The Lovesick Cure Read online

  Tree and Coach Poule emerged from the locker room and began walking across the court toward them. His son was dressed in casual sweats, but he had slicked down his wet hair. His cheeks were bright with the embarrassment of having every eye on him.

  Coach did the introductions. Tree behaved calmly and politely. The scout talked about the program at Missouri. Undefeated this season and leading their division. Jakowski asked Tree several questions about himself, his life, what he enjoyed most about basketball.

  On the last question, Tree managed a grin. “Well, it’s really fun to win,” he said. “But mostly I like to play. I like competing. I can shoot baskets from daybreak ’til midnight, but when there’s a team around me and a game on the line, I…I like it.”

  Piney thought it was a good answer. It wasn’t rehearsed or laced with bravado. It was a reasoned, honest answer. He had no idea what the scout thought, but he was proud of his son.

  The man took his leave without ever uttering the words recruiting or scholarship. He didn’t even invite Tree to drive up and visit the campus. Coach kept up a steady stream of accolades as they followed the guy to the door. Once he was gone, Coach Poule seemed deflated. Tree looked confused.

  Piney put a smiling face on it. “So now, we’ve got through the first one. There are going to be more, son. I know there are.”

  Tree nodded.

  In the truck on their way home, Tree was still trying to make sense of it.

  “I’d never even thought about going to Missouri,” he said. “It didn’t even enter my mind.”

  “I don’t think it entered their mind, either,” Piney told him. “The scout was down here looking at a boy in Springfield. But I’m glad he came to see you play, anyway. Other people will hear about it and you’ll get more attention.”

  “Okay. It was a great win. And the girls, too. That was great.”

  “It was.”

  “They would have creamed ’em if Cammy had been out there.”

  Piney and Tree hadn’t talked about that subject since it happened. He was very curious about what was going on in his son’s mind, his heart, and bringing it up might be a safe diversion from the disappointment of the scout.

  “Is Camryn still not back to school?”

  “No, she’s back,” Tree answered. “I think she skipped Monday, but she was there the rest of the week. She’s not playing ’cause Coach suspended her from the team. He says he’s mad at her for missing school. But he knows her mother kept her home. I think it’s more about causing drama with me. He doesn’t like me being distracted. And to Coach, that’s exactly what our breakup is, a distraction.”

  “And what is it to you?” Piney asked.

  Tree hesitated for a moment and then grinned mischievously before he answered. “I think it’s like a sedimentation flaw.”

  “What?”

  “I wanted to talk to Aunt Will about Cammy. But she said to talk to DuJess, so I did. She’s okay, you know. I like her.”

  “I like her, too,” Piney said carefully.

  “She’s got that teacher thing where she knows really how to talk to kids.”

  “Does she?”

  “Yeah, it’s like you know she’s giving you her best guess on something. But it’s not like a parent where she’s telling you what you should do.”

  “Okay.”

  “She told me that she hasn’t had a lot of relationships,” Tree said. “And that all of them have ended with her being sad. But she believes overall that everything builds on everything else.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “She’s, like, into geology and she described it as the way sedimentary rocks are formed. All this silt drifts down to the earth’s crust. It’s just layers and layers. And the more that’s added to it, the increased pressure. It’s not the silt that makes the rock. The silt is only the raw material. It’s the pressure.”

  “Pressure, huh?”

  “Right. Jesse says that she thinks that sturdy, long-lasting relationships are the same. Two people who get to know each other. They go out, have a few laughs, eat a few pizzas. They have experiences together. They share their pasts and their everyday stuff and their dreams for the future. They get to see each other in different situations. That’s all layers and layers of silt.”

  He looked to Piney for affirmation.

  He nodded.

  “The couple may begin to really care about each other. Really see something in each other that has potential. They see something that they think could make their life better, happier. But they’re still just silt. If they move too quickly, they stir it up and it takes longer to settle. When it’s all settled and the pressures come, it melds the relationship together. It makes it strong and it makes it last.”

  Piney nodded thoughtfully.

  “The way I see it,” Tree continued. “Camryn and I have a lot of potential for being a great team. She’s smart and funny…well, I can’t help but say it, Dad, she’s sexy. I think she’s really sexy. I mean when she walks into a room, I—”

  “You don’t have to go into detail,” Piney interrupted. “I get it.”

  “Okay, so anyway, I think those are real basics for a serious relationship. But being in high school, not knowing where we’ll even be living next year or what kind of future we might see for each other, separately or together or whatever. We may be the stuff of sediment, but a lot of who we are is still suspended in the water.”

  Piney resisted the desire to point out that that was exactly what he’d been trying to tell him for a year or more. Whether or not he and Camryn were right for each other remains to be seen. Neither of them would benefit from jumping into a full-throttle sexual relationship before they had a sense of where their lives might be headed.

  “That sounds about right,” he replied instead.

  “Anyway, that’s what I’m going for now,” Tree said. “I think we should take a break for a few months, at least until basketball season is over.” He sighed heavily and pressed his lips together. “I know it’s a risk. Maybe by then she’s got another guy. Or maybe nothing’s changed and our problems pick up where they left off. But I think we’ve got to go through this pressure to see if there’s anything between us that’s really…really everlasting.”

  His son’s choice of word caught Piney up short. It was not a term that typically came out of a teenager’s mouth. But he thought it was apt. Everlasting was the dream he’d always had about relationships. And there was nothing close to it in his marriage to Shauna. With his ex, every day was like waking up in a new world. He never knew what he could expect. But he did know that he wouldn’t be able to count on her. Even when he still loved her, he’d longed for something more solid. Here, back home where he’d grown up, he’d worked hard to make that for himself and Tree. He almost envied his son’s clarity.

  Tree’s voice was open and sincere as he spoke. “I know you worry about me ending up like you, Dad. You don’t want me to end up like you.”

  He looked toward his father for affirmation.

  “This is what I see,” Tree continued. “You work at a job that you’re good at and that you enjoy. You do a lot for our community, more than most people even know. You’re there for people sometimes in the worst moments of their lives, but you never let on how hard that is to do and you never complain, because somebody’s got to do it and you think you’re the best qualified. For that you make a decent living, put money in savings and buy me things you think I need. You are liked and respected by everybody. Even by Cammy, who I can tell you is about your least favorite fan in the world.” He laughed a little as he said that. “Now me, I’m going to go off and live I-don’t-know-where and do I-don’t-know-what. People make a big deal out of me, and I like that. But the truth is, I know I’m not a big deal. I know I’m not much of anything yet. But I plan to be something, somehow. I don’t know where or what or when.” He hesitated for effect. “You don’t want me to end up like you. I have to tell you, that’s always been kind of weird to me. I hope
I end up like you. In fact, that’s the one goal that I’m really sure about. I want to be as much like you as possible.”

  32

  Saturday morning, Jesse was still sleeping in the shakedown in the loft when she heard the sound of a truck approaching. A second later, Lilly June began to howl. Reluctantly she rolled out of the warmth of her quilts and made her way down the ladder. She stoked the fire back into life rather than make a run for her clothes. Whoever arrived that early in the morning deserved to catch her in her pajamas. Still, she opened the door to glance down the slope as the vehicle came to a stop. She recognized Floyd and Alice Fay’s truck. At least the pajama viewing wasn’t going to be complete strangers.

  The driver’s-side door opened and Alice Fay half stepped, half slid the distance from the seat to the ground. She waved and Jesse waved back. She wasn’t sure about guest protocol for the mountain. Should she stand freezing on the porch? Or go inside and start the coffee? She picked the latter, warmer option.

  It was a fortunate choice. She stepped inside to find Aunt Will weaving perilously across the room, her cane tapping ineffectively as she went.

  “Whoops,” Jesse said and she caught the older woman and steadied her.

  Aunt Will giggled as if it were amusing. “I’m just getting out of bed and staggering like a drunkard on a three-day binge.”

  “Let’s get you to your chair before we both fall down.”

  “It’s this swollen belly,” she explained. “All that sloshing around gets me off balance. I’m looking nearly six months gone with a new baby. Now that would rattle the holy folks down the hill, wouldn’t it.”

  Jesse chuckled companionably, but she was concerned as she got Aunt Will into her rocker. A fall would be bad. She was sure of that. And if she couldn’t confidently make it to her bed or the bathroom without help, she’d have to have someone at her side every minute.

  Behind them there was a light tapping on the door.

  “Come on in, Alice Fay,” Aunt Will called out. “DuJess is fixing to make us some coffee.”

  Jesse glanced sharply at her aunt for a moment. How did she know it was Alice Fay? No wonder people thought she was spooky.

  Alice Fay was dressed casually in jeans and a sweatshirt and carried two big bags of paraphernalia. “I’m here for a nice long visit,” she announced. “Floyd is down at the approach working with the guys. I thought I’d drive up here and spend the day with you, Aunt Will.”

  “That’s plum marvelous,” Aunt Will replied.

  “There won’t be any vehicles on that road while the grader is on it, so you might be short on company today.”

  “It’s not the quantity, but the quality,” Aunt Will said. “And you being here will give DuJess a chance to sneak off.”

  “What?” Jesse was astonished at the suggestion.

  “You need to breathe some air that’s not on this hill,” Aunt Will told her. “You’re too young and full of vinegar to be trapped in these four walls. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Alice Fay agreed. “You can take the footpath down and easily find somebody to give you a lift. Nelda Beavis has a beauty shop about a mile past the high school. You could get your hair done or get a pedicure. Make it a real day off.”

  “What I’d really like is a long soak in a bathtub,” Jesse said. She tried to keep the heart-pounding excitement out of her voice. The idea that she might spend Saturday with Piney seemed to brighten the dreary morning. She breezed through the chores. Even Cussy’s tail slapping her head during milking and the mean old rooster pecking at her as she gathered the eggs couldn’t dampen her enthusiasm for a hike, a nice bath and a long afternoon of great sex. She tried to wipe the goofy grin off her face, but couldn’t manage it.

  She began to worry that it was too good to be true. Piney might be out on a call or gone somewhere and she’d miss him completely because she couldn’t call. Or Tree and some of his friends might spend their Saturday afternoons lounging around the house playing video games like her little brothers did. Or the clinic might be full of folks with flu or strep throat. There were so many possibilities of things that could go wrong, she tried hard not to get her hopes up. But she was singing as she slopped the hogs. She couldn’t help herself.

  From her canvas bags, Alice Fay had brought a small, digital voice recorder and reams of old photographs. She wanted to go through them with Aunt Will. The older woman might not be able to see them, but Alice Fay was hoping it would spur her to share stories about the people she remembered.

  Jesse warned her about how unsteady Aunt Will had been on her feet.

  “You’ll have to be beside her as she moves around. The stick she uses for a cane no longer seems to be of any help. I’m going to talk to Piney about it. Maybe she needs a walker or something.”

  “Don’t worry,” Alice Fay reassured her. “I took care of Floyd’s mama for six long years. And she wasn’t nearly as cooperative as Aunt Will.”

  Jesse packed her soap, shampoo, conditioner and some very skimpy underwear into her pack and headed out. She felt anticipation; she thought she could run all the way down the mountain. She held herself back only by the reminder that a broken leg would not look particularly attractive on her.

  It was not the best day for a hike. It was cold and damp and low clouds obscured the vistas that made the mountain path beautiful. But her enthusiasm was enough to make it seem like yellow bricks leading to the Emerald City.

  When she finally planted her feet on the shoulder of the highway, she could have pumped a fist in victory. She jogged the rest of the distance to the clinic. There was only one car parked out in front. Jesse crossed her fingers, as if to magically make the sick or injured well enough not to need a lot of Piney’s care. She took the porch steps two at a time.

  He was standing at the reception desk writing notes for a chart. His face beamed in recognition only an instant before his brow furrowed.

  “Is Aunt Will all right?”

  “Alice Fay is with her,” Jesse answered.

  His sigh of relief immediately transformed into a flirty grin. “So what brings you to town, Miss Winsloe?”

  She glanced around, ensuring they were all alone before sidling up to him and running a finger down the buttons of his shirt. “Oh, I’m just another lonely hill gal, down to the hollow looking for something hot and naked.”

  His grin faltered as his eyes narrowed carnally. He licked his lips.

  “Hot and naked,” she repeated as her hand moved even lower. “Like a bath in your tub.” She stepped away from him in a saucy tease.

  “You’re getting a little too big for your britches, woman,” he told her.

  “Yeah? So what are you going to do about it?”

  “Take ’em off of you, that’s my plan,” he answered.

  Those were exactly the words she wanted to hear.

  “But I’ve got Bax Gormley in the exam room.” He gestured toward the back.

  “What?” Jesse squeaked out. She imagined with horror that the patient could have unexpectedly opened the door and her public feel-up of the physician’s assistant might have been the talk of the mountain for weeks to come.

  “We certainly need to see to that immediately,” he said loudly enough that anybody listening could hear. “I have one more patient to see and then I should be available. If you could give me twenty minutes here, Miss Winsloe.” He stepped forward and whispered a warm breath in her ear. “The door’s open, let yourself in. Twenty minutes and ready or not, I’m coming upstairs to screw your brains out.”

  “That sounds good,” she emoted in the same made-for-overhearing voice.

  As she retreated to the door, she watched him look her over from head down to toe and back up again. He seemed to like what he saw and gave her a very sexy wink.

  Outside, as she made her way up the slope to the back of the building, she deliberately tamped down her giddy enthusiasm. She needed to contact her mother. Let her know what w
as happening with Aunt Will and that she’d be staying here for a while. The call took longer than she’d imagined. Her mom expressed great concern and wanted to hear all the details of Aunt Will’s condition. She was also concerned about Jesse taking on the caretaker role. But to her credit, she didn’t once suggest that she shouldn’t do it.

  Then her little brothers wanted to talk. They both seemed starved for her attention. Austin’s conversation was all about video games. Ryan wanted to make rude noises that he and his friends were perfecting at school and thought were hilarious. Jesse missed both of them and wanted to talk, while at the same time, she tapped her foot with impatience. Finally they said their goodbyes and she raced to get the bathwater running.

  She was still shampooing when Piney walked through the door.

  “Sorry, I got caught up in—”

  “I’m not walking away this time,” he interrupted and began peeling off his clothes. In less than a minute he was wearing nothing but a determined gleam and a big erection.

  He climbed into the tub behind her, his legs straddling on either side.

  “I’ll wash your hair,” he told her.

  Jesse was surprised. It was a strange thing for an obviously turned-on guy to want to do. But she liked it. He had strong hands and fingers that dug down to massage her scalp. It felt so good. And it was so relaxing. He began smoothing sudsy hair down along her spine. Then the lather began to be all over as he rubbed down the muscles in her back.

  “Ooooh,” she moaned slightly. “You’re good at that.”

  “Motivation,” he replied. “You, Jesse Winsloe, motivate me.”

  In the next half hour, amid some laughter and much splashing, they tested their ability to turn the steampunk bathtub into a vat of hot, steamy sin. Success left Jesse spent and boneless as a bag of jelly. Her body continued to clench with ricochets as she panted oxygen into her lungs.