“I doubt you’re going to die, Gracie. But I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Cody slung his leg off the four-wheeler and jogged to the ranch house.
Addy and Mia were both in the kitchen when he got inside. “Hey, Addy, sounds like Gracie Langston has a fever and is asking if we can come check her out so she doesn’t die before the doctor’s office opens on Monday. You free?”
“Dying, huh?” Addy chuckled, knowing her neighbor’s hypochondriac tendencies. “Yeah, I can go with you. Watch the boys for me?” Addy asked Mia.
“Sure thing,” Mia replied.
“And will you call Jesse and let him know I’ll be back as soon as I can?” Cody asked.
“Of course. And if Dad needs me to go help plow, I’ll call Nana to come babysit until you get back. And if Gracie has to go to the hospital, you can bring Fifi and her puppies home with you. I’ll babysit them until she gets well.”
“Oh, no!” Addy shook her head. “If those dogs come to the ranch, you’ll never let them go back. If Gracie has to be away for a few days, she can hire someone to go to her house and take care of her animals.”
Addy tossed Cody the keys to her SUV and grabbed a sweater on her way out the door. “I saw Stevie’s van leaving a few minutes ago. Where’s she off to?”
“Glen Watson needs a cow checked for something or other, so she’s on her way to Dodd City,” Cody said as he got into the SUV and started the engine. “Do you remember me talking about Nate?”
“Your doctor buddy?” Addy asked.
“He called this morning, and…” He told her what Nate had offered him as they drove into town.
“Are you thinking about taking him up on it?” Addy asked.
“I told him no,” Cody said. “Dad might need more and more medical help. Jesse needs me on the ranch. It takes both of us to do what Dad used to do on his own. Before long, we’ll be hiring summer help and then…” He paused. “There’s this thing with Stevie.”
“But your heart kind of aches for the job, doesn’t it?” Addy asked. “I remember when I first came to the ranch. I missed nursing so much. I knew I was doing good here as a personal nurse to Sonny, and the ranch was a good fit for Mia. But…” She shrugged. “All I can say is it wasn’t easy. These days, at least, I get to be your nurse. But don’t ever let me keep you from doing what your heart is telling you to do.”
Cody hadn’t even thought of how taking the job would affect Addy. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere,” he assured her. “There will always be job opportunities, but right now I want to spend all the time that I can with Dad.” He parked in front of Gracie’s house and took his doctor bag from the back seat.
Gracie met them at the door and motioned for them to come on into the house. Pink floral paper covered the walls. Frilly lace curtains hung over the windows. Doilies were under every lamp, on top of every table, and even graced the backs and arms of her rose-colored sofa.
“Where do you want me so you can check my throat and lungs?” she asked. “I’m so afraid that you’re going to call an ambulance and send me to the hospital. My poor Fifi might grieve herself to death…” She stopped to pull a tissue free from a box and sneeze into it. “If I’m not here to take care of her.”
“Let’s set you on a kitchen chair,” Addy suggested, and brought one out to the middle of the living room floor.
Cody took her blood pressure and temperature. “Low-grade fever, but your blood pressure is good. Let’s take a look at that throat and listen to your lungs.
“Quite a bit of drainage going on there,” he said, then put the stethoscope on her back. “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Again. One more time. Lungs are good. I think you’ve got a good old common cold. You just have to let it run its course. I want you to take a vitamin C every day, and a Tylenol every four hours to help with the achy feeling. If you aren’t feeling a bit better in forty-eight hours, call me, and Addy and I will check on you again.”
“I’m so relieved that I don’t have to leave Fifi,” Gracie sighed. “Her sweet little baby girls are too young to be left without a mother.”
“Okay, then, call if you need us again.” Addy patted Gracie on the back. “I’m sure you’ll feel better in a couple of days. We send out bills at the end of the month, but if you want to pay us today, then…” She told her the amount.
Gracie looked at her like she was crazy for just a moment, then shuffled over to a desk covered with figurines and wrote out a check. “I wasn’t thinking about you charging since you don’t have a real clinic.”
“But he is a real doctor, and you didn’t have to get out and drive to Bonham to the emergency room where they would have charged you twice this amount. You did say the clinic here in town couldn’t see you until Monday, right?” Addy asked.
“I expect you are right,” Gracie said. “I remember when doctors used to come to the house all the time.”
“Take care of yourself. Lots of liquids and rest,” Addie said.
Gracie waved them away with a dirty look.
When they reached the SUV, Addy fastened her seat belt and asked, “Now that emergency is over, what is this thing you were talking about with Stevie? Are y’all more than friends?”
“I’m not real sure what we are right now,” Cody said. “We flirt. We’re comfortable around each other, but there’s a sizzle there too. What does all that mean?”
“That the two of you are very attracted to each other,” Addy said with a smile.
* * *
Glen Watson was one of those old farmers who wore bibbed overalls, chambray shirts buttoned all the way up to the top, and a straw cowboy hat no matter what the season was, and who always had a smile. And he never left her side when Stevie was taking care of his livestock.
“Want to come in for a cup of coffee or a piece of pie?” he asked when Stevie had finished checking his milk cow and vaccinating her.
“Thank you, but I’d better be getting on back to the ranch,” she answered. “You tell Linda I said hello.”
“Will do, and you do the same for me to Sonny.” He lowered his chin and looked up at her over the top of his glasses. “And, honey, don’t you pay no mind to all these old women and their gossiping. What goes on between you and Cody Ryan is your business.”
“Thanks for that too,” Stevie said, and smiled.
Glen walked her out to the van. “I was right sorry to hear that you have to tear down your mama’s house. I understand you kind of fell through the floor and cut your leg up real bad. That why you’re limpin’?”
“Yes, sir.” Stevie got in behind the wheel.
“Well, you just drag that sumbitch if you have to, girl. We need us a vet like you around these parts, someone who will come when we call and not tell us we have to bring our animals to town for them to check. You will just bill me at the end of the month like always, right?” Glen asked.
“I sure will,” she answered.
He shut the door for her, then stood back and waved until she couldn’t see him in the rearview anymore. “I can’t leave folks like Glen,” she said as she turned left onto the county road leading back to the ranch. “I’m just now building up a decent practice here in Honey Grove.”