going to give you a head start on our race back to Buck the shyster’s. But not now. And you know why?”
Trying not to laugh, she waited for him to answer his own question.
“Because I have a Y chromosome and Y chromosomes make men want to win.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Personality again. But I’ll take the challenge. To the dock.”
“So I’m forgiven?” he asked. “Everything’s good with us?”
“Until the next time you accuse me of grieving wrong, everything’s good.”
As they lined up side by side, with Cale making sure the noses of their kayaks were precisely even, Rachel kept a smile on her face. Everything between them did appear to be fine, and for that she was thankful. But what he’d said about working through things, about it never getting any easier for her, had her questioning herself. And that was not a familiar place to be for Dr. Rachel Culver.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“NOW YOU’VE got new miniblinds for me, huh?” Cale’s mother said as she sauntered into the guest bedroom of her condo. “Was there something wrong with the old ones?”
“Only if you wanted them to actually cover the window completely. There were three slats toward the bottom that were damaged.” Cale reached above his head and tightened one of the screws on the bracket.
Ronnie sat heavily, as was her way now, in the flowered armchair in the corner. “I hadn’t noticed, but thank you for taking care of that. Thank you for everything you’ve done, Cale.”
“Happy to do it.” He finished with the bracket on one side, lowered his arms and studied his mom. She looked worn-out. He’d been here at their new condo every day he hadn’t been on duty at the fire station, trying to help them put the place together. Trying to alleviate the burden for his mom, knowing full well his dad was of little or no help with the physical stuff.
“You’ve spent too much time here,” she said. “Too much time on us these past few months.”
“I don’t mind, Mom.”
Getting his parents relocated after his dad’s accident had been a priority, one he’d worked toward for close to six months. The ranch was too far from medical services. Hell, his mom had had to drive forty-five minutes on a good day just to get groceries, and she’d ended up doing it alone since getting his dad in and out of the van was too much for her. The past few months had put about ten years on Ronnie, even though Cale had made the nine-hour drive regularly, whenever he had three days off at a time from work, in order to do what he could for them.
“You’re young, son of mine. You should be out painting the town, not taking care of your decrepit folks.”
Cale chuckled. “Painting the town, huh? I don’t think people do that anymore.”
“You’ve always been the guy who takes care of everybody else,” she continued, ignoring his smart-aleck response, “and I appreciate everything you’ve done for us. Your father does, too. But we’re here in San Amaro now. We’re fine. Your social life must be nonexistent, Cale.”
“I go out sometimes.”
She always pointed out how he was a caretaker, the one to go out of his way whenever someone needed help. He didn’t think much about it—it was just the way he was. But...maybe that explained why he was drawn to Rachel so much. There was no doubt in his mind she was going through a rough time now that she was back in town and was faced more directly with Noelle’s death.
“When?” his mom asked. “For the three weeks we’ve lived here, you haven’t had a moment that you weren’t fixing up our home or working at the fire station, have you?”
“I went kayaking just the other day,” he blurted out.
“Kayaking? Who did you do that with?”
“Noelle’s sister. She’s a doctor now. Only been back in town for about a month and doesn’t have many friends.”
“I remember Noelle talking about her when you two came out to the ranch for the weekend. They were twins, right?”
“Identical,” he said reluctantly. He didn’t want his mom’s mind going...there. “She’s having a hard time, I think.” He rushed on, maybe to distract her from jumping to conclusions. “It’s like Noelle’s death is just starting to sink in now that she’s back on the island and living in her family home.”
His mom frowned and shook her head sympathetically. “Poor thing. It’s good of you to befriend her.” Her frown turned into a bittersweet half grin.