Chapter Fifteen
“I wish I could stick around to meet her, but I need to go.”
“Of course.” Shelley looked out the window, hoping to see Harper arriving. She’d called when she landed at the airport half an hour ago and said that she was on her way.
She turned back to Trip. “Is it okay if I call you later?”
He looked relieved as he nodded. “I’d like that. I … I’m just going to say it—I don’t know how much you want me to step back now that Harper’s here. I know you won’t be spending the night with me anymore but …”
Her heart sank. “Are you saying we’re done?”
“No!” He came around the desk and closed his arms around her waist. “That’s the last thing I want, but I didn’t know—I still don’t know—what you’re thinking.”
“Shit. I’m sorry, Trip. I’ve been wrestling with it in my head, but I haven’t shared any of it with you, have I?”
“No, and I don’t want to pressure you.”
She stared into his eyes. “You mean pressure me to stay?”
He nodded.
“But you want me to?”
He stood a little straighter. “Yeah, honey, I do. I really want you to stay—but what matters is what you want.”
She rested her hands on his shoulders. “I want to stay. I want …”
“Well, forgive me for interrupting! But hello, kiddies!”
They stepped away from each other as they turned to face the door, where Harper was standing with a big grin on her face.
“I made it!” she announced as she came hurrying toward them. “Come and give me a hug, Shelley-Bells!”
Shelley had to laugh at the way her friend eyed Trip.
After they’d hugged, Harper stepped back. “We don’t need formal introductions, do we? I’m Harper. Shelley’s bestie—and you are the one and only Trip Harvey, also known as Dr. Dreamy!”
Shelley shook her head with a laugh as Trip held his hand out to shake, and Harper grabbed it to pull him in for a hug.
“You don’t mind me calling you that, do you?” she asked him.
Shelley loved the way he smiled as he said, “Not in the least.” He glanced at her, but she shook her head.
“I didn’t make it up—that’s all on Harper.”
He chuckled. “Damn, and here I was hoping.”
“If it’s any consolation,” Harper said, “I came up with it based on how she described you.”
Trip cocked an eyebrow at Shelley, and she laughed. “I’m saying nothing—and don’t you need to get to the hospital?”
“I do.” He turned to Harper and hugged her again before coming to kiss Shelley’s cheek. “I hope you ladies have a great afternoon catching up.”
“We will,” said Harper.
“I’ll forward the phone to my cell,” Shelley told him.
“You can try my cell if you need me—and you can always call Dawn if you can’t get ahold of me.”
“Okay. I’ll call you later.”
He held her gaze for a moment and nodded before he left.
“Holy crap, Shelley-Bells!”
“What?” she asked with a laugh.
“He’s not just hot—he’s sizzling! And from what I’ve seen so far, he’s not the exception to the rule. They must breed them that way out here—all tall and muscular and … I have to tell you, I never understood the appeal of a cowboy hat and boots before, but I do now. Does your Trip wear all that getup sometimes? I mean, I love the office look on him—especially topped off with the hat like that—but is he part cowboy too?”
“He does dress that way sometimes. I told you he owns a ranch; well, it turns out it’s a cattle ranch and he has a herd of cows and cowboys and everything. He claims that he doesn’t know much, and that his foreman runs everything for him, but from what the girls were telling me on Sunday, he’s not as clueless as he makes out—he could give up doctoring tomorrow and be just as cowboy as the rest of them.”
“Ooh! Go you! You not only got yourself a cowboy—you also got one who’s multitalented!”
Shelley considered that.
“Should I have said that you not only got yourself a doctor—you also got yourself a sexy cowboy?”
Shelley laughed. “You can say it any way you want to. I’m just happy that I met him.”
“Me too.” Harper looked around the reception area. “I’m not so sure that I approve of this, though. I mean, I get being able to spend more time with him this way, but a doctor’s receptionist—seriously? I mean, it’s a great job for some people, but it’s not you, is it?”
Shelley blew out a sigh. “It’s how I met him. He needed the help, and I was happy to have a job to keep me occupied and …” She shrugged. “It’s not my idea of fun, as you well know.”
Harper nodded, looking more serious. “Do you need to do anything before we go, or can you close up and get out of here?”
“Just let me forward the phone, then we can go to lunch. Want me to show you around and we can have lunch in one of the cafés—or would you rather come see the house and unpack?”
Harper linked her arm through Shelley’s. “How about I follow you to the house, and we can dump my bag and leave my rental car there—then you can give me a tour of this little town of yours.”
As she drove home with Harper close on her fender, Shelley reflected on what Harper had said— this little town of yours. She had come to think of the place as her town—and it surprised her in the best possible way.
~ ~ ~
Trip was glad to be able to leave the hospital not long after six. It had been a busy afternoon, but at least he wasn’t going to be here all evening again. He blew out a sigh as he walked across the parking lot to his SUV. Maybe it’d be better if he were needed here—it’d mean that he wouldn’t have to go home and get used to spending his evenings without Shelley again.
“Hey, Trip!”
He turned and smiled when he saw Emmett waving from across the parking lot.
“Emmett! How’s it going?” His smile faded. “What are you doing here?”
Emmett looked puzzled for a moment and then laughed. “You mean at the hospital? I’m not really here. I just parked in the lot while I wait for Alana.”
“What’s she up to?”
Emmett rolled his eyes. “Auditioning for a part in some musical they’re putting on. I shouldn’t complain—she’s better off getting into theatre than boys—but if she gets the part, I’m going to be driving up and down the valley every night and twice on weekends.”
Trip smiled. He loved Emmett’s daughters. Alana and her sister Tanya were only small when their mom died. Emmett had done a great job of raising them by himself.
“What about Brooke, is she still helping you out?”
“Yeah, she does what she can when she can, but now the girls are that much older I can’t give her as many hours. And you know what she’s like—always doing whatever she can to earn a buck or two.”
“Well, I’m happy to help whenever I can. I’ll be no good to you on Tuesdays, but I wouldn’t mind giving Alana a ride up here some other evenings.”
“Thanks, Trip. I might have to take you up on that if she gets the part—there’s no way I’ll be able to do it all.”
“Only a few more years till they have their own licenses, and you won’t need to worry about being a dad-taxi, huh?”
Emmett shook his head rapidly. “I’d rather be a twenty-four-seven taxi service than worry about them on the roads.” He shuddered. “No, I’m not even going to think about it yet; I’ve got enough on my plate today without looking ahead to any of that.”
Trip laughed and clasped his shoulder. “True. All in good time. I’ll give you a call in a day or two to see if she got the part—and remind you that I’m happy to drive her when I can. Maybe we can set up a roster. I know the other guys wouldn’t mind helping.”
He held his friend’s gaze. “We’ve always wanted to help.”
“Thanks.” Emmett turned away quickly, and Trip let it go. Emmett wasn’t good at accepting help, and Trip was hoping that now the girls were older, he might open up a little—out of logistical necessity if nothing else.
“What about you, anyway? Janey was saying you brought Shelley to the MacFarland place for lunch yesterday. Are you going to be the next one to settle down and get married?”
Trip swallowed. He didn’t know how to even begin to answer that question.
Emmett tilted his head. “Is that a no?”
“To the getting married part, it is. I … you know my take on marriage. Once was more than enough for me.”
“Right, but what about the settling down part? From what I hear, Shelley’s good people—nothing like Katrina.”
“Yeah, she’s totally different. She’s easygoing and laid-back.” He let out a bitter laugh. “And unlike Katrina, she actually likes me.”
Emmett made a face. “I don’t want to talk badly about her; there must have been something between the two of you at one point—I just never understood what it was.”
“I wish I could tell you. If I had to come up with something, I’d say it was my ego. She was beautiful—at least on the outside.”
“Shelley’s a good-looking woman.”
Trip smiled. “She is. But the most important thing is that she’s beautiful on the inside.”
Emmett smiled back. “So, you can see yourself settling down with her even if you don’t want to marry her?”
“Yeah, I can. But I don’t even know yet if she plans to settle here in town—let alone with me.”
“You’d best get to work on that then, hadn’t you? Let her know you want her to stay. I know you; you’re probably waiting for her to make up her mind and tell you.”
“Kind of.”
“Well, if she were still here, my Emily would tell you the same thing she used to tell me—sometimes a woman needs to hear what’s in your heart because as smart as they are, they can’t read minds. Even when you think they can, they still need reassurance.”
Trip nodded slowly. “Thanks, bud.”
“Yeah. I don’t know where that came from. I don’t talk about her much anymore, but …”
“You can if you want to, you know. I’d be happy to meet up—or come over if you don’t want to leave the girls. We can have a beer and talk about Em. About anything you want. I miss her too, you know—we all do.”
Emmett glanced toward the theater building. “Maybe one of these nights I’ll come to you. I wouldn’t want to risk the girls overhearing.”
That puzzled Trip. He would’ve thought Alana and Tanya would love to hear about their mom—but what did he know? “Anytime you like, you come on over. If you want to bring the girls, they can come too. You know they used to love hanging out at the house—they could go through Mom’s closet while we talk out back.”
“Thanks, Trip. I think they might be a bit old for dressing up in your mom’s stuff now—but then again, maybe not. Maybe they’ll think all her gowns and things are retro cool or whatever it is they call it. But you don’t need the three of us descending on you—you’ve got Shelley now.”
“I don’t know about that.” He was more hopeful than he’d been—she’d actually said she’d love to stay, but … “But no matter what’s going to happen in the long term, she has a friend staying with her for the next couple of weeks, so she won’t be around as much anyway.”
He smiled. “You’d be doing me a favor if you want to come and hang out.”
Emmett smiled back. “In that case, I’ll have a chat with the girls—and if they don’t want to come, I’m sure they’ll be happy to get me out of the house for an evening.” His smile faded. “So they can get up to who knows what!”
~ ~ ~
Harper curled her legs up under her and turned on the sofa so that she was facing Shelley.
Shelley laughed when Harper raised her glass and said, “So tell me again why you’d even consider leaving this place. Trip’s gorgeous. The town is wonderful. I haven’t seen this valley that you talk about so much yet, but even from here, the mountains are beautiful. And then there’s Yellowstone right on your doorstep.” Harper took a sip of her wine. “I think I might take myself off down there tomorrow while you work. So, come on, Shelley-Bells. Tell me why you’d leave. Because I don’t understand it. I know you; you rarely do anything without good reason. So, what’s the reason you’d walk away from all this?”
Shelley blew out a sigh. “There’s no good reason for me to leave, is there?”
Harper shook her head emphatically. “Not a one. I mean, damn, girl, if you want to walk out on this life, I might just stick around and see if I can fit in where you left off.”
Shelley rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like you’d consider moving out here to... What was it you called this place? Bumfluff, Montana?”
Harper shrugged. “I didn’t mean that in a derogatory way. And now that I’ve seen the place...”
“You’re not serious?” Shelley asked.
Her friend met her gaze. “I might be. I’m not talking about trying to step into the life you’ve created if you’re going to leave it behind. But... if you’re going to do what we both know you should and stay here, then how would you feel if I wanted to move here? To be closer to my oldest friend.”
Shelley set her glass down on the coffee table. “You’re kidding me. You have to be.”
Harper laughed. “No, I’m not. I know you only have eyes for Trip, but I’m telling you, Bells, there are plenty of hot cowboys around here. It’s not just the mountains that make this place easy on the eyes.”
Shelley narrowed her eyes. “I can’t disagree. There does seem to be a disproportionate number of good-looking men around here. But I know you; that wouldn’t be enough to make you even consider leaving New York. What’s going on, Harps?”
Harper set her glass down. “Don’t get mad at me.”
“Just from the way you said that, I’m already mad. What haven’t you told me?” Shelley asked, suddenly filled with concern for her friend.
“You know how I told you I was snowed under a couple of months ago, so not to worry if you didn’t hear from me?”
“Yes,” said Shelley slowly. “What was really going on?”
Harper gave her a guilty little smile. “It turned out that it wasn’t anything nearly as bad as I thought it might be. I just needed a little recovery time.”
Shelley folded her arms and gave her friend a stern look. “What from?”
“I started having stomachaches—bad ones. Well, I didn’t know if it was stomachache or some kind of pain.” She gave an embarrassed little laugh. “I convinced myself that I had some terrible disease and was on the edge of death.”
Normally, Shelley would have laughed at that confession, but this felt different. Her heart was pounding. “You don’t, do you?” she asked. “Have some terrible disease?”
“No, I don’t. What I had was appendicitis. Unfortunately, that didn’t occur to me—nor did it occur to the doctor. Although, in his defense, I probably had him so wound up looking for exotic diseases that he overlooked the much more mundane explanation.”
“So, you had your appendix removed?” Shelley asked.
Harper laughed. “Yes, but you know me—I had to make it much more dramatic than just routine surgery. I waited until it ruptured and ended up being rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy.”
She sobered. “Anyway, I’m only telling you about it because I’m serious about maybe moving here. Only if you’d want me to, of course. And I know it wasn’t really a close call with death—I’m not as bad as I make out, not really. But it did make me rethink life—rethink my priorities, and how much time I have left.”
She held up her hand when Shelley started to protest. “I’m not getting morbid or anything. Not even saying that we’re old and over the hill. I’m just being realistic. I hope we’ll both live to a ripe old age—but even if we do, we’re already past the halfway mark, girl.”
She looked around Shelley’s small, cozy living room. “I feel like things would be different out here.”
Shelley nodded slowly. “I won’t disagree with you on that one.”
Harper raised her eyebrows. “Does that mean we’re staying, then?”
“I think it does. “What about work, though? Are you saying that you’re going to retire?”
“I thought about it, but no. I’m not ready to give it up—and I’m certainly not about to start working as somebody’s assistant or receptionist. Although … I can’t say it’s worked out badly for you. You might not have your dream job, but you got the man.”
“Yeah. I’ve been thinking the same thing—not that I got the man. Things are going well between Trip and me but … We’ll have to see how that goes. I meant about work. I didn’t mind helping him to get organized but if I stay –”
“You mean, now that we’re staying,” Harper interrupted.
“Okay,” Shelley smiled. “You know I was teetering on the brink. If you’re really going to stay too then it’s an easy decision for me. So, now that we’re staying I’m going to have to give some thought to what I’m going to do.”
“You’re not ready to retire, either,” said Harper. “And yes, that’s a statement not a question.”
Shelley’s conversation with Laney came back to her. “I was talking to one of the girls about maybe hanging out my shingle here—working for myself. I could work with a few select clients on my own terms." She picked up her glass again. “I think I might like that.”
“That’s a great idea. And from what I’ve read about Paradise Valley, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding your kind of clients.”
“It would seem that way. What about you, though? Will you work remotely?”
“I’m thinking I could do the same as you—hang out my shingle and choose my own clients.”
Shelley grinned. Harper worked for one of the big publishing houses in New York. She’d started straight out of college and worked her way up.
Harper nodded. “I spend far too much time in meetings and not enough time editing these days. I like the idea of going back to the basics. Working directly with a few hand-selected authors. I always preferred doing the real work—editing the books, helping the authors develop their careers. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll start putting out feelers tomorrow, and call Thomas to talk about giving him my notice.”
“How do you think he’ll take that?”
Harper chuckled. “I think he’ll be glad to see the back of me—and less happy about it when he sees which authors I’m about to poach. It’s his own fault; he bought into all the corporate garbage. I’ve been a thorn in his side for a while now, and I know some of the authors have started to self-publish so they can control their own fates. A few of them have already asked if I’d consider editing for them on a freelance basis. It’ll be a fun new adventure.”
She met Shelley’s gaze and held up her glass. “Here’s to our next chapter.”