Читать книгу Rocky Mountain Reunion - Tina Radcliffe - Страница 12

Chapter Four

“They’re here,” Aunt Lily called. Excitement bubbled over in her voice. “Oh, hurry, hurry.”

“I’m right behind you.” Anne smoothed her hair and took a deep breath as her aunt pulled back the heavy, paneled curtains for another peek.

“My, isn’t he handsome?” Lily said, cocking her head to the side. “He looks a little familiar. Do I know him?”

Anne swallowed and began a hasty prayer under her breath.

“Oh, look they brought their dog,” she announced.

“He’s a big fellow.”

“Yes. Six foot three.”

Lily laughed. “I meant the dog.” She turned to Anne and smiled. “My, you look lovely, dear.”

“Thank you.” Anne glanced down at her black slacks and rose-print blouse and removed a small thread. She tucked her hair behind her ear and fussed with her bangs.

She’d obsessed over what to wear this morning, finally deciding to go casual yet professional. However, confidence in her apparel and being fully prepared to instruct on Type 1 Diabetes still failed to take the edge off her churning stomach or to still her trembling hands.

When the doorbell rang Aunt Lily carefully maneuvered her walker down the short hall. She straightened her dress and pushed her shoulders back, ready to greet her guests. A huge grin lit up her elfin face as Anne opened the door.

“Hello, hello,” Lily brightly called.

Behind the screen stood Matt, bigger than life on crutches, with Claire by his side, her arms protectively crossed. A pink backpack with all her diabetic supplies hung from her wrist. Stanley panted eagerly, ready for action, though he obediently waited on the sidewalk, his tail slapping the cement.

“Ma’am.” Matt nodded and met Anne’s gaze. His was apologetic and revealed the depth of his nervousness. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

“It’s not a problem.” She smiled at his daughter. “How are you feeling, Claire?”

“Better,” the little girl murmured.

“Aunt Lily, this is Mr. Clark and his daughter, Claire.”

“How wonderful to meet you,” Aunt Lily said with enough perky energy and enthusiasm to cover the potential awkwardness of the moment.

Confusion registered on Matt’s face as he stared at Lily. He quickly regrouped.

“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Gray.”

“Call me Lily. Oh, we’re going to be friends. I can see that.” She glanced at his ankle boot and crutches. “What happened?”

“A little accident.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Still looking perplexed, Matt held up a dog dish and a water bottle. “Would it be okay for Stanley to wait out here?”

“We can do better than that,” Lily said. “The backyard has a little gazebo. He could wait there and have some shade.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“I like your house,” Claire said, her gaze moving past Anne and Lily to peek down the long front hall.

“Well, thank you, dear. It is very special.”

“Claire says it reminds her of a castle,” Matt added.

“A castle?” Lily smiled at the girl. “You’re very right. That’s exactly what my grandmother had in mind when the house was built for her.”

Lily turned to Anne. “Why don’t you show Mr. Clark and his dog the way to the backyard? This young lady and I will meet you there. I’ll give her a little tour of our home along the way.”

Claire’s eyes widened with delight and Anne could only blink with pleasant surprise at her aunt’s take-charge attitude as she held open the door and ushered Claire in. Today Aunt Lily was very lucid and Anne couldn’t help but wonder if it was Claire who was responsible.

“Your aunt isn’t exactly what I remembered,” Matt said as he tucked his crutches beneath his arms.

“Ten years is a long time. And as I recall, you had about twenty minutes in her presence.”

“Yeah, well, as I recall, twenty minutes was pretty much all I needed.”

Anne could hardly refute his words. Her aunt had been ruthless in her dismissal of Matt, forbidding Anne from contacting him in any way, shape or form.

The two of them were silent as Stanley led the way, trotting gingerly on the wide, shale paver path along the side of the house and pausing on occasion to wait for Matt to catch up on his crutches.

Were they both thinking of the past?

“Your aunt really doesn’t remember me?”

“Not today she doesn’t. She has some vascular dementia and was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Some days her personality, temperament and memory fluctuate like the weather.”

He frowned. “Claire will be okay with her?”

Anne stiffened. “Yes. Of course. She’s not dangerous.”

“Sorry. I’m not familiar... I didn’t mean to imply...” He shrugged.

She knew she should say something gracious to let him off the hook, but the words eluded her. The situation was becoming more awkward by the minute, just as she’d feared.

When they passed the corner of the house, the yard came into view. Stanley was desperate for freedom and made his needs clear as he tugged on the leash and whined in an effort to reach the expansive and lush lawn spread in front of them.

The sight was one Anne never took for granted. An acre of green grass that rivaled any golf course stretched all the way from the house to a border of dense trees.

“Wow, that’s quite a yard. How do you get the grass so green?” he asked.

“My aunt spent years cultivating just the right mixture of seed and fertilizer. She used to mow it with a riding mower herself. Now we pay a local kid to take care of it. But this yard is her pride and joy.”

“All this is your property?”

She nodded. “On the right we’re bordered by those apple trees and lilac bushes.” She pointed left and smiled. “That old barn is on the property line to the left.”

“No fence?”

She scoffed. “Would you fence in this beauty? We don’t have any close neighbors on this side of the road, except an occasional family of deer, so why bother?”

“Good point,” he said, suddenly frowning in thought.

When he shifted his stance Anne glanced down at his walking boot. “How’s the ankle?”

“Annoying.”

“Then I imagine it would be a waste of time for me to mention you should be taking it easy for the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours until the swelling goes down.”

“You would be correct.”

Anne resisted a smile. Stubborn. That hadn’t changed, either.

Stanley’s whining became urgent and this time his tugs on the leash were accompanied by low groans of impatience. “Okay to let him run? He can barely stand being on this leash.”

“I don’t blame him. Of course. Let him have some fun.”

Matt held both crutches with one hand and knelt to release the leash. Immediately, Stanley shot forward, nearly knocking Matt off his feet. The crutches dropped to the ground and he pitched forward.

Anne grabbed the tail of Matt’s shirt, yanking him back from a certain fate with the ground, as he, too, struggled for his balance.

“Whoa. Thanks,” he said as he righted himself.

When she picked the crutches up from the ground and handed them to him their hands brushed. She nodded, her face warming at the brief touch.

For minutes they both stared quietly at Stanley, a diversion from the awkwardness of the moment. The Lab raced down to the woods, then ran in circles, barking as he chased a bird that soared across the clear blue summer sky overhead.

“That’s one happy dog,” Anne commented.

“We’re renting a house in town with only a small patch of grass.”

“I wish we had a dog to take advantage of this yard.”

“Why don’t you?” he asked. “There are plenty of animals waiting to be rescued and loved at local shelters. That’s where we got Stanley.”

“It’s not that simple. I have a challenging work schedule. I’m constantly on call to back up my team.”