Page 46 of Hello Doctor

Della pulled up directions on her phone, taking us to some address in a residential neighborhood. Each house looked the same: brick exterior, green lawn, one or two young trees out front. It was clearly a newer neighborhood.

Hen stopped her car across the street from one of the houses. This one had a big yellow wreath on the wooden front door with the letter S on it.

My lips parted when I realized where we were. “Is this Kyle’s place?” I asked Della.

She nodded slowly.

“Who’s Kyle?” Hen asked.

“Her ex,” I breathed.

Della looked out the window, her light blue eyes somewhere else. “I was in love with him, but he always said he didn’t want to commit. Didn’t want marriage or children.

The front door to the house opened, and Della slid down in her seat slightly.

A willowy woman came outside, carrying a tow-headed baby on her hip, followed by an attractive guy with light brown hair. He was wearing khaki shorts and a nicer shirt, like they were maybe going to church or out to brunch.

“He met her a month after we broke up,” Della said sadly.

Hen glanced at Della. “When did you break up?”

“Two years ago.”

I reached up, rubbing Della’s shoulder.

She turned to me, so much pain in her eyes—the kind she usually tried to hide. “Peopleshowyou how they feel about you. It’s up to us to believe them.”

Her words hit me hard.

Fletcher had shown me he felt nothing more than unwanted attraction.

And believing that?

It hurt like hell.

* * *

After Della’s admission,we went shopping and got good Chinese food, which put us all in a better mood. We even went to a salon and got our nails done. It made me think of Maya at her first sleepover with girls her age. I hoped she had a good time. I couldn’t wait to hear about it when I got back home. Even if it meant facing Fletcher, knowing that he didn’t want to feel any kind of way about me.

Fair. Because I didn’t want to have feelings for him either.

As I drove toward his house in the country, my phone began ringing, and his name flashed across the screen.

Confused, I answered. “Is everything okay?”

“Livvy!” came Maya’s little voice. “I wanted to tell you about the sleepover!”

I grinned so big hearing how happy she sounded. “I’m almost home. Want to come over and tell me everything?”

“Yes!” she said. “See you soon!”

Smiling to myself, I hung up and drove the rest of the way. It meant so much that Maya was starting to see me as a friend. When I got out of my truck, she was swinging in the backyard, the setting sun hitting her pretty caramel curls. This view, this country home? It was perfection. But it wasn’t mine. I tried to remember that as she leapt from the swing, her nightgown flying around her.

“Livvy!” She ran up, hugging me, and I spun her around. I set her on the ground, and she was practically jumping up and down.

“Come on,” I said. “You can tell me all about it while I bring my groceries inside. Will you help me carry them?”

She nodded, skipping along beside me as we walked to the truck.

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