Chapter Fourteen
Dylan-
“Well, at least now we’ll be able to see the town a little better than we could last night,” Cami said. “Hopefully, there’s more in the other direction from the stoplight than what we saw going this way.”
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up.” I laughed. “But it looks like a nice mom and pop mountain town.” Glancing to the right, I saw the building I’d been looking for with a sign that read ‘Red’s Cafe’ painted across the top of the adobe style building. “How about this restaurant? I saw it when we passed through here last night. There are lots of cars. That usually means the food is good.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m starving.” As if to confirm her words, her stomach growled and I chuckled.
Parking, we went inside, finding a very country western atmosphere, complete with old artifacts hanging on the walls and the floors and booths made of wood. We were quickly seated by a friendly waitress and given our menus. “What do you recommend?” I asked, wanting to know what the favorites were.
“Are you looking for breakfast or lunch?” she asked cheerily.
“Breakfast,” Cami piped up and I nodded.
“Well, if you want a lot to eat, then I recommend the Early Cowboy Platter. It has biscuits and gravy with sides of eggs, bacon, sausage, and Texas toast. Our Rodeo Pancake stack is also a big favorite, as well as our Buckin’ French Toast Breakfast.”
I snickered when Cami moaned. “That all sounds so good. How will I decide?”
“Let me go get your drinks first, and that’ll give you a few more moments. What would you like? Water, juice, coffee?”
“I’ll have an orange juice,” Cami said happily.
“And I’ll take a coffee.”
“Perfect, one orange juice and coffee coming right up. I’ll go get those.”
“Have you decided what you want yet?” I asked Cami. “Or shall I just order one of everything on the menu?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Ha, ha, ha. You’re so funny. I’m not that bad.”
“Your growling stomach says otherwise,” I disagreed.
“I haven’t eaten since we left Tucson yesterday, and you kept me busy for the better part of the morning. Can you blame me?”
I shook my head. “No, but I have been right there with you. How about you narrow it down to your two favorites and I’ll order whichever one you don’t. That way you can have some of both. How’s that?”
She sighed. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
I winced as the waitress approached our table, clearly in earshot of her words. “What are big brothers for?” I asked lightly, hoping it would cover up her blunder.
“Here you go,” the waitress said, placing our drinks in front of us. “There’s free refills on the coffee too, so just wave at me if you want some more. I’ll try to keep it coming, but we’re a little busy this morning, as you can see.”
“Busier than usual?” I asked. “My sister and I are new to the area so we don’t really know much about the community.”
“Welcome to Springerville,” she said brightly. “We’re always pretty busy, but this weekend is our Old West Days celebration, so there’s lots of people from out of town.”
“Old West Days? Sounds interesting. What’s that all about?”
“It’s to celebrate our pioneer heritage and the ranching that goes on in the area. There’s rodeos, ice cream socials, tours of historical homes, softball tournaments, dancing, barbecue, all kinds of stuff. We have some flyers here about it. Would you like one?”
“Sure, that would be great.” She hurried over near the register counter and picked up a folded pamphlet.
“Did you narrow your choices, yet?” I asked Cami.
“If you’ll get the Early Cowboy Platter, I’ll get the Buckin’ French Toast Breakfast.”
“Deal,” I replied as our waitress returned.
“Here you go, sir.” She handed me the flyer.
“Thanks. Sorry to keep asking you questions, but could you happen to tell us where we can find a grocery store, too?”
“Of course. Just keep driving down to the stoplight and take a left. There is a couple of big grocery stores on that road. One is pretty close and the other is a little farther down the way in Eagar. If you aren’t familiar with the area, the towns of Springerville and Eagar run together. It’s not a very big place, but everything can be found in just a few short miles. If you want any of the bigger chain department stores though, you’ll need to go to Show Low.”
“Thanks. I appreciate the information.”
“Anytime. I’m happy to help. Are you ready to order?”
“We are.” I gestured for Cami to order her food and then I ordered mine. The waitress took our menus and disappeared.
“Well, what you think so far?” I asked as I glanced down at the flyer.
“It sounds like a far cry from Tucson, but kind of quaint, too. Can I see the flyer?”
I passed it to her. “Would you like to attend some of the celebrations?”
“I think it sounds fun. Do you want to?”
“I’m game if you are.”
“What’s logging events?” She crinkled her nose, perplexed, as she read over the brochure.
“I think it’s where they toss big logs, log rolling, saw pulls, chopping, and climbing. Basically anything you can do with wood, logs, or trees.”
She stared at me. “And how do you know all this?”
I chuckled. “I saw some lumberjack world championship thing on television once.”
“They have world championships?” she asked incredulously.
“Apparently.”
“Hmmm. You learn something new every day.” She glanced back at the flyer. “The ice cream social sounds fun. And I love history. I wouldn’t mind touring some of the historic homes.”
“I thought the rodeo sounded fun too, but it’s up to you. I don’t want to wear you out.”
“I’ll let you know if I get too tired, but I’m excited to see what there is to do here. As long as we get groceries and gas at some point today, then I’m good.”
“All right. We’ll go check things out.” Starting to reach across the table to squeeze her hand, I suddenly remembered that I couldn’t. I pulled back and she stared at me, noticing what I’d done.
“It’s harder than I thought it would be,” she said, her voice low. “I didn’t realize how many times a day we touch each other. It’s not natural for me to suddenly stop.”
“I know. Hopefully it won’t be this way for long. And if we keep to our property . . . .” I let my voice trail off knowing she would get my meaning without me having to voice it.
“I miss our old life.” Her face was sorrowful.
“You’ll have it again. I promise.”
“I know. I trust you. It’ll all work out, somehow.”
The waitress reappeared with our food and the light reappeared on Cami’s face as she picked up her fork to dig in. Her eyes rolled back and a moan escaped her as she chewed.
I chuckled. “Anything in particular you’d like off my plate? I don’t want you to starve or anything.”
She shook her head. “I changed my mind. This is fabulous and it’s a huge plate. I’ll be lucky if I can even finish it.”
“Okay.” I continued to watch her, feeling amused at her antics. “Let me know if you decide otherwise.”
***
We chose to drive around town to see where things were located and what kinds of activities were going on.
“Some of these restaurants look like they might be fun to try. And check out that big dome.” Cami pointed to the left. “I wonder what it is?”
“That must be the high school football field. It’s my understanding that several teams come up here for summer training.”
“Wow. It seems so huge for a town of this size. Oh, but look! There’s the city park and it looks like a lot of stuff is going on there.”
“Shall we stop and check thi
ngs out?”
“Yes, please. Look at all the vendors out there. I want to go see what they have.”
“Great. Shopping.”
She laughed as I drove to an open parking spot. “Don’t you even start with me. You shop as much as I do.”
“When?” I asked in astonishment.
“Seriously, have you seen your closet? You hardly have anything in there that isn’t from some designer label.”
“That’s not shopping,” I argued. “That’s just having good taste in nice clothing.”
“Yeah, well, you could probably feed a small country on the stuff you have.”
“Not anymore.”
She sighed and looked out the window. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up, again.”
“We can’t avoid reality, Cami.” Glancing at me, she narrowed her eyes.
“What’s my name?”
“Fine. Camri. Is that better?”
She smiled. “Yes. Now let’s forget about all the bad stuff for a while and go have some fun.”
“Sounds good.” I loved her upbeat attitude. “Try to leave some money in my wallet, okay.”
“Okay.” She giggled.
“I’ll come get your door.”
“Would a brother do that?” she asked.
“He would if he had a very pregnant sister.”
She considered this for a second before she nodded. I hopped out of the truck and went around to help her. It was odd to walk together, side by side, and not hold her hand or put my arm around her. It actually made me pretty uncomfortable. I couldn’t count the times we naturally reached for each other only to yank our hands back as we slowly walked along, looking at the booths.
“Oh, look at this necklace, D—.” Cami immediately launched into a fake coughing fit to try and cover her blunder.
Unfortunately, she caught the attention of a man standing outside a first aide tent. “Are you okay, ma’am?” he asked, stepping toward us.
She waved her hand. “Yes, thank you. My brother is a paramedic,” she said smoothly as she gestured toward me. “He’s taking good care of me.”
“Really? You’re a paramedic?” the man asked, holding his hand out. “My name is Mark Young. I’m a paramedic. Are you from around here?”
“Actually, we just moved near here, out in Nutrioso.”
“Really? My grandpa has some land out that way. Where you from?”
“The hot desert of the valley,” I replied, reluctant to give out too much information. “My sister hated the heat down there, so we thought we’d try out the mountains for a change and get away.”
“I’m Mark,” he said, turning to shake Cami’s hand.
“Camri Weathers. And my brother’s name is Hunter Wilder.”
“Nice to meet you, both. So do you have other family here with you?”
“Nah,” I replied. “It’s just the two of us.”
His eyes drifted to Cami’s protruding stomach. She shifted uncomfortably and cast her gaze downward. “My husband was killed in a car accident a few months ago.” She recited the story line that had been drilled into us. “Hunter has been trying to help me out with things.” She glanced up adoringly at me. “I couldn’t have asked for a better brother.” Patting me lightly on the arm, she smiled.
“You’re my baby sister. Of course I’m going to be there.” I smiled back at her.
“I’m sorry to hear about your husband,” Mark apologized, running a hand over his short buzzed blond hair. “That’s rough. I actually lost my wife to cancer last year. It’s not a fun thing to experience. My sympathies.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I’m sorry about your wife, too.”
“Well, life goes on. Sometimes even when we don’t want it to.” Mark glanced from Cami to me. “Listen, I didn’t mean to interrupt you for so long, but when I heard you were a paramedic, it caught my attention. We have a spot on our department we’ve been trying to fill recently after one of our medics moved away. We’ve all been working extra hours to try and keep things covered. I don’t know if you’re looking for work, but if you might be interested then feel free to fax me your resume.” Reaching into his back pocket, he retrieved his wallet and pulled out a card, handing it to me.
“Thank you.” I took it from him and removed my wallet to store it. “I’ll talk it over with Camri and see if it might be something I’m interested in. She’s my first priority at the moment. Do you have any recommendations for an OB doctor?”
“Hmmm.” He stroked his chin. “Doc Wilson has been around for a while. I think he’s delivered half the babies in this area. Thomas Wilson. We all just call him Doc. His clinic is over by the hospital. Do you know where that is?”
“Yes, I noticed it when we were driving around earlier today,” I replied.
“Yeah, he’s located right behind the hospital.”
“Mark,” a woman in uniform motioned for him. “Someone fell a couple of tents over. They’re calling for our help.”
“Got to run,” he said, waving at us. “It was nice meeting you. Enjoy the festival.”
“Thanks! You, too!” Cami called after him before turning to me. “He was nice. What do you think about that job?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I know Chris set things up for us, in case we wanted to work, but I don’t know if I’m willing to do that, yet.” We continued walking, casually passing each tent and browsing through the items for sale. “You’re my first priority. Besides, I’m not sure I want to give that guy any other opportunity to be around you.”
“Why? What do you mean?” She seemed thoroughly confused and I laughed.
“I think he liked you. You both have that whole “dead spouse” connection. It’s given you common ground with him.”
Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes at me. “I think you’re seeing threats where there are none. I didn’t get anything like that from him.”
I lowered my voice, leaning in closer to her. “Yeah, and you didn’t know I was into you either, in the beginning. Or Clay. Or Ripper.”
“All right, fine. You don’t need to rub it in. Still, I think you’re imagining things.”
“I hope we won’t have to find out.” The guy was nice enough, but I’d seen the look in his eyes when Cami had mentioned the death of her fictional husband. It had sparked emotion in him. Not that I would blame him. He must be lonely without his wife, but that didn’t mean he could have mine.
“This is a really nice event,” Cami said, obviously not concerned in the least about Mark. “I love that this community likes to pay homage to their heritage. It looks like it draws a pretty good crowd, too. There is even a news crew from the valley walking through here getting footage.”
“Where?” I asked, the blood suddenly draining from my face.
“They were filming around those tents behind us while we were talking to Mark. Why?”
“We need to go right now.” Taking her by the elbow, I steered her back toward where we’d parked the pickup, my gaze darting about looking for the news crew.
“Is everything okay?” Cami asked, sensing my urgency.
“We can’t risk ending up on film somewhere.”
“They weren’t looking at us, though. They were filming some of the booths.”
“Better to not take any chances. Let’s go do the grocery shopping we needed to do and head home before we run into anymore trouble.”
“Sorry. I didn’t even consider the cameras.”
“I’m sorry to be so picky about it. It makes me uncomfortable, though. Better safe than sorry, in my opinion.”
“I agree,” she replied as I opened the door to the truck and helped her inside. Glancing covertly around the lot, I checked to see if there was anything else I needed to be concerned with. Cami was right. Living this way was irritating.
Chapter Fifteen
Cami-
Stretching, I sat up in bed and immediately noticed the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. Getting up, I shrugged into my robe
and went downstairs to find Dylan cooking eggs, bacon, and toast.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he teased.
“You have to be the best husband ever!” I said, hugging him from behind. “That smells heavenly. I’m so glad I don’t get queasy in the mornings anymore. What time is it?”
“Ten.”
“Ten! Why did you let me sleep so late?”
“I figured you needed it. And it’s not like we really have that much to do around here.”
“Well, I want to do something with you,” I said rubbing my hands lightly over his pecs and abs as I continued to embraced him from behind.
Raising an eyebrow, he glanced over his shoulder at me. “Right now? Or can I finish cooking first?”
I stepped away and smacked him on the shoulder. “I didn’t mean that.”
“Oh,” he said with a chuckle, continuing to scramble the eggs. “I almost got excited there for a second. Guess I should’ve known better than to think you’d choose me over food.”
I shrugged, going to the cupboards and looking for plates. “It’s the baby’s fault.”
“Next cupboard.” He shook his head. “Poor baby isn’t even born yet and already he’s getting blamed for stuff.”
“Well, you sure don’t seem to mind when my pregnancy libido kicks in. I blame that on him, as well.”
“Now see, that’s where you and I differ. I prefer to think that my charisma is simply too much for you to handle. Which, by the way, is totally okay with me. I have no problem with you using me to take care of your physical needs.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! If that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, then I don’t know what is.” I set the plates on the counter and went looking for silverware.
“Second drawer on the right,” he said, anticipating my moves. “And I have to say, I don’t hear you complaining much. If you need a reminder, I can give you a repeat performance of last night. Maybe I can record you on my phone so I can play it back to you later for proof.”
Pursing my lips, I shook my head, feeling the heated blush flood my face. “That’s okay. Really. I’ll take your word for it.”
He chuckled, removing the last couple pieces of bacon from the pan before sliding the eggs to the back burner and turning off the stove. Quick as lightning, his arm snaked out, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me to him until my stomach collided into his. Glancing down, he shook his head before returning his gaze to mine. “This baby is really starting to come between us.”