18. Clint
18
CLINT
N ora parked in front of his parents’ house but didn’t shut off the truck.
“You want to come in and hang out for a little bit?” Clint asked.
She didn’t say anything as she killed the engine and stepped out.
Clint reached for his crutches in the back and followed her. “You don’t have to. It’s okay if you just want to go home.”
“Nah. I don’t have anything else going on, and I’m not too excited to face Dad.”
Things had been strained between Nora and her dad since she came home, but the tension was even thicker now that she knew about the remaining debt Clint had settled.
Hank was a good guy, and Nora lived between a rock and a hard place when it came to her dad. She loved him with all her heart, but his actions continued to cause problems for her. It was hard to reconcile the man he was from the vices that ruled his life.
They stepped inside, and Nora headed for the kitchen. “I’m going to make some hot chocolate. Do you want some?”
“That sounds good. Thanks.”
He took his normal seat on the couch and propped his leg up. It had started to swell against the boot on the way home. “Can you bring me that ibuprofen on the counter?”
“Sure!” she called from the kitchen.
Clint pulled his phone out and checked the few texts he’d missed throughout the day. One was a confirmation for his appointment with the orthopedic surgeon next week.
Nora walked back in with two cups of steaming hot chocolate and handed one to him. “You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Yeah. Just got a text confirming my appointment with the surgeon on Monday.”
Nora sat beside him and cradled the mug in her hands. He wanted her closer. He wanted to be wrapped up in her the way he’d been a few days ago when she finally let her guard down.
“Do you need me to go with you?” she asked.
“Nah. I can get Jordan to take me.”
“I don’t mind. I’m off work that day. ”
Clint looked at the cup of hot chocolate in his hands. He didn’t want to put her out, but Nora liked doing her part. She liked helping, and he needed help. Spending the morning with Nora was a lot better than listening to his brother talk about how awesome married life was these days.
“Okay. I’d appreciate that. It’s early in the morning.”
“No problem. I get up early anyway. Any idea what to expect from this appointment?”
Clint rubbed the back of his neck. “It doesn’t look good. The emergency doc told me to expect hardware and a long recovery.”
“How long?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I was too afraid to ask.” He was being a baby about the restrictions of the injury, but sitting still wasn’t something he usually did.
Nora rested a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry about it. Just remember that you’re on the recovery road, and this is just a part of the journey.”
Clint tore his attention away from her hand resting on his arm. “When did you become a motivational speaker?”
She scoffed. “I’m not, but a lot of my job involves reminding people that there is hope. Most patients get really hung up in the rut they’re currently in. Your recovery has a lot to do with your mental state. It’s worse for the ones who don’t know God or have family and friends there to support them. ”
He couldn’t imagine going through this without Nora or his parents to help him, but to have to go through it without God would leave him hopeless.
Clint had a great life, and it wasn’t something he took for granted. His family wasn’t rich, and they had to work hard to keep the ranch going, but he’d never gone without anything he needed. Despite all the hard work, he still didn’t deserve the wonderful life he was allowed to live.
Clint rested his hand over hers. “You’re a great nurse.”
She pulled her hand away and placed it back on her cup. “You don’t have to flatter me.”
“I’m not. I know you, and I know you take pride in your work. I’m getting to see the side of you that takes care of people on a regular basis, and you’re good at it.”
She squirmed in her seat and looked at her mug. “I’m just doing my job.”
“But it’s not just a job. You have a gift.”
Nora shook her head. “I don’t know. I love my job, but I also love ranching too. I’ve always divided myself between the two, but lately, I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing most days.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… I don’t know. That’s what I mean. I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know where I’m going to live. I don’t know if I should be trying to get my dad’s ranch back or just let it go. It’s all up in th e air, and I’m just kind of going through the motions.”
“Do you want the ranch back?” he asked.
She threw a hand in the air. “I don’t know! I loved living and working on the ranch, but I don’t miss the hassle of keeping up with the business. Dad isn’t good at recordkeeping, so that falls to me. Plus, I had to manage the bank accounts. I failed at that miserably.”
“That wasn’t your fault. No matter how much you blame yourself, it still isn’t on you.”
She let out a deep sigh. “I know. It’s just hard to come to grips with the reality that it’s gone.”
Clint put himself in Nora’s position. How would he handle it if his family lost Taylor Ranch?
Not well.
“What about your job as a nurse? Do you like it?”
“I do. I always have. I’ve always liked being able to switch things up. Working in healthcare is a lot different from ranching, so I never got bored doing the same thing all the time.”
“Well, what do you want to do?” Clint asked.
“Isn’t that the question of the hour? I don’t know. Working the ranch always felt like securing my home. Nursing just feels like a job. It’s a job that I like, but it’s not the same as building a home.”
Clint waited a few seconds, weighing his words before making a suggestion. “Would you like to work here? ”
She looked up at him, and her eyes widened for a split second before she turned her attention back to her cup. “I love it here. I talked to your mom a little bit about things I could do to help out.”
Clint nodded. “I just don’t want you to put your dreams on hold for someone else. I know it was a shock coming home to find out about your dad and your home, but that’s not a reason to stop living your life. If you want the ranch back, I’ll help you fight for it. If you want to let it go and do something else, I’ll support you in that too.”
Nora grinned and glanced up at him. “So you’re saying I’m stuck with you?”
“You are definitely stuck with me. I’m not going anywhere.”
She took another slow sip of her drink. “I guess I need to find out what I want.”
Clint already knew what he wanted. He wanted Nora in his life. As long as she was around, he was happy.
But if her new dream took her away again, would he be okay with it? The eight months he’d spent without her had been tough, and losing her for good to a job that called her somewhere else was inconceivable.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.
Nora perked up. “Hey, you never showed me what you were going to show me in the woodshop. ”
“Oh yeah. We got a little distracted when Smoke tried to flatten me like a pancake.”
She glanced at his propped-up leg. “Do you feel like showing me now?”
“Sure.”
He started to put his cup down, but Nora took it from him.
“I’ll put these in something we can take with us,” she said as she disappeared into the kitchen.
Clint took the opportunity to get ahead of her. It took him longer to put his boot and coat on with the whole crutch situation. By the time she emerged from the kitchen with their drinks, he was ready to go and held the cups while she slipped into her coat.
The night was cold and dark as they drove along the path leading to the woodshop. It was Clint’s favorite place to hang out in the winter months especially. There was plenty to do on the ranch all year, but he needed something to keep him busy when the sun set early.
He started woodworking with his dad when he was around eight. He started hand carving, then he learned to use the lathe. He’d been using saws so long that the metal blade felt like an extension of his hand. They’d started adding epoxy to their bigger furniture pieces a few years ago, but it was tough to keep sawdust and debris out of the resin while it dried. They finally built a separate building beside the woodshop for epoxy and painting last year .
Nora parked in front of the building, and Clint kept his eyes peeled for anything moving in the darkness. There were quite a few predators who chose the night as their hunting ground, and he couldn’t let Nora get caught in a wild animal’s crosshairs.
He opened the lock and pushed the door open. When he flipped the lights on inside, it took a few seconds to adjust to the brightness.
“Wow. That’s a lot of light,” Nora said, shielding her eyes.
“It comes in handy when I’m working,” Clint said as he accepted his drink from Nora.
Her attention caught on the side of the room with his finished products. “Whoa. Those are beautiful!” She hurried over to an oak table with bench seats and brushed her fingertips along the smooth wood. “Are you selling these?”
“Most of them are commissions. If the buyers are from out of town, we sometimes have to hold them until they figure out how they want them shipped.”
Nora sat in a rustic rocking chair and slowly pushed with her feet. “These are amazing. I mean, I’ve always loved the things you built, but I’m still always surprised.”
She sipped her hot chocolate as she continued to rock. Nora became the focal point of any space she entered. She captivated his attention the same when they were in public as she did when they were alone .
He’d always imagined her at her dad’s house, growing old and shooing chickens off her porch. Now, he could see her with gray hair, sitting in a rocking chair he’d made, sipping hot chocolate while he sat in a chair beside her.
A jolt of fear shot through his chest. What if that wasn’t meant to be? He was building a future with her in it, but she didn’t know what she wanted. Did her future involve him at all?
She stood and rested her cup on top of the tool chest. “Can you show me what you do?”
Clint hobbled over to his current project and waved her over. “Step right up, ma’am.”
He grabbed a tape measure and stood in front of the pieces. “This is going to be a matching set of bookshelves. Jordan and Alicia both want one for their home offices.”
Nora scratched her head. “I don’t see how this is going to be a bookshelf.”
Clint tapped his temple. “Use your imagination. These are the sides. Those are the shelves. This carved piece will run along the top.”
“So nothing is cut yet?” Nora asked.
“Right.”
She ran her finger along the grooves of the carving. “Can you show me how to do that?”
“You mean you want to see how it’s done.”
“No. Can you teach me how to do it too?”
Clint propped his hands on the table and leaned over. “Just this?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Or all of it. I don’t want to overstep if this is a father-son deal. It’s just that the things you make are so amazing. I’d like to know all the work that goes into it.”
A slow grin spread over Clint’s face. Nora not only admired his work but wanted to be a part of it. “Come here.”
Nora stepped closer until she was right next to him. He was fully and completely in her orbit, drawn to her like gravity. Every cell in his body hummed in her presence. He was a magnet fighting against the pull of his counterpart.
Clint picked up the sanding block and placed it on the first piece of wood right in front of her. “Hold it like this.”
He moved his hand, and Nora placed hers where his had been.
“You always want to move in this motion, following the grain of the wood.” He gestured back and forth over the board.
Nora moved the block a few inches, then pulled it back.
Clint positioned himself behind her right side and covered her smaller hand with his. The warmth of her skin was like a branding iron as he held her gently. “Like this.”
He slowly moved the block back and forth a few times before Nora shifted her stance, bringing them closer together.
Clint grinned but kept up the repetitive motion. Nora had been hurt by the people she loved time and time again, and she was a master at keeping everyone at a distance. Her trust was the greatest reward for his patience, and despite his desire to dive in headfirst, he had to move at her pace.
“Can we come here again? Maybe tomorrow?” she asked quietly.
Right here? Like this? He’d run to Nora’s side every day if she’d let him. “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.”
She shrugged, and her shoulder brushed against his chest. “Do you have plans after dinner?”
“I do now.”
She chuckled, and he released her hand. Nora wasn’t the type who needed to be guided through every little step. She made her own way, and she did it with her chin held high.
Clint moved over a few inches and grabbed another scrap piece of wood and a sheet of sandpaper. Working beside Nora would calm his restlessness in the long recovery months ahead.