Chapter 33
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
Bailey trundled down the immaculately cared-for dirt road that led to Bryce’s house on the Rising Sun Ranch.
She’d been here several times now, but not once since she’d moved to Coral Canyon.
Bryce had been very good at drawing boundaries between the two of them, especially since he’d met, fallen in love with, and married Codi.
She glanced to the right as the road branched that way.
While she’d never driven it, she knew it snaked along the edge of the pastures and ended at Kassie and Reggie’s quaint red-brick house.
Codi had been nothing but kind to Bailey over the years, but Kassie still eyed her with a hint of distrust in her expression.
“Honestly, I don’t blame her,” Bailey said right out loud. She wondered what had possessed her to sign up to help Codi and Bryce with their new baby, and her ribcage seemed to shrink, pressing against her heart and making it labor to keep beating.
She rounded the corner, and Bryce’s farmhouse came into view, rays of afternoon sunlight haloing it. Whatever had been seething inside her stopped, and Bailey reminded herself that she’d signed up because God had told her to.
She parked in the driveway, noting that Bryce’s truck wasn’t there, and no other vehicles either. Codi’s white dog grooming bus had been parked under a couple of mobile shades, though Bailey knew Codi didn’t do much grooming anymore.
An idea popped into her head to have Codi come do a class at the veterinary clinic about how people could do grooming at home. Bailey wanted her clinic to be a resource for animal care, not just a place people brought their animals and pets when they were ill.
“You’re not going to ask her today,” she told herself. Codi had had an emergency C-section and had just come home from the hospital a couple of days ago. Kassie had started setting up help for her the very night their baby had been born—another boy.
Bailey told herself that Kassie had texted her to get on the rotation for providing meals and help, so maybe the woman liked her just fine.
She knew it would take every ounce of her willpower to get out of the car, and she sat there and summoned it as she reminded herself that she’d walked up to this front door in the past.
“Under much worse circumstances too,” she whispered.
Her phone chimed with a text from Reeves. She practically pounced on it, her smile instant and spreading quickly.
Just letting you know that I made it to the campsite. I’ve got my pin on and the satellite phone working, but it looks like it’s going to be an excellent week for camping.
Bailey’s thumbs flew across the screen as she replied. I’m so glad. Have an amazing time.
Reeves had driven further north for a couple of hours.
He was doing a series of videos, first with camping in an even more remote part of the state.
Then he would take his viewers inside Yellowstone National Park for a look at the new baby buffalo and other early summer attractions.
He’d do some hiking there, which he would then rate against other hikes in the area.
His third planned video would take some of his Yellowstone footage and combine it with some old videos that he’d done at Glacier National Park and the Badlands National Park, where he would then plan a western states road tour for people.
Bailey had enjoyed brainstorming with him in the past couple of weeks about the different videos he could make.
Because he was getting footage for three separate videos, he’d be gone for the next six days.
He’d left this morning before Bailey had gone into the clinic, and she’d actually stood on his front porch and waved goodbye to him as he left.
She’d signed up to bring food to Bryce, Codi, and their two-year-old son, Matthew, today because she already had an appointment at a farm up here in Dog Valley later this afternoon. She needed to leave here by three-thirty, which would give her an out here should she need it.
I wish you were with me on this trip, Reeves texted next. But I’ll take lots of pictures and send them to you.
Make sure you’re in the picture, she texted. Because I already miss your face. She sent a laughing emoji with the text, though she wasn’t kidding. She’d told Reeves already that morning that she missed him, and he hadn’t even finished packing yet.
You would’ve loved to drive up here, he replied. But I suppose you’re doing a fair bit of driving this week yourself.
I am, she said. And it was a beautiful drive to Dog Valley today.
She’d have to make the trip again tomorrow.
She was heading up to Whispering Pines for the rest of this week to take a look at the rodeo animals that the Walker brothers trained.
Their younger sister Rachel had just married Cole Young, and they wanted to get some animals listed for sale.
That required a veterinarian check and approval, and thankfully, Bailey liked being out on-site rather than stuck in the office.
Of course, that made the regular appointments pile up and her days when she did drive to the clinic long and harried.
See you soon, wildflower, Reeves’s last text read.
Bailey sighed, the use of her pet name reminding her of what a good thing she had going with Reeves. She looked up at the farmhouse again. “Yeah, and that means that you can go help Codi and her new baby without an issue.”
She got out of the car, pocketed her phone, and walked around to the passenger seat to retrieve the ham and cheese pockets she’d made for lunch. She’d brought six for Codi and Bryce, and kept the rest for herself and Reeves, sending him with four of them for his travels in the next week.
Bailey didn’t always spend time making homemade dough and fancy fillings, but this had worked out to be a good time.
Reeves had come over yesterday afternoon while she’d baked, and Bailey had told herself that spending a Sunday in the kitchen so she could serve others was almost as good as going to church.
In reality, she knew it wasn’t. She’d need to figure out a way to pull up to a chapel and walk inside sooner rather than later. For now, she rang the doorbell at Codi Young’s house, and then opened the door.
“It’s me, Bailey,” she called, because the woman had had a C-section and couldn’t just launch herself off the couch to come get the door.
“Come on back, Bailey,” Codi called.
Bailey walked through the front living room and into the back of the house, where the family room, dining room, and kitchen stood. Codi sat on the couch, propped up with a pile of pillows behind her and on her left side. Her newborn baby boy rested on one of those pillows, and he slept peacefully.
Bailey’s heart picked up speed as pure love filled her. “Look at him,” she said, pure wonder in her voice.
She detoured quickly into the kitchen to set down the tray of sandwiches. She’d also piled a bagged salad and a bottle of the homemade ranch from the local grocery store there.
She turned back to Codi. “He’s so beautiful, Codi.”
Codi grinned down at the baby and then up to Bailey. “He’s pretty great, isn’t he?”
“I’ll say.” Bailey went to perch on the edge of the love seat kitty-corner from Codi. “Are you hungry? The ham and cheese sandwiches are ready right now, but they also heat up really well in the microwave or a toaster oven.”
“I’ll take one right now,” Codi said. “Then Sammy’s going to be waking up soon and needs to be fed.”
Bailey took in the other woman’s face, noticing how tired she seemed. “Do you need to shower or want to take a nap?” Bailey asked. “I can feed him and change him and take care of him while you do any of those things. I just have to be out at the Butterfield place at four.”
She looked at Codi, who gazed back steadily at her. “It’s about a twenty-minute drive, so I can be here for a few hours.” She gestured toward the kitchen. “I can do your dishes, or go feed the chickens, or collect your eggs, or…mow the lawn. Whatever you need.”
She didn’t mention that she paid the Hammond brothers to come mow her lawn. Surely Codi and Bryce would have a riding mower, and the job wouldn’t take that long.
Codi smiled and waved her hand, as if swatting away Bailey’s offers. Bailey swallowed and tried to get her nerves to settle. She couldn’t quite do it, and she wondered if there would ever be a time when she didn’t feel like a total fool with Bryce and Codi.
“Let’s eat, and you can tell me all about how things are going with Reeves,” Codi said.
Her face held such brightness. “OJ was here the other day, and he said he’s going camping with the man.
So Bryce and I want to know about that.” She glanced over her shoulder to the nearby sliding glass door.
“He should be coming in off the ranch any time now.”
She reached over and simply placed her hand gently over the baby’s body, and Bailey craved that connection, that mother-son bond she’d only allowed herself to feel for a few minutes.
“Then I’d love it if you would feed Sammy while I shower, and maybe take a nap,” Codi said. “I’m not going to say no to anything else you want to do.” She swallowed, and Bailey wondered if she harbored her own nerves.
“I want to,” Codi continued. “But Kassie told me she arranged all this help, and I just need to take it.” She blew out her breath. “So I’m trying to accept it.”
Bailey smiled at her. “I know exactly how I’d feel if I were in your position, but Kassie is right, and we want to help.”
Codi smiled and nodded. “We just have a regular kitchen, and there are plates in the cupboard above the sink to the right and silverware in the drawer next to the dishwasher.”
Bailey nodded and went to get the woman some food. She’d just put a ham and cheese pocket on a plate when the back door opened.
“Hey, hey, I see Bailey’s SUV out front,” Bryce said.
Bryce first looked to his wife, and then to Bailey. “Hey, Bryce,” she said. “These are ready right now. Do you want one?”