“Ahh, that’s, um, pretty. When she said she’d make one for my office too, I didn’t expect a wall hanging.” He’d expected the tin she’d offered to distress for him.
“It’s very pretty, David. She certainly has a knack for making something out of the ordinary.”
“She does, but all the Moore girls are creative, I believe.” He walked into his office and put his coffee on the desk. “I’m not quite sure it’s the kind of thing I want in my room though. Perhaps it would be better in the treatment room being as it’s so pretty. It certainly doesn’t scream out masculine doctor, now does it?”
“Maybe not. But why not leave it here for now and show off her style to your patients. I’m sure they’d appreciate it even if you don’t.” Monica smiled and turned away, heading back to her own area.
“I do appreciate it, I’m just not sure it’s suitable.” He heard the huff of annoyance from her as he shut the door.
David had enough of his own internal arguments without having to deal with his staff doubting his decisions. The fact that he grew up with Monica, shared the same sand pit didn’t change anything. Nor did the niggling idea that she probably knew him as well as he knew himself. The joys of being surrounded by women who loved to boss him around.
*
“Wildflowers and Lace.” April tucked the phone into her shoulder and tried not to lose the bunch of flowers she was fighting to hold into shape. It’d taken her longer than she thought possible to get just the right color combination for the bridesmaid’s posies and there was no way she was going to ruin her first wedding order in Cherry Lake.
“April, hi.” The slow sexy drawl of the town’s doctor sent a tingle up her spine.
“Good morning, David. How are you?” She wondered why he didn’t just pop his head around the door instead of phoning as she reached for the wire to twine around the stems so she could put them down. Twisted it around and around until she was happy they would stay put before letting her death grip on them go.
“Uh, good. Thanks. Listen I just wanted to give you a quick call and thank you for the arrangements. They’re, ah, quite lovely. Thank you.”
Quite lovely, eh. What an interesting turn of phrase but not unexpected from him. “You’re more than welcome. I thought I’d go with bright and colorful for reception. You never know who might need cheering up.”
“True. And so far I have to say that it seems to be working wonders. I’ve had more smiles and comments today than I’ve had for a long time. Who would have thought something so simple could cause such a response?”
“Yes, I understand.” Happy with her wiring, April put the bouquet in a jar to keep it perfect until she could finish it.
“Well, I guess that was all I wanted to say. Thank you.”
His insecurity screamed at her over the phone. There was something he wasn’t saying. “No problem. I’m thrilled you’re happy with them. Bye now.”
“Wait! April, I wonder if you’d like to join me for a drink tonight. Something casual, your choice of venue.”
Oh, the idea of getting her hands on him again made his offer very tempting but she had her plan in place and April would stick to it. “Oh, I’m sorry, David. This week is so out of control already. I doubt I’ll have time to breathe. Perhaps we can catch up next week?”
The sigh escaped his lips and almost made her reconsider. But no.
“Right, okay then. Sorry to have kept you.” He hung up.
“That sounded rather mean.” Bella walked in the door with a container in her hands, her boots clacking out a beat on the wooden floor. “I thought you wanted to woo the man and here you are telling him no. What’s going on, April?”
April walked around her desk and took the container from her sister, slung an arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll tell you if you give me a chance.” She slipped the lid from the container and picked out a cookie, inspected it and then took a bite. She closed her eyes and chewed appreciatively. “Yummo.”
“Stop stalling and give me the gossip.” Bella reached out a hand when Hamish came close, gave him a scratch around the ears. “Your plan was to pull him into your web according to you on the night of the cookout. I even supplied you with ice cream. What’s changed?”
“You make me sound like a black widow spider. How awful!”
Bella nudged her with her shoulder and laughed. “Seriously? You’re more the kitten taunting the mouse from what I just heard.”
“That’s just as mean. But back to David.” She leaned against her counter and grinned. “He likes me.”
“We could all see that. The poor man had no idea what hit him. But why fob him off now, then? I thought the plan was to make him yours.”
“And it still is. We’ve had a couple of coffee dates or chance meetings, which have gone well. Even a dinner, and he looked after me when I hurt my leg. And that was after rescuing me. Such a sweetie he is. I decided to take it a step further and asked him for dinner, as you know. We went for a walk first and he even relaxed, let his hair down and walked barefoot on the sand. I think it might have scarred him but never mind.” She took another bite of the cookie. “Last night we got a little bit carried away after dinner and he freaked out.” She popped the rest of the cookie
