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CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
Travis Cooper dismounted from his red mare before Pockets really stopped. “Stay,” he told the equine as if she were a canine. He bolted toward the house, sure his mare would find plenty to snack on to keep her occupied while he went inside.
All he could hear as he ran up the steps was the pinched, high-pitched sound of his wife’s voice when she’d called.I need you to come home.
He’d just finished the first milking of the day, and the sun had already started to reheat the Texas air. He’d been out in the stables working through a couple of their dirty stalls, and he’d saddled Pockets for a walk through the corrals later.
Since she was ready, and Travis’s truck was on the other side of the stable, he’d swung onto the horse’s back and come.
His heart pounded in the back of his throat as he twisted the doorknob and entered the house. “Shay?”
She wasn’t in the small living room or the kitchen at the back of the house. He flew toward the hallway that sat between the two and led down to two small bedrooms with a bathroom between them.
The cabin was nowhere near the mansion a queen like Shay required, but Travis had met with Lee, Will, and Daddy last week about building something bigger and more family-oriented for him and Shay.
Lee’s cabin was already two stories and probably plenty big for the family he’d have. Not only that, but he’d move into the farmhouse soon. Probably when Mama passed away.
Travis’s boots hit the floor hard as he rounded the corner and he spotted Shay in the bathroom at the end of the hall. “Baby,” he said. “What’s goin’ on?”
She’d been out running with Will when Travis had gotten up and dragged himself over to the corrals where they kept their dairy cows. He and the cowboys he worked with were in a rotation right now, where they were switching out their cows, as a cow couldn’t give good milk forever. Or even for longer than six or eight months.
Shay sat on the tiny vanity in the bathroom, and Travis caught sight of the blood on her leg as he neared. “I fell,” she said, her voice much calmer now.
Travis crowded into the bathroom too and took the wet washcloth from her. It wasn’t warm, and he twisted the hot water handle on the sink and rewetted it. “How?” he asked. “I saw Will going into the admin office during the milking.” He looked at her, wrung out the rag, and reached to start wiping the blood from her shin.
“He cut out about halfway through,” she said. “Said he had to shower and get over to the office for a call.”
“Yeah, the Albertsons,” Travis said needlessly. Shay winced as he touched the warm cloth to her leg. There wasn’t a wound there, but her body trembled. Probably from shock.
“I went up into the hills on the other side of the highway,” she said. “And back. I stumbled over this stupid rut literally a hundred yards from here.” She sniffled and wiped her face. “Went right down.”
“It’s all right,” Travis said, steadily moving closer to her knee, where the actual injury lay. “This isn’t going to feel great.”
“I’ve fallen before,” she said, her voice going super-high again. “I don’t know why I couldn’t clean it up. I just…couldn’t.”
Travis looked up, questions running through his mind. “What do you mean?”
“I couldn’t look at my own blood,” she said. “It’s making me queasy. So I called you.”
Travis didn’t know there was anything that shook Shay, but as he searched her face, he could clearly see that his strong, capable, brilliant wifeneededhim.
“It’s not making me queasy,” he said. “I can do it.” He went back to tending to her wound, and Shay’s teeth actually chattered while she pressed through the cleaning and bandaging of the wound. She cried quietly during the whole thing, and then Travis lifted her into his arms to take her back to bed.
“I’m sorry,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and letting her head rest against his shoulder. “I swear I’ve taken care of myself before. I just don’t feel well.”
“Maybe you should set your alarm for six instead of five,” he said. “Or take a few weeks off running.” She’d have to anyway, as that knee wasn’t going to support the hill hiking she did on a daily basis.
“I love running,” she whispered.
He bent and laid her in the bed they shared. “I know, sweetheart.” He helped her get her legs under the blankets and tucked her in, the comforter all the way up under her chin. “But not tomorrow, okay? And I’ll call Jade and Elaine and tell them you’re not coming in today.”
Shay looked at him with wide eyes, but she didn’t argue. Surprisingly, as Shay owned her outdoor outfitters company, and she worked about as much as Travis did around the farm.
He smiled softly at her and leaned down to kiss her. “All right. You’re all right.”
“Will you come home for lunch?”
Travis usually came home for lunch, unless he was driving to town to eat with his wife. “Yes,” he said. “I’ll make something amazing.”
