Hi Dear Reader!
It has been rainy here in Minnesota so I’ve been doing a lot of reading. There is nothing better than cuddling with a good book, a cup of coffee or tea, and a blanket as the rain pounds a rat-a-tap on the window. Plus, I’m soaking up little baby snuggles before I head back to work in a couple of weeks. I have a bunch of free romance books for you to try. My Cowboy Crush is in the group. If you haven’t read it, pick it up there!
Welcome back for chapter 10 of Second Chance with My Bull Rider. If you are just joining us, you can read Chapter 1 below.
Chapter 10 September 9th
Delilah
I poured myself a cup of coffee when Kaleb entered the kitchen. He filled his thermos with the rest of the pot of the black gold before turning his attention to me.
“I need you to take Kade to his doctor’s appointment this morning.” He grabbed a banana from the counter and peeled it. “The veterinarian is coming today to pregnancy check the spring calving cows. I don’t want to reschedule. He has a month-long wait period.”
“Wow. He needs to hire someone if he is that busy.”
“He said he hired a new veterinarian. But he won’t start until this spring.” He shoved the banana in his mouth.
“I can take Kade. It’s a recheck?” What else could I say? I don’t want to be in the same small space as him. Stuck there for hours and hours. Think of the money, Delilah. I told myself. I put on a grin and nodded.
“Yes, and probably he’ll get x-rays and a new cast. Here’s the appointment card. See you tonight.” He slapped his cowboy hat on his head and strode out.
The business card held the address of Kade’s surgeon, Dr. Greg Glanders, and the time of the appointment. Great, Dr. Glanders my ex-boyfriend. Maybe, I’d get lucky and another surgeon would be seeing his appointments. I could only hope. It was in two hours.
I approached Kade’s bedroom and silently swung the door open. He fell asleep only a couple of hours earlier. Part of my job was to monitor his sleeping and medications overnight. I usually check on him every couple of hours. Last night, his pain had been excruciating and he spent most of the night tossing and turning. I tiptoed across the room. The floor creaked a bit. I stopped on the rug and held my breath.
“Delilah, I know you’re there.” He mumbled into the pillow, not picking up his head to look at me. “What do you want?”
“You have a doctor’s appointment in a couple of hours. We need to leave in forty-five minutes.”
He groaned and pulled the blankets over his head. I slid open the curtains to let the morning light into the room. He groaned again and rolled towards the wall.
“Can’t it be rescheduled?”
“No, you have a good surgeon and he probably won’t have any openings for at least a week.” I moved his chair closer to the bed. “Besides, you need different pain medications. You haven’t slept well for the last couple of nights.” I hadn’t slept either. Thinking about the man across the hall made me toss and turn. Kade finally rolled back over and scooted to the edge of the bed.
“Alright, let’s do this.” A sarcastic smile pulled at one side of his lips.
The waiting room of the hospital was crowded. Kade wheeled his wheelchair to a corner of the waiting room so I snagged a wooden chair and dragged it over next to him. We stared out the glass window, watching the traffic below, not talking to each other. He folded his arms across his chest as a large sigh escaped his lips. I turned in my chair to watch him. I forgot how much I liked just to sit next to him as butterflies danced in my stomach.
“Do you want to talk about yesterday?” He asked. His blue eyes searched my face. I blushed and fidgeted with my keys.
“Not really.” I was embarrassed about how I acted. I didn’t know why I was jealous of another woman in Kade’s life, and I didn’t want to examine it that closely. Silence settled between us as we both were lost in our thoughts.
“Do you remember the first time we met?” His voice was soft and hard to hear over the hum of the room.
I shook my head. “I thought you were always in my life.”
A deep chuckle resonated from his chest. “Damien invited me over to play Legos after school, and your family had just moved to Sunnydale.” A smile touched his lips. “You wanted to play with us. But Damien said no girls. Then you burst into his room wearing his shirt and shorts.” He chuckled. “You said that you are now a boy. You were so cute.” His blue eyes twinkled at me with a look I hadn’t seen in years.
“I don’t remember that,” I murmured. I reached for his hand. My hand was hairs away from his when warning bells went off in my mind. What was I doing? This is the same man that broke my heart in two. A nurse walked into the room and called out Kade’s name. He spun his chair around and wheeled it after her as I hurried to keep up.
Kade sat on the paper-covered bench in his shorts. The nurse had cut off the cast on his right leg and took him for radiographs. She brought him back and left us to wait for the doctor to look at the images. He scrolled on his phone as I paged through a magazine when a sharp knock sounded on the door. The doctor came in pushing a cart. My heart skipped a beat. He was tall, dark, and handsome. My skin heated as soon as I recognized him: Dr. Greg Glanders, orthopedic surgeon extraordinaire and my latest ex-boyfriend. I scooted closer to the door. Kade gave me a weird look before turning his attention back to the doctor.
“Good afternoon, Kade. Here for your four-week recheck, I see. How have you been feeling?” He punched buttons on his keyboard.
“Just fine,” Kade muttered.
“How’s the breathing?” He ran his fingers along Kade’s ribs. Kade’s face turned a little green. “It’s only been four weeks, so you still have some time to heal, but your radiographs look good. They are healing nicely.” The doctor moved down to palpate Kade’s leg. “Any concerns?”
Kade shook his head.
Of course, he would deny it! Before I knew what was happening, my mouth opened. “Actually, Doctor,” The doctor turned to face me. “Kade’s been having a hard time sleeping from all the pain.”
A smile lit up the doctor’s face. “Why, Delilah Allen! I didn’t see you there.” I extended my hand to shake his. Instead, he wrapped me into a hug, that lasted a bit too long. I wiggled out of his grasp, catching Kade’s glance. “Kade, you have the best nurse in the ER taking care of you.” Heat rose up my cheeks as I looked at my shoes. “Of course, we can get something to help him sleep.” He went back to examining Kade who raised his eyebrows at me.
“Here’s the prescription.” He handed a sheet to Kade and then turned to me. “Delilah, would you like to get some lunch sometime?” I blushed again as Kade cut his gaze to me. His blue eyes blazed.
I opened my mouth to respond when Kade cut in. “Delilah, I think it is time to go home.”
I shot Kade a dark look. “Greg, I would love to get lunch sometime. My number is the same.”
Kade scowled at me while I smiled brightly at him. Greg looked between us with confusion on his face.
Author’s note: What do you think of this chapter?
Hugs,
Allie
P.S. If you want to read ahead, Second Chance with my Bull Rider is available for purchase on all retailers and to check out from your local library.