Page 39 of Just One Kiss

“Josh, what if—”

He cut her off with an upheld hand. “He’s going to be fine.”

“You really believe that?”

He nodded.

“And you think he’ll still be able to ski?” Carly leveled her gaze with his. Of course, Josh had no answers for her—why even ask these questions?

“Yes,” he said simply. No other explanation. As if it were that easy.

She went through the motions of the day, thankful for the distraction of a first date to occupy her mind. The past few days waiting for the results of Jaden’s heart monitor had been grueling, and while she’d tried to keep her imagination from running off without her head (and her medical training), she’d mostly done a bad job of that.

She woke up each morning exhausted after the fitful sleep she’d had, mind filled with what-ifs.

Today, though, the constant low buzzing in her belly had quieted, and her nerves were only pinging around because of her date, not because of her fear.

Funny how anxiety came and went without warning or reason.

Around noon, her phone dinged with a new text message from Josh:Quinn was just here to get Jaden. He seemed ready for a change of scenery.

Great. Thanks for letting me know.

No problem. Need anything else?

I think I’m good.

K

A few minutes later, another text came in from Josh:Have fun tonight

There was no punctuation, which made the text read a bit insincere, but Josh wasn’t a girl—what was he going to do, put a bunch of exclamation points on the end of the sentence?

She texted backThanksand tried to stop thinking about it.

It wasn’t working.

After work, she went home, showered, then stood in front of her closet for a solid twenty minutes trying to figure out what to wear.

She called Quinn and hardly waited for her to answer before she launched in with, “This is stupid. I’m going to cancel.”

“No, you’re not. Put on that black dress, the one with the ruching around the middle.”

“To cover up my belly pouch?”

“Yes, Carly, to cover your belly pouch. I don’t want the good doctor thinking you have a baby kangaroo in there.” Quinn’s tone was like a verbal eye-roll. “It looks good on you. He’ll think you’re stunning.”

“I don’t even know if I want him to think I’m stunning,” Carly said.

“What? Of course you do. He’s attractive and stable and he has a good job.”

Everyone kept saying that, and it was true. But still, she hesitated. Why? Quinn was right. Sasha and Justine were right. This man was a good catch, and he was interested in her. She needed to try her hardest. She owed it to herself to at least see if this could turn into something.

Don’t I deserve to be happy?

“Put the dress on and send me a picture.”

Carly groaned. “I feel like I’m in high school again—and not in a good way.”

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