could.

Lori’s face faded and he dropped away into blackness.

Titles by Jodi Thomas

THE COMFORTS OF HOME

SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY

WELCOME TO HARMONY

REWRITING MONDAY

TWISTED CREEK

TEXAS BLUE

THE LONE TEXAN

TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN

TEXAS PRINCESS

TEXAS RAIN

THE TEXAN’S REWARD

A TEXAN’S LUCK

WHEN A TEXAN GAMBLES

THE TEXAN’S WAGER

TO WED IN TEXAS

TO KISS A TEXAN

THE TENDER TEXAN

PRAIRIE SONG

THE TEXAN AND THE LADY

TO TAME A TEXAN’S HEART

FOREVER IN TEXAS

TEXAS LOVE SONG

TWO TEXAS HEARTS

TWO TEXAS HEARTS

THE TEXAN’S TOUCH

TWILIGHT IN TEXAS

THE TEXAN’S DREAM