Letting Go (Triple Eight Ranch) - By Mary Beth Lee Page 0,9
natural sleep remedies first. If they didn’t work, he’d give her pharmaceuticals.
Clarissa didn’t bother telling him she’d been running on empty for years or that pills were out of the question.
When she tried to pay her bill, Doc Anson’s wife told her it was all taken care of, and then patted her hand like she was five years old, which should have ticked her off but only made her thankful.
She told herself that was because no doctor’s bill meant getting out of Stearns faster. But then she saw someone had dropped Mackenzie off and the little girl was there kicking her feet back and forth on the seat next to Jed, and the thought of leaving made her heart hurt.
Jed saw her first and stood, a questioning reluctance in his eyes.
“You going to be okay?” he asked, and she could tell asking wasn’t his forte, but he was giving her that since she was here at his insistence.
“Just need to eat more, sleep more. No big deal.” She shrugged and tried not to feel awkward. She’d been fending for herself for so long, she’d forgotten what it was like to have someone care.
“You can eat Mac’roni and cheese with us,” Mackenzie said, and Clarissa smiled and held up the package of peanut butter crackers Doc Anson had given her.
“I’m good for now.” She’d eaten her fill of macaroni and cheese over the years and not even Mackenzie could make her want the slimy pasta dish.
“We’ll take you home,” Jed said, even though the apartment was barely two blocks away. Her legs were still a little shaky, though, so she accepted his offer.
“I appreciate it. And I appreciate you waiting for me, and paying the bill. I’ll pay you back…”
“Wouldn’t hear of it,” he said. “We’ll call it even since you took care of Mack today.”
Somehow she didn’t think that worked out to even. But she needed the money to move on, so she agreed.
Mackenzie took her hand, and Clarissa told her heart to quit breaking, or to at least wait until she was alone.
Jed’s worried frown said she wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding her emotions.
“Really, I’ll be fine.”
He helped her into the truck, then buckled Mackenzie into her booster in the back seat. When he turned on the radio Mackenzie said “Oh I love this one,” and then started singing about daddies along with the artist.
“I’m sure this isn’t how you planned on spending your evening…” she started, but he waved away her words.
“Not a problem.”
Mackenzie sang louder, and Clarissa knew what she had to do.
“I don’t think I better watch her tomorrow.”
Jed looked relieved at her words, which made her stomach hurt.
“That’s wise, considering.”
“I hate to disappoint her. Today was fun.”
“She’ll understand,” he said.
Clarissa knew he was right. Mackenzie was a bright child.
When they pulled in front of her apartment, Bev hurried out of the diner to meet them. And this time, when Clarissa told Jed she could make it up the stairs to her apartment without his help since Bev was there, he let her go.
*****
The next afternoon Clarissa had just unfolded her map of Oklahoma to figure out where to head to next when a small knock on the door startled her.
She refolded the map, stuck it under the dangers of hypoglycemia literature Doc Anson had insisted she take and opened the door.
Mack stood there, a stubborn frown on her face.
“I brought you this,” she said holding out a picture of a mermaid. “And I ran away. Can I stay with you now?”
Chapter Three
Panicked, Jed met the sheriff and the after-care teacher in front of the school.
“What do you mean, she disappeared? She’s five. How can she disappear?”
The sheriff stopped him from exploding in anger. “Jed, I’ve got two deputies out looking, and we’ll have more here if we need them.”
“Have you looked all over the school? Been around the square, called...”
He stopped as he saw two figures walking their way in the distance.
One small, with mismatched pigtails. The other tall and too skinny, holding his daughter’s hand.
“Oh thank God,” he said striding forward, taking in Mack’s scowl and Clarissa’s smile and the backpack in her hand, trying to make sense of both.
When he reached them, Clarissa deposited the backpack in his hand then knelt down so she’d be on eye level with Mack and whispered something to her.
Mack’s bottom lip turned out, tears welled up in her eyes and she nodded solemnly. Then she turned to him, head down and made her way