Chapter Thirty-Five

Jesse

For once, I was alone in my room. Collin had gone back to the house for a bit, Owen had left as well, and Luke and Amber had gone to get some rest. Occasionally, a nurse would come in and check on me, but otherwise, I was left alone for an hour or so, and I found myself kind of enjoying the quiet. After a little while, I decided to actually try and stand, since my legs hadn’t been anything more than cut up a little and bruised.

It took a few minutes to extricate myself from the bed, but eventually, I had my feet on the floor, those pale blue sticky bottomed socks helping me grip, and I pushed off the bed to stand.

Immediately, I realized it was a mistake.

Still, I couldn’t just fall, so I held myself upright and waited for both the dizziness and the weakness to cease. My legs were shaking trying to hold me up after so long, but I was able to hang in there, and after a few curses, a couple of countdowns and a self-pep talk, I felt like I might be able to let go of the death grip I had on the bed.

My room was one of the ones with a tiny bathroom attached, a novelty of the new hospital built in town, and I shuffled my way over, bringing my fluid packs with me. When I made it out again, I got almost all the way to the bed when the door opened, and I turned to see Charlotte, who looked as shocked to see me as I did her.

“Jesse!”

“Charlotte!”

She put down a massive bag she had in each hand and ran over to me, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing, pressing her lips to mine. It was a little rougher than I expected, and there was pain involved, but I wasn’t going to complain. I had Charlotte’s lips against mine. I could fight the world.

When she pulled away, I saw Logan and Tamara coming in behind her, each also carrying massive red and white bags. They looked around the room, as if surprised to see it empty.

“What are you doing standing?” Charlotte asked.

I shrugged. “I got bored,” I said. “Everyone left, and I was here alone, and I wanted to see if I could make it to the bathroom. Guess what? I can.”

“I can see that,” she said. “Oh Jesse, I am so glad you’re doing so well. I was so worried. I’m still so worried, but this makes me feel so much better.”

“I feel much stronger,” I said. “My head is still… wobbly? But I feel a lot better. How did you get out of jail?”

Her lips pulled in on themselves in a comical expression, and I laughed.

“You know about that already, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah, I do,” I said. “How did that go for you?”

“Not bad, actually,” she said. “I was able to get some time to think about things.”

“Oh?”

“We will talk later,” she said. “For now, I brought food. Where is everyone?”

“I believe Luke and Amber are sleeping in whatever cot they have somewhere in the hospital. Collin went back home, and Owen headed there as well, I think, to take care of animals. Kevin and Sarah are probably at the ranch too.”

“I’m here,” a voice said from the doorway. I looked past her to see Flynn standing there, looking exhausted. “I’ve been here the whole time. Just been on the phone, handling some things. Namely postponing our next tour.”

“Ahh,” I said. “Sorry.”

“Would you like a sandwich?” Charlotte asked. “I brought plenty for everybody. Especially us.”

That last bit was quiet and private, just for me. I grinned. It was just like when she’d arrived at the hotel that night we spent together, only this time instead of a bottle of whisky, she had a couple six-packs of root beer, and the sandwiches looked like they were from Madie’s downtown rather than the fancy hotel restaurant downstairs at the Bethel.

Something told me she’d done that on purpose. A little nod that only I would understand.

Sandwiches were passed out, and Tamara and Logan decided to eat theirs outside. Flynn took his and said he was heading down to the ranch to get some sleep, and everyone agreed it was fine to leave me alone if Charlotte was there. Provided, of course, I didn’t try to get up and walk anywhere without help this time.

I pulled myself back up onto the bed, physically pulling my legs up so they crossed and letting Charlotte get on the other end. A platter of sandwiches sat between us, and the root beer sat on the table beside us, still somehow cold to the touch. We ate in relative silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other’s company, until I’d polished off one sandwich and was halfway through another and she was just finishing her first.

“Man, that’s just as good as I remember,” she said.

“Yeah, Madie’s granddaughter seems to have picked right up from the original,” I said. “I went there a couple weeks ago and was stunned at how similar it felt.”

“Well, I’m just glad Foley has something to draw people to it again. I remember people used to come from all over for Madie’s sandwiches.”

“Yup,” I said. “Lord knows we made the twenty-minute drive all the time. Dad practically lived on them when Mom died.”

An unexpected pang of pain went through my heart and I tried to shake it off. It had been a long time since I’d let myself think of those dark months after she passed and Dad tried to figure out how to survive with five boys. It wasn’t easy, but there were some rare bright spots. Carrying little Owen around and bringing him to the tiny park that used to be beside Madie’s after we all ate lunch there a couple times a week was one of them.

“So that actually brings me to something I wanted to talk to you about,” she said.

“All right.”

“I was thinking, we’re going to make a really serious go of this, right? Like, no fooling around, we’re going to be a couple and try to make it work. Right?”

It was the first time either of us had addressed our future, and though the question was serious, I couldn’t help but grin.

“Damn right,” I said.

She returned my grin with a smile. “Right. So I was thinking, it might be a little difficult if I am in Dallas or Houston or wherever all the time. Like, that might make being in a real relationship rather difficult.”

“Sure,” I said. “But we could make it work.”

“I think we could,” she said. “That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is, at least for the beginning, I think it would be a lot better if I were in town more. Like, here.”

“Home? In Foley?”

She nodded. “I was thinking about taking a leave of absence… or maybe even quitting my job.”

“No way,” I said. “Absolutely not. You love your job. Don’t quit because of me. I wouldn’t be able to live with knowing you did that.”

“No, no, stop,” she said. “Hear me out.”

“All right,” I said.

“I was thinking, and I might be crazy, but, I’ve been around the hotel game for a long time, right? I know all the ins and outs. As a matter of fact, I’ve probably got more experience from the bottom to the top of the hotel industry than just about anyone my age does in the country, if not more. So…”

“So…”

“So I was thinking, what’s one thing this town really needs?”

“Fewer Andersons,” I joked.

“Besides that,” she said, rolling her eyes playfully. I shrugged. She dipped her hand into her bag and pulled out one of the extra-long pickles and took a bite. “A hotel.”

“Wait, what?”

“I want to see if I can do it on my own,” she said. “Run a hotel, that is. And Louisa County needs one. We have that rundown truck stop a mile out of the county, but ever since the old Louisa Lodge shut down when I was a kid, there hasn’t been a real hotel in town. What if I were to open one?”

“I think it’s a hell of an idea,” I said. “I just worry there won’t be enough clientele. Who wants to visit Foley?”

“Well, there’s Madies,” she said. “And I heard something about Collin wanting to start some kind of dude ranch experience.”

“Heh, yeah there is that,” I said, shaking my head at the long-sought plan by Collin to convince Luke that turning part of the ranch into a tourist destination was good for everyone.

“So I could start a hotel right here, in Foley. I could build it from scratch. And, what’s more, I could make sure it has something that Foley also needs.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“A permanent entertainment venue.”

I gawked at her for a second. She grinned madly, and I huffed a laugh.

“You mean a stage? Like a real one? With speakers and lights and the whole deal?”

“The whole deal,” she said. “But I would need someone who knows more about that sort of thing to help me. Do you know anyone?”

I reached forward and grabbed her shirt lightly. Pulling her toward me, I kissed her softly on the lips.

“Yeah, I think I might know somebody. You might know him, he’s kind of famous around here. His name is Jesse James, if you can believe it.”

“Oh,” she said, grinning. “Sounds kind of hot.”