Page 41 of Third Time's the Charm

“So he’s...okay? What should I do?”

“The doctor is here!” Conchita called out.

Our island veterinarian, Dr. Elaine Adames, moved around Conchita.

I stepped to the side. “This is Dr. Adames. She’ll answer all your questions and help you out.”

“Hello. I heard it’s raining iguanas again.” Dr. Adames smiled warmly, seeming to calm the neighbor down.

I walked with Conchita back to her gate. “Did you know I took the wrong box on Christmas Eve?”

She smirked. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Because passion needs passion. And because you stormed out of there like a hurricane.”

“You could have sent a girl a text.”

She shuffled up to her front door, hands in the pockets of her pink and blue checked housecoat. “But then I wouldn’t have had Bernice in my bakery the next day telling me the story of how Berlin Anderson was clearly still in love with her son.”

“I’m not in love with Jack.”

“Passion needs passion.”

It was like she thought if she kept saying it I would eventually agree with her. Which I did not. “She said you blushed down to your toes—which she could see because you wore your orange flip flops—and she hadn’t seen you that excited in years.”

“I was mad, not excited.” Why did everyone have strange ideas about me?

Conchita sucked her teeth and moved inside the doorway. “Same thing sometimes. Have a good day with Ryker.”

Then she closed the door on me!

Passion needs passion.I stomped back home and found Ryker making breakfast. “Did you hear what happened?”

He looked up. “Oh yes. Iguanas falling out of trees again. I had to get away from that yelling. Who screams like that? It was so high pitched and uncalled for.”

I poured myself some coffee and sat at the counter. “Well she was terrified. It’s hard to not scream when you’re scared.”

“It’s a lack of control.”

That seemed a bit harsh. “So you have an exciting morning of working ahead of you?”

“Yes. Do you want your eggs scrambled?”

“Over medium today, thank you.” I got up to pop some bread in the toaster and pulled out the butter. While I was smearing it over the warmed bread my phone lit up with an email. The subject line caught my eye and I dropped the knife, moving quickly to pick up the phone and see if I really did see what I thought I saw.

Orkney Islands Visit.

Oh shit! I opened that email so fast and scanned the contents before doing some shrieking of my own.

“A friend of mine from grad school is working in the Orkney Islands and invited me to visit this summer!”

Ryker placed my eggs on the counter, his brow furrowed. “Is that a good thing?”

I silently screamed. “It’s amazing! My favorite archaeological site in the world is there. She invited me for a two week trip to see the ruins and the work they’re doing there. It’s...it’s my dream come true.”

He pulled me into his arms. “Well then congratulations. I’m very happy for you.”

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