Page 19

“Hey, K. Can I get whatever Emery normally gets for lunch? And burger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake for me. To go.” I went to take a seat by the end of the bar closest to the kitchen door.

Her husband waved through the service window, and I lifted a hand in greeting.

“Did Emery’s man put you up to this?” Kira made an educated guess.

I smiled. “Oh yeah. He’s my best friend, so I got roped into making sure Emery’s fed properly.”

“I thought Bodhi was your best friend,” she said, then seemed to catch herself. “I mean—”

I lifted a hand to stop her from apologizing or whatever. “You’re not wrong. Ville’s my head of security. So you could say I have two best friends now.”

She relaxed and scribbled something on her notepad. “Good. Are you going straight back to the ranch after you’re done feeding the good doctor?”

“I think I’m going to go bother Trip first. Maybe check out the bookstore.”

She smiled as she left to drop off the ticket. “They have a whole new romance section. They realized that sells better than old man Goldberg wanted to believe.” She rolled her eyes as she came back. “Coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

Old man Goldberg had been the owner of the bookstore when we were kids. He’d thought romance novels were frivolous and held no real literary value. One of our high school pranks had been to gather as many Harlequin paperbacks that we could find from various sources and then piled them all into the bed of his vintage truck. Most of our moms and older sisters had loved to read romance, after all.

By the time I had my order of food, I had exchanged pleasantries with four different people. And then, just as Kira was gathering my order from the window and packing it for me to walk over to the clinic, the song on the radio changed.

Even over the murmur of people chatting and clinking of cutlery and porcelain, I recognized Dislocated Heart’s intro. Something kind of wild burst through my system, and I dug out some cash to drop on the counter just as Kira walked back over to me.

Her eyes widened with whatever she saw in my expression, and then she registered the song, too.

“Here. Go.” She thrust the bag into my arms and grabbed the drinks tray to hand it over, too.

“Thanks, Kira. I….” I nodded toward the pile of cash before bolting.

I left the truck behind and walked to the clinic instead. My heartbeat slowed gradually, and I felt the grasp of panic around my brain loosen the same way.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t heard the song out in the wild before. Hell, I’d performed it live on TV, too. But being in Russell Crossing and having people who knew me and who knew Bodhi, too, around when it happened? A whole other beast, that.

When I made it to the Russell Crossing Family and Urgent Care, it was relatively packed in the waiting room.

The receptionist was someone I knew—an old friend of my mom’s—and she beamed at me immediately.

“Hello, Wren.”

“Mrs. Tompkins.” I leaned over the desk to kiss her cheek.

“Lunch for Dr. Harrington?” she made an educated guess.

“Yes. Any thoughts on when he’ll be free?”

She glanced at something on the screen in front of her. “Not long now. You can go to the staff room and I’ll make sure he comes over as soon as he’s done with the patient he’s with now.”

“Awesome. Where can I find…?”

“Oh, straight toward the back and take a right almost at the end of the hall.”

“Thank you!” I quickly made my way through the clinic, dodging a nurse on the way.

She looked up from the chart she was holding, her eyes widened, and then she said, “I’ll let Emery know you’re here.”

“Thanks!” I ducked into the staff room and exhaled when I found it empty.