Page 2 of Serious Cowboy

Only then did Tim peek up at Erika. He’d been fully zeroed in on his computer monitor. Tunnel vision. Callie recognized it. As someone who’d grown up in the same house and was familiar with his habits and personality, she knew it only too well.

“Nurse, would you allow me one minute to finish reading up on this condition?” he barked at her. “This diagnosis is far more important that whatever you’re rambling on about.”

Callie held her breath. Tim hadn’t just cut his only RN off mid-thought, he’d acted like he didn’t value what she had to say in the first place. Glancing at the clock, Callie thanked her lucky stars that it’d turned a quarter past noon.

“Who’s hungry? I was thinking about ordering Doordash from The Sip ‘N Shop,” she piped up, a smile plastered to her face.

The Sip ‘N Shop was known for their “broasted” chicken, where they broiled and roasted a whole fryer, and they also had these fantastic deli sandwiches. But it was the recent addition of Doordash to their tiny corner of the world that had Callie feeling so much gratitude. Without them, there would be no delivery in this town whatsoever.

Zero. Zilch. Nada.

That was the reality of living in such a locale as Rocky Ridge. Little mountain towns two hours outside of Billings, Montana hadn’t had the convenience of such things until Doordash set up shop less than three years before. Prior to that, it basically had been like the Dark Ages.

Callie had even teased Tim about it, saying he might as well dig out a cassette player to play music or watch a movie on a VCR.

But she couldn’t afford to tease him now. Instead, she had to distract him. Distract both him and Erika before he said something else stupid, and the registered nurse became so fed up she up and quit.

“Get me my usual,” Tim mumbled at Callie. “With extra honey mustard. Last time they were skimpy with the honey mustard.”

That restaurant wasn’t skimpy with anything, but all Callie did was nod at her brother placatingly.

“And you, Erika?” Subtly, she wrapped an arm around the nurse’s shoulders and led her away from her irascible sibling. “The special is ham and Swiss today.”

The RN had configured her mouth into such a severe line that no lips were visible, but she let Callie guide her away from her employer without a fuss.

“Why won’t he listen to me? It’s not like I’m filling his time with busy work,” Erika complained as soon as they were out of earshot. Not that it mattered that much. When Tim entered his deep concentration bubble, there could be a bone-rattling earthquake and he’d wave it off as nothing.

“That’s just his way. I find it’s easiest to address issues at the end of the day when he’s no longer pressed with handling patientsdirectly,” Callie did her best to explain. Erika had only been there for the past few days after working at a different doctor’s office. She was amazing, but Tim had been such a bonehead that he hadn’t taken the time to appreciate her properly.

Callie wasn’t sure he knew how to appreciateanyemployee properly. Her brother wasn’t a people person. In fact, the only people he did well with were those who hadn’t reached adulthood yet. With them, he was the very epitome of understanding.

With everyone else outside of his loved ones, not so much.

But he was her brother, and she loved him. Or that was what Callie kept telling herself, anyway.

Forty-five minutes later, she’d accepted the delivery and passed out the food. She’d timed it just right. The office closed from 1PM to 2PM every day for lunch, which meant they all could take a much-deserved break. Erika always left the building to eat, which since Callie had wanted to make her a friend, she didn’t normally like. Right now, however, it was a godsend.

“You have to change tactics when it comes to Erika, Timothy,” Callie told him in no uncertain terms. The deal she’d made with him a month ago when agreeing to come work for him was that she’d show him nothing but respect in front of the rest of the staff and of course patients and their families. But their LPN had stepped out too, so no one else was around to hear them right now.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Callie, she interrupted me.”

“She has every right to interrupt you when she has a question or concern.”

“But she didn’t have that. All she had was something to nag me over. And the only person who gets to nag me is Amanda.”

Amanda, Callie’s sister-in-law, was the saint who’d married him more than a decade back. Even more impressive was that she’d bore him his brood of Brian, who was eight, Sallie, who was six, and Kimmie, who was four—Callie’s nephew and nieces—while remaining as patient and kind as ever.

“We were fortunate enough to convince her to take us on. The least you can do is be considerate enough that she’ll stay. And you do need to sign off on those prescriptions.” It was a calculated risk to mention the topic that had put his hackles up, but she was on Erika’s side with this one. Not that she’d ever admit that out loud. Family loyalty had to count for something.

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll do it if you give me your cookie.”

“Who said I ordered a cookie?” she asked him, and he tossed her a look. He knew her well. The Sip ‘N Shop had homemade peanut butter cookies every weekday, and she hadn’t managed to deny herself one yet. Also, Callie knew better than to not negotiate while having the upper hand. “Half my cookie.”

“Done.”

She brought over the tractor Mr. RAF had left. “Also, who’s the dude who had Grandpa’s tractor?”

That tractor was precious to the male side of the Blum family.

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