Chapter Twenty-One
When Travis wheeled Retta into Trip’s office late on Friday morning, Shelly greeted them with a big smile.
“Hey! It’s good to see you. He said to let you know that he’ll be with you just as soon as he can.”
“Thanks,” said Retta.
“Are you ready for our shopping expedition?”
She laughed and looked up at Travis. “I am, but …”
Travis gave them a rueful smile. “I am as ready as I’m going to get.”
“Are you coming with us?” Shelly asked.
Retta laughed. “No, he’s not. He’s just going to spend the whole time worrying, even though I’ve told him that there’s no need.”
“You can tell me all you like, darlin’. I can’t help it.” He looked at Shelly. “You’ll keep an eye on her for me, won’t you?”
“Of course. We all will.” She smiled at Retta. “You’ll be just fine.”
“I know. I’m not the one who’s worried, remember?”
They all looked up when Trip popped his head out of his office. “Sorry about that. Do you want to come on in?”
Travis started wheeling her toward the door. “I’ll see you when you’re done,” said Shelly.
When they reached the door to Trip’s office, Travis said, “I’ll be here waiting for you when you’re finished.”
“Do you want to come in with me?”
He grinned. “You know I do. I just thought…”
“Well, you thought wrong,” she told him with a smile. The last time that they were here she’d felt as though she needed to go in on her own. Now, things were different between them. Over the short time that she’d been staying with him, they’d become very much a part of each other’s lives. There was no reason that he shouldn’t sit in on her appointment with Trip.
Trip grinned at them. “It’s not as though I have much to say. We can talk a bit about the process after the cast comes off, and it’s probably best that you’re here for that, Trav.”
It was a much shorter appointment than Retta had expected, but that was fine by her. All she really wanted to know was when the cast would come off, and by the time they left Trip’s office, she had an appointment set up for the following Tuesday.
Trip walked them back into the reception area and asked, “What time are you ladies leaving?”
“Ari said they’ll be outside waiting at noon.”
“And Candy’s going with you?”
“She is, why?” Retta asked.
“I just wondered with it being Friday – it’s such a busy day in the bakery, I’m surprised that she can get away.”
“I wondered about that too – I suggested we could wait and go next week. But she was glad to get out of there. Her busy time is the morning – that’s when she gets all her baking done, and Ari went in to help her out with that. The place is busy with customers all afternoon, but that part’s up to Rocket and Spider.”
Shelly peered out through the window. “Does Ari drive a blue Navigator?”
“She does,” Travis said with a smile.
“Then, I think that’s them outside,” said Shelly. “I don’t know why, but I didn’t expect her to be driving a big SUV like that.”
Travis chuckled. “I know what you mean, you wouldn’t think of it as being her style. But it was the vehicle she rented when she first arrived here. It turned out to be a bit of a lifesaver, so Ace bought it for her.”
Retta smiled up at him. It sounded like there was something of a story there; she’d have to ask him about it later.
He squatted down in front of her chair and gave her hand a squeeze. “You have fun, darlin’, but give me a call if you need me, okay?”
“I will – have fun that is, not call you.”
Shelly came out from behind the front desk. “Thanks for this, Trip.”
“Not a problem. I hope you have fun.”
When they reached Ari’s SUV, Travis lifted Retta out of the wheelchair, and Ari stowed it in the back. She grinned at Retta after Travis had set her in the back passenger seat.
“We will take good care of you this afternoon, but we’re not exactly going to be able to lift you in and out like that, you know.”
She laughed. “That’s okay. I wouldn’t expect you to. I can manage perfectly well by myself.” She smiled at Travis. “And we both know it.”
He chuckled. “We do, but that’s not going to stop me.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, and a moment later, she was waving to him when Ari pulled away.
Candy turned to smile at her from the passenger seat. “You still have your cast on, then.”
“I do, but only until Tuesday.”
“That’s great. Once it’s off you’ll be able to start physical therapy, and then you’ll be back to normal in no time, I hope.”
“That’s the plan.”
As they drove over the pass, headed toward Bozeman, Retta mostly stared out the window, looking at the mountains while she listened to the other women talk. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to join in, more that she enjoyed listening to them, and it was so beautiful out here that she wanted to drink in every moment of it.
It was only when they reached the other side of the pass that Shelly gave her a puzzled look. “I thought Libby was coming with us?”
“She is; she had to come over to Bozeman this morning anyway, so she’s going to meet us,” Candy told her.
“Okay, I’m glad she’s still coming. I wasn’t sure that she would.”
“Why?” asked Ari.
“Oh … I … Nothing, no reason.”
Ari laughed. “Tell us that you know something but don’t want to say anything, why don’t you?”
“No. I don’t know anything. I just … I suppose I jumped to a conclusion, that’s all.”
“Let me guess,” said Candy. “She or Trip said something about the fundraiser dinner, and you didn’t know if she would go alone.”
“Exactly. Obviously, I don’t know you guys all that well, but I’ve picked up on a lot from what Trip says. I figured out that her ex is one of that group of friends, but he doesn’t live here anymore. I wasn’t sure if he would be coming to this dinner.”
“No. Mav won’t be there. Although, I don’t know if Libby is coming alone or if she’ll bring a date,” said Candy.
“I think she usually teams up with Trip,” said Ari. “You’re the first real date I’ve known him to bring.”
Candy turned and grinned at them from the passenger seat. “Don’t think that Ari means anything by that – at least not anything about you costing Libby a date.”
“No!” Ari said. “If I meant anything, it was that I’m excited about you and Trip, Shelly.”
Retta was content to sit and listen, while she watched the conversation bounce around between the women like a pinball.
The sound of her phone ringing in her purse made her smile. It was bound to be Travis checking in on her already.
“You’d better get that,” said Candy. “He’ll only worry if you don’t answer.”
She fished her phone out and clicked to answer without even checking the screen.
“I’m fine, honestly. We’re not even there yet.”
“Is this Retta?”
She frowned. It was a man’s voice, but it wasn’t Travis.
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“Hi. This is Marty – Marty Hoffman, Adriana’s dad, from school.”
“Oh. Hi. I … What can I do for you?”
“First of all, I left you a message about getting your address. The girls wanted to send you a gift.”
“Oh my goodness! I’m so sorry. I did get your message, but it completely slipped my mind to call you back.”
“That’s alright. As it turns out, we might be able to deliver your gift in person.”
Retta frowned. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
“You’ve moved to Montana, haven’t you? You’re just outside of Yellowstone National Park?”
“That’s right.” Even as she answered, she wondered how the hell he knew that.
He gave an embarrassed sounding laugh. “I promise you that we’re not stalking you or anything. Adriana and the other girls put two and two together when they heard that you’d moved to Montana. You know that they all adore your daughter, Callie. They followed her story in the news, and they know that she lives just outside the park. When we started talking about taking this trip to Yellowstone, they figured that you must live somewhere close enough that we’d be able to come and pay you a quick visit.
“I know this is out of the blue, and please don’t think that we’d expect to take up much of your time. It’d just be a case of meeting you somewhere – a coffee shop maybe? If you can spare us half an hour, the girls can give you their gift and we’ll be on our way.”
“I …” Retta wasn’t sure what to make of it. It sounded plausible enough, but the whole idea didn’t sit well with her.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sprung it on you like this. How about I give you some time to think about it, and I’ll call you again next week?”
“Okay.”
“Great. Thanks, Retta. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Okay, bye.”
“Is everything okay?” Shelly asked.
“I think so. I… Never mind. We’re here.” While she was talking to Marty, she hadn’t noticed that they’d arrived in town. Ari was just pulling into a space next to the curb on Main Street.
“We are,” said Candy. “And look, there’s Libby.”
When the other women started helping her out of the vehicle and into her wheelchair, Retta forgot all about Marty. She was excited to go dress shopping with her new friends. She couldn’t remember having done anything like this since she was a teenager. No way was she going to give Marty’s strange request any headspace this afternoon – she intended to have fun.
~ ~ ~
When they got back to the house, Trip laughed as he climbed out of Travis’s truck. “You know I could have just followed you down here.”
“Yeah, but this way we got an extra half hour together on the way down here and we’ll get another half hour when I take you back.”
“I’d be flattered by you wanting to spend so much time with me if I didn’t know the truth – you’re just using me as an excuse so that you can pick Retta up when Ari drops Shelly back at my office.”
Travis grinned. “You can still be flattered, bud. I’m not using you as an excuse – more like killing two birds with one stone.”
“Fair enough.” Trip looked up at the house. “I love this place for you.”
“Thanks. I love it too. Although now that we’re here, I just remembered that I was going to show you the meeting space. What do you think? Do you want to head over there?”
“Yeah, I’d love to see it. I’d love to hear more about how your plans are coming along, too. What do you hear from Eli?”
“I’ve talked to him a couple of times recently; he’s trying to find the time to come and visit. By the sound of it, he’s eager to get his whole operation moved over here.”
“It’ll be good to have him around. I know he set up his office in Salt Lake because he thought that he’d need to be in a big city. I love that he’s already built himself enough of a reputation that people will come to him no matter where he is.”
“And if you think about it, it’ll no doubt work better for his clients as well. Instead of having to stay in the city while they’re working with him, they can hang out here.”
“And that’s a win-win for all concerned.”
“It sure is.” Travis brought the truck to a stop in front of the large building that would house the meeting space.
They walked inside, and Trip let out a low whistle as he looked around. “Remind me again what exactly it is you plan to do with this space. This is the part of your plan that I’m not totally clear on.”
Travis chuckled. “That’s probably because I’m not totally clear on it myself. I mean, it seems like a great idea to have this kind of space where we can accommodate so many people for meetings. What I’m not so sure about is what exactly those meetings will be. The kind of people who come and stay here aren’t looking to socialize – especially not on this large a scale.”
Trip nodded as he wandered around the large, empty space. “Right. Maybe you could use it for something else completely.”
“That thought has occurred to me – I just don’t know what kind of something else.”
“You’ll figure it out. For the time being, you have plenty of other projects to be working on. How are the cabins coming along?”
Travis grinned. “They’re fantastic. Retta’s working wonders. Do you want to come see?”
Trip looked around again. “I do. From what I hear, she’s tapped into how to create exactly the right kind of atmosphere.”
Travis frowned. “What do you hear? And who do you hear it from?”
Trip laughed. “Don’t look like that. Ty and Shayna and Libby are in and out of here all the time. They all sing Retta’s praises to anyone who’ll listen.”
“With good reason – she’s awesome.”
By the time he’d shown Trip the three cabins that were already complete, Travis couldn’t stop smiling. His friend was suitably impressed with the work that she’d done.
As he drove them back to the house, Trip grinned at him. “I like seeing you like this.”
“Like what?”
“Settled.”
“Yeah, that’s a good word for it. I am – settled. I like seeing me like this, too.”
Trip laughed.
“What about you, though?”
“What about me?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I am settled. I’ve been settled for a long time.”
“Sure, you’re settled with your work and your house – you have your practice, and you have the ranch – how are things going there? You haven’t mentioned it in a while.”
“Everything’s great. I’m lucky there. I don’t need to worry about a thing – Brody’s on top of it.”
As they approached the house, Travis slowed the truck but didn’t stop. “What do you think – do you want to come in, or should we go hang at the bakery for a while?”
“We could head over there. I bet Deacon and Ace will be there already.”
“Yeah, it’s a bit earlier than normal, but I bet you’re right.”
When they arrived at the bakery, they grinned at each other when Travis pointed out Deacon’s truck parked next to Ace’s.
“I guess we’re a predictable bunch, aren’t we?” asked Trip.
“Maybe so, but it’s not like we have many options, is it?”
“True.”
Travis was surprised by how quiet the bakery was when they went inside. He checked his watch. It was still early. It seemed like most residents of the valley came into the bakery on Friday afternoons to pick up their orders for the weekend and catch up with their friends. But mostly, they came after they finished work.
Deacon lifted a hand in greeting when he spotted them. And Ace gave them a rueful smile.
“So, here we are again. Just hanging out, killing time while we wait for the ladies to do their thing.”
Deacon laughed. “If you’d described this scenario before I met Candy, I would have laughed in your face.”
Travis grinned at Ace. “And if someone had included you in this scenario, I would have told them that if one woman was off dress shopping, you’d more than likely be out with another woman rather than sitting around waiting for her.”
Ace shrugged happily. “I’m not denying that. It took finding Ari before I wanted to have a woman in my life.” He turned his gaze on Trip. “What about you? Are you ready to tell us what’s going on with Shelly yet?”
“Nope – and I don’t mean I’m not ready, I mean that there’s nothing going on.”
“Explain why again,” said Deacon.
“I already told you – she works for me, and I need her in the office. And apart from that, she doesn’t plan to stick around for long.”
“I get that. But why not just enjoy it while it lasts?”
Trip scowled at him. “Because I need her in the office.”
“And you don’t think you could manage seeing her and working with her?” Ace asked.
“I don’t want to try it. You know I won’t mix personal and professional.”
“Hey, Spider. How’s it going?” Travis called. He didn’t care that he was cutting across the conversation – it was intentional. He knew that Trip wasn’t going to suddenly see the light and take a chance with Shelly just because they talked him into it. So, he’d rather move the conversation along – and get the others to give Trip a break.
Spider grinned as he came over. “Sorry. What can I get you?”
“Just an Americano, thanks.”
“For me, too,” said Trip.
“And I wasn’t calling you over for the coffees,” Travis added. “I was really asking – how’s it going?”
Spider nodded. “Things are going well, thanks. We stay busy enough in here. We’re talking about taking a trip to LA soon. I need to check in on the coffee shop.”
Ace shook his head. “It still amazes me how much Frankie loves your trips to LA; I just can’t imagine her enjoying it there.”
Spider smiled. “She worried that she wouldn’t like it the first time I took her with me, but you know what she’s like – she found a way to make it work.”
“Is she still working with that old timer at the community center?”
“Terry? Yeah. The two of them took a shine to each other. She’s set up a whole bunch of programs for the kids who use the center, and Terry oversees them – brings people in to run them while she’s not there.”
Trip cocked his head to the side. “And this community center, it serves foster kids, and vets, doesn’t it?”
“That’s right. TJ – do you know him? TJ Davenport?”
“Yeah,” said Travis. “He’s a good kid – the Davenports are good people. I shouldn’t call TJ a kid anymore, though, should I?”
Spider laughed. “I hope not; he’s my age. He runs the programs for the vets. It’s not just them, though. The center lives up to its name – it serves the whole community. Yes, there are the vets and the foster kids, but there are also the young moms, and the seniors, and the after-school kids, and there’s the food pantry for families who need it.”
Trip grinned at Travis. “Sounds like you need to have a word with TJ – I’ll bet some of the vets he works with would enjoy a visit to Montana.”
Spider met his gaze. “I’d have to agree with that. Although, I don’t know how they’d get here. And if you’re looking for paying customers, then they’re definitely not your crowd. Half of them hang out at the center because it’s the only place they can get something to eat.”
“Yeah, I’m not looking for paying customers – I’m looking for guys who’ll benefit from coming up here for some time out. I’m not looking to make a profit; I’m looking to make a difference.”
Trip grinned at him, and Ace grasped his shoulder.
“What?” he asked. He didn’t understand the way they were all smiling at him.
Deacon laughed. “Just you and your big old heart. We should get you a T-shirt printed up with that on it.”
He shrugged. “It’s true.”
Deacon winked at him. “We know – and we love you for it. There, I said it.”
Travis laughed out loud. “Aww! You made my day, Chief!”
Deacon shrugged. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”