“It’s just a grilled cheese.”
“Which is much more appetizing than the cold pizza in my fridge at home.”
She shrugged. “I figured a sandwich is a small price to pay for lawn maintenance.”
“You might get the hang of small-town living yet,” he told her.
“I’m trying.”
The fact that she was making an effort gave him confidence that their fledgling friendship could lead to something more.
And though Jack’s and Luke’s warnings still echoed in the back of his mind, they were easily drowned out by the pounding of his heart when Georgia smiled at him.
Chapter Three
Georgia waited until Matt’s car was gone from his driveway before she okayed the boys’ request to visit the neighbor’s tree house. Over the past couple of weeks, they’d enjoyed several adventures in the treetop, but only when their new neighbor wasn’t home.
It wasn’t that she was avoiding Matt. Not exactly. There was just something about the man that set off warning bells in her head. Or maybe it was tingles in her veins.
He was friendly and great with the kids, and if not for the way her body hummed whenever he was near, she might have thought that they could be friends. But the sizzle of awareness was too powerful for her to be comfortable in his presence, so Georgia decided that it would be best to maintain a safe distance from him at all times—or at least until her post-pregnancy hormone levels were back to normal.
She carted Pippa over to the neighbor’s backyard so that she could keep an eye on the boys while they played in the branches.
With the baby cooing happily in her playpen, Georgia settled in a folding lawn chair beside her. She smiled as she listened to the boys’ conversation—or rather Quinn’s animated chatter and Shane’s brief responses. A few minutes later, she saw Shane’s sneaker on the top step of the ladder.
“Be careful,” she said, instinctively rising from her chair in the exact moment that his foot slipped off the next step. She was halfway to the tree, her heart lodged in her throat, when his body plummeted toward the ground.
Emergencies were par for the course for any doctor, and especially for one who worked in a hospital E.R. But when an emergency surgery was squeezed into a very narrow window between two scheduled procedures, it made an already long day seem that much longer.
After a quick shower, Matt decided to head to the cafeteria for a much-needed hit of caffeine. But then he saw Brittney—a much more effective mood booster than any jolt of java. He slung an arm across her shoulders and pressed his lips to the top of her head.
She, predictably, rolled her eyes. “A little professionalism, Dr. Garrett.”
“My apologies, Miss Hampton,” he said, not sounding the least bit apologetic.
Brittney Hampton was his former sister-in-law’s only child and a student helping out in the E.R.—a co-op placement for which she’d applied without his knowledge, determined to secure the position on the basis of her interview and not because her uncle was a doctor on staff at the hospital. She was loving the experience, and he was pleased to see that she was so intently focused on the pursuit of her goals.
“Are you on a break?” he asked her.
She nodded. “Dr. Layton said I should take one now, while there’s a lull in the E.R.”
“A lull never lasts long,” Matt agreed. “If you’re heading to the cafeteria, can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
She made a face. “I hate coffee.”
He smiled. “Hot chocolate? Coke?”
“Vitamin water?”
“Sold.”
They settled at one of the tables by the window with their beverages.
“How was your morning?” Brittney asked him.
“In addition to the usual hip replacements, I put a plate and five screws in the ankle of a kid who took an awkward tumble on the soccer field.”
She winced. “Sounds painful.”
“Nah, we put him under so he didn’t feel a thing.”
She rolled her eyes. “I meant the tumble.”
“I imagine it was,” he agreed. “How was your morning?”
“I had a test on molecular genetics,” she said.
“And?” he prompted.
She shrugged. “I think I did okay.”
“So no worries that Northeastern is going to rescind their offer?” he teased.
“Not yet.”
“Is Brayden going to Northeastern, too?”
“Brayden is old news,” she told him.
“Oh. I’m … sorry?” Truthfully, he was relieved. On the few occasions that he’d met her boyfriend, he’d seemed like a nice enough kid but Matt had worried that the relationship with Brayden would distract Brittney from her studies and her ultimate goal of becoming a doctor like her uncle.
She smiled, at least a little. “It was a mutual decision.”
“Then your heart isn’t broken?”
“Not even bruised.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said.
“How’s your heart?” she countered.
His brows lifted. “Do they have you working in cardiology now?”
She smiled again, but her eyes—when they met his—showed her concern. “Mom told me that Aunt Lindsay is having another baby.”
“Yes, she is,” he acknowledged, pleased that his voice remained level, betraying none of the emotions that churned inside of him whenever he thought about the family that his ex-wife now had with her new husband. He didn’t resent the fact that Lindsay had everything he’d ever wanted, but he was painfully aware of how empty his own life was in contrast.
“You should get married again, too,” Brittney said.
“Don’t worry about me—I’m doing okay,” he said. And it was true. Because he suddenly realized that, since moving in next door to Georgia Reed and her family, his life didn’t seem quite so empty anymore.
“You need a family.”
“I haven’t given up on that possibility just yet.”
“Mom was telling Grandma that you need a woman who can appreciate you for all of your good qualities,” Brittney continued, “so I’ve been keeping my eyes open for—”
“I appreciate the thought, but the last thing I need is my sixteen-year-old ni—”
“Seventeen,” she interjected. “Remember? You came by for cake and ice cream for my birthday last month.”
“I remember,” he assured her. In fact, he hadn’t missed a single one of her birthdays in the past three years, and he was grateful that Brittney’s mother had continued to include him in family events after the divorce. Of course, it probably helped that he and Kelsey had been friends long before he married her sister. “But the last thing I need is my seventeen-year-old niece trying to set me up.”
“Well, I haven’t found any candidates yet,” she admitted. “Aside from my friend, Nina, who thinks you’re really hot. But even I know how inappropriate that would be.”
“And on that note,” Matt said, pushing back his chair, “I think I should check in on my patient.”
Brittney