Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [112]
“The doctor is on the way, and so is Omar. He’s going to tow your truck here. An hour at the most. By the way, as soon as it got light out, I drove down the road to see if I could spot your truck. There’s a Chevy stuck in the ditch, nose down. No license plate. Door was locked. The sheriff will have to decide what to do about it.”
Annie nodded. “It smells good. I think frying onions and peppers smell better than perfume. Guess you’re making hash browns, huh?”
“Jake likes them. You like them. I like them. So, I said to myself, what the hell, I had everything in the fridge, so we’re having hash browns.”
“I hear a car.”
“It’s probably Henry. He likes hash browns, too.”
Thirty minutes later, Annie stared at the old doctor in dismay. “You want me to stay off my leg for forty-eight hours? Can’t you bandage up my knee? I have to get home, I really do. I’ll keep ice on it.”
“The answer’s no. You stay off that leg.”
“What if I find someone willing to drive my truck to Charleston? I could stay in the back with my leg up.”
“That would be okay. Sorry, Clay, I can’t stay for breakfast. Leroy Adams broke his collarbone yesterday, and I need to check on him. Mind me now, Missy Clark.”
When the screen door slammed behind the doctor, Annie asked, “Do you know anyone I could hire to drive me home?”
“No. I’ll do it.”
“Oh, no, I can’t expect you to do that. How will you get home?”
“Don’t you know someone who could drive me back?”
Annie burst out laughing. “I might know someone. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“I’m a little tired of watching the grass grow. I haven’t been to Charleston in a long time. Might do Jake and me some good to get out and about.”
“Any other time, I wouldn’t care but it’s my goddaughter’s birthday tomorrow, and I have to go to the airport to pick up her gift.”
“It must be pretty special.”
“It is.” Annie told him Jane and Daisy’s story.
“What a bastard! For sure I’ll drive you. You really think this little Teacup Yorkie is going to do the trick where the little girl is concerned, huh?”
“You bet I do. Animals are the best cure for physical and mental problems that I know of. Look at you and Jake. What would you have done without him? Rosie and Harry got me through some bad times. Daisy needs someone to love. Someone to love her unconditionally. The pup will be just for her, and it’s only going to weigh around five pounds. It will be her own special bundle of love. Child and dog. What could be better? When she gets home from school, he’ll be waiting for her. He’ll sleep at the foot of her bed if he’s not on her pillow. I want it to work for that little girl. I want her to have happy memories. The ones concerning her father are not happy at all. Most likely those memories will fade in time, but they’ll always be there in the background. The dog will make it easier to bear. She did well at camp for the most part, but she isn’t over the hump.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’ll drive you.” Clay’s voice said he wasn’t taking no for an answer. “You know, if you eat all that, you won’t have to worry about moving. You won’t be able to stand up, much less move.”
“I eat like this all the time. I have a great metabolism. Tell me about you, Clay. Do you farm here? What do you grow?”
“Weeds. I retired here. I played basketball in college and was good enough to be drafted by the Lakers. When rheumatoid arthritis cut my career short, I joined the FBI. I may have been the oldest rookie agent in the Bureau. When I got tired of chasing the bad guys, I came back to the farm because my wife wanted to live here. She died six months after we got here. She had this grand plan to raise melons. She had a green thumb. We were going to have a few chickens, a milk cow, and two horses. Both of us liked to ride. We had it all planned out. Winters we were both going to teach at Chapel Hill. Spring