He’d dodged a couple of bullets. One, with the injury itself, since it wouldn’t require surgery. And two, by getting out of a trip to Monument.
He heard his mother downstairs, puttering around in his kitchen. She came by every morning to make him a pot of coffee and a hot breakfast. She also left lunch and dinner for him to heat up later.
Getting downstairs was painful, but Jace was determined to sleep in his own bed on the second story of the ranch house. If he stayed downstairs, he’d be forced to sleep on the couch, and if he did that, his back would hurt as much as his leg.
“Mornin’, Mama.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“How’s the leg?”
“Sore. But better than it was yesterday.”
“You take anything for the pain?”
“Not yet. Gonna try to get by with over-the-counter stuff today. I don’t like the way the prescription medicine makes me feel.”
She set a plate of bacon and eggs on the table in front of him.
“You don’t have to come over and make me breakfast, you know.”
“I know, but I like to do it.” She sat down in the chair across from him. “I’m worried about you.”
“I’ll be okay, Mama. It’ll take time to heal, that’s all.”
“It isn’t your leg I’m worried about, Jace. It’s your heart.”
Jace wanted to tell her he was fine and that she shouldn’t worry about him, but he couldn’t. “Me, too,” he said instead.
Bree leaned over and picked up a rock near the side of the stream. She and Red had been fishing at different places on the Salmon River for a couple of days. Bree wouldn’t have minded going off on her own, but Red was easy going, and she got used to being with him.
“What’s the hatch?” he asked when she set the rock back down.
“Caddis.” The most common, and meant there’d be plenty of hungry fish. “I’ll go downstream,” she offered.
He smiled. “Lots of fish right here, Bree.”
Other than Zack, there wasn’t anyone else she’d liked to fish with, until she met Red. It took her a few minutes to settle in, but soon, she got into the rhythm of casting, and let herself get lost in it.
“Gettin’ hungry?” Red asked.
Hungry? Now that he mentioned it, she was starving. She pulled her cell phone out and saw it was just past noon. They’d been fishing for three hours and neither had said a word.
“You won’t be gettin’ a signal on that thing out here, better to forget you have it with you.”
“No, uh, I was just checking the time.”
“That’s right, you youngins don’t wear watches, do ya?”
“You’re right. It’s been a long time since I relied on a watch to tell me the time.” She waved her phone in the air. “Much easier to rely on this thing.” She put the phone back in her pocket.
“Whaddaya say we head up to Stanley for a bite to eat?”
3
When Red suggested they go to Stanley, Bree felt the air leave her lungs.
“Stanley Bakery okay with you?” he asked.
She nodded, and they made the rest of the ten mile drive north in silence.