Page 14 of The Doctor's Irreplaceable Love

She shook her head with a smile.“Since you put it that way …”

He nodded, wanting to push his advantage while he sensed he had one.“And if it was the romantic comedy that put you off, you can choose whatever movie you want to watch.”

She rolled her eyes.“I really wasn’t just humoring you.I enjoy watching them, too.I fell asleep because I was tired, not because I wasn’t interested.In fact—” She grinned at him.“The first thing we can watch is the end of last night’s movie.”

He gave her a puzzled smile.“Are you seriously telling me you don’t know what happened?”

She nodded.“I’ve never seen that one before, and I was enjoying it.Why do you think I got so crabby at you for talking over it?”

He chuckled.“Sorry.It didn’t occur to me that you wouldn’t have seen it before.In that case, I promise I won’t talk over it again.I’ll remain completely silent while you watch the end.Then you can choose another one, and I’ll keep it zipped while we watch that, too.”

“I’m not saying that you can’t talk at all.”

Trip frowned when the sound of his phone ringing interrupted her.

His frown deepened when she said, “I’ll take that as my cue.I’ll head out now while you take your call.”

He wanted to tell her that whoever it was could wait, but she was already heading for the door.He grabbed his phone from the counter and followed her.

“What time?”she asked before she stepped outside.

“Anytime you like.I have a few errands to run today, but I should be back by five at the latest—so any time after that.”

“Okay.I’ll shoot you a text at five and let you know what time I’ll be here.”She jerked her chin toward his phone.“You should answer that.I’ll see you later.”

Trip frowned when he saw who was calling.He shouldn’t be surprised—Travis had been checking in with him more often than usual lately.

He swiped to answer the call.“Hey.”

“Hey, buddy.What are you up to today?”

“Not a lot.I’m going to stop by the office for an hour or two.”

“Oh, no!It’s the weekend.You don’t get to go to the office.”

Trip was aware that he’d said pretty much the same thing to Shelley not so long ago.He watched her pull away and held up his hand in a wave.

Travis sounded more serious as he asked, “Are you going in because you need to, or just to kill some time?”

“There’s always work to be done.You know that.”

“Yeah, and I also know that it can wait till Monday.You work too damn hard, buddy.Want to hang out today?”

“Sure.Do you want me to come down there?”

“There’s always work to do around this place.If you want to come and lend a hand, I’ll never say no.”

“I thought you just said that I work too hard.”

“You do—on your doctoring stuff.It’ll do you good to come and get your hands dirty—if you want to.”

Trip turned and looked around the kitchen.The place was as clean and tidy as it had been when he and Shelley arrived last night.There was no sign that she’d even been here.

He didn’t like that.

“I do.I’ll be there in half an hour.What are we working on?”

“Whatever takes your fancy,” said Travis.“If you feel like doing some grunt work, we’ve been working on building a veggie garden behind Zeke’s cabin.If you want to brainstorm with me, we can wander around the meeting space, see what we come up with.Or if you feel like painting, I’ve been meaning to make a start on brightening up Eli’s office.”

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