1
She should’ve known it was too good to be true. Evie Miller had been floating on air ... until she crashed back down to earth with a thud.
She had landed her top choice as a traveling nurse at the Stoney Ridge Family Practice, with an incredible doctor named Ruth Stoltzfus. Just a few months ago, Evie had seen a television news feature on Dok Stoltzfus—and decided to apply for a traveling job with her rural practice. Imagine having time with a doctor who still made house calls ... among the Amish!
But then the story got even better.
Charlie King, fresh out of med school, had stopped by her nursing station at Penn State Hershey with news. Big news. After coming up empty on Match Day in March, he’d scrambled to find an unfulfilled residency. And he had. A great one, he said—serving an underserved area, with the added bonus of medical school loan forgiveness. Assuming, of course, he completed the residency, passed his final board exam, and checked all the right boxes.
“Where is it?” Evie had asked.
Charlie leaned over the counter, his eyes lighting up. “Stoney Ridge Family Practice.”
Stunned, Evie could only stare at him, suspended in shock. Was this truly happening? Was she dreaming? No words came out of her mouth. She had to just pause at the impossibility of it.
Charlie King was going to Stoney Ridge. To a sleepy little Amish village. To the same medical practice as Evie.
TheCharlie King.
And then Wren Baker showed up at the nurse’s station, leaning on the counter right next to Charlie. Evie wasn’t surprised—Wren always seemed to hover around him, like a shadow that never quite left his side.
But what she said next did surprise Evie. “Did you tell her yet?” Before Charlie could answer, Wren said, “We’re both going to be residents at Stoney Ridge Family Practice in Lancaster County.”
Thud. Back to reality. Evie plummeted face-first back down to earth.
So many questions. She didn’t know where to start.
It didn’t make sense! Wren Baker seemed like the type who was destined for a top-notch residency in a sought-after teaching hospital. Hardly one for a farming village.
Then again, Wren Baker had claimed Charlie for herself.
Even more disheartening—Wren did not like Evie.
Wren probably thought Evie was crushing on Charlie.
She wouldn’t be wrong.
Ever since Evie first met Charlie at the hospital—his third year as a medical student, her first year as a nursing student—she’d fallen hard for him. It felt like Cupid had struck her with an arrow, and two years later, her feelings hadn’t faded one bit. She sensed Charlie might feel something for her as well. They’d had a few “moments” here and there, exchanged smiles, snatches of conversations. Moments that had felt genuine.
Evie sighed, turning to face the half-packed boxes in her bedroom apartment. She needed to keep going, but her heartwas no longer in it. Grabbing extra hangers from her closet, she headed to the living room where her best friend and roommate, Darcy, was wrapping the television remote in bubble wrap.
Evie set the spare hangers on the coffee table. “Pretty sure I won’t be needing these.”
Darcy wrinkled her nose. “Doesn’t the old-timey village have closets?”
“Amish village. Well, it has both Amish and non-Amish. More Amish than not, though.” Darcy was the reason Evie had become a traveling nurse in the first place. She had talked her into joining her for an adventure. But Darcy was thinking Alaska. When Evie came home and said she’d applied for a contract to go to an Amish village not far from Penn State, Darcy questioned her mental health.
Evie plopped down on the couch. “Apparently Charlie King’s residency is going to be the Stoney Ridge practice.” She scrunched up her face. “The exact same place!”
“What?!” Darcy gave her a puzzled expression. “But ... isn’t that good news?”
“Yeessss,” Evie said slowly. It was, somehow—at the exact same time—both the best and worst news she’d ever heard.
“So you’re both off to Stoney Ridge. Why aren’t you happy?”
“Because Wren Baker is going to Stoney Ridge for her residency too.”
Darcy rocked back on her heels. “Whoaaa. Wren Baker? I would’ve bet money she’d end up in Beverly Hills doing nose jobs for celebrities ... not an Amish farm.”
