tired of her excuses, the twenty-pound orange tabby leaped off the top of the cushion and onto Kendra’s stomach.
“Okay, I’ll get the treats.” Laughing, she rubbed the cat’s head, as he purred. The shrill ring of the phone had her reaching for the cordless handset tossed in the mess on the coffee table. “This had better be good.”
“Ooh, it is!” It was her littlest sister Michelle, trembling with excitement. Not that Michelle was all that little now that she was grown-up and married. “We’re all on our way to the hospital. Karen was admitted about thirty minutes ago.”
“She’s having the baby?” Excitement must have reenergized her, because Kendra found the will to stand up, carrying Pounce as she crossed the room. “Did you need a ride or is your hubby there?”
“Brody’s locking up right now… Oops, I gotta go. He’s dragging me to the front door.” Michelle was laughing. “See you at the hospital!”
Another niece or nephew to welcome into their family! Kendra tossed the phone onto the cushions to worry about later. She was going to be an aunt—again. She had to hurry. She had to drive. She needed caffeine. Good thing she’d made a pitcher of sun tea yesterday.
A swift brush along her ankles reminded her of her primary mission. The cat led the way to the treat bag and his demanding meow left no doubt. He was annoyed with her.
“I know, that phone was more important than you. I’m sorry, buddy.” She gave him an extra treat, rubbed his head while he purred gratefully and made the long journey of about seven steps into the small galley kitchen.
Okay, so she hadn’t done all her chores today. Bypassing the counter of dirty dishes, she rummaged through the back of the cupboard until she found a clean cup, dumped some sugar in for good measure and went in search of her keys.
Where were they? The cat was no help, as he was settling on his cushion in front of the air conditioner and couldn’t be bothered with lowly human dilemmas.
“Found ’em!” On the floor beneath her tennies. “Bye, Pounce!”
The cat managed a disdainful frown, which Kendra took to mean he’d miss her.
Twilight was creeping into the long shadows as she started her truck, but that didn’t provide any relief from the heat. No. At least she wasn’t towing a trailer, so she punched up the air-conditioning. The sinking sun blazed bright orange and magenta in her rear and side-view mirrors, tailing her as she headed to Bozeman.
The sun had set in a lavender hush by the time she pulled into the hospital parking lot, found an available space as close to the front doors as she could manage and climbed out into the coming darkness.
“Kendra, is that you?” A man’s voice rumbled behind her.
Her keys tumbled through her fingers and crashed to the pavement at her feet. She recognized his deep, warm baritone instantly. Smooth move, Kendra. “Cameron. What are you doing here?”
“Startling you. Here, let me.” He knelt and retrieved her keys.
It was gentlemanly of him. If he hadn’t spoken first, she might not have realized it was him right off. She was used to seeing him in his navy-blue uniform. Tonight he wore a simple T-shirt and jeans, belted at his lean hips, and scuffed boots.
He straightened to his full six feet and held her key ring on the wide palm of his hand. “I’ve come to your rescue again.”
“I guess. If you hadn’t come along when you did, I’d have been in a real dilemma, being unable to pick up my own keys.”
“See? Glad I could be of service.”
“And just what are you doing here anyway? Following me?”
“You’d have noticed in your rearview if I had. Nope, my pager went off halfway through my supper. Big wreck on the highway.”
She’d taken the back road to Bozeman, not the highway. “Was anyone hurt?”
“A tire blew out, and the driver was injured. It was the father of a family on their summer vacation.”
“Will he be all right?”
“Broke his leg. He’ll be spending the night in the hospital, so I told him I’d make sure his wife and kids get settled into a hotel room. During tourist season, you don’t know the strings I had to pull for that one.”
“That was decent of you.”
“Yeah? Well, I try not to be such a bad guy, considering I wear a badge and give people tickets.”
“I’ve heard you cops have unfair quotas to fill.”
“Pressure of being a cop.” His smile broke wide, showing a row of straight even white teeth and a hint of a dimple. “Why do I have the pleasure of running into you on this fine evening?”
“I’m about to become an aunt again.”
“Congratulations.” He fell in step beside her. “That’s hard work, becoming an aunt.”
“Yeah, I have it much harder than Karen. I have to shop in the gift store. I have to sit and wait in those uncomfortable chairs.”
“There must be an unspoken but ironclad law in hospital administration that states they can only allocate funds for the most uncomfortable chairs on the planet. They would have to buy them on purpose. There’s no way they could find those chairs by chance.”
“There’s an administrator somewhere in this building who has better job security because of it.”
The lobby was quiet this time of evening. To Kendra’s surprise Cameron stayed by her side as they wound their way to the elevators. He punched the Up button.
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them while they both watched the lit numbers move up and not down in their direction.
What did she say now? She was horrible at making small talk.
A janitor rolled his cart into sight and ambled to the far corner of the lobby. He began washing windows.
Cameron broke the silence. “Did you get your horses all tucked in for the night?”
“Yep.”
“That had to be tough. They can’t be used to being cooped up in a trailer.”
“No, but I’ve worked with a lot of horses over the years. I sweet-talked them.”
Cam could see it in his mind as the doors parted and he followed Kendra inside the elevator. Her gentle words and gentle hands, her quiet ways that told those frightened animals only good things were going to happen to them while they were in her care.
See? He’d asked the Lord for another chance and this was it. He had Kendra alone. Trapped, as it were, in the elevator with him. Folks probably asked her advice all the time.
So just do it. He punched the floor button and leaned against the wall. The car zipped upward, reminding him
