“I like this plan, Reid Travers.”
“Good, because I love you, Nora Bennett.”
*
The week passed faster than I would have liked. Reid was set to leave for Texas in less than twenty-four hours and as much as I was looking forward to the life we were planning together, I was upset that I wasn’t going to see him every day. I’d planned on cooking dinner for him at my place tonight, but first we had to get the cabin ready for Brett.
“He’s really going to stay in Halstead?” I asked as Reid and I put clean sheets on the bed. Brett was taking the room that Hoyt had stayed in and we’d been working all morning to get it ready for him to come home from the hospital, even though I suspected he’d be sleeping downstairs on the couch more often than not. Even though his knee was repaired and he had already started physical therapy, I imagined stairs would be a pain.
“I guess so.” Reid shrugged. “Said he liked the doctors here,” he chuckled, “but I’m betting it has something more to do with a certain nursing student.” He was, of course, referring to my sister.
“She’s been by the hospital every day,” I said. “She keeps insisting that it’s purely friendship.” I shook my head. “I’m not buying it.”
“It’s hard to not fall in love with a Bennett girl.” He winked, as we tossed the pillows at the top of the bed, his words tugging at my heart strings.
“She needs someone to take care of,” I told him. “It’s kind of her thing. Now that I’ve got my life all straightened out, she’s going to channel her focus on him.”
“He needs it,” Reid said. “Brett can be a hard guy to love sometimes. He needs someone like your sister to keep him in line.”
“I don’t doubt she can keep him in line.” I sighed. “I just want her to be happy again. She hasn’t dated anyone since Jamie.” Reid offered up a sympathetic smile, and I could tell he was just as nervous about my sister getting involved with Brett as I was. He was a good guy, deep down, but he had a reputation. Not that either of us had any room to talk about what the right way to be with someone was. If my sister thought Brett was worth a chance then who were we to stand in her way.
“Time will tell, Shutterbug,” Reid said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me toward him. He pressed a kiss to my forehead as we walked down the hallway. “Maybe they will be exactly what each other needs.”
“Maybe.”
As soon as we were down stairs, Reid’s phone started to ring. He picked it up off the coffee table and looked up at me.
“It’s Mike,” he said. “The mechanic who took my bike after the accident.” Mike calling meant he knew what had happened with the bike. It meant that we would know if Beau was to blame. “Hey Mike,” Reid said when he answered. I waited anxiously as they talked, trying to read his face and decipher what was being said on the other end. Not being able to hear what Mike was saying was damn near killing me. “Really? That makes perfect sense.” He nodded his head. “You think?” His jaw clenched. “Son of a bitch.”
“What’s he saying?” I whispered, knowing that it was not good.
“Thanks again for taking a look at it,” he told him. “I’ll be in touch soon. I’ve got a new bike on its way.” Reid’s sponsors had re-ordered him a bike for the upcoming season. “Well,” he said when hung up. “We were right.”
“What did he do?” I asked. I think we both knew that Beau had messed with the bike, but the confirmation cemented it.