Page 57 of From Rivals to I Do

I wonder what he meant by that. . .

“Hey there, boss man,” he says.

“Bossman?” I ask, confused by the nickname.

“Oh no,” Zack says as he rushes in after the man.

“It’s alright,” I insist, holding my hand up to hush him. “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

The man makes a face and then smiles. “I’m Mitch, your ranch hand and good friend. I live at your house with Zack and Noah.”

Thinking about it for a moment, I say, “Your face looks sort of familiar. . . you moved here from Amarillo, right?”

“Yes sir,” Mitch says with a nod.

“I don’t remember moving you in, but I remember you coming in for your interview,” I think out loud. “I dressed nice; the boys picked on me for it.”

“Yes! I’ve been working for you nearly two months now,” he says. “Don’t worry, I have been making sure all the animals are fed and taken care of while you have been gone, with the boys’ help.”

“I appreciate that,” I reply.

“Look Mitch I’m glad ya came but they want us to keep it low-key for now,” Zack says, and Mitch makes another face.

“Alright, well, try to take ‘er easy,” Mitch says, his smile growing into a grin. “I got to check on the animals anyhow. That one cow’s fixin’ to give birth any day now.”

“Thank you, Mitch,” I say, and he tips his hat to me before he walks out and the rest of my boys come back in.

They stay with me for quite a while, even though it’s the middle of the night, and though I’m supposed to be sleeping, I find that I can’t. Why is everyone being so weird about everything? And why can’t I know about Darla? And why does Mitch not seem to like her?

So many questions, but no answers.

I guess it’ll have to wait.

***

Darla

My eyes feel like I’ve been socked in both eyelids as I drive myself to work. Doreen had given me two days off, and she even said that if I needed more time to let her know. But I don’t have any choice but to go in. The bills aren’t going to pay themselves with me sitting at home, crying myself stupid.

“You alright?” LuAnne asks, who apparently had come in to work in case I didn’t show.

“Never been better,” I fib as I sit down in one of the chairs at the long desk and begin to look over the charts.

Well, I see Elijah is still kicking, I think to myself, and my eyes flicker from the page and up toward his room. Suddenly, I’m hit with a wave of shock as I see someone familiar standing in Elijah’s room.

Noah.

What is he doing in there? I wonder, feeling this mixture of confusion and concern. My gosh, is this old man the kids’ grandfather or something? Eli never said what his parents’ names were.

I can’t deal with this right now, I think to myself, seeing that my name is still listed on Elijah’s chart as his nurse. They haven’t even texted me to let me know, those poor boys. I don’t think I can handle facing them right now. I don’t want to cause another scene either, especially at work. I can’t lose this job.

“LuAnne?”

“Yeah?”

“You mind switching with me? For this patient?” I ask, showing her the clipboard.

“Um, sure, I guess,” LuAnne replies meekly as I erase my name and put hers at the top. I go to the board and do the same with one of hers, taking responsibility for one of her patients.

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