A nap would be nice, just a quick one. She hadn’t been sleeping all that well. The duplex seemed smaller than she remembered and the soundproofing not quite as good. On some level, she seemed to always be aware of the man on the other side of the dividing wall. So it was nice to have a couple of hours to unwind after the hectic morning of electrical malfunctions and yet more rearranging of schedules and appointments at the clinic. She had to admit she was looking forward to the day off tomorrow, at least the part that would come after her meeting with Zach Gibson.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Karen said, setting a tray of lemonade and a crockery bowl of popcorn down on a rusty wrought-iron table beside the swing.
“Oh, Mom, I didn’t hear you coming. I must have dozed off for a minute or two.”
“You work too hard. You always have. You should slow down and smell the roses.”
“I am taking your advice, although it’s mint I smell and not roses.”
“The Girls have been looking for grubs in the mint patch, I suspect.”
“Yes, they have. They’ve been giving me the evil eye ever since I sat down here.”
“Must be Miss Fancy Pants and Evangeline, then. This swing is their favorite spot.” Her mother’s Buff Orpington chickens all had names and, Karen swore, personalities. They were pets as well as a source of income. Karen sold their eggs and they also starred in a series of their own videos.
“They don’t take kindly to trespassers,” Callie said as she accepted the cold glass of lemonade and scooted over a little to make room for her mother on the glider. When Karen sat down, the glider swayed harder, and Callie held out her vintage water-lily-patterned glass to keep lemonade from splashing over the edge.
“Sorry,” Karen said. “I’ve put on a couple of pounds the last few weeks. Too much strawberry shortcake.” Her mother was tall and long-legged, full-figured but not overweight. She favored long skirts, peasant blouses, and vests and sweaters she knitted herself from the fiber of her goats. Her hair was long and straight and today she had it piled on top of her head, held in place by a leather-covered comb.
The two big red-gold hens they’d been discussing bustled forward from beneath the sunflowers and began eating the popcorn kernels Karen tossed to them.
“Mmm, the lemonade is wonderful,” Callie said, closing her eyes as she savored the cool drink. “Just what I needed to sweeten my day.”
“You’re welcome to move in here if being too close to J.R.’s new wife and kids is too much of a strain.”
“It’s not Ginger and the twins that are stressing me out.” That wasn’t precisely the truth, but close enough. “And you know you and I are too different to get along well even in a house this size.”
Karen didn’t press the invitation. Their relationship had improved as Callie matured. In her own way Karen had done her best to make amends for the years she’d been away, and Callie had done her best to try to forget how much her mother’s desertion had hurt. But there was still a thin, transparent barrier between them, and so far neither of them had made an attempt to strip it completely away. Perhaps they never would.
“What possessed that man?” Bitterness seeped into Karen’s tone and she threw the next handful of popcorn hard enough that the kernels overshot the hens and landed in an overturned bushel basket planted with yellow and white daisies and pink waterfall petunias. The chickens clucked in annoyance.
Callie didn’t have to ask what Karen meant. “He fell in love with her, Mom.”
“And where has it gotten him? Fifty years old and about to become a father again. He’s the laughingstock of White Pine Lake—”
“Mom, change the subject.” She wasn’t going to go that route with her mother today. She suspected that Karen was still a tiny bit in love with J.R. But there was no going back for any of them and Callie had stopped indulging the fantasy of reuniting her parents many years ago.
Karen sighed and patted Callie’s hand. “Sorry, baby. Letting the bad vibes get the better of me today. I should fire up the sauna and indulge myself in a good purging. What’s on your agenda for the weekend?”
“House hunting,” Callie said, although she hadn’t actually planned on it until that moment.
“Hmm,” Karen said, aiming the next handful of popcorn so it fell like a puffy white shower on top of the hens’ heads. “Too close for comfort with Doc Hottie on the other side of the wall, huh?”
“What are you talking about?” Callie hoped she wasn’t blushing. “No, it’s not Zach. Well, mostly it’s not Zach. The duplex is income property, after all, and sort of out of my price range now that it’s high season.” She could afford the rent on the duplex for a couple of months, but as she suspected he would, her father had refused to accept it. “And besides, it’s too small.”
“Too small? Don’t try to flimflam me.” Her mother rolled her eyes. “It’s Zach. He’s a hottie,” Karen repeated, fanning herself with one hand. “Every premenopausal woman within twenty miles flocks to him for sympathy and hand-holding. And a bunch of the older ones who ought to know better, too.”
Callie took a moment to consider what her mother had just said. Karen had spoken lightly and more than half-teasingly, but there was probably a lot of truth in her observation about the town’s ladies. She wondered how Zach handled the unwanted attention. Very professionally, she was certain, and probably with good humor, she admitted grudgingly to herself, but would he be trying to transfer a gaggle of disappointed female patients onto her shoulders? Did he want her to take them to avoid the hassle and not because he recognized her skill? She would have to make it perfectly clear to him that she wanted a mix of patients of all ages and both sexes, not just women’s care. She would have to be very firm on that point when they met in the morning.
“Of course, if he was in a relationship, they wouldn’t be quite so pushy,” Karen continued, and Callie caught herself tilting her head just slightly to listen to what her mother had to say.
“He’s dating someone?” She wished she had enough self-control not to ask the question but she didn’t.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Karen admitted. “And I would have heard, believe me. The gossip chain in this town moves at the speed of light.”
“I don’t know anything about him, really,” Callie confessed. “Just little things. He grew up in California and served as a navy medic attached to a Marine unit for two tours in Afghanistan. That’s how he met Rudy and eventually ended up here.”
Karen nodded. “I don’t think he has family, or if he does they are all out west. He eats most of his meals out. That’s another favorite pastime for the older women in town, feeding him. As for some of the younger ones, like I said, it’s not his stomach they’re interested in.” She sighed a little wistfully. “Although I have to admit it’s a very nice flat one. And those shoulders—”
“Hang on, Mom, I’m getting up,” Callie said, forestalling any more comments on Zach Gibson’s physique. She put one foot onto the floor of the glider and the other on the ground before she scooted off the seat. The glider rocked, forcing her to take a quick step to avoid landing with her face in a pot of nasturtiums. “I will never get the hang of getting out of this thing,” she grumbled.
“You’re going already? I hoped to talk you into staying for supper.” Karen sounded disappointed.
“I promised Dad I’d have supper with him and Ginger and the kids,” she said cautiously. She had to be careful how she handled these kinds of situations with her mother. Luckily she’d had a lot of practice over the years. “I haven’t spent any more time with them than I have with you this week.” She wasn’t overly thrilled about the prospect of making small talk with her stepmother and stepsiblings after the