Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
Bailey McAllister pulled up to the gorgeous house already decked out for Christmas. It had been snowing on and off for a couple of days, but Otis Young’s driveway sat melted and cleared.
“He’s heating it,” she murmured to herself as she got out of her sedan and headed for the front door. It opened before she’d made it halfway up the sidewalk, and OJ bounced outside.
“Howdy-ho, Bailey,” he called, pulling the door closed behind him.
She smiled at the boy and paused in her advancement toward him. “Did you tell your momma you were leaving?”
OJ stopped and turned back to the house. He jogged the couple of steps to the door and reopened it. “Momma! Bailey’s here, and I’m going!”
Georgia yelled from inside the house, and Bailey got moving again. She suspected Georgia wanted to talk to her, as Bailey wasn’t even sure where to drop off OJ after they finished their lunch and early birthday celebration.
Bailey wouldn’t be in Coral Canyon for Christmas, and with OJ’s birthday being on Christmas Eve, she’d miss it. So she’d arranged to take him to lunch today, then shopping, and then for a frozen hot chocolate, one of OJ’s favorite treats.
She also had a surprise for him, and she’d been assured and then reassured by Otis, Georgia, and Bryce that OJ would like the surprise.
For Bailey, this step felt like the final one she needed to take to be able to return home to Coral Canyon and start a new chapter of her life.
“She wants to talk to you,” OJ said as Bailey reached the steps.
“Yeah, I figured.” She went up to the porch and pulled him into a quick hug. “How’ve you been?”
“Good,” he said. “Momma found a litter of kittens outside of the bookshop, and she said we might get to keep one.”
“Wow, really?”
“No, not really,” Georgia said. “OJ, I never said that.”
“Daddy did, when he was holdin’ that one on his chest the other night.” OJ frowned at his mother. “He said he liked it, and maybe we should keep one.”
“That’s just your daddy talking,” Georgia said. “We’re not keeping any more cats.” She switched her gaze to Bailey. “Hey, how are you? The drive in was okay in the storm?”
“I think I followed it.” Bailey moved over to Georgia and gave her a light hug too. All the Youngs were touchy-feely, but Georgia didn’t have Young DNA, and she tolerated the hugging the same way Bailey did.
“We’re going to be out at Mav’s when you’re finished,” Georgia said. “Can you drop him there?”
“Sure,” Bailey said, turning toward OJ. “Can you get me to your uncle Mav’s, buddy?”
“Sure can,” OJ said. “He just lives out on the highway when you’re driving to Jackson.”
“It’s only a couple of miles,” Georgia said. “And I figured you’d be going back up the canyon anyway.”
Bailey nodded, her smile etched in place.
But no, she wasn’t going up the canyon to stay with her parents in the luxury lodge where they lived.
Bailey had signed papers to purchase a house right here in town yesterday, and while it didn’t have any furniture whatsoever, Bailey had bought an air mattress and a camp chair that morning, and she’d be staying in her very own house tonight and through the week until she had to return to Butte.
“I’ll have him back by four,” Bailey said. That should give her house time to be a reasonable temperature. She’d stopped by this morning, fitted the key in the lock, and walked across the threshold of her new home to turn up the thermostat.
“Come on, bud. Are you ready for this?”
“So ready.” OJ grinned at her and skipped down the steps, his long legs jumping over every other one.
“Don’t run everywhere,” Georgia called after him. “He’s growing fast right now, and he’s a little clumsy.”
“I can doctor him up if he falls,” Bailey assured her.
Georgia hugged herself against the cold, though she wore a bright red sweater, and smiled at Bailey as she turned to leave.
The scent of freshly fallen snow filled the air as Bailey followed OJ, and she joined him in her car. “All right,” she said. “Where are we eating for your birthday?”
“Can we go get pancakes?” OJ asked. “My daddy says they’re only for breakfast, and he’ll never take us to that all-day pancake place, but it’s so good.”
“Sure,” Bailey said.
“They have tons of flavors,” OJ said, as if Bailey needed further convincing. “I like the chocolate chip ones, but I got fresh strawberry last time, and they were totally scrumptious too.”
Bailey grinned at him as she pulled out of the driveway. “Okay, can you get me there?”
“Of course I can.” He leaned forward as she came to a stop at the end of the street. “You go left here.”
She did what he said every step of the way, and only ten minutes later they arrived at Powerhouse Pancakes. Bailey parked, and she and OJ went inside. Her stomach swooped as she opened the door, because she really hoped this would be the place he could remember fondly.
“Two?” the hostess asked, and all Bailey could do was nod.
They got led over to a table against the window, and she sat across from her biological son and smiled at him. “So, are you excited to turn fourteen?”
A quick smile cut across OJ’s face. “Yeah.”
She reached for her water and took a sip. “What do you think will be different about it?”
“Daddy said I can get a phone of my own.” His eyes glowed with wonder. “So I’ll have a new number soon. It’ll only text, and Momma says I have to plug it in by her every night, and I can’t delete any messages, so she can see what I’m saying and whatever.”
“That’s smart,” Bailey said, and she had no idea how to parent a thirteen-year-old. She’d started to feel like she might be ready for a serious relationship, though, and perhaps if she could find someone she loved with everything she had, they could have a family one day.
You better get going, she thought, because she’d be thirty-seven in a few months, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to have kids forever.
“Listen, OJ,” she said. “I have something I want to tell you.”
“Are you guys ready to order?” A waitress appeared at the edge of their table, her note-taking pad in her hand and a pencil poised to write.
OJ looked at her and said, “You go first, Bailey.”
She marveled that he’d been taught such gentlemanly behavior. “I’ll have the buckwheat pancakes,” she said. “With a side of sausage links, and a side of bacon, please.”
“You got it.” The woman smiled over to OJ, who suddenly needed to study the menu like he’d never seen it before.
“I think I’ll have the chocolate chip pancakes,” he said.
“Can I get that maple brown sugar oatmeal too? Oh, and the buttermilk syrup, not the regular kind.” He set down his menu.
“It’s so good, Bay, and since the chocolate chip pancakes are already sweet, it’s nice to have something that’s not maple. ”
She had no idea where he came up with the things he said, but she simply handed back her menu and let the waitress slide OJ’s off the table before she left.
She didn’t think she’d be able to get a bite of her breakfast down if she didn’t tell OJ her news, and she folded her arms on the table in front of her. “I have something exciting to tell you.”
His eyes brightened, and he leaned forward too. “Did you get a new sheep in?”
She shook her head, fondness for this boy filling her and filling her. “No, but it’s better than that.”
“Better than a new sheep?” His eyes went round, and Bailey giggled.
“OJ, I’m moving here. To Coral Canyon.” It felt good to say the words, and she knew once she told OJ, the word would get out quickly. Heck, all she had to do was tell Bryce to put it on his family’s group text, and half the town would know by evening.
“I bought a house here, and I’m signing papers for my new veterinary clinic later today, after I drop you off.”
“You are?”
She wasn’t sure if OJ was happy or just stunned, and then he thrust both hands into the air, his fingers curling into fists, and yelled, “Yeah!”
Bailey looked around, because she didn’t like too many eyes on her. Yes, people were looking, and she simply smiled at them.
“When are you moving here?” he asked.
“In the New Year,” she said. “I’m selling my practice up in Montana, and that’s taken some time.”
She’d have to re-establish everything she’d built there here, and tremors of fear moved through her. She had no idea if she could be as successful here as she’d been in Butte, but she really wanted to try.
There had to be families, farmers, and ranchers here who needed her veterinary skills.
She was smart, and she’d built one clinic from the ground up already.
The clientele in Butte was the same as here, and while there were other clinics, her market research had shown that there was room for another veterinary office here.
She’d have to hire staff, get the facilities cleaned up and operational the way she liked, and so much more.
Bailey fought overwhelm on a daily basis, and she calmed herself by taking a deep breath and painting a smile on her face. “We can go by the house I bought after lunch, if you want.”
“Yeah!” OJ said. “Is it very far from my house?”
Bailey’s heartbeat shook at her, because she did not want to be a distraction for OJ. He had a loving mother, and it wasn’t her. “Yeah, buddy, it’s a little further north. It’s up on the same highway as the K-9 facility. Do you know where that is?”
“Of course I know where that is,” OJ said. “My daddy lets me go there sometimes when I beg him to play with the dogs.”
She grinned at him. “I knew you’d know where it was. My house is a little bit down the road from there, and it’s old. I’m going to have some people work on it before I get here, and we can go by the vet clinic too.”
“Where’s that?” he asked.
“It’s on the Southern Highway,” she said. No, she hadn’t bought a house too terribly close to the clinic, because Bailey had learned she actually liked the downtime a commute gave her. “It needs a lot of work too, but once I get it fixed up, I think it’s going to go great.”