Page 7 of Chocolate Cherry Cabin

“Really?”

Wade stared at her as if she’d said yes to giving his little brother a Porsche.

Thomas eyed the clock on the stove’s console. He knew it was getting close to suppertime. But honestly? Whatever. Hannah felt gross, her body still working through its own fight or flight—or play dead—chemical reaction to the nosebleed, and she didn’t have it in her to argue nutrition with her son at the moment.

“Just this once,” she warned.

“Best mom ever!” he yelled, hustling to dish himself a snack. Wade rolled his eyes and left the room.

Something cold hit the back of Hannah’s neck and she flinched. Louis. She hadn’t noticed him approach with a wet facecloth, which he placed on the nape of her neck. Obi nuzzled his soft nose between them, tail wagging.

“Do you have any hard candy?” Louis asked. He was standing close enough that she could feel the heat from his body.

“I have candy! Mom says I can have one piece a day. Can I have one now, Mom?”

“No.”

“Your blood sugar likely plummeted,” Louis said to her quietly. He was adjusting the cloth, and she wasn’t sure if she liked the attention or not. She and Calvin had evolved into “just friends” during their marriage, and it had been a long time since a man had touched her. Not that Louis was crossing lines, but him being close, smelling like the crisp December air, had nudged her into thinking about lines and what it would take to cross one.

She shifted so she was the one holding the cloth.

“Can your mom have one of your candies?” Louis asked Thomas.

“She likes red. Do you want one, too? I have pink, red, blue and green. I ate the yellows and oranges. They’re my favorite.” Thomas had his bag of candy out, demonstrating his pure, generous spirit.

Louis unwrapped a red one for her. “This’ll get you feeling steadier.”

“What are you, a doctor?” she asked, a tremor sneaking into her words. He handed her the candy and she popped it in her mouth. It was so sweet it made her cheeks hurt as her salivary glands kicked in.

“Paramedic.”

The usual sting of envy hit her in the chest at the medical career choice. “You weren’t even that good in biology.”

He laughed at her grumbling, which made her feel even more sulky.

“I worked in some remote areas for oil companies after high school. Here in Texas, the UK, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Holland. You get bored, you move around a lot.” He gave her a smile that looked like it was supposed to reassure her of something. It didn’t. It reminded her once again that he was still the same old guy he used to be. Never happy staying still. “I gave it up after a few years. You only need to see one major oil and gas disaster before you want out.” He shrugged. “Now I fly planes and coach hockey.”

Not just any hockey. NHL. The real deal.

The man had already lived more adventures in his thirty-one years than she likely ever would.

Hannah briefly teased herself, imagining what that life might feel like. Exhausting, no doubt. But interesting, for sure.

“You’re still pale,” he said. “How are your iron levels?”

“I’m fine.” She took a deep inhalation, getting a lungful of his aftershave and outdoorsy scent. Man, he smelled good.

“Pregnant?” he whispered.

She let out a bark of laughter, so abrupt it hurt. He knew exactly why she’d almost fainted, and yet here he was, poking and prodding at her and the one unsolvable weakness that had changed her entire life.

Louis gave her shoulder a squeeze in support. She hated it. She loved it. Even though she was still wearing her lightweight puffy jacket she could feel the heat from him as if it had found a tunnel through the lining.

She caught his gaze and realized that even though he’d never said a thing back then, he knew. He understood what had happened on that fateful day in biology class, and why her plans had suddenly zeroed in on marrying Calvin rather than a medical career. One moment with a scalpel had changed her entire future. One thin cut into the amphibian victim and she’d fainted like a maiden whose corset had been done up too tight on a hot day.

April MacFarlane had been freaking out when Hannah regained consciousness, cradled in Louis’s arms. Yes, he’d caught her, even though his station had been several over from hers. Because if you’re going to humiliate yourself, you might as well go big, right?

She’d immediately started to cry and the teacher had ushered her out of class, assuming she was having some sort of breakdown—which was true. But it had been more than empathy for their dissection victims. She’d known her dream of medical school was over. Through the years her tolerance for wounds of any kind had been slipping. And on that day, in Louis’s arms, she realized she was never going to become a doctor, because medical professionals didn’t faint when faced with the dissection of a frog. They didn’t become light-headed at the sight of blood, like she did. They waded through it all and saved lives without flinching, elbows deep in—

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