Shoe Strings

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