to ask if she knew anything about Margo and Tim, or if maybe her father, who’d practiced law in the area forever, knew anything, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. This was Tim’s business. Not hers.
“What?” Andie asked.
“Nothing.” Andie reached out and patted Liv’s leg. “Don’t you have patients?” Liv asked.
“Yes. The first is at ten o’clock. I have a little time.”
“Thanks for being here.”
“Thanks for letting me.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” Andie said patiently, “that you’re not so good at accepting moral support.”
“I’m getting better,” Liv said, feeling the warmth rise in her cheeks as she thought about Matt and how she’d allowed herself to accept his help. “All part of the process.”
The words were barely out of her mouth when the doors opened and Dr. Bates came out, wearing his scrubs. Liv jumped to her feet, thinking it was too soon, that there was only one reason he’d be out so quickly.
“The gallbladder is out,” he said. “He’s not out of the woods yet, but barring more infection, I’d say the prognosis is good.”
“When will you be more certain?” Liv asked, holding her breath as she waited for the answer.
“I’d say if by tonight he has no fever, I’ll feel optimistic. But I want to keep him for at least two more days.”
The doctor disappeared back through the door and Liv turned to Andie. “Is he telling the truth?”
Andie laughed. “Yes. He’s just being cautious. He hadn’t expected Tim’s infection to be so resistant to the antibiotics, so what had seemed like a slam dunk became...shall we say...troublesome?”
“Troublesome. Seems appropriate. So...I can relax?”
“I’d say we’re dropping from a code orange to a code yellow.”
“Code yellow. All right. I can deal with that.”
* * *
AT THE END of Dr. Bates’s shift, he gave Liv a cautious thumbs-up. Cautious because, as Andie had said, Tim’s case had not been the slam dunk he expected, and he was candid about that. But now he felt confident that the worst was over. Tim was remaining in the hospital as a precaution and because he was already showing signs of becoming his usual self, the doctor told Liv he’d appreciate her help convincing him to stay put once the medications started wearing off. Liv promised to do the best she could.
Tim was fairly alert when she visited him one last time before going home, and she listened patiently as he listed all the chores that needed doing, when what she really wanted to do was to yell at him for scaring her.
She had exactly two blood relatives, since both of her parents were only children and her grandparents had passed on, and had just come too close to losing one of them. Stubbornness in the face of adversity wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It might have gotten her pioneer forefathers to Montana, but it’d also almost killed her dad. Life was short. One had to seize the day. Enjoy what they could.
Which was probably why she took the wrong fork at the Y and drove to Matt’s house, hoping he was home and that there wasn’t a crowd this time.
There wasn’t. Just Matt in the yard roping a dummy calf head stuck on a straw bale.
And he was so damned good at it. Swing, toss, jerk, shake off the rope and coil. Swing, toss, jerk...
He stopped when he saw Liv’s car slow at the driveway and began coiling his rope as he walked toward her.
She left the engine running as she rolled down the window. Matt hooked a hand on her mirror. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Liv said, feeling all her former shyness come barreling back. She swallowed before saying, “Just thought I’d let you know that my dad is doing all right.”
“Great,” Matt said, breaking into a wide smile.
“And...if you wanted to stop by tonight...again...well...that would be okay.”
There was a very long, very pregnant pause before Matt cocked his head and said, “Yeah?” And she could tell from his tone that he understood exactly what she was offering.
Escape. Now. With your pride.
Too late.
Liv shrugged. “Yeah,” she echoed, impressed that her voice didn’t sound at all as if her heart were halfway up her throat. “If you want. I thought I could fix something to eat. As a thank-you.” Dinner, yes. Good save.
Matt nodded, the smile having turned to more of a cautious half smile. At least it wasn’t a smirk. “Should I bring Craig?”
That hadn’t been in her plans. “If you want to.”
Matt’s expression edged back toward amusement...and something