When I can no longer see him, I don’t hold back the tears. I let them flow.

“I’ll have that pain controlled in just a few minutes. You hang in there, Laney,” he says as he unwraps tubing and punctures a bag of fluid.

I give him a watery smile. I don’t think he can numb the pain I’m feeling right now. It has nothing to do with a snakebite.

I know I’ve looked at the doorway a dozen times. Where is Jake?

In my stomach, there’s a sinking feeling that he just won’t come, that this will be the end of us. This isn’t the fun he was looking for. This isn’t the kind of rush he enjoys. And I’m probably not the kind of girl that he’d ever give more than a few weekends to.

The doctor finishes examining my leg. He’s tall and gaunt with a head full of wild salt-and-pepper hair, but he has a warm smile. “Well, Ms. Holt, you’re one very lucky young woman. You’re not out of the woods yet, but based on the reaction of the tissue surrounding the site, I’d say you were only very lightly envenomated. What that means for you is minimal tissue destruction, no systemic effects like nausea, vomiting—”

“Sorry to interrupt, but she said she was nauseous right after she was bitten.”

My heart swells inside my chest. He came.

“Jake,” I say, unable to keep the silly smile off my face. He winks at me quickly then turns his attention back to the doctor.

“Sorry I’m late, sir. I’m Jake Theopolis. I was with Laney when she was bitten.”

The doctor nods, taking in this new information then turning back to me. “Are you feeling nauseous now, Laney?”

“No, sir.”

“It was only something you experienced directly following the bite?”

“Yes, sir. I, um, I . . .” I feel my cheeks sting. I already feel stupid for what I’m about to say. “I get that way sometimes at the sight of blood. Especially my own.”

He smiles kindly. “That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. And it was a traumatic experience, which only heightens your senses. But it’s a good sign that you’re not feeling poorly anymore. If you’d been more heavily envenomated, you’d be experiencing nausea and vomiting now, along with a variety of other side effects of a copperhead bite. What I believe is that you’ll have some local reaction like pain and swelling, possibly some bruising, but for the most part few lasting effects or disability in your leg. I think this young man’s quick thinking probably saved you quite a bit of suffering.”

Jake looks unaffected by the doctor’s praise, but he doesn’t look as miserable as he did at the house, either, so I’m sure it’s welcome, whether he’d admit it or not.

“So when can I go home then?”

“Not for a couple of days.” The doctor flips through my chart and glances back down at me. “But I’ll do my best to have you out of here before your birthday.” With a wink and a fatherly pat to my hand, he nods to Jake and then turns to walk out of the room.

“You’ve got a birthday coming up?” Jake asks.

“Yeah. Thursday.”

“Why didn’t you—”

“What on earth is going on here, Laney?”

I feel the blood drain from my face when I hear the booming voice and then see my father appear behind Jake.

“Nothing, Daddy. I’m fine.”

“You’re lying in a hospital bed. You are most certainly not fine.” He comes around and sits on the edge of the bed, taking my hand in his. “What happened, baby girl?”

I see the worry in his eyes, etched on his face. “I went camping and got bitten by a snake.”

He closes his eyes and brings our joined hands to his forehead. He’s silent for the longest time. I know he’s praying. “Thank the Lord you’re okay,” he says finally, opening his eyes to look at me.

“If it hadn’t been for Jake, things might’ve turned out much differently,” I say, hoping Jake’s heroics will help my father to look more favorably upon him.

“Well, who were you camping with?” Daddy asks.

“Jake. That’s what I mean. The doctor says his quick thinking probably saved me a lot of suffering.”

“But isn’t he the reason you’re in this predicament at all?”

“Of course not! My getting bitten has nothing to do with him.” I tug my hand free of my father’s and sit up straighter in the bed. I don’t like feeling as though he has such an advantage over me. He’s lorded over me my whole life, and with him sitting and me half lying, it makes me feel intimidated. And I don’t want to feel intimidated. I want to have the guts to make my father see what I see in Jake. Not what he thinks he knows about him.

“Well, if he hadn’t taken you up in the mountains unsupervised you wouldn’t have been bitten by a snake.”

“Unsupervised? Daddy, I’m an adult. In a few days I’ll be twenty-three years old. I’m long past needing supervision.”

“That may be the case, but if you weren’t up there doing things you weren’t supposed to be doing, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

“And how do you know what we were up there doing?”

My temper flares. I can only imagine how Jake must feel, being the object of such harsh judgment and criticism most of his life.

“I’m not stupid, Laney. You think I don’t know what happens when a man and a woman shack up together?”

“It’s not like that, Daddy. Jake let me stay there when I didn’t want to stay with you. If anything, that’s on you for not respecting my decision about Shane.”

“You can’t blame me for loving you and wanting what’s best for you.”

“No, I can’t. And I don’t. But I do blame you for using such underhanded tactics. And for being so domineering. Daddy, you have to butt out of my life and let me make my own decisions. I don’t need you to run my life.”

“It appears that you do. Look what a mess you’ve already made of things.”

“I haven’t made a mess of anything. Things are going along just fine, just the way I want them to.”

“Is this what you want? Is he what you want?”

His question isn’t overtly insulting, but the emphasis he put on the word he makes his opinion of Jake crystal clear. And what’s worse is that, with Jake looking on, I don’t know how to answer that without incriminating myself. But I have to say something.

“What if I said yes? Would you stop?”

“Laney, you can’t expect me to just step aside and watch you ruin your life.”

Jake clears his throat and steps forward. The look on his face is unfathomable. But something in it breaks my heart. And makes me feel panicky. “Mr. Holt, it was nice to see you again, but I’ll be leaving now. I don’t want to upset Laney. She’s been through enough today.”

And with that, he turns and walks away.

The bigger man. And, in this case, the better man.

Tears sting my eyes. “How could you be so cold and mean, Daddy? What happened to the loving man I used to know?”

“I’m still that man, Laney. Can’t you see that I do all this because I love you? Because I want what’s best for you?”

“Don’t you get it, Daddy? He is what’s best for me. I’m in love with him.”

The words slip out before I can stop them. They pour from my heart in anger and frustration, but also in truth. Truth I hadn’t even consciously admitted to myself.

My father leans away as if I slapped him. “Don’t be ridiculous. You are destined to be with Shane. Everyone can see it but you.”

“No, I’m not. And everyone can see that except you.”

There’s a lot to do around the orchard. Between that and working a few shifts at the fire station, I’m keeping busy. The problem is, none of it is enough to make me stop thinking about this mess with Laney.

I wasn’t ready for it to be over just yet. But it has to be now. As if it weren’t enough to hear how terribly I fit into her perfect life and perfect future (at least in her father’s eyes), fate stepped in and let her get bitten by a snake. Her hospitalization and subsequent inability to continue immediate work on my family’s estate meant that the law office sent someone else to tie it up. Turns out that Laney was finished but for a few minor things that the new guy wrapped up in two days’ time.