Page 2 of Healing Her Cowboys
“It’s good to see you too, May.” Reese did miss her old college roommate, but they saw each other at least once a year when she came back.
May pulled away first. “Why didn’t you call Nina or me so one of us could go with you? You know we would have been there for you.”
Reese smiled and nodded. “I know. I just needed to see them this year alone. It was something I had to do by myself.”
May watched her. “Is there something different about this year?”
Reese sighed. “I’m considering extending my travel contract for longer this time.”
“What? We only see you when you come back to visit them. You know we want to see you too, right?”
“I know. You both are the only friends I have from college. The only friends I have at all. It just gets harder each year, you know?”
May hugged her tighter this time. “I can’t imagine losing my parents, so I have no idea what you’re feeling. But you know we’ll always be your family.”
“I know that. It just gets harder to come back every year.” She had replaced the flowers at her parents’ gravesite like she did every year on their wedding anniversary. She refused to celebrate the day they left her. Still, visiting them this time hit her differently.
“Then maybe move back here and you won’t have to visit,” May said. “You can’t be ready to leave Hampton Roads yet.”
Reese looked at the floor to avoid May’s scrutiny. The woman could read her face in the dark. Her two friends could sense her emotions since she was bad at hiding them.
“You’re already packed up?” May asked.
“I’m leaving Virginia for longer this time. I only stopped by because you sounded desperate.”
May grabbed her hands and pulled her into a seat next to her. “I am desperate. I need your help, and I don’t know anyone else who can do it.”
“That can’t be true. Your husband literally works across the hall. You heal the animals, and he heals the humans. You’re like a superhuman medical duo.”
“He needs your time for this one too, and I promise we’ll pay you for it.”
Reese crossed her arms. She was afraid to ask more, but curiosity still got the best of her. “I know it’s serious if you’re clocking my hours for it. Do I have to babysit a crazy old woman or something?”
“How about a handsome veteran living here in Williamsburg instead?” May said with a sly smile.
“Don’t think I missed that you left out if he was crazy.”
May shook her head. “You know I hate that term. We all have baggage. Brik Dunn is no exception.”
Reese knew she wasn’t leaving that office without agreeing to whatever May needed help with. She wasn’t a pushover to anyone else but her friends. Like May said, they were her family, and she couldn’t turn down family.
It sounded simple enough. All she had to do was oversee the man’s home exercises with his new prosthetic. She hadn’t renewed her travel nursing contract yet, so she had the time.
Maybe it would help her figure out what she wanted to do next. Visiting her parents’ graves in Norfolk every year only reminded her how lonely her life was when she stopped to think about it.
“Fine,” Reese said, standing up. “Have Jason send me information on the patient and his address. I’ll head over after I check out.”
“Hey,” May said before Reese could leave. “I know your parents are as proud of you as we are. I don’t doubt that one bit.”
Reese nodded. “Thanks.” As she walked back through the sea of animals and their owners, she did her best to remember the empty hotel room where no one waited for her.
Chapter Two
Brik waited in the secluded room of his physical therapist’s office wishing he was anywhere else but there. The room was so damn sterile and bland that it made him want to cut himself so he could remember what colors looked like.
Most of all, he hated how his left leg swung off the medical examination table. It always hung at an awkward angle, reminding him of the right leg he’d lost.
The door swung open, and Jason came in with a hurried rush. “What’s up, Brik?” he asked, smiling like a seagull with a French fry.
