It's a Love Thing (31 page)

The flight crew laughed and
the tension in the air eased a bit. If only her mother could see
her now
,
Blanca
thought, cringing at how she must’ve looked with her head so close
to the man’s lap. She returned to sitting and the change of
position must’ve brought her face into better light because
Reynolds gasped and shook his head like he finally recognized
her.

“
I never dreamed in a
million years I’d be getting intimate with you,” he said in a husky
voice. “When I pulled you over the other day, I just wanted to be
the first one in town to meet the new lady doctor. I tailed you for
twenty minutes trying to think of a way to pull you over without
sounding like a complete idiot. Lucky for me your car wasn’t made
for traveling our rocky roads. I would’ve missed out on being the
first to look into those big, hazel eyes and watch the wind blowing
that golden hair around your freckled face.”

He’d pulled her over to check her out,
huh? Well, all things considered she should be flattered. The man
was, after all, a hero, a fine looking one at that. And the way he
was acting like a smitten teenager was kind of cute. Blanca knew
the drugs and mental shock were to blame for the officer’s
confession, but she couldn’t help blushing just the
same.

“
Get a room next time,
Officer Reynolds,” the pilot hollered back from his seat in the
cock-pit. “I guarantee you it will cost a whole hell-of-a-lot less
and not be nearly as painful.”

*****

Blanca had just settled into a seat in
the hospital waiting room with a cup of coffee when Max stormed in,
followed by an older man wearing dark-rimmed reading glasses and a
suit and tie. Max had said he would catch a flight with his uncle
from Garden Valley to Boise, so Blanca figured the man was his
uncle. What she didn’t figure on quickly bit her in the
butt.

“
You’re the Practitioner my
nephew said removed the bullet?” the man asked, looking over the
rim of his glasses at her. “I don’t believe the clinic is insured
for major surgery. In fact, I know it isn’t.”

Oh brother, here we
go
,
she thought.
But she had no idea where the conversation was actually headed. Not
until the man identified himself as Dr. Phelps and informed her he
would be turning her in to the State Board of Medicine and
requesting the suspension of her license immediately.

“
If my nephew suffers any
more than necessary because of your malpractice,” Phelps continued,
“I’ll make sure you never get work in any state, ever
again!”

So there it was. Not only
had Reynolds pulled her over to check out the new scenery in town,
but he also failed to mention the
crazed
physician
he’d warned her about was his
uncle. The man either had a very weird sense of humor, or one sick
sense of justice. Blanca stood and walked away. No use getting into
an argument with a patient’s family member.

Outside the hospital’s blue sign
gleamed in the night sky like a beacon of hope. She sat down on a
bench and willed herself not to cry. Hope was something she’d
usually cling to but tonight she was fresh out. She’d come to
central Idaho seeking a fresh start, a reprieve from her past, but
the way things were looking, she’d only managed to jump from the
proverbial frying pan into the fire.

Max sat down beside her and wrapped
his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him. “Don’t worry
‘bout my uncle. He’ll come around as soon as Jax is out of surgery
and on the mend.”

Blanca didn’t respond. She knew the
doctor wasn’t going to give up, even if his nephew came out of
surgery a new man. She’d met doctors like Phelps before, ones with
God complexes, those who either saw you as their equal or too far
below them to care about. There was no middle ground with doctors
like him.

“
Come on, cheer up. I
promise I’ll speak to my uncle when he’s settled down. You saved my
brother’s life, it’s the least I can do.”

She leaned into Max and closed her
eyes as a tear escaped. She was so exhausted she couldn’t think
straight. Didn’t want to think anymore…

Sometime later the tow-headed
paramedic who Max introduced as Tim, arrived in Max’s truck. Max
loaded her up and told Tim to drive her home. She didn’t remember
much of the hour and a half drive back to Crouch. She barely opened
her eyes when Longbow pulled her out of the truck and carried her
into her apartment.

The next morning she sat in the swing
on her back porch and watched the birds and insects take turns
feeding from the garden in Longbow’s half of the yard. Robins
pulled earthworms from the soil, a hummingbird flitted around the
lilac bushes, and bees buzzed around the purple daisies lining the
garden bed that looked like it was ready for planting. Usually a
scene such as this would have made Blanca smile, but not today. She
didn’t have it in her.

It was Saturday, her first day off
since starting her new job, and despite the promise of an early
summer, she couldn’t bring herself to even think about going out
and exploring the new area she’d chosen to call home. What was the
use? She probably wasn’t going to be allowed to stay long
anyway.

Longbow’s screen door opened and out
stepped the man himself. He was holding a cup of steaming coffee in
each hand. Blanca’s jaw dropped when he crossed the porch and
lowered himself beside her, handing her a cup.

“
I take it you know about
what happened yesterday,” Blanca said. “I’m not even going to ask
how you knew where find the key to my apartment.”

“
Just so you know, under
the door mat is not a good hiding spot. It’s the first place I
checked when Tim called and said he was ten minutes out.” He
studied her a minute and then asked, “Don’t you like coffee? I
thought that’s how all you city-folks got started in the
morning.”

Blanca sipped at the coffee absently,
not really tasting it, unable to enjoy even that. “Have you heard
from Max?” she asked, staring off after a mountain blue bird that
had stolen a worm from a robin.

“
Yes,” he said. “But I’m
not going to tell you anything until you go back inside and get
some breakfast.” He leaned back in the swing and crossed his ankles
like he had all day to wait for her. “Change into some grungy
clothes, and put a cap on that bed head of yours while you’re at
it.”

She looked at him out of the corner of
her eye. Not exactly the speech she’d expected. Why hadn’t he told
her to go in and shower and make herself pretty for the
day?

“
Go on. Get to it. And
don’t think I won’t know if you skip the breakfast part, ‘cause I
will.”

When Blanca came back out in a worn
pair of stretch pants, a faded T, and bare feet, the smile on
Longbow’s face nearly lit the darkness in her heart. What a strange
man, she thought. He handed her a gardening shovel and spade, and
motioned for her to follow him.

They spent the better part of the
morning fertilizing the garden bed and planting seedlings and
seeds. By the time they were done, she was so focused on how much
she’d achieved she hadn’t thought about last night in hours.
Longbow sat in the dirt next to her looking up at the sky,
breathing in the fresh air like he’d never had it so
good.

“
Why did you take the time
to plant a garden? You’ll most likely not be anywhere near here
when it comes time to harvest,” Blanca said.

Longbow didn’t answer right away. He
closed his eyes and considered her question for a moment before he
opened them again. “A labor of love is work you do without
consideration of the benefits or rewards. Some efforts are reward
enough in themselves. I like being one with nature, helping things
grow and blossom. It’s not much different than being a doctor I
suspect. You don’t take care of people for the praise or the money,
but for the satisfaction of helping others. We’re not so different,
you and me.”

When their eyes met, a calm washed
over Blanca making her feel more at ease than she had in months,
maybe years. She stretched out on the grass and closed her
eyes.

Longbow spoke to her in a hypnotizing
voice. “You’re a healer, Blanca, a white island of peace and
tranquility. When you let outsiders contaminate your waters, block
the flow of your natural abilities, you hinder your gift and
deprive others of it as well.”

He paused and stretched out on the
grass beside her. “Max said his brother pulled through surgery well
and will be coming home in a few days. He’ll need a lot of therapy
to strengthen his arm and leg, but the doctors said he should make
a full recovery and be back to work by the end of the summer. They
called what you did for him a miracle. He would’ve certainly died
had you not intervened. And Max made certain his uncle was standing
in the room when the doctors gave their verdict.”

Blanca was quiet for a long time,
taking in his words, imagining Dr. Phelps’ face as the doctors
praised her work. None of it changed how she felt inside. She was
in a place no man could touch, for better or worse, and she took
comfort in the odd sense of peace while it lasted.

“
Why didn’t you tell me
that first thing this morning?” She opened her eyes and looked over
at Longbow, waiting for his answer.

He simply smiled. But it was a
vibrant, spring crashing into summer kind of smile that warmed her
from the top of her Bear’s ball cap to her daintily painted toe
nails.

*****

Blanca spent the rest of the afternoon
helping Longbow spread black tarp and grass clippings around the
plants in the garden. He’d mowed the front and back of both their
yards, so she figured it was the least she could do.

When her stomach started
growling she went in and prepared dinner for the two of them. But
when she knocked on Longbow’s door to invite him to eat with her,
he didn’t answer. Strange
,
she thought, she’d heard his shower turn on as she
was leaving her own. Where could he have gone? She went back inside
and wrapped the plate she’d prepared for him in cellophane and
placed it in the fridge.

Now what was she supposed to do? There
were no movie theatres, no malls, no amusement parks, or zoos. What
did people out here do for entertainment, she wondered? Tired of
being cooped up, she decided to take her baby for a spin. She
hadn’t had Daisy, her yellow Mazda Miata, out of the car port since
she arrived.

She drove the direction of the setting
sun, with the north fork of the Payette River on her left and the
top down despite the cool mountain breeze. At the junction of
highway 55 she pulled into the Banks Café and bought herself an ice
cream cone. From the terrace overlooking the south fork of the
Payette she could see rafters and kayakers along the sandy beach on
the far side. Some were putting in and others were getting out,
having come down the middle fork and ended their trip at Banks. So
that’s what people around here did for entertainment on the
weekends, she realized.

She grabbed some brochures from one of
the river guides outside the small mercantile attached to the café
and returned to Daisy only to find two state troopers parked on
either side of her. One of the state troopers was leaning on Daisy
and talking to the other, like they were waiting for her or
something. What now?

The trooper with his back to her
pushed off Daisy and stood to face her when the other one motioned
in her direction. “Miss, is this your car?”

Blanca drew in a calming breath. “Yes,
Officer. What can I do for you?”

“
Not a thing, Miss Islas.
You’ve already done more than any of us could ask. Jax Reynolds is
a good friend, a good man, and a damn fine officer. If there’s
anything we can do for you, just let us know.” The officer held out
his hand. “We take care of our own around here. I’m Michael Phelps,
and this is my cousin Bryan.”

Blanca stiffened when the officer
mentioned his last name.

The state trooper still sitting in the
SUV offered his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet the woman who saved
our cousin and showed my uncle up all in one fell swoop. Sorry,
cuz,” he said, looking back at Michael. “I know he’s your dad and
all, but he can be as stubborn as a badger when he gets his mind
set on something.”

“
You don’t have to tell
me,” Bryan said. “I was raised by him, remember?”

A dispatch came over the radio in
Bryan’s rig, interrupting their playful banter. Blanca tried hard
to not eaves drop on the incoming call. Michael tipped his hat and
returned to his own vehicle as Blanca opened Daisy’s
door.

“
Hey, Doc,” Bryan said.
“We’ve got a fire along the highway between here and Horseshoe
Bend. Some camper dragging their hook-up chain managed to spark the
mountainside ablaze. Best head home before they close the road. I
know it’s your day off, but with the roads closing we’ll be
diverting traffic through Garden Valley to Lowman and Boise. Any
firefighters or civilians needing medical attention north of Banks
will be sent your direction for triage and stabilization.” He gave
her a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, I know the clinic is technically
closed on weekends, but we rednecks don’t know the meaning of
office hours. You get business as it comes or you don’t get it at
all in these parts.”