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“Miss Johlman here just brought a sample of water in. Interesting, if inconclusive, findings. It’s good to see her taking such an interest in what’s going on at the ranch.” He gave her a brief smile.
Kent’s gaze locked onto hers as if she were the only person in the room. “Is that so? What made you bring a sample into the doctor?”
And not him. She heard the insinuation, though he didn’t say it. “You had said the doctor had the equipment. My mind was curious, and you were busy.”
He hid his reaction behind his hat brim before belatedly whipping it off his head. “I’m not here to make any demands on your time.” His gaze flew back to her for a moment, hitting her with the accusation that she was wasting the doctor’s precious time. “Do you have any other requests for me?”
Dr. Spight slowly shook his head. “No, none. And praise God, the outbreak has slowed, so I had time to give to Alice’s questions. Never hesitate to come in if you need to.” He reached across Anne and patted her arm in a strangely fatherly way.
She gave a curt nod, but, having found out what she wanted to, she backed away from the group. “I’ll return in a few days to see if you found anything in the culture.”
Kent frowned. “I’ll bring the results to you since I’m at the ranch daily. There’s no point in going out of your way.”
Her heart ached, wanting to explain to him that she hadn’t meant to insult his family. She truly hadn’t meant his father when she’d made her statement. She backed toward the door, but only made it a few steps before Anne held up Alice’s forgotten satchel.
“I’ll walk you outside.” She gave Alice a rare smile.
Alice took the bag and headed for the door, Anne by her side. “Thank you. I was a little out of sorts.”
“I noticed.” Anne laughed. “When you deal with a grumpy sort of man, the best course of action is to face him. Head on. Don’t let him stew in his anger or he starts feeling like he’s justified.”
“Maybe he is?” How would she know? She couldn’t discern his thoughts. She’d thought she could, but not after he’d said he was only speaking to her as a means to an end.
Anne laid a tender hand on her shoulder. “Trust me on this one. When a man is grumpy, he needs you to dig a little deeper. It’ll hurt both of you before you can heal what’s festering inside him, but once that hurt is cauterized, you can both understand one another better.”
Alice unwound Blaze’s reins and tucked the satchel into her saddlebag. “I would like nothing more than to clear the air between us, but every time I think we’re getting close, he says something else that makes me turn on him. I’m thinking that’s the state he prefers.”
“He does. No one likes change and you’re asking him to face something that hurt him. Men don’t even like admitting they’re hurting, much less dealing with it. I could see the pain in him from the moment he stepped through that door. What I didn’t know was who was going to be the person to take a needle to his thorn.”
“And that’s me?” Alice wanted to back away from the chore, to bow out. She wasn’t strong enough to take on the lion with a thorn in his paw.
“Yes. I think so. If you need any advice, I’m right here.” She helped Alice mount and settle back into the saddle.
“Thank you, Anne.” She’d never heard the woman say so much.
“I’ll make sure he comes to see you. What you do from there is up to you.” She waved and headed back into the clinic.
* * *
No matterhow much Kent told himself he would not turn and look behind him at Alice’s trim and beautiful form, he could’ve more easily stopped the sun from setting. Days had passed since she’d stormed off into the brightly lit sun of the Johlman pasture after he’d said what he did not mean and meant what he did not say.
Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to correct the matter, though he’d been to her home all three days since. If he had to make a diagnosis of her mien based purely on her reaction to seeing him, he’d say she was still in a fine pique, and he probably deserved it.
“Instead of watching her leave, you ought to take the time to go talk to her. She has some sound ideas about what’s going on. Ideas that would benefit from your expertise.” Dr. Spight’s voice forced him to turn away from what he’d rather be doing and back into the very present reason he’d come to town.
“I’ve spoken with her about what I think and we’ve since parted ways on the subject.” Apparently, or she would’ve brought her concerns to him. Just as he’d suspected, when the time came, she would push him to the side and ignore his presence. He should be glad, but he couldn’t quite swing his emotional pendulum that far.
“I think you should take a look at the sample under the microscope and see if I missed anything. I created a slide, and it’s in the cabinet, ready to grow. You can keep an eye on that too, since I have no other immediate work for you and it’s my desire to stop working with cattle and sheep altogether.”
He’d insisted to Kent he wanted nothing to do with any animal, though there wasn’t time to list all of them. Even Mrs. Collard’s pet rat she’d brought home when she visited her son in Mexico, where he was working as avaquero,had needed Dr. Spight’s reluctant attention.
“I still haven’t decided if I’m staying on in Belle Fourche.” Especially if he was ever going to escape thinking about—and the constant distraction of—Alice Johlman.
“Whether you stay or not isn’t my concern. I’ll take every minute you will give me and I’ll try to squeeze in a few more before you swat my hands away. I am neither trained for, nor do I desire to learn, animal sciences. I was lukewarm at best in my attempts. This town is better for your return, and I will lobby for you to stay.”
He strode toward Kent and laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “The actual issue is, what’s driving you away? My gut tells me it’s the same reason you’re not working with the one person who is coming to me, not with questions and requests for help, but with as many ideas as answers. What has caused you to break with working with her if your aim is the same?”
His first thought was to shrug off Dr. Spight’s hand, the very hand of the mentor who had made him want to seek a degree in medicine. The man who’d acted like a father to him when his own had treated him less than a farm hand. That history stilled him. “She is no good for me.” Which was the complete opposite of how he felt. In truth, he was no good for her.
