Something about my house call to the Wilson Ranch last week stuck with me though.
There needs to be more remote services available for people like Sully who don’t want their business spread around the town, or simply don’t have thetimeto get help but still desperately need follow-up healthcare. It can’t just come down to doctors like Uncle George and Sutton to follow up personally and do home visits without an official service being in place to manage it all.
That service could oversee and manage all the different services a terminally ill or disabled patient needs and ensurethat the different departments communicate with one another. This is now the mainfocus of my report.
My hope is that when I meet with Tabitha around the halfway mark of my stay, I’ll have a clearer idea what that service might look like. That’ll still give me three more months to finalize the plans and hopefully start the consultation process–at the very least.
It’s actually an exciting prospect for me. Suggesting changes to meet an obvious community need and being here to help start the ball rolling.
Now’s not the time to think about the hospital though, because it’s only two days before the wedding and there’s still a lot to do before guests arrive tomorrow. And since Sutton messaged me to say he’d been held up at the hospital and will find me when he gets home, I get changed and go looking for something to do or at least some Coopers to help.
The separate bachelor and bachelorette parties were held last weekend. The guys went to a clay shooting park an hour out of town while us ladies went to the Falls Pan and Grill restaurant for a special five course lunch with champagne… alotof it.
The parties merged when we all got to the Lion’s Lair Tavern where we danced the night away and even took over the band’s microphone to sing along to Will, Birdie, Case and Isla’s favorite songs. It was the best night out I’ve had in years. What made it better was having Sutton by my side for most of it.
Stepping inside the open barn doors, I find Jude and Wyatt unloading hay bales from a big trailer.
“Hey. Need a hand?” I offer. “Sutton got held up so I figured I could step in for him and help out.”
“Won’t say no,” Jude says, his eyes dropping to my pink hiking boots before moving to my hands. “The boots will be fine. The hands are a problem though, especially given you need them to save lives. You’re goin’ to need some gloves.” He jerks his headto a wall of hooks near the big sliding door. “Should be somethin’ over there that’ll fit you.”
“I’m sure my patients will appreciate your forethought,” I shoot back with a grin before finding said gloves and returning to the trailer. “This can be my cardio for the day.”
“Anythin’ on this ranch could be classed as cardio. Just not the treadmill in a gym kind,” Jude teases.
I look over to Wyatt. “Sothat’swhy Wyatt is the size of a linebacker already.”
Wyatt smirks and holds his arms up, flexing just for show. “Works for me.”
Jude shakes his head. “Put ‘em away. Sutt will think you’re tryin’ to steal his girl.”
A giggle bubbles out of me. “Sorry, Wy. You’re abittoo young for me. Maybe if I was ten years younger andnotdatin’ Sutton, the muscles might impress me.”
“Really?” Wyatt says, squaring his shoulders.
“No, dude,” Jude groans. “She’s just bein’ polite. I ain’t ever met a woman who likes a man who stands there flexing just to get her attention. I’ve told you before, women like substance–conversation, flirting, gestures, things done with a purpose. that kind of stuff.”
Wyatt turns his head and arches a brow my way. “Is he right?”
I nod. “He’s pretty much right on the money. Woo a woman with conversation and charm–but the real kind, not the ‘I’m good looking and I know it’ one. There’s a lot to be said for banter and being a gentleman too.”
His eyes flash and I groan when he says exactly what I just walked myself into. “You’re sayin’ you think I’m good lookin’ then?” Then he pulls out a panty-dropping grin that Iknowis going to get him into a lot of trouble before he decides to settle down.
“Anyway,” I say with a giggle. “What are we doing with these haybales?”
Twenty minutes later the trailer has been unloaded and the back of the barn is loaded with haybales as high as we could stack them.
“What are they all for?” I ask.
“The weddin’. We need supplies for when the weather turns, especially now that we’ve got more cattle comin’. We’re goin’ to use the bales as seatin’ this weekend, then put it back in storage until we need it over winter. It’s a win-win,” Jude explains.
I nod. “That’s real smart.”
“That’s because I thought of it,” Wyatt adds. “See, good lookin’andsmart.”
“Triple threat then,” I retort, making the kid frown.
“Triple?”
