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“No worries at all, Mr. Brady. And call me Doc. Everyone else around these parts does.”
Adam gave the friendly man a sincere smile. “Doc. I’m…well, not great, to tell the truth. I’ve lost two jobs already. Just can’t seem to shake this bad luck of mine.”
Woodson aimed an amused grin his way. “Two jobs already and one whole week gone.”
“Yes, I know. My time is ticking,” Adam said before Gray could rub it in.
“If you’re looking for work, I could use some help in my office,” Doc said.
Woodson’s gaze shot to him, and his eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t say anything. Was he annoyed that his friend had offered Adam a job? Oh, Adam would take it regardless, but if he could needle Woodson a bit while doing it, all the better.
“Do you have any experience with doctoring?” Doc asked.
Adam shook his head. Gunslingers didn’t tend to be the ones patching people up. They were more likely to be the reason people needed patching, if not a grave.
“That’s no matter,” Doc said. “As long as you have a strong back…and stomach,” he added after a second of thought, “you’ll be all right.”
Adam hesitated. A strong back, sure. He could lift, haul, carry whatever the doc needed him to. Stomach…that might be a different story. He’d probably be fine. But then he’d never really put that to the test. He’d seen plenty of injuries in his time, of course. Caused more than a few as well. But seeing them and having them actively smeared all over his freshly laundered shirt were two entirely different things. He’d try to hold it together, but if blood, pus, or any other bodily fluid stained his custom-made clothing, he very well might disgrace himself in any number of undignified ways.
Still. It was employment, and it beat giving in to the whole matrimony thing, so he nodded. “I’m your man for whatever you need, Doc.”
“Excellent! Come by the clinic later this afternoon, and I’ll give you a quick rundown of what I’ll need you to do. Then you can start first thing in the morning.”
“That’ll be great, Doc, thanks,” Adam said, reaching out to shake his hand.
Doc turned to leave, but not before exchanging a look with a sour-faced Woodson that had Adam’s curiosity hackles up. Woodson just shook his head when Doc smiled and walked away. Preacher looked back and forth between Woodson and Adam but didn’t say anything. Just nodded to them both before going about his business.
“Looks like I’m employed again,” Adam said.
Woodson gave him that half grin that somehow both conveyed subtle amusement and sent a shiver of apprehension down Adam’s spine. “I’m not worried.” Then he turned to head into his office.
Adam frowned at his back. Woodson wasn’t worried because he didn’t think Adam could hack being a doctor’s assistant. To be fair, Adam wasn’t all that sure himself. But he was still willing to give it a shot.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked over at his horse, who was now snoozing peacefully beside his new lady love. Adam sighed. Actually, a nap wasn’t a bad idea. Surely he could find someplace in this wretched town where he could catch a few minutes of uninterrupted sleep. He’d go back to the bathhouse if he wasn’t afraid of falling asleep in the tub and drowning. Or having his would-be wife track him down again to continue whatever game she’d started with that bar of soap. She’d damn near won last time. He couldn’t afford to give her another crack at it. Hell, if she cornered him naked again, he’d probably be on his knees worshipping her before she so much as batted her eyes at him.
He stepped off the walkway and just started walking, letting his mind wander along with his body. Adam had thought about ol’ Quick Shot many times over the years. How could he not when their fight had set him on the path that had led him to this town in the first place?
But never once, even in his wildest, most uninhibited moments, had Adam ever imagined that Gray Woodson would be an obviously happily married father and a sheriff to boot. Oh, the man was still a grouch, no doubt about it. But there was no mistaking that tender look in his eyes when he gazed at his daughter. Or the devotion that shone from him when he looked at his wife. The way his friends spoke of him, and the way he talked with them… He still grumbled, sure. But they all seemed to care about and respect one another.
Adam had never had that. He’d never been able to trust anyone that much. A fact he’d learned the hard way. And for the first time in a long time, it looked really nice. Watching the people of Desolation interact with one another, it wasn’t hard to start imagining what it would be like to have people at his back like that. To have…a family like that.
He still had his mother, and he loved her dearly. But he hadn’t seen her in years. They’d always been so different. She hadn’t understood his desire to go west, to carve out his own life. She preferred her comfortable life back east. She’d always wanted him to be a banker or someone…respectable. Successful. With the perfect job, the perfect life. The perfect wife.
He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of his mother meeting Nora. She’d have a fainting spell over Nora’s penchant for wearing men’s trousers. But for the most part…his mother would probably like her. A lot. She was impossible not to like, frankly, as aggravating as she was.
But the last thing he wanted was to let someone else in his life down. Or worse, let them in only to be betrayed again. Or even worse yet, drag someone he cared about into danger. His enemies were not the type of people to spare a man because of his attachments. Loved ones were nothing more than leverage at best. Cannon fodder at worst.
Better to just continue to steer clear. No matter how much he was starting to wish otherwise.
He’d left the main street and continued to wander past a few homes that were just on the edge of town. The one at the end of the lane made him stop and smile. The small white house was a bit shabby, but the yard was neat, what he could see of the garden and back acreage looked well-tended, and the whole place exuded an air of cozy homliness. And sported a tree that looked like the perfect place for a nap.
Until the back door opened and Nora descended the stairs. Adam froze like a deer in the crosshairs and then turned on his heel and double-timed it back to town. A nap could wait. The last thing he wanted was to draw the attention of his so-called wife. And he’d keep repeating that thought until his body started listening.
He found himself in front of Doc’s again without really realizing how exactly he’d gotten there. So much for keeping that wife he refused to think of from distracting him.
“Mr. Brady, back already?” Doc stuck his head out the door with a face-splitting grin. “Come on in and I’ll show you where we keep everything. We can start with the bedpans.”
Adam closed his eyes, fighting the urge to run as fast as he could for the town border. But he knew what awaited him out there. His choices if he stayed in Desolation might not be great, but he’d at least be alive to make them. So, time to choose. Bedpans or marriage?
