Chapter Seventeen
When they entered the bakery on Friday afternoon, Trip reached for Shelley’s hand.
“What do you think, do you want to wait here for Harper and Jim?”
“No, I think they’ll be fine. Jim knows we’ll be sitting in the back with the others, and even if she were by herself, Harper would find us—and she wouldn’t thank us for waiting.”
Trip grinned as he made his way through the crowded space toward the counter. Spider greeted him with a smile when he reached it.
“Hey, Trip, it’s good to see you.” He nodded at Shelley. “You too. What can I get you? All the usual suspects are up at the regular booth in the back.”
Trip craned his neck and wasn’t surprised when Travis spotted him and waved him over.
“What do you want, honey?”
He pressed his lips together when he noticed the way Spider smiled. He and Shelley had come down here together on a Friday afternoon like this before, but they’d come as coworkers—as friends.
Shelley didn’t seem put out that with just one small word, he’d given away that things had changed between them.
“I’ll have a honey chai latte, thanks.”
“And I’ll take an Americano,” Trip added.
“Do you guys want to go take a seat and I’ll send Rocket over with them? It’s kind of crowded this afternoon, and Rocket’s pretty good at forging a path. And besides, Janey finished work early—she’s sitting with the others.”
“Then yeah, send him over with them,” Trip said with a smile. He had all the time in the world for Janey MacFarland, and if he could give her giant of a husband, Rocket, the excuse to get a minute with her, then he was happy to help.
He put his hand on the small of Shelley’s back as he guided her through the crowd to the booths in the back.
She looked up at him over her shoulder. “Are you okay with this? Do any of them know about us?”
He moved closer and curled his arm around her waist. “I assume that they all know by now.”
Her eyes widened. “You think Emmett would have told them?”
He laughed. “No, Emmett wouldn’t say a word. But that guy right there?” He jerked his chin to where Travis was now on his feet and hurrying to meet them with a big smile on his face. “He knows. He’d take a secret to the grave for me if I asked him to, but I told him that I don’t care who knows that we’re together—that I’m happy and have nothing to hide.”
Her eyes shone as she smiled up at him, but he didn’t get the chance to say anything else before Travis reached them.
His hand came down on Trip’s shoulder and gave it a shake. “I was hoping you guys might make it this afternoon.” He leaned down to kiss Shelley’s cheek. “I’m glad to see you, darlin’, and even happier to see you here with him.”
“I’m happy to be here—and especially to be here with Trip.”
Travis wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders and steered them over to the booth where Deacon and Candy were sitting with Ace and Ari and Travis’s lady, Retta. Janey was there, too, with Tanner’s wife, Everly.
“Look who I found!”
Retta made a face at him. “Why don’t you sit back down with me, Trav?”
He laughed. “It’s okay, Retta darlin’, I’m not going to embarrass them; I’m making life easier for them. If I get it out in the open right up front, they don’t have to worry about making some announcement or wondering if everyone’s figured it out yet. Right?”
“Right,” Trip agreed. He’d been kind of looking forward to making an announcement, but since he hadn’t checked how Shelley felt about it first, it was probably best that Trav had beat him to it.
Ace met his gaze and gave him a slight nod. Ari, in her usual fashion, was far more open.
“It took you guys long enough! I’ve been waiting for this for ages.”
Shelley laughed. “Well, we’re happy to not keep you waiting any longer.”
Trip loved that Shelley held her own with the women—she laughed and joked with them, and even with Ari she gave as good as she got. But that wasn’t what had him grinning like an idiot—it was the way she’d referred to the two of them as we that did it.
Everyone shuffled over to make room for them to sit, and he was glad to be able to slide onto the end of the bench next to Shelley.
Candy looked around. “I don’t know where everyone is, but we might get away without pulling up a second table this week.”
“I think we will need that table—some of them are coming later today. Ty and Shayna should be here soon,” said Travis, “and Libby said she’ll come when she gets finished if she can.”
Trip nodded his agreement. “And Shelley’s friend Harper’s on her way.”
Retta turned to Shelley. “I was surprised she wasn’t with you when you came in. Did you arrange to meet her here?”
Shelley laughed. “Kind of, but only because she’s riding down here with Jim Sheridan instead of with us—we all left the clinic together.”
Deacon scowled, and Trip knew what he was thinking before he even opened his mouth.
“Don’t look like that, chief,” he told him. “I’m maybe even more protective of Jim than you and everyone else is. Harper was at the clinic when Jim came in for his appointment this afternoon. The two of them hit it off immediately—they got on like a house on fire. Since we were all coming down here together, Harper decided to ride with Jim, that’s all.”
Shelley gave him a puzzled look. He didn’t want to explain to her that his friend had jumped to the conclusion that Harper might be a gold digger.
He didn’t need to—Deacon wasn’t concerned in the least. “What’s she like, this friend of yours? Is she married?”
“No.” Shelley was still looking puzzled.
“How long’s she planning on staying?”
Candy rolled her eyes at them as she slapped Deacon’s arm. “I’ll start calling you Grumpy the Sheriff again if you carry on like that. I know you love Jim—we all do. But I hardly think Shelley’s friend is hoping to marry him for his fortune.” She winked at Shelley. “She can take care of herself, can’t she?”
Trip was relieved to see Shelley laugh. “She can. And I can assure you, Deacon, that Harper is not the kind of woman who would ever be interested in a man for his money. As Candy said, she can take care of herself.”
Trip thought she meant take care of herself financially, but he didn’t like to ask in front of everyone. Harper’s situation was her private business as far as he was concerned. If she wanted people to know how wealthy or otherwise she was, she could tell them herself.
“And so can I.”
They all turned to see Jim standing beside the booth with Harper at his side. An awkward silence descended.
“I was only looking out for you, Jim,” said Deacon gruffly.
To Trip’s relief, the old guy chuckled and rested his hand on Harper’s shoulder. “Maybe we should have come in here arm in arm and really given ’em something to worry about.”
Harper laughed. “I could still bat my eyelashes at you all afternoon and fawn over you.”
Jim seemed more alive than Trip had seen him in years as he laughed with her. His eyes shone as he told her, “You can still do that if you like. It’s been a long time since a woman paid me any attention.”
Trip watched his friends when Harper slapped Jim’s arm. “Now you’re making up stories. There are plenty of women in here paying attention to you. At least half a dozen heads snapped around the second we walked in, and I’d say there are probably that many pairs of eyes out on stalks right now. They all want to know who the floozy from out of town is, and how she managed to get her hooks into you.”
He had to laugh when she looked around the table, meeting the gaze of each of the men before she added, “Just like you guys do.”
Deacon’s scowl grew deeper, and Travis laughed out loud.
Trip got to his feet. “Since I know you only have the most honorable of intentions toward Jim, what can I get you while you convince the rest of them?”
She grinned at him. “Good to know you have some faith in me. For a second before we left, I wondered if you were suspicious of me, too.”
He laughed. “No, if you sensed any hesitation, it was over you possibly grilling Jim about me.”
She patted his arm. “Of course I did—and we all know that he only had good things to say about you. Great things. And thanks, Trip, but I can go and get my own coffee. Does anyone else want something?”
As they all shook their heads, Trip realized that he hadn’t made any introductions; it seemed that Harper didn’t need one, but his mom’s training wouldn’t allow him to leave it there.
“And sorry, guys—this is Harper. Harper, meet Deacon and Candy, Ace and Ari, Travis and Retta, and those ladies there are Janey and Everly.”
Harper grinned around at them all. “It’s a pleasure. Now, how does this work? Can we pull up an extra table or will the staff…?”
Rocket appeared beside her at that moment. “The staff will pull up a table just as soon as he delivers these,” he said, as he set Trip and Shelley’s drinks in front of them.
Within a few moments, Jim and Harper were sitting at the table Rocket had brought over, and—after a brief check in with Janey—he’d gone back to get their drinks.
~ ~ ~
As the afternoon turned into evening, the crowd in the bakery slowly thinned out. Shelley was having such a good time that she was shocked when she realized that Rocket had come to sit beside Janey a while ago, and Spider and his girl, Frankie, had also come to join them.
When she looked around, the rest of the bakery was empty. She caught Spider’s gaze, hoping that he wasn’t silently cursing them all for keeping him and Rocket from closing up and going home.
He gave her a reassuring smile, and when Frankie noticed, she grinned at Shelley, too.
“Don’t worry about it. If there were a bunch of regular customers sitting around like this, I’d be herding them out the door. But this is different—we’re all family here.”
Trip, who had been deep in conversation with a man named Zeke, who Shelley didn’t know very well, turned back to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“Are you doing okay?”
“I am—I’m loving this.”
Jim winked at her from across the table. “You should have come the other week, like I told you to.”
“She wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much then, though,” Ari chipped in. “They weren’t together yet.”
“And I thought you were the smart one,” said Jim. “They were together all right.”
Shelley gave him a puzzled look, and he laughed.
“You were—it’s just that neither of you knew it yet. There’s something about the two of you—I’ve known it since the first time I saw you at the clinic, Miss Shelley. You and Trip are a pair together. You remind me of my Kitty and me.”
Shelley’s hand came up to cover her heart. She was touched by his words, and as she noticed the hush that had fallen around the table, it seemed to her that the others were, too.
Trip tensed beside her, but she thought she knew why. She didn’t think he had a problem with what Jim had said—it was hearing him mention Kitty’s name. Trip had told her how hard Kitty’s death had been on him. He’d been close with her and Jim his whole life, and the way he saw it was that he was the one who had lost the battle for her life.
Shelley had tried to tell him that even as a doctor, sometimes there was nothing he could do. It hadn’t helped him, though.
Jim smiled around at everyone. “I know I don't talk about her much anymore, but that might need to change. I've been thinking about her all the time lately. Well, I always have. It's better said that I don’t talk about her much anymore and I've been thinking maybe I should.”
Travis, who was sitting closest to Jim, reached across and grasped the old guy’s arm.
“Speaking for myself, Jim, I’d love to hear anything you have to say.” Travis gave Jim’s arm a gentle squeeze. “And I know I’m not speaking for just myself when I say we all loved Miss Kitty. And we miss her.
“I can't imagine how it is for you. There's many a time I want to bring her up when something reminds me of her, or I just want to share a memory. The reason I don’t do it is out of respect for you. Since you don't mention her, I feel like I shouldn't.”
Deacon and Ace both murmured their agreement, and Trip nodded.
Jim rubbed his ear against his shoulder. “Well, I think you know—and if you don't, you should—she loved all of you boys like her own.”
Deacon bowed his head slightly. Ace gave a slow nod.
Jim chuckled as he looked around at the women. “Aye, I know they're men to you, and they are to me, these days. But my Kitty thought of these guys as her boys.”
Shelley noticed the way Candy glanced at Spider and Rocket, and it made her smile. Candy had been a foster mom to the two of them when they were small, and even though to most people they might look like two very large, very intimidating men these days, Shelley knew that the pint-sized Candy still considered them to be her boys, too.
“I’d love to hear more about Miss Kitty,” said Frankie. “I remember when I was small, she seemed to me like the grandma I never had and always wanted.”
“She thought of you—and the other youngsters,” he jerked his chin toward Tanner and Ty, “all of you little MacFarlands, she thought of you guys as our grandkids.”
He nodded to himself before looking around the group again. “If you want to know the truth, I still see you that way myself. All of you. We couldn't have children of our own, but it didn't seem to matter too much. We had all of you.”
No one spoke for a moment. Shelley blinked back tears.
Travis nodded solemnly. “And you still do, Jim. You always will.”
“So, you want to tell us a story about her?” Deacon asked.
Jim picked up his mug from the table and looked down into it. He seemed to get lost in his thoughts, and Shelley had to wonder what he was thinking while everyone watched and waited for him to speak again.
When he finally lifted his head, tears shone in his eyes. “How about I meet you all here next week and I’ll come with a story or two ready? It took me all I had to bring it up today.”
Shelley swallowed to fight back the tears. She wasn’t the only one, either. Travis’s eyes shone as he nodded, Ace cleared his throat, and Deacon seemed suddenly interested in something outside the window. Shelley didn’t even dare to look at Trip beside her. She guessed this would affect him even more than the others. She reached for his hand under the table and gave it a squeeze.
He squeezed right back and held on tight.
Jim nudged Harper with his elbow and let out a short chuckle. “I bet you won’t want to hang out with me again. I turned out to be a real party pooper, didn’t I?”
Shelley loved her friend even more dearly when she leaned against Jim’s side and rested her head on his shoulder as she said, “You’re no party pooper, my friend. You’re a good man. I think you might well be the best man I’ve ever met. And just as you were lucky to spend most of your life with her, I can guarantee you that your Kitty thought she was equally lucky to spend her life with you. And I’ll tell you right now that even if I never see you again after today, I’ll forever consider myself lucky to have met you.”
Seeing Ace watch Harper with a small smile on his face, Travis grinning, and even Deacon give a slight nod, Shelley had the feeling that moment cemented Harper’s place amongst Trip’s group of friends.
She was surprised when Jim turned to her and nodded solemnly. “I’m going to take myself off home in a minute here, but I wonder if I can make an appointment with you sometime this weekend?”
Shelley didn’t understand what he wanted, but she wasn’t about to question him. “Of course you can. You name the time and the place, and I’ll be there.” She gave him a puzzled smile. “Is it about anything in particular?”
“It is. The more I think about my Kitty, the more I realize that I’ll get to see her again one of these days here soon.”
Everyone started to speak, to argue with him, but he held up his hand. “I appreciate the sentiment, I do. But it’s just a fact of life, and I’ve lived a long one already. I’m not saying I want to check out anytime soon, but at my age, I have to be realistic.” He turned back to face Shelley. “I want to put my affairs in order, okay? And that’s your profession, isn’t it?”
She nodded, wondering how he even knew.
“I was talking to young Laney the other day, and she told me that’s the kind of law you used to practice. She said you might be setting up shop here in the valley. If you are, I hope you’ll consider taking me on as your first customer.”
As everyone turned toward her, she didn’t know what to say. Yes, she’d been considering setting up shop here in the valley, as Jim called it, but she hadn’t made any moves yet.
Jim raised his bushy eyebrows. “I hope I didn’t put my foot in it?”
“Not at all. It’s just that I’m surprised that you know.” She turned toward Trip when he tightened his grip on her hand. “I haven’t done anything about it yet. It was just an idea when I was talking to Laney and …”
She relaxed when he smiled.
“I think it’s a great idea. As much as I enjoy having you at the practice with me, I knew it couldn’t last forever.” He smiled as he added, “Not the job anyway.”
She nodded slowly, not daring to examine what exactly he meant by that. She thought she knew but… As she looked around at the others, it seemed that they all knew, too—and there they were, all smiling.
When she turned back to Jim, he was getting to his feet. “I’m home all weekend, so give me a call and let me know when you want to come over. We can get the ball rolling.”
He grinned at Deacon. “And don’t worry. I don’t intend to leave everything to some floozy I just met.” With that, he rested his hand on Harper’s shoulder, and she grinned up at him. “Maybe you’ll come over to visit with Shelley when she comes?”
Harper rested her hand on top of his. “I’d love to. Thanks, Jim.” She grinned at everyone else. “As long as none of you have a problem with that.”
“I wasn’t accusing you of anything,” Deacon grumbled.
Candy patted his shoulder, and the rest of them laughed.
“She’s only messing with you,” Ace told him.
“But I think you’d better get used to it,” added Ari. “I like her.”