Page 19 of Blazing Hot Nights
“I just want to understand, Heaven. I’d rather be your friend all the time than your enemy some of the time.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible,” she whispered, her head down and her eyes closed. “While your hands do magical things to my shoulder, your power and money can and probably will destroy my life.”
“I would never do that, Heaven. You have to believe me.”
She raised her head slowly and glared at me with fire in her eyes. “I don’t have to do anything. You’d steal this very soil we’re sitting on right out from under me without blinking if you thought you could get away with it.”
“We aren’t supposed to talk business, remember?” I asked, raising my hands off her shoulder in defense.
She rubbed away the last few tears on her face and sighed heavily. Whatever she was going to say was going to pain her to say it, but her Midwestern manners usually got the best of her eventually.
“I’m sorry for being touchy. I’ve had a rough week and being in pain all the time makes it harder. To your point about the splint, I used to have one after the first accident. It was painful to wear, so over time, I stopped.”
“It hurt to wear it? That sucks,” I said, my words sounding as defeated as she probably felt. I went back to work on her shoulder, and she sighed. I might not always say the right things, but at least I could do the right thing.
“It did back then. But the injury was new, and I was a kid. I’m a big girl now. I understand that sometimes we have to do things we find uncomfortable if we want them to improve.”
Truer words were never spoken. The very reason I was here was to do something uncomfortable to improve her situation.
“While that’s true, maybe you can find one to make it less uncomfortable. If you see a doctor, I bet they can make a custom one for your hand.”
“Oh, I bet they could, for about four thousand dollars. I can buy one on a medical website for less than fifty bucks. It will have to do.”
“Okay, but promise me you’ll buy one.”
“You don’t run my life, Blaze McAwley.”
My hands paused on her shoulder, and I slid my hand up to her soft neck and rubbed the back of it. “No, I don’t, but I also don’t want to see you in the kind of pain you’re in right now. No one needs to suffer out of stubbornness. What happened five years ago wasn’t your fault, Heaven.”
“It was, Blaze. That’s the part you don’t understand.”
I shook my head at the woman in front of me. “You can’t blame yourself for an accident, angel. Accidents happen.”
“I don’t want to talk anymore,” she whispered.
“Okay, I understand. Listen, I brought you something. How about I show you and then we can go for a walk? It’s a beautiful night up on the ridge.”
I dropped my hands when she sat up and turned her body to make eye contact. “What did you bring me?”
“Beau mentioned how bad your shoulder was the other day after he was hanging out with Tex.” I grabbed the package off the dirt, setting it on her lap. “I remembered how much the massage helped, so I thought …” I motioned at the box.
She opened it and leaned forward in the firelight to see the writing on the box inside. “You bought me a massager?”
I tucked my hands in my back pockets and rocked back on my bootheels. “It’s supposed to be the best one for someone with issues like yours. It has different options for attachments, and one is even heated. I thought maybe if you used it regularly, it would get you over the hump after the accident.”
Her nod was stiff while she stared at the box, but she didn’t say a word. She just sat there, nodding. The box slid from her hand, and tears dripped onto the dirt, darkening it in perfectly round droplets. Her shoulder shook, and I knelt next to her, moving the box away from the fire.
“I didn’t do it to upset you. I’m sorry if I did, Heaven.”
Her reaction was confusing and surprising. I expected anger and resentment. I expected her to agree to keep it and use it begrudgingly, but only so she could get better and work harder on the ranch she was so desperate to save. I didn’t expect her to cry.
“Angel, what’s the matter?”
When she turned to me with tears streaming down her face and a look of pure brokenness in her eyes, I knew whatever she was about to say was going to ruin me for the rest of my life.
“I don’t deserve your kindness, Blaze. You should be so angry that you never speak to me again. Stop being so nice to me!”
She stood and ran away, her boots throwing up gravel from behind her. I remained rooted in place, unable to force my feet to move. My eyes burned with tears, and my heart paused in my chest when she said those words.
