Morning schedule has been cleared. Any chance you have time for coffee?
His friend’s response arrived a moment later.
Sure do. Meet you at the café.
Café was shorthand for the Riverton Bar & Grill. As he pulled out of the clinic parking lot and drove downtown, he considered all of the positive aspects of living in his hometown. He hadn’t expected there to be so many, he thought, as he passed the old town hall that was now home to the library and county museum, the Big River Theater, Baxter’s Pharmacy and Henderson’s Hardware before he angled into a parking space in front of Morris’s Barbershop.
Initially he had balked at the idea of having to take care of his father. The old man had always been difficult to live with but his forgetfulness had made him surprisingly easy to manage. He still tested Paul’s patience, although in a different way.
Paul had also worried about seeing Annie again, about having her nearby and yet completely out of reach. This morning’s coffee date now topped the list of pluses. Getting together with his long-time friend Jack was a close second.
He stepped out of his car and crossed the street to the Riverton Bar & Grill. This was one of those timeless places that never seemed to change. Not even after the name had changed from the Riverton Café and the menu had been updated to include salads made with organic greens—no one called it lettuce anymore—and topped with things like dried cranberries and candied pecans. He was pretty sure dried cranberries hadn’t even been invented when he was a kid.
Jack was already there and sitting in a booth near the window. Paul slid onto the opposite bench. They bumped fists across the table.
Jack already had a cup of coffee in front of him. “Good to see you,” he said. “All settled in?”
“Pretty much, thanks. How are things with you?” Strangely enough, he and Jack were both living in their childhood homes. They had kept in touch but seldom saw one another while they’d both been living and working in Chicago. Paul expected that to change now that they were here.
“The new job’s keeping me on my toes,” Jack said.
“So...you’ve taken up ballet.”
His friend laughed. “Feels like it some days.”
“How’s Emily?”
“Amazing, brilliant, stubborn. She’s got this book deal, the blog, her job at the Gazette. I keep saying she should slow down, take things easy.” Jack shrugged.
“How far along is she?”
“Five and a half months, give or take.”
Since they knew exactly when this baby was conceived—the night of Eric’s funeral—there wasn’t much giving or taking. Paul figured it would be wise to keep that observation to himself.
“Does she still have her own apartment?”
“Until the wedding, she does. Annie suggested she move out to the farm, take some of the pressure off, but she likes being in town, where she’s close to the office. Did I mention stubborn?”
“You’d almost think she was a Finnegan sister.” Paul glanced around, hoping to catch the eye of a server. “What does a guy have to do to get a cup of coffee around here?”
Jack waved at the waitress, who was engaged in a conversation with a customer who was sitting on a stool. “Rose? Could we get another coffee here, please?”
She shot him a look before she slowly reached for the coffeepot.
“Is that the Finnegans’ other sister? The half sister?” Paul asked, although he already knew the answer to his question.
“Yes, that’s Rose Daniels. How did you know?”
“Just a guess,” he said, wishing he hadn’t let that slip.
Jack appeared to consider that. “Or maybe you’ve already met her? Treated her at the clinic?”
“That I can’t say.”
“I get it. Doctor-patent confidentiality. Rose has a nasty cough. Annie and Emily both told her she needed to see a doctor. I’m hoping maybe she took their advice, for once.”
Paul shrugged. “You know I can’t discuss patients.”
“Fair enough.”
Rose appeared and set a cup of coffee on the table. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Thanks but no, this is good.”
She looked from Paul to Jack and back to Paul. “You’re the doctor I saw at the clinic.”
The corner of Jack’s mouth twitched.
“I am. How are you, Rose?”
“Good.” She coughed into her elbow. “I’m taking the meds but I still haven’t shaken this cold.”
“These things take time.” It had only been twenty-four hours. If he had to guess, she hadn’t shaken the booze and cigarettes, either.
“If you change your mind and feel like ordering something, let me know. I’m off shift in a few minutes, though.” She skewered Jack with a defiant glare. “I’ve been invited out to the farm to have coffee with my sisters.”
She swung around and as she walked to the counter, Paul was struck by how thin she was. She was dressed completely in black. Ridiculously skinny jeans, a lacy, long-sleeved top, over-the-knee, suede boots. Far from a small-town waitress’s typical attire.
“Interesting,” Paul said.
“It wasn’t Emily who invited her, I can tell you that much.”
“And I take it you’re not one of her favorite people,” Paul said.
“Not even a little bit.” Jack’s smile suggested that he didn’t care one little bit, either. “She likes you, though.”
“I’m inclined to go with indifference. She seems far more interested in the guy sitting at the counter.”
Jack glanced over his shoulder. “She’s attracted a following among the young guys in town. I have no idea who that is.” Jack picked up his cup, took a drink. “Speaking of interesting, how’s Annie? I hear she had to take Isaac to the clinic yesterday.” Jack flashed him a wicked grin.
“She did, and I went out to the farm for coffee earlier this morning. She invited me out for coffee.” And he had kissed her. Accidentally, but still, his lips had touched her lips and he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.
“I think it’s great, you and Annie.”
“There’s no ‘me and Annie.’ We’re friends.” Just friends, according to her.
“Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to give you a hard time, but we—Emily and I—think it’s good for Annie to have someone, namely you, in her life right now. We’re worried about her. She works all the time. Be good to see her have some fun once in a while.”
“And I’m...fun?”
They both laughed. “Maybe I should have said she needs a distraction.”
Paul wasn’t so sure he wanted to be anyone’s fun distraction. He wanted his friendship with Annie to be deeper than that, but talking about it wasn’t going to make it so. “We’re just friends,” he said. “What’s new with you and Emily?”
“Well, I’ve finally convinced her to set a date—the last weekend of September—and I imagine that’ll be the sole topic of conversation when the Finnegan sisters convene over coffee this morning.”
The young man who’d been sitting at the counter talking