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worrying, Mom. He's not even scraped."
After Jeremy left, Josh said to his parents, "You two go on back to the ranch. I'll be there as soon
as I can get away from here."
"Okay, son," Jack replied. He gave Josh's shoulder a squeeze, then he took Grace's arm and
turned her away, while saying, "It's okay, honey. Josh is fine."
Genie said nothing, but it hit her that this was a small sample of what her life would be like if she
married Josh. She didn't know if she could live with it, yet she couldn't imagine walking away from
Josh either.
CHAPTER 17
While the doctor checked Josh, Genie and Abby stood outside the medical unit with Annie and
Ryan, who was holding Cody. Matt and Ruth left for the ranch as soon as they knew Josh was okay.
Annie, looking at Abby with concern, said to Genie, "Ryan and I are heading back now. We can
take Abby if you want, and maybe she could stay the night and help me collect eggs and feed the baby
goats, and our second baby hinny needs a name."
Genie looked at Abby, whose face was still blotched from crying, and said, "You want to go with
Annie?"
Abby looked at Genie with teary eyes, and replied, "I want to stay with you and Josh."
"It's going to be a while before we can get away," Genie said, "but we'll be home as soon as the
doctor makes sure everything's okay, which it is because we just saw Josh and he's fine. You go on
with Annie and feed the baby goats and help think of a name for the baby hinny."
Seeming satisfied, Abby looked at Annie, and said, "Can I name it Angel?"
"The baby hinny's a boy," Annie replied, "and Angel's more of a girl's name."
"No, Angel's a boy's name," Abby said, with a little hint of attitude, which Genie viewed as a
positive sign because the incident with Josh was behind, at least it was for Abby.
"Criss Angel," Genie said to Annie. "Another illusionist."
"Okay then, Angel it is," Annie said. "So let's go sprinkle some water on Angel's head and
christen him." She offered her hand, which Abby took.
As they were walking off, Genie glanced around, startled to see Dr. Stafford, one of the doctors
from her hospital in Portland. He recognized her about the same time she spotted him. Crossing in
long strides toward her, Dr. Stafford said as he approached, "Did you get the message I left on your
cell?"
Genie looked at him, puzzled. "I haven't checked my messages in a few days. What was the
message?"
"To get in contact with me," Dr. Stafford said. "There was a rumor going around the hospital that
you might not be returning and I wanted to find out if it was true."
"Actually, there is something to it," Genie said, and realized she'd just made a decision after
deliberating for over for a month, even though she had no alternative job. "I have my little sister to
look after now, and at the hospital with the understaffing, mandatory overtime, and irregular hours, it
doesn't work for me anymore, so I'm looking around some and trying to decide what to do."
"Maybe I can help," Dr. Stafford said. "The reason I was trying to contact you was because
Health and Human Services is setting up a clinic in Pine Grove to serve southern Harney County, and
I'll be the physician there and I need a nurse assistant. I knew you recently got your RN license, and
your leave papers said you were at a ranch near here, so it seemed like a good fit."
"Did you come all the way here to tell me that?" Genie asked.
Dr. Stafford shook his head. "I'm here looking for a place to live. It's just me and my wife now so
we don't have to worry about kids and schools."
"Is the job full time?" Genie asked.
Dr. Stafford shook his head. "Three days a week." He reached into his billfold and pulled out a
business card. "Here's where you can reach me," he said. "I'm looking to fill the position as soon as
possible."
While Genie looked at the card, Dr. Stafford gazed off at the hills and buttes and rangeland that
stretched into the far distance, and said, in a brooding voice, "It's pretty barren here. I can see why the
population of Harney County's so low. There's not much around to attract a person."
"It grows on you," Genie said, while looking off at an entirely different vista from what Dr.
Stafford was seeing. Dr. Stafford saw barren hills. She saw buttes that were catching the lowlying sun
and turning them into reddish gold, and mountains in the distance with little peaks of white from the
winter snows, and slopes with groves of aspen and juniper and high-mountain mahogany, and sage-
covered foothills dotted with cattle.
About that time the door to the medical unit swung open and Josh appeared, ragged, and rumpled,
and covered with dust, but with his face now scrubbed free of grease paint. Catching sight of Genie,
he smiled at her and said, "Okay, babe, I'm good to go. You ready?"
Dr. Stafford eyed Josh with a blend of concern and curiosity, then said to Genie, "I'll be in
touch," and walked off.
"What was that all about?" Josh asked, as he approached.
Genie shrugged. "He used to be one of the doctors on staff at my hospital, but he'll be working at
a clinic in Pine Grove when it opens," she replied, while slipping the business card into her purse.
She wasn't ready to share the information with Josh. She was still shaken by the incident with the bull
and concerned about Abby's reaction to it, and she needed to resolve that first before telling Josh
about the job offer, and maybe making a lifelong commitment to him.
During the drive back to the ranch, Josh said, "Will you come to my place tonight? We need to
talk about what happened with the bull since it doesn't happen very often."
Genie, who was sitting beside Josh in the truck, with his arm curved around her, said to him, "I
agree we need to talk about it, but with your parents at the ranch, it would be awkward being at your
place because they might think we were having sex, even though we wouldn't be because you're too
sore right now, but I wouldn't want them to jump to that conclusion."
Josh kissed her on the side of the face, and said, "Babe, I'll never be too sore to make love to
you. As for my parents, they'll be gone most of the evening with Matt and Ruth. They've been invited
to a neighboring ranch so they won't be back until late, and Jeremy won't be back until Pete's closes
since all his buddies from the rodeo will be there, along with every buckle bunny in the county. So
we'll have the place to ourselves."
Genie smiled and nestled closer against Josh and rested her hand on his thigh. She couldn't seem [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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