Claire's Story: Chapter 3

Claire couldn’t stand in the hallway staring at Sean forever. She took a deep breath and entered the waiting room, taking the seat across from him and reminding herself not to stare. Sean casually looked up from under his thick layers of eyelashes and half smiled.

“So, how’s your girl, is she goin’ home soon?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think so. Her parents are here taking care of her.”

Sean nodded and then said, “Sorry again about running into you in the hall. I’ve had the longest day and I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s fine.” Interested in continuing some sort of conversation with the gorgeous man, Claire asked why it had been such a long day for him.

“I’ve been on the road a lot this week. Just drove in from Oklahoma City to make it to Quinley’s game. I was at a rodeo there.”

“Yeah? A rodeo? Were you riding in it?” Claire asked, her interest piqued.

“No, not in this one. I was just delivering a pair of roping horses to one of the teams that had advanced to the finals. That’s all,” he said with a half smile.

“A friend of mine was up there for that rodeo too,” Clair continued. “Darla was barrel racing.”

“Darla? You’re not talking about Darla Wiseley are you?” Sean asked.

“Yeah! You know her?”

“Of course! Every cowboy knows Darla. How do you know her?”

Claire smiled, pleased that they had a mutual acquaintance. “She’s a good riding friend of mine. And I worked at her barn for a few years.”

“Huh, that’s awesome,” Sean said with his same, lazy grin.

Their conversation continued easily as they shared a few funny stories about their friend and their common adoration for horses. After more than thirty minutes, Claire regretfully excused herself to say goodbye to her basketball player and the girl’s family. Instead of immediately returning to resume her conversation with Sean, she stepped outside into the chilly winter air to make a phone call.

She scrolled through her cell’s contact list to Darla Wiseley’s name, and pressed send. Anxiously waiting for Darla to answer, she suddenly felt silly for why she was calling. “Hi Darla!” Claire said enthusiastically, “How’s it going?” They quickly caught up on each other’s lives, and Claire got around to the reason she had called. “So Dar, I met this guy named Sean, he says he knows you,” she tried to sound casual.

“Sean… Sean Burnett?” Darla asked, a little confused. “Yeah, I know Sean!”

Claire mustered up the courage to ask a few more questions, and Darla happily carried on about how fond she was of the cowboy.

“I always thought he would be perfect for you C, he’s the best, really a great guy! But when I first met him he was dating some girl, not to mention the fact that he lives several hours away,” she continued. As if reading Claire’s mind, she then went on to say, “Oh, by the way, he broke up with that girl a couple years ago. I’m pretty sure he’s single.”

Claire and Darla talked for a few more minutes, but soon finished their conversation as Claire was freezing out in the cold. She was happy to hear the good things that Darla had to say about Sean, but most of all she had discovered exactly what she wanted to know: that Darla thought he was great, and that he was single!

Once again Claire returned to the waiting room where Sean told her that his niece was being released with a moderate concussion. Claire lightly mentioned that it was probably time for her to call for a cab to take her to the airport. As she reached in her coat pocket for her phone, Sean pointed out that he had to go through Amarillo on his way home, and he wouldn’t mind dropping Claire off to catch her plane. Normally Claire would have graciously declined such an offer by a man she had just met, but she surprised even herself when she accepted with only the slightest hesitation.

He smiled broadly, pleased to have some company after such long, lonely drives, and promptly grabbed his coat and hat. Claire followed him down the hallway and stood outside of the room as he said goodbye to Quinley and her parents. They then walked out of the hospital doors and were greeted with a strong burst of cold air and a sheet of icy rain. Claire pulled her coat tighter around her lean frame, quickly wrapped her scarf around her neck, and snuggly pulled a beanie over her ears.

“You ready?” Sean shouted through the wind and rain, “Let’s hurry!”

And then he took off in long loping strides, one hand holding his hat down over his eyes, and the other hand gripping the neck of his wool-lined Carhart coat. Claire followed, tucking her head enough to avoid the rain but keeping her eyes on Sean as he headed for a black extended-cab Chevy with a horse trailer attached. “Of course,” Claire thought smuggly, “That was him that passed the bus on the drive up. Shoulda guessed.”