Mending the Line

Chapter One

Ty Bloodworth had been in a daze for the better part of three months. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes while he waited for the object of his desire to appear. All the things he savored with that one breath captured everything he loved about the woods. Nobody understood why he chose to live alone tucked in the forest instead of in the free wheeling dorms near the fly shop, but at twenty-four, he’d had enough of communal living.

He sucked in another breath of cool morning air and could almost feel it clearing out all the dust in his lungs. His friends said it was too quiet, but had they listened, really listened? The birds called to loved ones, back and forth from above and all around. The bugs croaked a different melody from the ground. Squirrels, when they scuttled about the forest floor, sounded like a speeding jaguar leaping on its prey.

And then he heard it, the sound he’d been waiting for while holding his steaming cup of coffee and wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. The gravel crunched under her mile-eating stride. When she cleared the curve, he let his free hand rest on his stomach and tried to wipe away the ache. He felt the clench in his gut, the adrenaline rush he felt just before reeling in a big fish. Jill Jennings probably wouldn’t appreciate being compared to a fish.

He felt himself lean forward in anticipation, ushering the moment of eye contact to fruition. He wasn’t disappointed by the wait. She was beauty in motion, although she’d probably hate that description as she pushed herself up the steep incline. Sweat made her thin shirt cling to her stomach muscles as they twisted with every step. Her quadriceps quivered, almost in tune with his thundering heart. She wasn’t the biggest fish he’d ever seen, not with her elegant build and slight frame, but she was the most magnificent.

Conflicted by his overwhelming attraction while still attached to his girlfriend back home, Ty avoided Jill most of the time, at the restaurant where she worked and whenever she came to the fly and rafting shop to visit her roommate. He didn’t even try to ignore her here, outside his door when he could watch her move and admire everything about her that had caught his attention from the very first glance.

She looked up, her head swung in his direction, and a line of irritation graced the delicate space between her dark brows. She glanced down at the path, but not before she landed on a rock that had fallen from the stony overhang at some point and came to rest in the road. Her ankle buckled and she went down hard, her leg crashing against a boulder lining the road. Ty heard the crack just seconds before her scream. He was at her side in a flash, grabbing her shoulders as she thrashed around on the ground, filling her chestnut hair with gravel and dirt.

“It’s broken,” she huffed through clenched teeth. “Damn it, it’s broken.”

Ty noticed her eyes hadn’t filled with tears, but the tawny color had almost disappeared around her enlarged pupils. She was dangerously close to shock.

“I’m going to pick you up and carry you to my truck,” he said.

“No, no, no,” she whispered, as if speaking loudly would make the pain spread throughout her body. “Call an ambulance. I don’t want to move.”

“I don’t think either one of us wants to wait forty minutes for an ambulance to come from Del Noches. I’ll be careful. Put your arms around my neck.”

After one uncertain look, she cinched her fingers around his neck and he lifted her into his arms, careful to support, but not grab her injured leg. Once he got the door open, he kicked his fly vest to the floorboard and gently placed her on the backseat. She used her arms to inch across so Ty could close the door before he raced inside the cabin for his keys, wallet, and cell phone.

He tried to drive with consideration for how every bump and turn felt as she braced herself with her arms and breathed heavily through her nose. “You okay back there?” he asked as he studied her face through the rearview mirror. She’d gone deathly pale and her pupils were still enlarged.

She let out a groan when the truck bounced over a rut in the gravel. “I will be once we get onto the blacktop.”

“We’re almost there.” He gunned the engine when they leveled out and he could see the pavement ahead. “Is there anyone you want me to call? Your family?”

“No. Not yet.” She held her lips tight and her head leaned back against the seat. “I’ll deal with them later.”

Ty could only wonder why she didn’t want her family around when she’d obviously broken her leg and lay writhing in pain. He knew her dad was her coach, but beyond that, he knew very little about the girl in his backseat, other than how she’d occupied his mind for most of the summer.

He passed an RV, a huge tractor, and a carful of tourists on the two-lane highway before pulling under the emergency overhang for Del Noches General. He hopped out, ran inside, grabbed a wheelchair, and lifted her from the truck as delicately as he could. He wheeled her in, oblivious to his state of half dress.

“I need some help here,” he said to no one specific when everyone seemed not to notice the girl whimpering in pain in the wheelchair with her leg lying at a very unnatural angle. When the nurse stood up and looked over the partition and down at Jill, she dropped her clipboard and bounded around the counter.

“What happened?”

“I broke my leg,” she managed before her eyes fluttered closed.

“She’s going into shock.” The nurse grabbed the wheelchair and ran her into the back. Ty stopped at the doors she’d disappeared behind and wondered what he should do. He walked back to his truck, fished his cell phone out of the cup holder, and called Tommy Golden at The Golden Rule fly shop.

“Tommy, it’s Ty.”

“Don’t tell me you’re canceling this afternoon with the Allgoods.”

“I’m not. Listen, I’m with Jill Jennings at the hospital. She broke her leg running on the road outside my house.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. They just took her back and I don’t have any way to get in touch with her family. Is Olivia there?”

Tommy blew out a breath loud enough for Ty to hear. “She’s out with a group, but I know someone who’d know. Where’d you take her? Westmoreland?”

“Del Noches.” When Tommy groaned, Ty explained, “It’s a bad break, Tommy. She was going into shock. I don’t think she’d have made it all the way to Westmoreland.”

“Her dad’s going to have a fit.”

“Yeah. Can you make some calls? I don’t want her to be here alone.”

“You leaving?”

He looked down at his bare feet and chest. “No, not until someone else gets here. But tell them to hurry.”

“Will do,” Tommy said. “I’ll be in touch.”

 

Ty knew when Jill’s father arrived. Picking him out as a track coach wasn’t hard, not with his lean figure and the gold windbreaker synonymous with the local college. His dark hair, the exact color of his daughter’s, was beginning to streak with gray around the temples and his worried expression turned to suspicion when Ty stood up and approached him as he waited by the nurses’ station.

“Mr. Jennings?” Ty asked.

Gary Jennings assessed Ty from toe to head. Ty stood at least half a foot taller than Jill’s dad. Despite his height advantage, Ty felt put in place by Gary’s disdainful stare, especially since Ty stood shirtless in a pair of flip-flops he’d found in the back of his truck. “Yes?”

“I’m Tyler Bloodworth. I brought your daughter in.”

“You did? From where?”

“She fell in front of my place on Vista Road just north of the Lower Fork.”

“Vista Road? What the hell was she doing up there?”

Ty lifted his shoulder. “Running?”

The nurse returned and told Gary he could follow her through the double doors. Gary didn’t even say thank you, or goodbye, or glance in Ty’s direction before hurling himself through the doors.

Ty’s cell phone rang as he walked to the parking lot. “Yeah,” he said when he recognized Tommy’s shop number on the display.

“Jill’s dad should be there soon.”

“He’s already here. Thanks for the warning.”

“Lyle said he’d be upset.”

“Lyle?” Ty rubbed the spot on his chest that continued to ache from not knowing how Jill was doing. The nurses wouldn’t even give him an update because he wasn’t family.

“Lyle Woodward. Friend of Jill’s; he lives in Hailey.”

“Oh.” Friend didn’t mean boyfriend, but that didn’t help Ty’s mood. Of course, he wasn’t exactly one to cast stones considering he’d yet to cut ties with Dana. “I’ll be in later for the Allgoods.”

“Last group of the season for you, my friend. You’re one hell of a fishing guide. If you change your mind and want to come back next summer, you let me know.”

“I just might,” Ty said. He’d been thinking about it since the first moment he saw Jill. “I’ll let you know by the end of the first semester.”

“Hell, kid. I thought I was pissing in the wind. What happened to Wyoming?”

“I like it here,” he said as he took one last glance at the hospital entrance where the real reason he’d come back was hopefully getting the help she needed. “More than I thought I would.”

Chapter Two

Nine Months Later

Ty slept like the dead. After nine solid months at school with an apartment full of frat boys and their girlfriends mingling about at all hours, the quiet had lulled him into the kind of sleep he longed for while studying for finals. Ty rolled over and glanced at the clock through the one eye he dared to open against the sun slanting through the shades. Almost noon and he could have easily slept for a few more hours. As it stood, he only had seven minutes before his stepmom or one of his sisters bounded into the room demanding he rise and join the living. Like clockwork, they knocked at twelve on the dot.

“Ty? Are you getting up?” Gabby asked through the closed door. He grunted an answer that could have been yes or could have been no. With a headful of chestnut curls, his middle sister poked her head inside and scowled at him with the same expression his stepmom wore when she was irritated. “Mommy said to get you up.”

“I’m up, I’m up.” He leaned onto an elbow and tried to pry his eyes wide.

She held tight to the doll cradled against her side. “Mommy said up meant out of bed.”

“Maybe to her it does.” He finally got his eyes to function and stared at Gabby. His five-year-old half-sister wore a bright yellow sundress and a hot pink sweater. “You’re wearing two different shoes.”

“I know,” she said, and if she knew how to roll her eyes, Ty felt sure she would have done so. “I can’t find the matches, so Mommy said I could wear these. She said it was a fashion statement.”

Ty thought of his stepmother, the shoe designer, and smiled. “She would know.” Ty pulled back the covers and stifled a grin as his sister squealed and hid her eyes.

“Don’t look, Baby,” she told her doll. “Ty’s naked.”

“I’m not naked,” he said and popped her on the butt before she scooted out of his room. “I’m wearing boxers, aren’t I?” he asked the bathroom mirror before relieving his aching bladder. He grabbed a shower, took his time shaving, and brushed his teeth before dressing in his usual t-shirt and cargo shorts.

He looked around the room, tossed the comforter over the bed to make it seem as if he’d made his bed, and realized he was stalling. It was his life, he told himself as he descended the stairs of the old farmhouse his dad had called home since he came back to Sequoyah Falls almost twenty years before. Ty could barely remember living with both his parents in the one level ranch on Third Street.

He could smell something simmering on the stove before his feet cleared the stairs. Lita stood in the kitchen wearing an apron, a thin white shirt, snakeskin heels, and capri pants the same color as her middle daughter’s sweater, chopping vegetables on a cutting board. “’Bout time you got up,” she said. The scolding tone of her voice didn’t match the dazzling smile she barely tried to hide. “Sleep well?”

“Like a baby.” Ty rifled through the crammed refrigerator and scowled at the six packs of yogurt and gallon jugs of apple juice and milk. “Where’s the adult food?”

“Rumor has it there’s some in the back. I’m making shrimp stew for dinner tonight and your dad’s going by the new bakery in town for dessert. Your mom and Bryce and the twins are coming, and so is Cal.”

“All this for me?”

“The prodigal son is home, at least for a few days.” Lita waved the knife in his direction. “We’re not allowed to spoil you rotten?”

“Spoil away.” He pulled out the milk, grabbed a bowl from the cupboard, and almost sighed when he spied a new box of Frosted Flakes in the pantry.

“I thought you wanted adult food?” Lita asked.

“I forgot how great it feels to be a kid.”

She set the paring knife down and grabbed his shoulders from behind when he plopped at the bar to eat his breakfast. “We’ve missed you. Your dad is so glad to have you home. He’s a little testosterone challenged in this house.”

Ty shoved a spoonful in his mouth and spoke around his food, something he’d have gotten in trouble for at his mom’s house. “Even with me home, the odds still aren’t good.”

“Yes, but you’re both bigger than the rest of us. That has to count for something.”

“Where’d the rug rats go?”

“The girls are having a tea party on the porch with their stuffed animals. Gabby said you’re invited if you put some clothes on.”

“I wasn’t naked!” Ty said, his face hot.

Lita only laughed. “It’s so good to have you home, Ty. We’ve missed you.”

“It’s good to be home. I wish I could stay longer, but I’ve got to head out day after tomorrow if I’m going to make it to Colorado on time.”

“Colorado?” She tilted her head and her enormous gold hoops swung like pendulums into her hair. “I thought you were going to Wyoming this year?”

Practice with her, Ty reminded himself. If he could pull the story off with Lita, he might stand a chance with his dad. “I’m going back to the Lower Fork.”

She wiped her hands on a towel and leaned on the counter. “Does your dad know?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so,” she mumbled under her breath.

She came around the island and plopped a knee on the barstool next to him. Ty concentrated on fishing the last flakes from his bowl and not on his stepmother’s steely eyes. It didn’t matter that she was only thirteen years older than him. She could yield parental guilt like the best of them.

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t want to tell him?”

Ty shrugged and filled his bowl again. He got up to retrieve the milk from the refrigerator and avoid eye contact. “I guess I don’t.”

“You think he’ll be upset?”

He looked at her with one sharp glance.

“Of course he will.” She stood up and placed her hands on his shoulders. If it weren’t for her heels, she wouldn’t have been able to reach them. “It’s your life, Ty. Tell him. If you make him feel like you’re keeping it from him, he’ll get upset.”

“He’s going to be upset regardless.”

“Maybe, but if you hide it from him, he’ll be hurt.” She backed off and went around the counter. “I’m glad I hadn’t already made a reservation. The girls can’t wait to go out West.”

“You’ll love it there, Lita. The air is so clean, the people are nice, and there’s a lot for the girls to do. There’s a dude ranch midway between Del Noches and the Lower Fork that offers horseback riding and has a kids program. They’ll hold a cabin for me if you let me know what week you want to come.”

“I’ll talk to your dad after you talk to your dad.”

He slurped up the rest of his milk and rinsed the bowl in the sink.

“Just leave it,” Lita said. “I’ve got to empty the dishwasher.”

“I’ll empty it,” Ty said.

“You could, and I’d appreciate the help, but I think you’d better go to the shop and talk to Jesse.”

“He’s working. He won’t want the interruption.”

“Ty,” Lita scolded. “You won’t be an interruption. Go.” She pushed him out of the kitchen. “Talk to your dad, see your friends, and come back hungry.”

He turned around and flashed a smile. “I’m always hungry.”

 

The raft shop was quiet, but that didn’t mean Ty had an easy time finding a parking spot. He squeezed his truck next to the trash bin and figured his dad wouldn’t put a call in to have him towed. He didn’t recognize the girl at the reception desk with a nose ring and dreadlocks; she must have been a new summer hire. She smiled and lifted her brows. “Can I help you?”

“Jesse around?” he asked.

“He’s in his office. Can I tell him who’s here?”

“I’ll tell him myself.”

She seemed a little unsure about letting a stranger into the back, but Ty just waved her off and rapped on the office door. His dad looked up from the computer and hopped to his feet. “Ty! I didn’t know you were coming down.”

At 42, his dad wore contentment like a blanket around his shoulders. He’d be hard pressed not to love his life with a beautiful wife, three little girls, and a thriving business. He wore his light brown hair shaggy and Ty spotted a few hints of gray in his day old beard. His uniform of cargo shorts and t-shirts—nearly identical to Ty’s—hadn’t changed in years. The grungy look hid a shrewd businessman with a predilection for making cunning investments. “Figured I’d come by, let you give me a tour of the new building.”

“Now’s a good time. All the groups are out, so the changing area is deserted.” He slapped Ty’s shoulder and led him out of the office. “Did you meet Desiree?”

Ty nodded to the girl. “Sort of.”

“This is my son, Ty. He’s just home for a few days before he heads out to Wyoming to guide on the North Platte.”

“Cool,” she said. “I’ve heard there’s great water on the Platte.”

“I’m a fishing guide,” Ty explained. “The only water I’m interested is the kind where trout like to hide.”

She looked at Jesse and shook her head. “Where’d you go wrong?”

“Beats me,” Jesse said with a smirk and led Ty out the back door. “Here she is.”

The log building was huge and held both the raft storage and changing area. The structure was a big improvement from the original barn.

“I like the way you’ve used the space,” Ty said.

Jesse led him through a door to the back part where rafts were stacked on shelves. “I’ve got this corner saved for the fly shop. You won’t need much space and the arrangements can be done through our front desk or you could set up a counter here by the back door.”

Ty could see it. The fly shop they’d talked about for years, working side by side with his dad building something of his own. He’d spent six years at school getting degrees to hang on the wall and he figured out that what he wanted out of life was no farther than his home away from home. “I love it. Dan did a good job. I really like the open ceiling and exposed beams.”

Jesse slapped Ty on the back. “That was your idea. Saved money, too, except for the beams.” He let out a contented sigh. “Just think, this time next year, we’ll be working together.”

“’Bout time,” Ty said. He peeked his head in the changing area, remarked about the roominess and stall placement before heading back outside. They both turned at the sound of the bus rounding the corner. “Morning group’s back.”

“You’d better bug outta here before they disembark.”

“Dad, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

The bus pulled in front of them and hissed to a stop. “Better hold that thought ‘til later. I’ll be home around seven. Lita tell you about dinner tonight?”

“Yeah, she did.”

“Good. We’ll talk then.” Jesse greeted the guests as they ambled off the bus. “Have a good time, young lady?”

A sloe-eyed preteen hopped off the steps. “The best!”

Jesse winked at Ty and waved him off as he herded the masses toward the changing area while instructing them to drop their wetsuits in the trough by the entrance after they changed.

Damn, he should have pulled Jesse aside when Desiree mentioned the Platte, but he didn’t want an audience for their conversation. If it had to wait until tonight, he’d have even more of an audience.

Chapter Three

ill Jennings grabbed a towel from the gym’s meager pile and wiped the sweat from her brow. She’d only done two sets and had used the towel break as an excuse to gear herself up for number three. She only hoped her dad didn’t notice.

“Jill?” Gary Jennings called from his station by the leg lift machine. “You coming? You’ve got another set to do before we hit the yoga ball.”

Jill took a deep breath and planted on a smile before turning to face him. Fooling her father into thinking her recovery was going better than expected was quickly becoming as difficult as resuming her training after breaking her leg. Thankfully, members of the Warlock State cross country team started trickling in for their morning workout, and Gary got distracted talking to coach Miles.

“You’re here early,” one of the girls mumbled as she plopped down on the mat to stretch. “I was feeling sorry for myself before I spotted you looking half done with your workout.”

“I wish,” Jill said. “I’m about a third done. I’ve still got pool work.”

“How’s the leg?” she asked.

Jill averted her eyes. She couldn’t tell a lie looking someone in the face. “Better. Getting stronger every day.”

It wasn’t that her leg wasn’t healing; it just wasn’t healing fast enough. Her dad was pushing her hard, harder than anyone else he’d ever trained after an injury. He was still mad at her for breaking her leg and forfeiting a chance at the Olympic trials. He couldn’t have been more upset than she was that she’d tripped and fallen on a rock while running along her favorite mountain trail. A trail he’d continuously discouraged her from running. There are too many obstacles on those trails. You can’t concentrate on your form when you’re always looking down to see what you’re going to step on.

She’d gone anyway, running up and down the winding gravel roads because she loved pushing herself and discovering what was around every twist and turn. She went twice a week, the same days at the same time so she could catch a glimpse of the biggest obstacle in her life: Ty Bloodworth. She wasn’t looking down because she was looking into the eyes of the man who’d intrigued her, saved her, and left town without a word.

She had no right to be upset; they weren’t involved. Hell, they weren’t even friends. But it stung that his boyish charm and that easy aura were the reasons for her fall. Nothing ever seemed to faze him, certainly not a skinny runner with more determination than talent and a penchant for being alone.

He was back east where he belonged and she needed to focus on the future. She’d been a long shot runner before her injury. Now, with a broken tibia and fibula, a plate and countless screws surgically inserted and finally removed, her chance of making any Olympic team seemed more like a pipe dream. The pursuit of it, the golden pie in the sky task of training for another four years when all she wanted to do was move on with her life felt like an albatross around her neck.

“Jill,” her dad called from the leg press machine. When he tapped his watch and turned around, she wished for the millionth time in a decade her father wasn’t her coach.

“I gotta go.”

“Yeah,” the girl mumbled.

Gary had the leg press machine set at more weight than Jill’s fragile leg could handle for thirty reps. She changed the weight setting and was met with a stern stare. Did he know how much disappointment he could convey with just that one look?

“You won’t make any progress unless you push yourself.”

“I won’t make any progress if I reinjure my leg by pushing too hard.”

“It’s a fine line, Jill. That’s why you have me, so you don’t have to worry about being pushed too hard or not hard enough.”

Jill began using the machine with the weight she’d set. He couldn’t change the weight when the machine was in motion and the noisy pulley system would force him to yell. Gary Jennings wouldn’t yell at her in public for fear of spreading rumors that her recovery wasn’t coming along as well as he’d led everyone to believe. He signed her up for a race the next month and she’d yet to log any miles in the current one.

She worked methodically through the rest of his routine, concentrating on her breathing and form, blocking out the pain from her leg and the frustration she felt at not being in top shape. Her stamina wasn’t the only thing missing. Her passion for the chase and the thrill of competition had dimmed significantly as the months of recovery stretched along during winter. With the removal of the plate and the screws and the dawning of the summer season ahead, she didn’t know how to recapture her love of the sport. She’d simply lost the fire that had kept her going these last few years.

Gary shoved a bottle of water in her face and nodded with his head toward the college’s indoor swimming pool. “Go change and I’ll meet you at the pool.”

Her only response was a grunt. She knew she’d face a lecture on respecting his role as her coach at some point during the day. She couldn’t muster enough energy to care. She’d agreed to have him coach her and he did a good job before the injury. They skirted around the sticky parts of working together with the solid determination to make the team. It drove them both to overlook the petty irritations and the blurring of the lines between family and coach. Missing the trials and facing a lengthy rehabilitation paled in comparison to the thought of spending the next four years with him on her back 24/7. She didn’t think their relationship or her family could survive the pressure of it again.

She toweled off after forty-five minutes strapped to the flotation belt that let her run in the pool without putting pressure on her leg and made a beeline for the locker room. Her dad caught her arm before she could disappear inside.

“Where are you in such a hurry to go?”

“I’ve got to change and get to work.”

“Work?” Gary asked, his forehead a maze of lines.

“The Golden Tap. I got my old job back.”

He sighed, one long exhalation of breath that said as much as the sneering look on his face. His expression went slack and his shoulders slumped as if she’d tossed a boulder onto his back. “You shouldn’t spend any more time on your feet than you need for training.”

“That’d be great, Dad, if I didn’t have to earn some money. My apartment doesn’t pay for itself and the last time I checked, gas wasn’t free.”

“All the more reason for you to stay at home instead of moving back in with Olivia. You could ride into the gym with me and God knows as much as your brother eats, we wouldn’t charge you rent.”

“We’ve talked about this before. I’m twenty-two years old. I’m not living with my parents.”

“You’ve been living with us the last few months. It hasn’t been so bad.” He stuffed his hands on his hips. “You act like the only kid your age who does it. You’re not.”

“People who move back in with their parents are out of options. Now that my leg’s recovered, I have options. Tommy let me have my job back—the only job I could find that works perfectly around my training schedule—and you think that’s a bad thing?”

“I think you shouldn’t do anything right now that’ll hinder your progress. The less time you spend on your feet, and that includes delivering burgers and beer to your grungy friends, the faster your leg will heal and you can get back to serious training.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “We’ve got to start all over again, Jill. This wasn’t a bump in the road; it was a full-fledged mountain, and we’re not even half way back to where we were before you broke your leg.”

They both knew he’d swallowed the rest of what he wanted to say: that where she was before she broke her leg probably wasn’t good enough to get where he desperately wanted her to go. “Do you really need me to say it again? I’m sorry, all right! I’m sorry I took it upon myself to do some incline training without asking you first. I’m sorry I was stupid enough to fall and break my leg right before the trials, and I’m sorry I keep being a miserable disappointment to you. Believe it or not, I’m not doing this on purpose.”

“You could have fooled me,” he mumbled under his breath before shaking his head as if to wipe away the words that still hung in the air between them. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back to work so soon. You just had your last surgery.”

“I’m going crazy sitting around the house all day, and I’m sick to death of you and mom paying for everything. Besides, it’s not fair to pull out of the lease with Olivia just because you don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Perhaps if you’d asked our opinion before you signed the lease…”

“I’m an adult and I don’t need your permission to live on my own. The only reason I’ve been at home is because I couldn’t use the stairs in the apartment. You control my life for more hours of the day than I do, but I’m not going to let you control everything. Don’t you see how dysfunctional that is?”

“Oh, yes. Poor Jill with parents who love her and care.”

She whirled around and stomped as best she could with bare feet into the locker room, ignoring the stares from the other girls who’d overheard her fight with her father. She felt the angry tears burn the backs of her eyes and rushed to get into the shower stall before giving in and letting them fall. She damned him for making her feel twelve for the last decade of her life and damned herself for letting him do it.