Mason was in the hall near the front door.
Damn.
He cocked a brow. “Leaving?”
She swallowed past the dry prairie in her throat. “Yes. I have . . . things to do in Dallas.”
“Uh huh.” He grabbed her bags. “I’ll go put these in the car for you.”
Jolene let out a disgusted sound. “I can’t believe this. He’s just going to let you go.”
Valerie turned to her sister. “He knows not to push me.”
Brea shook her head. “He knows what a stubborn pain in the ass you are.”
Jolene stepped in front of her, and Valerie wasn’t sure she’d ever seen her sister look that angry.
“Look, Valerie. You’re my big sister and I love you. But this time you are wrong. Dead wrong. You’ll regret running away and not facing your feelings about Mason, about being here at the ranch again, and how you really feel about treating the people of our community.”
Valerie lifted her chin. “I know how I feel about all those things, and none of them have anything to do with my leaving.”
Jolene grabbed her and hugged her, then whispered in her ear, “Physician, heal thyself.” She kissed her on the cheek, then walked away.
Brea hugged her, pulled away, sadness evident in her downturned lips. “Don’t go, Val. This is a mistake. You can’t run away from everyone and everything you love. They’ll all still be there no matter how far you go.” Brea fisted her hand and held it to her heart. “Right there. You can’t escape it.”
Valerie’s eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. “I have to.”
Brea stepped out of her way, and Valerie hurried to her car, half expecting to see Mason waiting for her. She dreaded the inevitable confrontation.
He wasn’t there. Her bags were in the trunk, but Mason was nowhere to be found.
She ignored the knot of disappointment tightening in her chest. This was what she wanted and she was grateful he wasn’t making it difficult for her to leave. She slid into the driver’s seat and headed down the long drive, watching the horses and cattle grazing in the pastures. She swiped away the tears that rolled down her cheeks, ignored the agonized pain ripping through her at the thought of leaving all this behind.
It hadn’t been this hard leaving two years ago. Why now? How had she become so ingrained in this place again in such a short time?
She shook her head. It didn’t matter. She was making the right decision. The ranch held nothing but pain for her. She and Mason would never work. She wasn’t a country doctor. She was supposed to live in the city. That’s where her life, her future, was.
A truck pulled into the entrance to the ranch just as she reached the end. Whoever it was climbed out and waved his hands wildly over his head. Valerie jerked to a stop and he ran over to her.
It was Red Mitchell, one of the ranch owners who lived nearby.
“Dr. Valerie, I’m so glad I caught you before you drove off.”
He was panting, his face beet red like always, mostly due to him being about a hundred fifty pounds overweight.
“What’s wrong, Red?”
“It’s Mama. She’s fallen on the floor and I can’t wake her up.”
“I’ll follow you.”
He tottered over to his truck and climbed in. Valerie drove behind him the few miles down the road to his ranch. As soon as they pulled up in front of his one-story house, Valerie threw the car in park, hopped out and went to the trunk to retrieve her medical bag.
“She’s in her bedroom, on the floor,” Red said, panting and struggling to keep up. “Straight down the hall, last room on the right.”
Valerie didn’t bother waiting for him, just ran through the front door and found Red’s mother, Eugenia, on the floor of her bedroom. She dropped to her knees, put on latex gloves, then tapped Eugenia a few times, called her name, but no response. She was still unconscious, her skin pale and sweaty.
She got out her stethoscope and blood pressure monitor. BP was low, heart rate too fast.
By then Red was in the doorway, breathing heavy.
“Red, sit down on that chair before you pass out, too.”
Red fell into a nearby rocker.
“Has she been sick?” She felt Eugenia’s pulse.
“She’s diabetic. Doesn’t follow her diet too good.”
Shit. That had to be it. “What did she eat today?”
“Don’t know. I was out plowin’ most of the day, but Mama said she was feelin’ poorly so she wasn’t all that hungry.”
Valerie dug into her bag and pulled out the glucose test kit. It told her immediately what she already knew—insulin shock. She grabbed glucose wafers, lifted Eugenia’s head and slipped a wafer into the side of the woman’s mouth. “Her glucose is off. Some sugar should bring her around shortly. Help me get her back into bed.”
By the time they had Eugenia settled in her bed, she was regaining consciousness. Valerie breathed a sigh of relief. Once she had Red’s mother stabilized and made sure Eugenia had had something appropriate to eat and drink, she and Red stepped out on the porch.
“You need to take her into Tulsa to see a specialist, make sure she follows the doctor’s instructions carefully.”
Red looked down at his feet. “That’s all fine, Dr. Valerie, but we ain’t got no insurance. And them city doctors is expensive. I get Mama’s insulin and all like I’m supposed to, but we can’t go see those doctors in the city all the time. Besides, who’s going to do my chores? It takes up a whole day to run Mama to the city.”
At Valerie’s pointed look, he swept his gaze to the floor again. “Okay. I’ll save up some money and take her soon as I’m able.”
Son of a bitch. She patted Red’s arm. “You do that.” But then he wouldn’t look at her, just the rickety wood floor of the porch. Well, hell. “Red, she’s going to be fine. Make sure she eats right and takes her insulin.”
He lifted his head and nodded. “I will. I promise. Thanks for comin’ out here in a hurry, Dr. Valerie. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
Feeling the idiot tears welling again, Valerie made a hasty retreat, climbed in her car and headed down the road again. When she reached the end of the road, she had a choice to make. Left turn was toward the main highway. Right turn was back to the ranch.
She chewed her fingernail and thought long and hard about which way to go. Decision time.
And for the first time in her life, she didn’t know what choice to make.
Or maybe she did. Maybe she’d always known where she really belonged, and that choice scared her more than any she’d ever made before.
ten
mason gunned the engine on the jeep, pushing it way past the speed limit for a two-lane country road in pitch-black darkness.
Red had phoned him at his house to pass along his thanks again to Valerie, saying what a great coincidence it had been to run into her at the end of the road, and how she’d saved his mother’s life.
That had been ten minutes ago. Which meant she would be getting to the end of the county line road soon. And he might just have a shot at reaching her.
Which was probably a really stupid idea, given that she’d made it damn clear she wanted to hightail it out of there. And he’d almost let her.