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  “What’s up, Janice?” he asked with a frown on his face.

  “I hit a deer. Can you take a look at the car and see if there’s any damage?”

  “I don’t own a body shop, I own an auto repair shop,” he answered dryly.

  “I know that, but I am concern. The car has been running so well lately, and I don’t want any more problems.”

  “All right. I’ll go take a look.” Chris let out a sigh.

  Janice stood in the shop and watched as he looked over the car. He looked at the front of the car, then the rear. He popped the hood and looked inside and then closed it.

  While Chris was checking out her car, Aaron walked up and asked Janice what was happening.

  “I hit a deer, and I asked Chris to check to make sure there was no damage to the engine.”

  “Hit a deer, huh? Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I think so. It just startled me.” She was surprised that Aaron would ask if she was hurt, but Chris hadn’t bothered to ask if she was okay.

  Chris walked back into the shop. “I see absolutely nothing wrong with the car. It took me a while to even see the slight dent.”

  “Are you sure?” Janice asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “It didn’t do any damage to the inside of the car?” Janice asked.

  “No.”

  “Well, it sure did jolt me when I hit it,” she replied.

  “Did you hurt the deer?” Chris deadpanned.

  Janice looked at him with a blank look, and then narrowed her eyes at him. “The deer was still running after I hit it. Thank you for looking at my car,” she said sharply and turned and walked out.

  * * * *

  Janice was having some medical problems that she needed to see a doctor about, and Robin had referred her to Dr. Merck. When she called they had just had a cancelation, so she was able to get an appointment for eight-thirty the next morning.

  When she left Aspen, she had gotten all her medical records from her doctor and the hospital. Her doctor had stressed that she needed to find another doctor immediately and keep on top of any additional symptoms she might encounter.

  Her tongue was bothering her. It was sore, and she didn’t know if she had a blister or if something else was going on. She was also having a hard time sleeping and having nightmares. She had lost about ten pounds and knew that wasn’t normal. Things were going smoothly right now for her, so she didn’t know why she’d be losing weight and having problems sleeping.

  Dr. Merck’s office was only one block away from her apartment. She arrived at his office and filled out the necessary papers for a new patient registration. She handed the receptionist her medical files for the doctor to review. After a fifteen minute wait, the nurse called her back.

  Janice weighed in at ninety-seven pounds, so the scale confirmed that she’d lost about ten pounds, and her blood pressure was a bit on the low side. She didn’t have a fever, and she didn’t have a lot of physical discomfort. However, she had lived with pain for so long in the hospital that she really couldn’t tell if she was in pain or not.

  The doctor entered the room and introduced himself. “Hello, I’m Dr. Merck. How are you?”

  “Hello. I’m doing okay I guess. My name is Janice Meyers, and I was referred to you by my friend Robin Middleson.”

  “Oh yes, Robin has been my patient for a number of years. There is quite a bit of history here, Janice,” he said, indicating the file he held in his hand. “Why don’t you tell me in a nutshell, what’s going on?”

  “I was poisoned by my ex-husband with potassium hydroxide. I spent four months in the hospital and almost died from it. I had blisters and burns with severe pain down my throat and to my stomach.”

  “How did it enter your body?” Dr. Merck asked.

  “I ingested it, and then he threw some at me and it scarred my neck and back. As you’ll see in my medical files, my digestive tract was perforated and I had circulatory system failure. My mouth and stomach, as well as my tongue, lips, and esophagus had severe burns. I now have scar tissue, which makes it hard for me to swallow and digest my food. I have to be careful not to eat anything that is either really hot from the stove, or spicy hot, such as hot peppers. In addition to that, I became sterile and cannot have children, and I have these awful looking scars on my arms and back.”

  “It must have been just horrible for you,” Dr. Merck said.

  “Yes, it was.”

  “Are you having symptomatic problems now?”

  “Occasionally, my tongue feels raw and it hurts to eat anything. As a result, I don’t seem to be eating much. I’ve lost ten pounds, and now I’m having problems falling asleep, and when I do, I have nightmares.”

  “Do you think there is a physical reason for this, or is it an emotional reaction to something? Sometimes people who have endured horrific pain in their lives have post-traumatic stress disorder.”

  “Well, I guess it’s possible that it’s post-traumatic stress disorder. I was hoping that it was more medical than psychological.”

  “Yes, I understand. If it’s medical, it can be treated and go away, but psychologically, even when you’ve faced the demons and put things in their proper perspective, it can still stay with you. Why don’t you sit here on the table and let me take a look at your tongue.”

  Janice got up on the table and opened her mouth. Dr. Merck gently placed a wooden tongue depressor on her tongue and looked into her mouth.

  “I see a raw spot at the back of your tongue. It looks like it’s painful, are you having much pain with it?”

  “Only when I eat or drink.”

  Dr. Merck took a seat on his stool. “I can give you a prescription for some Novocain that you can spray into the back of your mouth before you eat, to ease the pain temporarily until we find out what we’re dealing with. As to your sleep disruption and nightmares, I can give you a light sedative to help you sleep, but if this continues, I may need to refer you to a psychiatrist. Are you hungry at all?”

  “No, I’m not hungry.”

  “Okay, I would like you to go in and have an MRI, and we’ll go from there. Unfortunately, I’ll have to send you to Billings to have the test as we don’t have the equipment and machines to do it here.”

  “My doctor in Aspen told me I had to be prepared for the possibility that I could develop cancer as a result of the potassium hydroxide. Is this spot on my tongue the start of it?”

  “It’s too early to tell. Even if it is, it looks like it’s quite small and we may be able to treat it quickly and effectively. I don’t want to worry you about it, but I don’t know yet what we’re dealing with. Are you doing any kind of exercising?”

  “No. I lift books and boxes, but I’m not in an exercise program.”

  “Okay, I’d like to get you on an exercise program. Possibly exercising can build your muscles and help you gain back some weight by increasing your appetite. I’d like for you to get out and walk. We have some beautiful parks here, all within walking distance, and it would be a perfect opportunity for you to start walking and building up your strength. Be sure to do warm-ups and cool-downs. If you start to have any other medical problem, make sure you get back in to see me. When the MRI report comes back, I’ll contact you and we’ll meet to discuss things further. That was a horrible thing for one human to do to another human. What reason did your ex-husband have to do this?” Dr. Merck asked Janice as he wrote out two prescriptions and handed them to her.

  “He was abusive, and he didn’t want me to divorce him. He has also done some things to other people that harmed them. But his parents got him off on all charges, so he’s never been brought to justice.”

  Dr. Merck shook his head sadly. “Well, I think you’ve come to the right place to heal and move on with your life. Life here is kind of laid-back, and the people are quite friendly. I think you’ll enjoy it here.”

  Janice walked out to the receptionist after her visit with Dr. Merck.

  “Let’s
see, we need to schedule you for an MRI at Billings Memorial Hospital.” The receptionist picked up the phone to make the call. “Hello, this is Debbie from Dr. Merck’s office in Colstrip, and I need to schedule one of Dr. Merck’s patients for an MRI.” After a few minutes, the receptionist looked up at Janice. “They just got an opening for Friday morning at ten o’clock, if that’s okay with you? Otherwise, we’re looking at four to six weeks before we can schedule it.”

  “Um, yeah, Friday’s fine,” Janice replied.

  As Janice left the office, her heart was heavy with concern. What if it’s cancer? How will I pay for treatment? I need to check with my insurance coverage to make sure they’ll pay for preexisting illnesses. Will I survive or will I lose my tongue? If I do, I’d have to give up my life’s work, because I wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone. Why did this happen now?

  She began to feel a rage bubbling deep inside her. It had been simmering ever since David poisoned her, but it was growing. She’d filed a lawsuit against David’s parents for everything that happened to her. She needed compensation to cover all the bills from her hospital stay. Thanks to his parents, David was in a private mental institution, away from police and legal actions, and she was left to suffer through this hell. And now this.

  Janice took Friday morning off and drove the two and a half hours to Billings Memorial Hospital for the MRI.

  When she returned from her appointment, she pulled up to Chris’s auto shop.

  * * * *

  Chris was looking over the work orders when he looked up and saw Janice walking from her car to his door. “Damn,” he muttered.

  He was having a hard time right now keeping up with work, and he’d been having his daughters do some running around for parts for him. This was the fifth time Janice had come to him about that piece of junk she wanted him to fix. He was trying to be nice. He almost told her to find someone else to work on it, but he knew she wouldn’t be able to find anyone else.

  “Hello, Janice. What can I do for you today?”

  “I can’t get the car to accelerate. It won’t go past forty miles an hour.”

  He looked at her, wondering where she would be going that she needed to travel at that speed...unless she went out of town? He doubted she knew anyone around there, or in any other town for that matter. If she did, she’d have found herself another mechanic.

  “Okay, leave it here and I’ll take a look.” He had a sneaking suspicion that the car was about to die.

  She stood hesitating for a few moments.

  “Is that okay with you?” he asked blithely.

  “Yes, thank you.” She handed him the keys and turned on her heel and walked out.

  Hmm, the heels were not as high this time, he noted as she walked across the street. Her skirt was not as short either. She had on a creamed-colored suit with a brown sweater underneath the jacket and a pair of brown shoes. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and watched her as she disappeared into the library. He had a faint smile on his lips when he turned and saw his son Aaron standing there with a big grin on his face.

  “You are such a sucker,” Aaron said before ducking back into the garage to work on another car with Dale Evans, his daughter, Cheryl’s husband.

  “I know I am,” he confessed as he followed his son. “And this one is getting a little complicated.”

  Dale knew when to keep quiet, and just kept on working. Chris glanced over at the library again, and then he looked at his son, grimacing. He grabbed the keys and headed out to bring the car in.

  When he pulled it in, the mileage on the dash caught his attention. Where would she be going that she put two hundred and fifty miles on her car? He wondered if she was thinking about leaving. Did she go for another job interview? Does she not like Colstrip? The relationship between us is tense most of the time, and I guess maybe I haven’t done much to make her feel welcome.

  He got the car up on the hoist and looked it. No acceleration, no compression. It was about to go, and he knew it was just a matter of time before the car would be unfixable. He called Janice and told her he was going to put new rings on the pistons. However, he wouldn’t be able to get to it until tomorrow morning so she would have to leave it overnight. He hoped when he put the new rings on that would solve the problem, but he doubted it.

  * * * *

  The next day after work, Janice stopped by the shop to pick up her car.

  “I see my car is done,” she said politely.

  “Yes,” Chris replied as he handed her the bill.

  She gave him her credit card, and while he ran it through the machine, she turned and looked out the window. She noticed his truck then. The side was smashed in and the window broken out.

  “What happened to your truck?”

  Aaron walked in when she asked Chris.

  Aaron laughed and said, “Dad was driving along highway 39 and a couple with a horse and buggy turned into him as he drove by. Fortunately, no one was hurt.”

  Imagine the irony of that, Janice thought.

  Chris handed her back her card, paperwork, and keys.

  “Did you hurt the horse?” she deadpanned.

  From the way Chris looked at her, it was clear that he knew exactly why she’d said it, and she knew she’d driven the point home.

  Chapter 6

  Robin came to the shop and brought lunch for everyone. Chris called her into his office for a private chat.

  “What’s up, Chris?”

  “I was wondering if you knew where Janice went last week that she put two hundred and fifty miles on that piece of...um, her car.”

  “I don’t know what she had to do, but she took Friday morning off and went to Billings. Why do you ask?”

  “I don’t know, I’m still not convinced she’s going to stay here.”

  “What makes you say that?” she asked.

  “Just some information I found out about her. I think she’s just here until she gets a windfall of sorts.”

  “Janice? A windfall? I don’t know, Chris. Janice is a pretty stable individual, and she’s very quiet about herself, but the people here seem to adore her and she seems to love being around people.”

  “Well, something is not right about her, but I can’t figure it out yet. Hell, I don’t really want to figure it out.”

  “Are you attracted to her?”

  “No,” Chris stated a little too forcefully. He knew he was, and Robin had probably figured it out, but he continued to fight his attraction to her. He did not want to get involved, have his heart broken, and have her clean out his bank account.

  * * * *

  A few days later, Chris looked up as Janice started across the street. “Again,” he muttered to himself. “She’s coming back again. What could be wrong this time?” he hollered back into the shop at his son Aaron.

  Aaron snickered and said, “I don’t know, Dad. Could be anything.” Then he said with a laugh, “It’s gotta be the woman, because I know you don’t want to work on that car. Maybe you need to get laid.”

  Chris grimaced as Aaron made that cocky remark. All he could think of was that he had a damn tornado in spike heels heading right toward him.

  Janice entered the door with a very determined look on her face.

  “What seems to be the problem today, Janice?”

  She looked at him angrily. “It won’t start. I put the key in it, and nothing. I had to get another ride into work again this morning, and I don’t mind telling you that I’m getting a bit angry about this. I hope you’re not ripping me off by keeping me coming back to you all the time just because I’m a woman and new in town.” She stopped long enough to drill him with a steady stare.

  “Believe me, Janice, I do not want to work on your car. I’ve got a lot of other cars to work on, and I’ve told you before, this car is not worth fixing.”

  “I know you told me that, but I can’t get another car right now!”

  “Why not?” Chris shot back with impatience.
/>   She flinched at his response, and even Aaron looked around the corner to see why his dad had snapped at her. “I, um, I can’t… Well, it’s none of your business.” She stood there with her hands on her hips.

  Chris pointed toward the east, and said, “You can go to the auto dealership right up the road and get a small vehicle financed, and I’ll not only certify it before you get it, I’ll maintain the vehicle for you so you don’t run into this again.”

  “Chris, I just can’t do it right now, okay? I really need to keep this car running for a while longer.”

  “How much longer?” Chris asked, irritated.

  “Um, I don’t know.”

  This was the sixth time in the past four months that she’d come to him with problems with her car. He’d told her that he’d try to help her, but each time they solved one problem, another one cropped up, just as he’d warned her would happen. The car was just wearing out, and she really needed to junk it. He had already told her that, but his words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

  Hell, even the junkyard probably wouldn’t take it at this point, and she was getting more vocal and testy every time she came in. He guessed he really didn’t have to worry about her being attracted to him. She seemed to get angrier at him each time she brought her car in. That helped him to keep his feelings and concerns at bay.

  Chris drove to her apartment to see why the car wouldn’t start. He got inside her car and put the key in the ignition. Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing.

  “Damn,” he muttered. It wasn’t like he had the time to deal with this.

  He looked around in her car and noticed she had a lot of stuff in it, like she wasn’t completely unpacked, even though she’d been there for months. She had some medical files on the front passenger seat. There were folders with the name of Janice Banning on them. She also had some legal papers from the County Court of Pitkin, Colorado, and an attorney file that was about an inch and a half thick. She had some hair stuff laying in the seat and some clothing in the back.