Page 62 of Forever After All

“When I first came to the ranch, Mr. Chambers invited Brett and me to church. I didn’t want to go at first. Mostly because I was so angry.”

“You? Angry?” Linc said.

She swatted at him and missed because she couldn’t actually bend her body to reach him. “I finally went, and I met some nice people. I started listening, but I had so many questions. Mr. Chambers set me up with a Christian counselor. We talked about my faith journey, but she also helped me work through some of the problems I was having with my family. Brett and I had pretty much moved out once his trial was over without saying ‘have a nice life.’”

“How anyone could think Brett was capable of killing someone is beyond me,” Linc said.

“Yeah, but our uncle was a lot older and more convincing than Brett when we were just teenagers. There were times when I thought they’d find Brett guilty.”

It had been a long time since the trial, and Thea busting into their lives recently brought back all of that anger and helplessness. Jess had moved past the anger, but the injustice of what her family had done and continued to do her whole life still sparked memories that made her hair stand on end.

“One of the things the counselor told me was that people who have been in situations where the basic human needs weren’t met sometimes have trouble taking time off work. She said the fear of falling behind if you don’t work hard enough just pushes you to the edge and makes you stay there because if you stop working, you might run out of money again. No money means no food. The stress of working non-stop is better than the stress of living paycheck to paycheck.”

When Linc didn’t say anything, she glanced up at him. His jaw moved from side to side as he stared at the floor. His scruff was a little longer than usual, and there was a tiredness in his eyes. She was responsible for that, and her own exhaustion didn’t mean much in comparison.

“I think that’s true to an extent,” Linc said.

There was a quick rap at the door before a nurse with short dark hair entered. She went straight to the computer and started clicking. “You ready to go home?”

“Can I go now?” Jess asked.

“You sure can. You need help getting dressed?”

Jess sat up slowly, holding back a wince, and moved to the side of the bed. “No, thank you. I can handle it.”

She’d better be able to handle it. There was no way on earth she was letting anybody think she needed help with basic things like getting dressed. The people at the ranch would have someone at her house constantly hanging over her shoulder asking if she needed anything every five minutes.

The nurse handed her a set of papers. “They’ll be around in a minute with your wheelchair.”

Jess’s eyes widened. “I don’t need that.”

The nurse waved like she was swatting a bug. “Standard procedure. Just roll with it. Pun intended.”

Jess looked to Linc for help, but he sat relaxed in the chair with his arms crossed over his chest and a grin on his face. At least one of them was going to enjoy the ride out of the hospital.

Getting dressed was painful, but she managed it on her own in the small bathroom. She stopped to check her reflection in the mirror and grimaced. She couldn’t see the back of her head where they’d shaved the hair to put in the staples. A nurse had attempted to wash her hair last night, but there were still traces of red near the roots.

Who had time to sit around and be injured? She’d lost a full day and a half of work, and even knowing Thea, Ridge, and Cheyenne were making sure things at the barn were getting done, the urge to be back at work tingled in her legs as if she needed to run all the way to the ranch.

Linc was attentive yet silent as they left the hospital. “You okay over there?” he asked as they neared her house.

“Yeah. Just…thanks again.”

Linc kept his attention on the road. “You said that already.”

“I know. I just needed to say it again.”

He glanced over at her, but the look lasted only a split second. “I’m happy to help. You need anything in town?”

“I don’t think so. I got the prescriptions filled at the hospital, but I hate taking that medicine.”

“Is it not helping?” Linc asked.

Jess pressed two fingertips into her temple. “I guess it is. I just don’t take a lot of medicine, and it makes me feel different. Not necessarily bad different, but…” What was she trying to say?

“It’s different, and you don’t like change.”

Jess snapped her fingers. “That. That’s probably what it is.” She rested her head against the window. “I have two days off. What am I going to do? I can’t even drive.”

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