She stood on the back porch, watching all the activity, smiling at Carter, her little rocket man, as he sped around the side of the house with Aaron and Tilly, his arms full of a patchwork of ginger and white and tabby fluff.
Machiavelli had obviously stopped tormenting Cherry and found the boy he had laid claim to as his own the moment they’d stepped in the door. Carter was equally besotted. She wasn’t particularly a cat person—she’d always liked dogs more, although, her aunt had never let her have one—but she couldn’t tell Carter he couldn’t keep Machiavelli. Not that she thought she had much of a say about it. Machiavelli was determined to be a part of their family, pushing his way in the door the first time they came here and following them back to their car, jumping inside and refusing to get out. They’d had to take him back to their rental with them and hide him—pets were not allowed at the old place. At this place though, the one she’d bought with the money she’d inherited from her mother, she could do whatever she liked. In fact, maybe she would buy a dog as well. Machiavelli didn’t seem to mind other animals and he wasn’t fazed at all by the people here.
But one thing at a time. First, she had to go and circulate. Nat Stratton, one of the CoalCliff mob and the mother of Tilly, one of Carter’s best friends, met her at the bottom of the stairs, two glasses of wine in her hands. She offered one to Prita then swept her up to chat to a group of ladies who worked at CoalCliff who had questions and ideas about subjects they wanted her to cover in her monthly talks. More people arrived, and she went to greet them. A while later, she noticed a lone man arrive. It was Max Smith, another new shop owner in Wilson’s Bend who she’d met for the first time yesterday when he came down to get treatment for a burn. He made his own candles to sell in his new business and had spilled hot beeswax on himself. She’d treated him, even though they weren’t officially open and invited him to the party. He’d seemed quite shy so she was glad to see he’d made the effort. Although, he was standing back watching, rather than joining in, so she excused herself from the group she was talking to and went over to him.
‘Max, hi. Nice to see you.’
He smiled nervously at her, ducking his head down so his hair flopped over his face and pushed his glasses up his nose. ‘Thanks for inviting me.’
‘Come and I’ll introduce you to some of your neighbours.’ He hesitated and she smiled at him. ‘They don’t bite. I promise.’ She gestured towards a group including Ben, Lisa and Barb and knew they’d have him feeling at ease in no time. They were standing next to the drinks table and after she introduced him, Ben handed him a beer and immediately engaged him in talk about his business and what he planned to do. Someone called her name and she excused herself, confident that the CoalCliff crew wouldn’t let Max feel out of place.
After that, the time passed quickly as she moved from one group to the next, chatting to all the people who’d come down to help her celebrate the opening of her practice.
‘Don’t you like your wine?’
She clamped down on the buzz that fizzed through her system at the sound of that voice so close to her ear. Flynn. ‘What?’
‘Your wine. You’ve not drunk any. Don’t you like it?’
She looked at the still full glass and chuckled. ‘I’ve been talking too much.’ She took a sip. Bleugh. It was warm.
‘I’ll get you another.’ He reached for the drink, his fingers brushing against hers, causing a frisson of awareness to chase goosepimples up her arm and across her breasts.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket just then, making her jump and let go of the drink suddenly. Thankfully, Flynn had a firm grip of it, so it didn’t drop, but wine spilled all over his hand. Shooting him an apologetic smile, she dug in her pocket for her phone. She couldn’t ignore her phone, even though sometimes she wished she could, as it had been the only point of contact for patients until she opened her practice, but she was particularly grateful for the interruption now.
This time it wasn’t for business though. Her papa’s face flashed on the screen. ‘Sorry,’ she said to Flynn. ‘It’s my papa.’
He smiled softly at her. ‘Go chat. I’ll get you a fresh one.’
She nodded and after excusing herself from the group, hurried up the driveway to the front of the house, away from them, from the noise, from Flynn, and answered the phone. ‘Hi, Papa.’
‘Hello, my aingeal.’ Diarmuid Brennan’s lyrical voice wrapped around her like it always did. ‘What’s that noise in the background?’
‘A house warming party the folks at CoalCliff put on for me.’
‘So you’re ready to open?’
‘Yes.’ She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. ‘I’m still waiting on some things for the treatment room and a few things for the house, but the CoalCliff mob have been amazing, painting and fixing things to how I need them. I couldn’t have done it without them.’
‘I’m so glad you’ve found such wonderful friends.’
They were her friends. She hadn’t had many in her life. Lots of acquaintances, but not many really good friends. The kind you could count on for anything. She’d thought maybe she just wasn’t someone who made those kinds of friends, her life too hectic, never settling in one place for long, but Barb and her CoalCliff mob had moved into her life so stealthily, she hadn’t even realised they were truly in her life until now. ‘So
