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“Oh, you’re not ready for the date to end?”
He dug at the floor with his hoof.
“Fine, one more kiss it is.”
Taking the oats, she again put it to her mouth and then reached it out to him. When he finished eating the oats, he turned and walked away.
Harley slipped out of the stall and looked at me. I could see tears building in her eyes, and her breath sounded shallow. “I think I broke a rib.”
“What?” Trevor and I both said at once.
“It’s not broken, just bruised.”
The three of us let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you so much, doctor,” I said, extending my hand.
“No worries. Remember to keep icing it once you get home and take the pills I’m prescribing for the pain. No heating pads, no compression bandages.”
With a nod, I replied, “Got it.”
“And rest your body.”
I laughed. “Well, I’ve got a dinner and dancing tomorrow that I have to squeeze into a dress for…”
He lifted a brow at me and gave me a stern look. It reminded me of my father.
Shit. Speaking of, I forgot to call them!
“We’ll make sure she gets plenty of rest,” Trevor said.
“Good. The nurse will be in to get your discharge papers, and you’ll be all set to go.”
The second the doctor was out the door, Tripp was standing in front of me. “I’m so angry at you for doing that!”
“She’s not hurt, so will you let it go? Jesus, Tripp. You sound like her husband.”
Tripp and I stared at Trevor.
“What? He does. I’m going to call Dad and Mom and let them know Harley is okay.”
“Hey, my phone must have fallen into the stall, can you have your folks call mine? They left earlier today and didn’t stay for the barbeque. I told them I would call them.”
Tipping his hat at me, Trevor flashed that smile I’m sure landed him a lot of women. “Sure thing.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Still the same ol’ charmer.”
Tripp let out a frustrated sigh.
“You haven’t changed a damn bit, have you? Always doing something to save a damn animal.”
I didn’t respond. There was no sense in arguing with him. It had been a stupid thing to do, and I knew it. The worse part was the stupid cat had jumped down and walked out of the barn like nothing had happened.
“I’ll need to stop by the clinic after I pick up Hemi from your folks’ to get her some food.”
Staring at me like I had two heads, Tripp started laughing and took off his cowboy hat. Pushing his hand through his hair, he shook his head and plopped the hat back on his head.
“Did you hear the doctor say you had to take it easy?”
“Yes. And I will. But I have things that I still need to take care of.”
“You’re not going in there getting a damn bag of food.”
“I’ll have my dad get it for me.”
He looked directly at me for the longest time. There was something in his eyes, but I couldn’t read what it was. The door opened and the sweet older nurse walked in.
“Harley Carbajal?”
“That’s me.”
She gave me a warm smile. “You look like a beautiful girl I used to know back in college. She had the same last name.”
“Really? What was her first name?”
“Tanya. Oh…she used to turn the heads,” the nurse said as she winked at Tripp. “Especially when she got out on the dance floor. The poor men didn’t stand a chance as soon as she started to dance the salsa.”
I let out a chuckle, but quickly stopped when a pain shot up my side.
“Tanya, you say? My father’s sister’s name is Tanya.”
“No!” the nurse replied.
“Yes! Let me show you a picture of her. She went to the University of Texas.”
“Oh my goodness, that must be her. I went there, as well.”
My Aunt Tanya was a world traveler. She and her husband had been to almost every country. We only ever saw her at Christmastime.
“She’s in Africa right now with her husband. They’re on a safari for their anniversary.”
“Well, how exciting.”
I pulled up a picture from Facebook and showed her.
“That is her. What a small world. I just adored her. Lord, was she fun to be around.”
“She still is.”
“I bet,” she said with a warm smile. “Tell her LoriBeth Williams from UT said hello. Did she ever pursue her desire to be a photographer?”
One quick swipe of my finger, and I pulled up a photo Aunt Tanya had taken in Iceland.
“Yes. She works for National Geographic. That’s how she met my Uncle Bob. He’s one of the editors.”
“Well, what an exciting life she must lead.”
I nodded. Aunt Tanya was the reason I had caught the travel bug when I was in college. The irony of this situation—me being in the hospital with Tripp here and Aunt Tanya being brought up again—wasn’t lost on me.
