She looked at Mark and slowly gathered her things, heading towards the door.
“How are your chest and leg feeling?” Mark heard the doctor ask, as if miles away, like an echo from far off in the distance. Don’t let her leave, he thought, feeling panicked, like he was a kid who overslept Christmas morning.
She waved and exited the room as he yelled out, “No! No, I don’t!”
“You don’t what, son?” asked Doc Walters.
“Nothing,” said Mark, glumly feeling as though he had made an irreparable mistake. “They are feeling a little better each day,” he added.
After a check, David arrived, hearing the prognosis and that the next follow-up appointment would be in a week.
“Sir…I mean, Dr. Walters,” said Mark. “Do you think you could have Calleigh come back for just a minute? I was going to tell her something and just remembered what it was.”
“She’s off shift, but I’m sure she will be here at your next appointment. She’s here most days anyway. Any message you want to leave with me?”
“No. Thank you, though,” replied Mark.
* * * *
The road up and down the mountain was getting routine now and David, for one, was glad to have the trucks instead of four-wheelers. They took a few minutes, he and Mel today, to stop and take a look at Mark’s four-wheeler—the one he wrecked last week.
“It’s a total rebuild,” declared Mel, “and a project for another day.”
Quickly covering the machine with brush, they drove the unobstructed road back up to camp.
* * * *
Katie and Jonah loved the new addition and couldn’t stop thanking Mel.
“His name is Trevell—strong and steady,” he told them.
“So, it’s always going to be like this, huh?” asked Tammy.
“Like what?” replied Mel.
“Like you bribing the kids with TVs, pizzas, and now dogs.”
“I wouldn’t call it a bribe,” he said. “Just a perk of having me as a dad.”
“What’s my perk?” she asked playfully.
“The truck—I got you a truck!”
“That’s no gift for a woman...”
“It is when that truck can bring you down the mountain and to the wine and coffee bar in town that Janice and her friends went to a few days ago. I would be surprised if they didn’t have a spa of some kind. Top it off with lunch at the only restaurant open that I’ve heard of, and it sounds like a perfect day to me.”
“So, now you’re bribing me?” she asked.
“No, of course not, honey. I don’t have to. Look at me,” he said, standing in front of the mirror. “You have all of this, and with a wicked sense of humor!”—only cracking a smile at the end.
“Well, when you put it that way,” she replied, smiling flirtatiously, “wine and lunch with the girls does sound pretty good.”
“Well played, my dear,” said Mel, half doubled over with laughter. “Plus, we will officially be a part of Weston by week’s end, from what I hear.”
* * * *
Saturday morning came quickly, with deputies spreading the word about the possibility of town expansion. Kate and the kid running for Sheriff gave speeches to the growing crowd of traders.
James and family, along with David and Mel, Tammy, Tina, and their children, listened to both speeches, if the kid’s could be called that.
“Poor thing,” said Janice in a whisper, watching a nervous, sweating young man fumble through the pre-written speech he had jotted down on a napkin.
Kate killed it, starting right in playing the sympathy card and moving seamlessly into her passion for fulfilling the Sheriff’s plans for the town. She went on to talk about expanding the borders to the forty-mile boundary, citing it would bring more food and revenue into the town and create a safer boundary for all citizens. Her twenty-minute speech had most traders clapping and cheering.
“Looks like the Judge won’t have to fudge the numbers this time,” James whispered back. “Congratulations,” he said to David and Mel. “In a matter of hours, we will officially be neighbors.”
* * * *
Mark took off from his dad, walking slowly from booth to booth, grimacing with each step on his crutches and keeping an eye out for the girl.
“I see they let you out,” she said, tapping his shoulder from behind and getting a jump out of him.
“You too,” he replied. “I thought you worked all the time!”
“Not on Saturdays. I always come out for the trading; you never know what you may find here,” she said, smiling.
“No, you don’t,” he replied, happy he could talk to her again without losing his voice. “It’s my first time, and I already want to do it again,” he replied, with his mind racing ten steps ahead of the conversation. “I don’t…” he blurted out before he could stop it.
“Don’t what?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend; I mean, isn’t that what you were asking me in the hospital?”
“I know,” she replied, still smiling.
“Who told you?” he asked, wondering if it may have been his dad.
“You, silly—you practically told everyone in the hospital that day, yelling it out!”
“Oh…sorry about that.”
“Well, aren’t you going to ask me the same?”
“Uh…yeah, sorry…I mean, do you have a friend that’s a boy?”
“I have a lot of those,” she said, teasing him just a bit, “but a boyfriend I don’t.”
“How is that even possible?” he asked. “I mean, look at you! You’re beautiful!”
Now she was blushing. “Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself for an out-of-towner, but I only date boys in town.”
“I’ll be an official resident by the end of the day, my dad told me. Plus, he just bought a truck.”
“And I suppose you know how to drive at 15?” she asked.
“Almost 16!” he remarked. “And yes, I can drive most anything, except
