Chapter 17 Bodie
BODIE
I cringed as the overpowering scent of antiseptic enveloped me.
I hated going to the hospital. It was bad enough when I had to interview a victim or follow up with a suspect.
But having to visit my dad in the hospital was ten times worse, especially since Pops had been less than helpful on the phone.
With the help of a nurse, two volunteers, and a doctor who looked like he’d just rolled off a twenty-four-hour shift, I located my dad. He was in the emergency room, bellowing orders from his bed. I pushed back the curtain and did a double take.
“Dad?” Clearly the man in the flimsy hospital gown was my dad. But a giant bandage covered half his head, including his right eye. “What the hell?”
“Just a little accident.” Pops stood and pulled the curtain closed.
“Are you going to be okay? What happened?” For someone trained in crisis management and critical situations, my natural instincts took over. “Who did this to you?”
Pops shot me a silencing glare. “Like I said, just a little accident. He’ll be good as new by Friday.”
My gaze drifted over my dad’s face. The bandage covered most of his right cheek, stretching up to his eyebrow. A purple-bluish tinge spread from under the edges. “Good as new by Friday” seemed very optimistic. “But you said someone sent him a—”
“Shh.” Pops’s eyebrows drew down into a fierce line. “We can talk about that later.”
Dad waved off the nurse messing with his IV. “I’ll be fine. I don’t know why your grandfather called you to begin with.”
“What happened?” Based on Pops’s reaction, I hoped they’d fill me in later.
“Tried two-stepping with a two-by-four,” Dad joked. “The board won.”
I shook my head as I stepped closer to the bed. “I’m glad to know you’ll be all right. Pops could have mentioned that on the phone so I didn’t race over here wondering if you were about to take your last breath.”
Pops shrugged. He was never one to waste unnecessary words. I should have been used to that by now.
“Looks like I’ll live to tell.” Dad lowered his voice. “At least for another day or two.”
He and Pops were tighter than two ticks on a coonhound. But until they felt like bringing me into the circle of trust, it wouldn’t do any good to pry.
“Can I do anything for you? When are they going to let you out of here?” Based on what I saw, my dad wasn’t in any danger. At least nothing more than the danger of having a bad headache and a face that might frighten small children away for the next couple of weeks.
Pops slumped into the vinyl recliner next to the bed. “I’ll make sure he gets home okay. But we need to talk about this.”
Nodding, I agreed. “Yeah, you two need to tell me what’s going on.”
“Stop by tomorrow afternoon,” Pops said. “We’ll chat then.”
I stepped closer to the bed. “Let me know if you need anything.” I reached out to put my hand on my dad’s, then thought better of it and pulled back.
“You know what we need,” Dad grunted. “Did you make arrangements yet?”
My heart squeezed. Dad was talking about Lacey. What was it with those damn beavers anyway? “No.”
Dad’s fist came down on the thin hospital mattress with a whomp. “Dammit, we don’t have forever.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. It wasn’t like my dad to get worked up over something so weird. Wasn’t like my dad to get worked up over something, period.
“I said we’ll talk about it later,” Pops ground out. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, okay. Tomorrow.” I parted the curtain and moved down the hall. Whatever my dad and pops were up to appeared to be getting out of hand. Before I had much time to think about it, my phone rang.
The sight of Lacey’s number surprised me. I figured she needed longer than a couple of hours to cool off after I’d shut down the Phillips House.
“Did you call to apologize?” I asked.
“Absolutely not. I called to let you know that I’m going to be shopping for wedding dresses in Dallas this weekend so you’ll have to hold down the fort here in town.”
“Who’s the lucky guy? Do I know him?” I assumed she was joking, but my heart pinched the tiniest bit at the thought of Lacey getting married. Whomever she chose as her groom would be one lucky bastard.
“Very funny. I caught up to Adeline and convinced her not to cancel.”
“Good job. How did you do that?” For a moment my heart swelled. Lacey could do just about anything she set her mind to. Hopefully I’d figure out my dad’s secret before she got a whiff of something rotten going on there.
“I told her the armadillo used to be the caretaker’s pet.”
“Armadillo? From what I heard you’ve got armadillos, a total infestation. They wouldn’t close you down for a single armadillo.”
“I know. But she bought it and that’s all that matters.” A low groan came through the phone. “Now somehow she’s convinced that I need to go to Dallas with her to shop for the perfect dress.”
I couldn’t stop the deep chuckle from escaping. “So a girls’ weekend with one of your favorite home gals, huh?”
“It’s not funny. I need to be here, planning for the opening, taking care of our rogue pet issue, and making sure everyone stays on task.”
“One weekend in Dallas isn’t going to derail you.”
“That’s what you think. You’re not spending two days with Adeline.”
“True. What’s that saying about something not killing you makes you better?”
“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
“That’s right. Just think of Adeline as your personal strength coach.”
Lacey sighed. “This had better work.”
“The weekend in Dallas?”
“Not just that. Restoring the house, my proposal to rename the town, all of it. If it doesn’t, I don’t know—”
“It will.” The uncertainty in her voice pulled at me. I’d say anything in that moment to ease her worry, even though I had no idea whether she was right about her plans for the town or not.
“Thanks, Bodie.” The waver in her voice did funny things to my stomach. Made it flip over on itself, kind of like how I felt the first time I caught a snake—a little uncomfortable but pretty proud of myself all at once.
“So when do you leave?” I asked, trying to shake off the weird sensation.
“Sometime on Friday. Any words of advice?”
“You’re on your own with this one.”
“Gee, thanks. And here I thought we were in this together.”
Together. Another wave of flip-flopping hit my gut. She didn’t mean anything by it. But I still couldn’t shake the sliver of unease sliding around in my belly. “I’ve got your back. If anything goes wrong, just give me a call, okay?”
“And you’ll race up to Dallas and save me?”
“Hopefully it won’t be anything that drastic. But if Adeline gives you trouble, I’m only a phone call away.”
“Got it. I’ll make a list of things going on this weekend so you know what to check on. Do you want me to text it or e-mail?”
“Are you going to be at the warehouse at all in the next day or two?”
“Sure am. Since I can’t work on the house right now, I figured I’d get a few more things organized over there. Why?”
“Why don’t you jot it down and I’ll swing by to pick it up next time you’re over there.” Maybe I’d have a chance to snoop around and find the box of beavers. For some reason my dad and my pops were desperate to get their hands on them. There had to be a reason why.
“You sure you don’t want me to just text you?”
“Nah, that’s okay. I think I might have dropped something while I was over there for the sale. It’ll give me a chance to look for it.”
“Okay. I’ll be there tomorrow after my shift. Probably after eight.”
“I’ll stop by then.”
“Sounds good.”
I waited until the call disconnected then dropped my phone into my pocket.
Tomorrow night. My pulse sped up when I thought about seeing Lacey again.
Either something was wrong with me or after the past few weeks I’d developed some sort of unnatural feelings for my gorgeous new mayor.
I put my hands to my head. No, my best friend’s little sister.
I kept trying, but I couldn’t seem to think of Lacey as the tagalong tween I’d known all those years ago anymore.
Now when I thought of her, which was way too often, I saw the swell of her breasts, the curve of her hips, and the fullness of that bottom lip she always seemed to have captured between her teeth.
The more I tried to not think of her as a woman, the more my brain latched on to visions of her wrapped in my arms, her tongue tangled with mine. Only one way to chase the impossible images out of my head. I needed to run.
I climbed into my truck, hell-bent on getting home, changing into my running gear, and hitting the road to pound out a few miles. Hopefully Shotgun was up for it. Because if I didn’t get my run in before I met up with Lacey again, I might be running into a hell of a lot more than I bargained for.