that Jacob was a “horse thief ” she needed to keep an eye on. What was that supposed to mean? Jacob was leaning against the wall and looking up at the cracked plastic in the light fixture over the sink, inscrutable.
“If you had to find out whether Garner is still alive, where would you start your search?” she asked Dr. Roy. But she was looking at Jacob, squeezing the skin of her foot and wishing it would stop bleeding already.
“Do a title search, maybe? Find out what properties he owned back in the day, see if he still owns them. Someone down at the courthouse can tell you how to do that, I suppose. You know anything about that, son?”
Jacob snapped out of whatever thoughts were preoccupying him. “I’ll go fetch your shoes,” he said to Beth. He turned toward the doorway.
“Please don’t go,” Beth said.
The men bumped into each other at the door, awkwardly responding to Beth’s request without understanding it. A slop of cooling coffee splashed over Jacob’s hand and onto the floor. He shook his fingers free of the dripping.
She had meant that she hoped he wouldn’t leave the Blazing B now. She wanted him to stay, just as he’d stayed after he graduated from college though he could have gone anywhere. She needed him, and even Dr. Roy, to stay here. She needed these trustworthy men to guide her through the additional terrible losses that lay ahead. She imagined Jacob standing by her, holding Levi at arm’s length with scorpions and whatever else was needed to protect her and Danny.
Beth felt the ten years’ difference in their ages as if she were twelve all over again.
“I meant, before you get my shoes, do you have any Super Glue? It’ll hold better than a bandage,” she said.
“Jacob, get this girl to the hospital.”
“They’ll just glue it there,” Beth protested. “I can do it myself in less time.”
“Whatever happened to good old-fashioned stitches?” Jacob asked.
“Progress.”
A cut from a rock would be so simple for God to heal. She didn’t understand anything.
“Won’t it get infected?”
“It’ll be fine. I need to get back to the house. I need to be with Danny.”
Jacob bent again over her shoulder, but this time reached out to take hold of her foot, wrapping his hand atop hers. His palm was warm and his fingers were firm as he turned her ankle to see the cut on the ball under her toes.
Beth turned her head away from the closeness of his beard. Inexplicably, tears poked the back of her eyes.
“Do you have any glue or not?”
“Emory’s got some.”
“Go get it then. Please.”
He didn’t let go right away, and she felt an unexpected impatience toward him rising up in her throat. He should just do what she wanted him to do—what she needed him to do. Stay with me. Protect me. Love me.
She shouldn’t have to ask for everything.
He released her foot, and her skin felt instantly cold. He left the bathroom, and the chill of his departure raced over her back.
Beth, feeling Dr. Roy’s eyes on her, reached up and turned off the water.
19
When the Friday morning tour bus pulled up in front of the Burnt Rock post office at precisely nine forty-five, Garner and Hank rose from the bench where they’d been waiting for it to arrive.
Garner extended an envelope to Hank. The legal document inside officially designated eighty percent of Garner Remke’s net worth to the Mathilde Werner Wulff Foundation. The men clasped hands.
“I am beyond words, Garner. Never in the history of the Sweet Assembly has anyone been so . . .” He seemed to have trouble finding the right word.
“Reckless?” Garner provided. “I just want God to know how much I’m expecting to receive.”
Both men laughed from their bellies.
“The distributions should all be final by end of business Monday.”
“That’s mighty quick,” Hank said.
“No time for me to have second thoughts. Dotti Sanders talked me into the worst lunch of my life on Wednesday. She’s a persuasive woman. If she gets wind of this she’ll have me doubting my own name within two minutes.”
“Best she don’t find out then. And that Dr. Ransom too. She’s a fine physician, but we all know she’s not fond of us.”
“What are you talking about? She likes you fine, Hank.”
“I meant the Sweet Assembly.”
“Yes, yes. She has strong opinions.”
“Well, your gift gives us permission to dream big. I can see a paved road in our future, our own buses, international marketing. For a long time Kathy’s