Page 116 of Tumbleweed Temptation
“I do know that,” Lacey said, sitting in one of the chairs in the room while Austin placed Emily on the table. “Where’s Ginny? I didn’t see her out there?”
“Didn’t you hear? She’s going back to the diner, taking over the diner, in fact, and she’s working on hiring me a replacement. Looks like it might be Vivian, which is weird, because she lives in my old house.”
“That would be weird. But why is Ginny going back?”
“Janine’s health is kind of dicey. Her blood pressure and she has varicose veins pretty bad from all those years on her feet. She needs to step back. And Ginny—she said this wasn’t for her.” Even saying that hurt, that she’d made that choice. He knew she was upset that he couldn’t confide in her, but he didn’t see any way around it.
Lacey gave him a long look as he unbuttoned her daughter’s onesie to examine her. “What did you do to her?”
He glanced over and was surprised by the narrowness of her glare. “To Ginny? I didn’t do anything. I mean. I couldn’t tell her about Mr. McKay, and I’m not really good at secrets, so I may have pushed her away after, well, after we...you know, but I thought we’d get back to normal, you know? But I let her down when I didn’t show up until the last minute at the last competition, and I don’t think she really could forgive me.” He knew it was more than that. She’d told him about her parents, something that caused her so much pain she’d never told anyone. And he respected that, was touched by her trust. He would repay it, if she’d just give him some time.
“Wait, go back. You slept with her?”
He felt his face heat. He should have known Lacey would have picked up on that. “I...yes. The night of the funeral. She took me to her favorite place to cheer me up, and we came back here, and...yes.”
“And then you kind of stopped having anything to do with her, and you don’t think maybe that’s the reason she’s going back to the diner?”
Holding Emily to the exam table with one hand, he lifted the other in the air. “I know that’s the reason she’s going back to the diner, but I couldn’t exactly tell her I’ve been taking care of Mr. McKay when he wouldn’t let me tell anyone. There’s doctor-patient confidentiality at play.”
“And she’s your receptionist. And you know she wouldn’t tell anyone. Ginny isn’t like that. I can’t believe you slept with her and then ghosted her.”
“I didn’t ghost her. Geez, thanks for the confidence.” He switched babies with her. “We still talk.”
“Right. What was the last thing you talked about?”
“The competition coming up next week. Who’s replacing her.”
“Deep stuff.” Lacey settled her daughter against her.
“I know, but I have Mr. McKay to deal with, and it just hasn’t been easy.”
“If she cares about you, all you have to do is tell her you have a patient wearing you down and you can’t talk about it but you want her to still be there.”
“And I don’t think she’d change her mind anyway. She’s already told Janine, and to be honest, Janine needs the break.”
“Okay, but you still need to talk, to end the rift.”
“Lace.” He reached behind him for the chart on the counter, one hand on Evan’s belly even though the infant was too young to roll over on his own. “Maybe it’s just better this way. I don’t need any long-term commitments to this place, other than the one I have already.”
“But we’re going to be hanging out—aren’t you going to feel weird hanging out together?”
“Maybe I just won’t. You guys were good without me before.”
“That’s ridiculous. You’e not going to isolate yourself over here, for seven years. You’re just going to stop having a life because you don’t want to get involved?”
“That sounds really good right now. After Mrs. Bryant lost her baby, and now Mr. McKay.”
“Oh!” Lacey’s voice was sharp enough to startle Emily into a cry. “Oh my God, of course.”
He frowned at her. “Of course what?”
“Of course, that’s why you’re shutting yourself off. I mean, yes, it’s hard to know these people and hurt with them. But you can’t close yourself off. Do you really want to be that person? I don’t think you want to be that person. The connections will be hard but they’ll make you human. I think we’d rather have a human doctor than one who closes himself off. And I know we want you as part of our group. You and Ginny are adults. You can work this out. If you really don’t want to be with her, or whatever, you can work that out. You can figure it out together, you know. But if you do want to be with her, you need to talk to her.”
She waited, like she thought he’d tell her, like he’d come to that decision right here in front of her.
“Talk to her.” He didn’t know what he’d say. Apologize? Ask her to come back to work for him? But working together didn’t mean that they’d be together. God, he didn’t know what to do. He only knew he missed talking to her, confiding in her. He missed seeing her smile, and meeting her gaze across the room and knowing what she was thinking just by looking at her. Now all he got from her was tension and resentment. “Damn it. Are you sure you’re not just saying this because you don’t want to be the only couple in the group?”
She lifted her daughter onto her shoulder. “I love my life, I’m not going to lie. And I don’t want anyone following my footsteps if they don’t want to. But I kept myself shut off from Beck for a long time because I didn’t think he could love me enough to stay in town. And then he built me a house and helped me have my babies and threw me a wedding, and he’s just amazing. I can’t imagine what life would have been like if I didn’t take a leap of faith.”
