Page 81 of Bailey

Bryce switched arms and then moved down the hallway a little bit. He watched as the dining tray got taken into a room a few down from Codi’s, but he hovered against the wall as there was no waiting area in here. “She’s watched Matthew a couple of times,” Bryce said. “Well, once Codi took something to OJ when he was at her house, and they spent some time out by the duck pond. It wasn’t really babysitting that second time.”

“I think it’s wild you had her babysit at all,” Harry said.

Bryce understood that, because his daddy had said the same thing. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he said. “It just feels like maybe she needs it, and this is part of her healing.” A frown came to his face, and he didn’t have many brain cells left for this.

“It’s like…maybe she can see that I’m okay, so she doesn’t need to hang on to anything from the past.”

“And she and Reeves have been dating for a while.”

“Four or five months, I think,” Bryce said, as he didn’t really concern himself with Bailey’s schedule or life all that much. They’d be forever intertwined through OJ, but Bryce didn’t text her or call her much, and the one time she’d babysat Matthew for cousin night was a complete anomaly.

Belle slipped out of the room practically beaming as she approached. “He is the cutest baby ever, Bryce.” She grabbed onto him and gave him a hug. “Congratulations.” She then met Harry’s eye. “We should go, baby. She’s really tired.”

Harry nodded. “I’ll be by tomorrow, okay? I’ll bring you guys whatever you want for lunch.” He grinned at Bryce and clapped him on the back in another hug. Then they walked away.

Bryce had just turned to go back into his wife’s room when he caught sight of Abby walking down the hall, with Daddy only a half-step behind her. Pure exhaustion filled him, but what was he supposed to do?

Yes, he’d texted everyone that he and Codi didn’t want any visitors tonight, and that they’d all just be sleeping and trying to get their strength back. They’d be in the hospital for several more days, and there would be plenty of time for visits.

Still, he grinned at his parents as they walked toward him. “You two just can’t follow directions, can you?”

Abby smiled at him with all the maternal love in the world as tears leaked out of her eyes. “You just had a baby,” she said. “Of course we had to come.”

“Yeah, but I told you not to come.” He moved into their embrace and let his mother and father hold him and shore him up. He stole from their strength, hoping it would be enough to lend to Codi, so they could both make it through this first night with their new baby.

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.