Hummingbird Lake Page 0,96
are afraid. When they’re bleeding. When they are dead.
“My brother and his wife are driving to east Texas now. Our folks are on vacation with some friends in New York, and they’re going to fly out first thing in the morning. I think … oh, wait.” Colt’s gaze snagged on Shadow’s bed on the floor beside his bed. “What’ll we do with the dogs? Can Nic board them for us?”
At the moment, both Snowdrop and Shadow were at the doggie day care facility at Angel’s Rest. Although it did have a manager, as the local veterinarian, Nic oversaw the operation.
Sage drew in a deep breath and said, “No.”
“Why not? Are they full?”
“No, I can’t go to Texas with you. I’m sorry, Colt, but I just can’t.”
This time, finally, he heard her. He turned around and met her gaze, his own eyes shocked and confused. “Why not?”
She tried not to babble, but she feared she only halfway succeeded at that. “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you, hoping to make you see. I’m too screwed up, Colt. I can’t go be around injured children. I can’t do it.”
His mouth gaped open in disbelief, then he snapped his jaw shut. “Sure you can. You’re stronger than you think. You need to do this.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“They’re little kids, Sage.”
“I know. I can’t do it.”
He briefly closed his eyes, then pinned her with a pleading gaze. His voice cracking, he said, “I need you, Sage. Please.”
She wanted to scream and throw something. She wanted to fling herself on the bed and sob. She hated herself. Despised herself. This was the best man in the world. The man she loved. She was letting him down when he needed her the most.
A hospital filled with injured children. Crying children. Dying children. Jesus loves me, this I know.
“I’m sorry.”
Anger tightened his expression and bitterness filled his tone. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t have time for this.”
Turning away from her, he threw clothes into his duffel bag and gathered his toiletries from the bathroom. Sage stood watching him, tears rolling down her face, wishing she was different, wishing she could let her memories go. She offered him the only thing she had to give. “You could call me. You could fax records and I’ll study them. I’ll answer any questions you might—”
“No. I’ll find someone else.”
With that, he zipped up his bag and was gone.
Colt didn’t want to think about Sage and he didn’t want to think about Rachel, and with a fifteen-hour drive ahead of him, he didn’t want to be alone, either. So he did the only thing he knew to do to address the problem—he stopped by the doggie day care to pick up Shadow.
He wasn’t prepared to arrive and find his dog sitting calmly in a tub of water, his body covered with bubbly white suds. Celeste Blessing wore yellow gloves and held a soft bristled brush in her hand.
“Celeste?”
“Hello, Colt. Oh, dear. You are earlier than I expected. I’m afraid I took your Shadow for a walk and he managed to persuade me to allow him to play in a mud puddle. He was just so darned cute about it that I didn’t have the heart to tell him no. I thought I’d have time to get him all spruced up before you arrived to pick him up. I thought for sure you’d stop for ice cream after the play.”
“No. Something came up. Let me help you get him rinsed off. I’m in a hurry.”
“Settle down, son. I’ll have him finished in five minutes. You can wait that long. Now, tell me why you’re in a hurry. Is something wrong?”
“Everything is wrong,” he grimly replied. In a dozen curt sentences, he summed up the evening’s events, finishing with, “I shouldn’t blame her. She’s told me all along that she was damaged beyond repair. Guess I should have listened to her.”
“Now, Colt, that doesn’t sound like you.” Celeste gently scrubbed Shadow’s coal-black fur. The dog sat amazingly quiet in the washtub. “You are not going to quit on her, are you?”
“She quit on me,” he fired back. “She won’t even try to get help. I’ve asked and asked and I’ve given and given and given. Tonight I needed her and she gave me nothing in return. What sort of a relationship is that?”
“One that is in crisis, I would say.” Finished with sudsing, she transferred his puppy to a basin of clean water and began to rinse the suds from Shadow’s coat.