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“Good hospital there,” he said.
She nodded. “That’s where it’s being done.” Her brow furrowed. “Is there someplace in town where I can rent a car?”
He thought about her situation, knew that renting a car was probably an expense she couldn’t truly afford. But for her friend and mentor, she would add another load to what she was already carrying.
“I’ll take you.”
She looked beyond startled. He was a little surprised himself. He’d only said it on impulse. “Temple’s almost three hours from here.”
He shrugged, liking the idea now, if only because she looked so stunned that someone would offer. “Only two and a half if you avoid Austin. Always my choice,” he added with a slightly crooked smile. “We’ll have to leave by six to get you there in time to see him beforehand, which I assume you want to do.”
“Of course I do, but no, you don’t need to do that. I can—”
“I know you’d find a way to get there, but why not save that energy and put it into looking after Nick?”
He was kind of proud of that one. From what he knew of her—more than he usually would but not nearly as much as he wanted—he guessed that would be the key. And it was.
“That’s incredibly generous of you. Thank you.”
He belatedly realized that he could have just offered her one of the ranch vehicles. They could spare one for the weekend. Or his own, for that matter. But even as he thought it, he resisted the idea. He wanted to do this. For her. With her. And that had him rattled enough that he stayed silent as they rode on. After a while she seemed to have processed the situation with her mentor and tuned back in to her surroundings. At least, he assumed so because out came the camera again.
As they went, he made sure to take a gradual path that would cause her the least jostle—alone, he would have sent Flyer rocketing straight down, leaping whatever obstacles got in the way—down to where the stream flowed below. And once more she took out her phone, then put it back.
They paused before crossing the stream. “It’s about average now,” Ry said. “But after a big storm here or to the north we have to watch it. Easy for a calf, or even a full-grown cow, to get caught by a flash flood.”
“That would be awful.”
Further on they stopped in a couple of places when she asked, so she could get a shot she wanted. Once even climbing—agilely, as if she did it often, which he didn’t doubt—atop a fairly tall outcropping of limestone to frame a shot back down toward the stream just the way she wanted.
And she’d humbled him a little in the process, so focused on her goal that she seemed to barely notice, when he offered her a leg up to the stone ledge, that for a moment they were pressed together almost intimately.
So that’s it, Rafferty, you just don’t like that there’s a woman who doesn’t fall all over herself trying to flirt with you?
He laughed at himself. Remembered Keller relaying his buddy the police chief’s sage advice: it’s best to laugh at yourself before anyone else does.
He figured that applied to getting over yourself, too.
Chapter Twenty
Kaitlyn managed toat least corral—funny how she’d started thinking in ranching analogies—her concern about Nick, since there was nothing she could do to help right now anyway. Even if she was there with him, he’d be telling her to quit hovering and stop fussing over him.
She was having a bit more trouble reining in her thoughts about a two-and-a-half-hour drive alone with Ry.
She had meant what she’d said about his generosity. There was no reason for him to offer not only a ride but himself as driver. But he had, and if she were honest, it was probably for the best, since she would be thinking about Nick. Maybe not too distracted to drive safely, but that was a maybe she now didn’t have to worry about.
“The dogs should be settled by now,” Ry said after a glance at his phone’s screen for the time. She supposed wearing a watch would be pointless for him, since he spent so much time being unaware of time. “We can head over.”
“Lead on,” she said, remembering when they’d been out that first day—she was startled when she realized it had only been yesterday—and he’d pointed out the cabin and outbuildings in the distance. She knew there was no way she’d find them on her own, and in fact he started off at a right angle to the direction she would have guessed.
Face it, you’re hopeless without landmarks.
When they topped the last rise before the small house, Kaitlyn saw the quartet standing by the fence of a small corral next to the first outbuilding. They looked like a family to her: the man, the woman, the dog, and the horse. The man was tall, although she guessed a bit shorter than Ry, and lean and wiry where Ry was muscular. He wore jeans and a lightweight jacket over a gray shirt, and a baseball-style cap out of camouflage material. The woman was tall, slender, with long hair a gorgeous shade of red. She was in jeans as well, and they looked worn by usage rather than style.
The dog at their feet, alertly watching them approach, had to be Tri, unless Ry’s brother had more than one amputee in residence. But she guessed it was, from the way the dog had taken that guarding sort of position, directly in front of the woman. Guarding, but not threatening. He looked like the dog from the monument she’d seen, lean and racy as he got to his three feet and swiveled so he could see them straight on.
When the dog barked Ry reined in, and she stopped beside him. Chance looked around and spotted them, spoke to the dog, then waved them down. When the man moved, Kaitlyn got a better look at the horse standing inside the corral, apparently quite liking the way Ariel was stroking his neck.
“Shouldn’t that be Cody’s horse?” she mused aloud as they started down the hill, studying the bright golden color, with a mane and tail nearly as blonde as Jillian’s hair, but obviously naturally so. Even as she thought it, she pictured what a striking image the opposites would be: black-haired Ry on the golden palomino, and Cody on the black Flyer. She thought she’d like the contrast more, but then, she was…different. Odd, as Jillian had told her the first time they’d worked together.
