“Now I’m curious. You’re not going to give me a little hint?”
“Not one. If the inquisition is over, what about you? How’s your life going?”
“Busy.” He stared straight ahead at the road.
“You’re not seeing anyone?”
He shook his head. “No.”
Anita frowned. “You sound disappointed.”
“I am. A little. I’m so busy I can barely find time to go to brunch anymore. As it is, I’m on call right now.” Kingston glanced at her. “You know, I’m a little envious of you.”
The perfect son, doctor, and brother was envious of her? “Why?”
“You have a life outside of your job. You spend time with friends and teach kids at church. You’re not glued to your work.”
Not yet, anyway.
“Do you regret becoming a doctor?” she asked.
“No. There isn’t anything I’d rather do than take care of my patients and help their families. But it can be all consuming.”
She wasn’t surprised to hear that. She couldn’t remember a time her brother’s life hadn’t been hectic, even when they were kids. If he wasn’t working hard in his advanced classes in school, then he was at the top of all the extracurricular activities their mother had insisted her children do. Now he operated two pediatric practices in addition to the time he spent at the hospital, and all at the age of thirty-one. No wonder he was too busy to have a social life.
“Why don’tyoutake a vacation?” she suggested.
“My scheduler keeps telling me I should. And I will, once things slow down.” He looked at her again, a sly grin crossing his face. “So what’s the deal with you and Tanner?”
She stared out the window. How was she supposed to answerthatquestion? “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she finally responded, hoping he bought her innocent routine. When he laughed, she knew he hadn’t.
“I knew there was something going on with you two,” he said, still grinning. “A guy doesn’t offer to teach little kids for fun.”
“You see little kids all the time.”
“That’s different because it’s my job. And I see them one at a time, or maybe two if there are twins. I have several of those. But I’m not herding a whole group of them at once. Besides, Harper told me Tanner took you home from the party.”
“Because he’s a nice guy.”
“And because he likes you.”
“Ugh!” She shifted in her seat and faced the front, her arms still crossed. Of course Kingston would tease her about Tanner—although part of her knew the reason he did was because he didn’t want to talk about himself anymore. “There is nothing between me and Tanner. Not a thing. Zero. Zip.”
“Ah, so you like him too.”
“I’m not talking to you anymore.”
He laughed and clicked on the turn signal as they approached the off-ramp. “All right, I’ll stop teasing. For now.”
Anita rolled her eyes. She loved her brother, but right now she was tempted to punch him in the arm. She was surprised he had so much insight about her and Tanner,considering he didn’t know Tanner that well—just from church and the infrequent times Kingston visited the diner when he managed to get a decent lunch break. Or maybe this was all just about getting her goat, something he’d loved doing when they were kids. Paisley was almost ten years younger than him, and he’d always handled her differently, more like a parent than a brother.
As they approached their parents’ house, her nerves went on alert. Maybe she shouldn’t say anything to them about the café until the paperwork was signed, which would be sometime next week. Harper had negotiated a phenomenal deal for her, one even Anita in her extremely limited experience recognized, and she had enough savings to buy out the building for cash. She would have to take out a loan to renovate and turn the space into a café, though, and planned to talk to the bank after everything was official.
Even better, she could just send her parents an email or a note:
BTW, I’m opening a café on Main Street. Ta-ta for now.
But that would cause more problems than telling them face-to-face. She had to tell them, and there was no getting out of it.
