5. Tanner
Chapter Five
Tanner
Groceries
“Hey, Mom,” I called as I nudged the front door open, grocery bags looped over both arms.
“Tanner,” she said, stepping through the archway from the living room into the kitchen. “You didn’t have to do my shopping.”
“Mom, I don’t mind. I was at the store anyway.”
She pressed her lips together, exasperation flickering in her gaze. “Seriously?”
I chuckled. “Seriously. How are you?” I walked past her to set the bags on the kitchen island.
“I’m fine. Remind me why you did this again?”
“I just told you. Because I was there.”
She shook her head and let out a soft sigh. “Thank you. But next week, I’m getting your groceries.”
She all but shoved me out of the way and started unloading the bags herself.
“You know I can help,” I offered. Reaching to her side, she thrust a mug of coffee into my hand.
I took a swallow. “It’s delicious.”
“I need to head into work soon, but can we just have a quick conversation?”
“I think we are,” I said dryly.
One brow arched as she glanced toward me. “Ever since your father passed, you’ve treated me like a child.”
“I’m not treating you like a child.”
“Okay, maybe not like a child. But this—grocery shopping, shoveling my steps, plowing my driveway—”
I cut in. “Mom, I was already plowing your driveway before Dad passed. You live right down the road, and I have a plow.”
She sighed. “I know. I’m just saying, I love you. You take good care of me.”
“You still take care of me, for the record.”
She closed the refrigerator and turned to face me. “You’re the best son I could’ve imagined raising. I love that you care, and that you worry, and that you look after me… but Tanner, you could take care of a partner too.” She circled a hand in the air. “I don’t know. Crazy idea.”
I tried not to let her words sting, but they did. Just a little. I was over my ex-fiancé. I didn’t miss her, not in the way that made me want her back. But I hadn’t forgotten what she said when she left.
“I’m not avoiding a relationship, Mom,” I said, lying through my teeth. It was more that I’d let the idea go completely.
She rolled her eyes. “I love you.” She stepped closer and patted me on the shoulder. “But next time you’re at the grocery store, you don’t need to shop for me.”
“Okay. I won’t.” I shrugged.
She rolled her eyes even harder and headed for the door. “I’m off to work.”
“Right behind you. I’m headed to the hospital myself.”
“You are?” She glanced over her shoulder. “Since when do you work at the hospital?”
“I don’t. We’ve got our annual CPR training.”
“You have to do that every year?”
“They sign us up every year for a refresher.”
We walked out together. She stopped beside her car and wrapped me in a hug.
“Thank you for thinking of me.” She climbed into her car with a wave, and I followed her down the drive.
I lived next door on the property my parents had sold to me.
I built a house there, fully intending to marry my ex and settle into a life she eventually decided she didn’t want.
I love that you’re reliable and loyal, Tanner, she’d said. You take care of everyone. But… you’re a little boring. This isn’t the life I want. Maybe someday I’ll regret this, but…
She paused then, and I remembered feeling hollowed out. You’re not adventurous.
I’d had to bite my tongue to keep from pointing out that I literally ran into danger for a living as a hotshot firefighter.
I need more. Maybe I’m just trying to find an excuse. But I think you know we both need to do this.
That conversation left a mark. My parents had raised me to be reliable and responsible.
My father had wanted me to take over his business, which I didn’t.
We hadn’t been close. At all. Any discussion of my tense relationship with my father when he was alive was like an old pothole in the road.
Just there while we all just kept driving around it.
Maybe someday I’d bring it up with my mom. Blessedly, she’d been the balm to his harshness. She was affectionate in ways he never was. But there was still something that ached for me with her. She’d never stood up for my sister or me with him.
I gave myself a mental shake. I didn’t prefer to dwell on thoughts about my father. I couldn’t help thinking about Ava as I pulled into the hospital parking lot. My mom waved as she hurried by on her way in. She was a nurse in one of the long-term care wings here.
“Hey, hey!” Holly called from the desk as I walked in. “You here for CPR?”
“Sure am,” I replied.
Holly’s husband, Nate, came around the corner with a lazy grin. “Same here. Let’s see how fast we can make the instructor blow through this,” he quipped.
Holly stopped beside him, and he leaned down for a quick kiss. These two were happily married. Nate flew support planes for our hotshot crews and had been a friend forever.
“How many of us are here today?” I asked.
Nate shrugged as he fell into step beside me. “Heard you had to carry someone for quite the hike the other day,” he added.
“Oh, yeah. Haven’t even had a chance to check how she’s doing.”
Holly called out from the desk. “Ava’s doing well, but you should go see her. She’s bored out of her mind.” Pausing, I glanced back. “The hospital is boring,” she added. “And, definitely not relaxing.”
My mother walked by just then. “It’s not boring,” she teased.
Holly grinned. “Hey, Beth, your son was the hero the other day.”
She returned the grin. “He’s always a hero.”
“Oh my God, I can’t with this,” Nate teased, picking up the pace.
I caught up to him. “All right. Let’s do this.”
The CPR class turned out to be crowded with me, Nate, Donovan, Graham, Tate, Griffin, Kincaid, Leo, and Hudson from the crews and more. When we finished, everyone filtered out slowly. I stopped by the ER desk and caught Holly’s eye. “So how’s Ava?”
“She’s doing pretty well,” Holly said. “But she’s gonna be here at least a week.”
“How come?”
“She broke both of the big bones in her ankle. They’ve got her in traction.”
I let out a low whistle. “Yikes.”
“Ankle breaks are a pain in the ass,” another nurse, Chris, added. “Weight-bearing during recovery is tricky.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s on the upper floor now. I’m sure she’d be happy to see the guy who rescued her,” Holly said.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s literally my job.”
“But you carried her down a mountain,” Chris chimed in with a sly grin.
I chuckled and tapped my knuckles on the desk before heading for the elevators. Curiosity tugged at me. I hadn’t been curious about a woman in years. Oh, I dated here and there. As casual as casual could be. But Ava made me think. Her presence was like sunlight breaking through the clouds.
Just as I was wondering where she was, I heard her voice. Following the sound, I paused in the doorway. Ava sat in bed, holding her cell phone and glaring at the screen.
“Really, Mom,” she said, exasperated. “Just cut me a little slack. I’ll be home when I get home.
” I didn’t hear her mom’s response, but Ava added, “I broke my ankle, and I’m in traction.
I definitely can’t ride on a plane right now.
” She sighed. “I love you,” she said, her voice forcefully bright.
She swiped her thumb across the screen and set the phone down.
“Ava?” I prompted.
Her head whipped toward me. Her eyes lit up. “Hi!” She pointed at her foot, elevated in a traction device. “Surgery’s done, and I have pins in my ankle.”
She waved me into the room. “Come in, Tanner. You’re just standing in the doorway. I’m bored out of my mind.”
Just then, I heard my mother’s voice. “Hi, Ava.”
“Oh, hey!” Ava waved over my shoulder.
“Mom?” I glanced over.
“That’s your mom? Tanner!”
“How do you know Ava?” my mom asked.
“She’s the one I carried down the mountain.”
My mom looked from Ava to me. “You’re the one who carried her?”
“I am. It’s my job, Mom.” Fuck my life. I didn’t need my mom here for this.
She turned her focus to Ava. “I was just popping in to say hi. I’m not actually your nurse today,” she said to Ava, then glanced at me. “I was covering yesterday when she came out of surgery because they had someone out on this floor.”
She patted the railing on Ava’s hospital bed. “I didn’t realize you were the rescuer she mentioned.”
“Your mom is awesome,” Ava said. “She was very nice to me yesterday.”
“How are you feeling today?” Mom asked.
“As well as could be expected, I think. Pain’s not too bad. I hate pain meds, though, so I’m not taking much.”
“Your surgeon will be by later to check on you.”
“Will he, though?” Ava eyed her skeptically.
“Yes,” Mom said with a laugh. “He always stops in the day after surgery. Anyway, I have to head up to my usual floor.”
After she left, Ava looked straight at me. Even in a hospital gown, she was cute. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright and sharp, and her hair was in a messy bun that somehow made her even more irresistible.
“I like your mom,” she said, oblivious to my thoughts. “Do you live with her?”
I shook my head. “I live next door. Small town.”
“Aw, I love that.” Ava smiled brightly.
“You do?”
“Yes, I do.” She sighed. “My mom is annoyed with me.”
“I overheard,” I admitted.
“She’s frustrated that I broke my ankle. So am I, obviously. But she’s more worried about how it affects her life. I’ve decided it’s for the best.”
“Breaking your ankle?” I asked, confused.
“It’s annoying, and I don’t love being in traction. But it’s forcing me to do a life reset. This trip was already about that—but now I have weeks to sit still and figure things out. It’s going to be great.” She was unaccountably cheerful about this.
“Okaaaay,” I said slowly.
“This is my second divorce trip, by the way.”
Just then, a flurry of voices echoed down the hall, and three women burst into the room.
“Hey!” Ava said, waving at them. “You remember my friends?”
“I do.”
“I was just telling Tanner how this is my second divorce trip.”
Her friends nodded in unison. “Absolutely,” one said. “When one has a shitty divorce, you need more than one trip.”
I nodded. “Sounds good.”
“We have to fly back,” one of them—Rachel, maybe?—said. Ava’s eyes flicked between them, and her expression faltered a little.
“I know I can’t expect everyone to take more time off work,” she said.
Amy—if I remembered correctly—said, “We’ll do video calls, and we’ll have a little goodbye party.” They collectively looked my way.
“You’re going to visit her every day, right?” one of them asked.
“Well, I—”
“Please,” Ava said. “I don’t have any friends here. Except Holly, and she’s a nurse.”
“Oh, Holly’s a solid friend,” I said. “I have faith she’ll stop in daily.”
Rachel turned to me, hands clasped together in dramatic desperation. “We’re going to ask Holly to check in every day too, but Tanner, we need a commitment from you.”
“A commitment?” I echoed.
“Yes,” she said seriously. “That you’re going to visit Ava every day.”
“She’s going to be bored and lonely,” Amy added. “Ava is not a woman who does boredom well.”
A chuckle rumbled up. “Okay, understood. I promise.”
“Oh, thank God!” Ava exclaimed, tossing her head back on the pillow with a sigh of relief.
“All right,” Rachel said, glancing at the others, “we’re going to go get pizza and bring it back. Will you wait?”
I checked my watch. “Unfortunately, I can’t. I have to get to work. But I will visit every day.”
“You will?” Ava asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
“I will. Unless I get called out to a fire.”
“Well, then exchange numbers,” Rachel said, gesturing between us. “So you can text her if anything comes up.”
I wasn’t about to argue with that. I wanted Ava’s number anyway. I recited mine to her, and she tapped it into her phone. A second later, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
It’s Ava. Thanks for rescuing me again.