Chapter 9
Nicole was settling in to her new job. It was a balancing act while trying to help out the Earp sisters. Dr. Nedley had given her a tour of the animal hospital first thing on Monday, but with it only being her third day on the job, she still found herself getting turned around while trying to navigate the hospital.
She was camped out at the front desk, completing order forms for various supplies the doctors need.
“I need to introduce Nedley to the magic of online ordering,” Nicole said to herself.
She had never worked any kind of desk job; she caught herself watching the clock more than once. Her cell phone rang, she knew she wasn’t really supposed to answer her phone at work, but both the vets were out.
When she saw that it was Wynonna calling she answered it immediately.
“Hey Nicole, sorry to bother you at your new job and all, but I need your help,” Wynonna’s voice came over the line.
“What’s wrong?”
“Waverly stormed out, started walking down the highway. She got some… bad news today,” Wynonna said.
“What do you need me to do?” Nicole asked.
“Could you maybe hunt her down? I don’t think she wants to hear from the likes of anyone in the family right now,”
“Yeah no problem, just tell me which direction she was headed,”
Nicole slowed her truck down once she saw the small women walking down the side of the road, arms crossed and jacket pulled tight against the chilly fall air.
Nicole rolled her window down and slowed down to Waverly speed.
“Waverly, what are you doing?”
“Being alone, leave me alone,” Waverly harrumphed and continued marching down the side of the road.
“Come on Waves, get in the truck,” Nicole watched the women with slight concern.
“Over my dead body,” Waverly sneered.
“I’ve got my .22 in here, it could be arranged if you really want. Come on Waves, you’ve marched yourself into the next county. Get in or you will have to walk all the way back to the homestead,”
Waverly stopped walking so abruptly that Nicole almost drove on without her. Nicole brought the truck to a stop and Waverly climbed inside. Nicole turned the truck around and pulled it off to the side of the road.
“Let’s talk,”
“First you want to talk, then you don’t want to talk,”
Nicole looked a bit taken aback, “Well maybe we should figure out what we are talking about?”
“Gus is selling Shorty’s. She acts like she wont, but she is. And everything is changing around me. But its all too fast, ya know? And its like nobody ever asks me if I’m ok with it. Wynonna came back into town out of the blue, we had to exercise the spirits of my dad and big sister out of our house. Could everybody just stand still for one fucking minute?” Waverly’s voice rose as she spoke, her tone threatening tears. At the end she let out a deep sigh.
Nicole leaned forward, touching Waverly’s knee, “Hey, it’s going to be ok,”
Waverly looked down at Nicole’s hand on her knee. It looked wrong and it felt wrong. She turned her head slowly and looked and Nicole. Nicole pulled her hand away, feeling that the vibe was off.
“I just yelled at you, you shouldn’t be nice to me,” Waverly said.
Nicole let out a half laugh and sat back in the seat, “ Yeah well I think you just been dating too many shit heads,”
Waverly’s head snapped in Nicole’s direction, “We’re not dating,”
The slight smirk fell from Nicole’s face, concern evident, “I know. God, Waverly I would never ask you to be someone you’re not,”
“Good, just don’t ask me to be anyone at all,”
“Fine,” Nicole said with a bit more force than she had planed.
“Fine,” Waverly echoed.
Nicole looked at her and started to say something, but closed her mouth and looked straight ahead instead.
Remorse started to creep up Waverly’s throat. She didn’t want this to be the end of their friendship, and she had almost hoped Nicole would insist that there was something more going on.
“Well, maybe just friends?” Waverly said, quietly this time.
Nicole hadn’t expected anything from Waverly, she knew better than that; regardless she felt like the wind had been let out of her sails. She let out a half laugh and nodded her head, “Yeah, sure Waverly. What ever you want,” She started up the truck. And Pulled off the side of the road.
They sat in silence as Nicole drove Waverly back to her house, her grip maybe just a little too tight on the steering wheel. When she pulled up the drive she put the truck in park.
Nicole felt sick to her stomach; “I’m leaving for Mesa first thing in the morning. I’ll be driving back up on Monday,” Nicole said.
“Text me when you get there?” Waverly asked.
“Yeah, of course,” Nicole forced a smile.
“And let me know how you do. Tell Whiskey good luck for me,”
“I’ll give her an extra carrot for you,” Nicole nodded.
Waverly looked as if she was going to say something, but then she didn’t. Instead she got out of the truck, one last lingering look before heading inside.
Nicole didn’t want to leave, not being on thin ice with Waverly.
Just friends reverberated through her as she finished packing her trailer and readying it for Whiskey. They had a long drive ahead of them.
Nicole had meant what she said, she would never ask Waverly to be someone she wasn’t. But Nicole didn’t buy the just friends line.
There was something there, and it was palpable every time they were near each other. The glances, the lingering touches, the time Waverly leaned in as if she was going to kiss Nicole.
Nicole shook her head to herself; maybe it had all been wishful thinking, all one-sided.
She got Whiskey into the trailer and double checked one more time that everything was ready.
She ran inside to grab the coffee she had made. She fed Janey and made sure the water dispenser was extra full. She locked the door and got into the truck, firing it up.
Waverly got to work early, parking her jeep in front of Shorty’s. She walked inside and hung up her coat.
“Hey Waverly,” Gus was standing at the bar, stooped over some paperwork.
Waverly walked over, “So you are doing it. You’re selling Shorty’s?”
Gus sighed. She knew she was going to have to face her niece sooner or later, “Since Curtis died decisions had to be made. I know you don’t believe me but you were not born to be a Goddamned small town waitress,”
“Yeah, I believe you, but I have like 3 shirts that say Shorty’s,” Waverly shot back.
“Its in the agreement, Shorty’s will never get torn down,” Gus explained, “You can work here in as many shirts as you want, for as long as you want,”
“That’s not the point,” Waverly protested.
“But… When you decide you are ready to un-stick those wings of yours,” Gus paused and pulled something out of her back pocket and handed it to Waverly.
It was a check, with a sizable amount written on it.
“Don’t cash that for a week or so,” Gus warned.
Waverly held it, looking down at it in confusion, “What is this?”
Gus leaned over, giving the check a flick with her finger, “Its freedom, Honey! You’ve been doing what others want you to do for so long. Now you can do whatever it is that you want,”
Waverly rolled her eyes, “Which is what?”
“Live your life,” Gus said it as though it was obvious, “Remember, some of the best things in life are the surprises it throws us… About what we want; who we want,” Gus gave her a small wink, “You’ve always been an honest kid, don’t stop now,”
Waverly smiled at her aunt. For all intensive purposes, Gus had been her mother since she was 6 years old. Gus knew her better than anyone.
“What do you mean?” Waverly asked, a small smile on her lips.
“You know exactly what I mean,” Gus gave her one of her famous pointed looks. She tapped the papers against the bar top.
Waverly waited anxiously for the text from Nicole saying she was back. Their communication had been sparse all weekend. Just the basics, just what Waverly had asked Nicole to send. She had won the semipro round at the barrel racing competition.
After the run in with Amanda, Waverly could only imagine the kind of attention Nicole was getting this weekend down in Mesa. She shouldn’t feel this jealous; she had turned Nicole down after all. And Nicole was an attractive young woman.
When Monday afternoon rolled around Waverly drove out to the vet clinic on a mission. Gus’s words range in Waverly’s ears as she drove to the clinic.
Nicole winced when the phone rang, Mrs. Wilson’s number on the caller ID.
She forced a breath out and picked up the line, plastering on her best customer service voice.
“Purgatory Veterinary Clinic, This is Nicole speaking, how can I help you?”
Nicole listened to Mrs. Wilson ramble on, nodding along despite Mrs. Wilson not being able to see. This was the fourth time Mrs. Wilson had called that day asking to talk to Dr. Nedley about dosage of a medication for her old beagle.
Nicole read off a sheet of paper Nedley had left for her with the exact dosage information.
The front door jingled as it opened. Nicole was surprised to see Waverly walk through the door.
Nicole held up one finger as she attempted to finish up the conversation.
“Yes. I promise he will give you a call when he gets back…. Yes….. No problem.... call if you have any questions… have a nice evening…”
Nicole hung up and looked up at Waverly, “What are you-“
Waverly cut her off, “Nedley out on calls?” She asked.
“Yeah, a colic call, he wont be back for hours,”
“And Dr. Firman?”
“Already went home for the day, why what’s wrong?” Nicole was concerned.
Waverly didn’t speak; instead she reached across the counter and grabbed Nicole’s hand, dragging her up out of the chair.
Waverly dragged Nicole into the waiting room.
“What’s going on?” Nicole demanded.
Waverly pulled the blinds on the window into the reception area and closed the door behind them.
“What is your problem?” Nicole didn’t get an answer.
Waverly placed a hand on either side of Nicole’s face and kissed her with a little more fever than originally planned.
Nicole was taken aback, surprised, she moved backwards as Waverly walked them to the waiting room couch.
It was intense, and Nicole could feel both of them loosing control.
Nicole pulled away, putting a bit of space between them, “What happened to friends?”
Waverly sat back, slightly out of breath, “Do you know what I’ve always wanted to do?”
“What?” Nicole’s voice raised an octave.
“Jump out of a plane at 30,000 feet; to learn how to scuba dive, to go to Paris,”
Nicole’s face was screwed up in confusion.
“My point is, I want to do things that scare me. But its hard to be brazen when the thing that you want most, that scares you most, is right in front of you,”
Nicole sat up a bit, smirking, “I scare you?”
“Yes, yes you do. I don’t want to be friends. When I think about what I want to do most in this world… its you,”
A smile spread across Nicole’s face.
Waverly looked away, eyebrows knit together, “Wow, that sounded so much more romantic in my head… just, jump in whenever, because I really don’t know how to do this,”
Something had changed in Nicole’s face, “Oh, I’m sure you do,”
Waverly was surprised by how it affected her, “Maybe I should stop talking?”
Nicole leaned up, grabbing the scarf around her neck.
“Maybe you should stop talking too?” Waverly rambled.
“Maybe you should make me,” Nicole had a devilish grin on her face.
Waverly leaned forward; kissing with a hunger she hadn’t even realized she was capable of.
Nicole rose up to meet her; this was what she had waited so long for.
She sat up, pushing Waverly back and resting her hips between Waverly’s legs.
She gripped Waverly’s thigh, pulling it up, trying to get closer.
Waverly pulled away slightly to catch her breathe, “Why didn’t we start doing this sooner?”
Nicole gave her a quick kiss, “Because you wanted to be friends,”
“Well, that was dumb,” Waverly pulled Nicole back down to meet her lips.
The ringing of the front bell startled both of them. Nicole jumped up, kissing Waverly one more time and frantically tried to tuck her shirt back in.
She went out to great whoever had entered the office.
Waverly straightened out her shirt and listened to the conversation.
“Yes, Mrs. Wilson. I understand,”
“Who’s in the waiting room?”
“Grieving parakeet owner, they want their privacy,”
Waverly stifled a laugh.
Once she heard the bell ring again she poked her head out the door.
“It’s all clear,” Nicole smiled.
Waverly came out of the room, “Grieving parakeet owner?”
Nicole shrugged, “I panicked,”
“Clearly,”
Nicole circled her arms around Waverly’s waist, giving her a quick sweet kiss.
“So, where do we go from here?” Nicole asked tentatively.
“That’s a good question,” Waverly responded, “What would you usually do in a situation like this?”
“Ask you on a date,”
“Well, a date it is,” Waverly nodded, “tomorrow night?”