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Thirty minutes and twelve “I don’t wanna go to school” complaints later, Belle and Pip were out of the house and Vivian was back at the kitchen counter, sipping her second cup of coffee.

Typically, she spent her days off running errands, catching up on laundry, tidying the house. Today, she couldn’t get her mind to do any of those things, too distracted by all things Dean.

It had been three weeks since their first “official” date at that quaint little seafood place on the Inner Harbor. For a man who claimed to have precious little experience with relationships, Dean was proving himself to be excellent boyfriend material.

Last week, she’d had a killer day at work, one patient after another. By the time she’d escaped her final appointment, her shoulders had ached and she couldn’t recall if she’d eaten anything since breakfast. That was when her grumbling stomach let her know she hadn’t.

She pushed open the door to her office, surprised to spot a bakery box sitting on top of her desk. One of the nurses, Donna, walked by and realized what she was looking at.

“Hope you don’t mind me slipping that in there,” Donna had said. “This gorgeous man stopped by and dropped that off for you.”

Inside had been a huge, delicious blueberry muffin with a note tucked next to it.

Know today is a busy one. Eat.

Vivian had confessed a few days prior that there were a lot of days when she got too busy to take a lunch break. Dean had clearly listened when she’d told him how busy that day’s schedule was and decided to take care of her.

Phil had always remembered the big things, making sure anniversaries, birthdays, the holidays were super special.

Dean remembered the smaller things, like when she casually mentioned a day would be long, busy and emotionally draining. She wasn’t sure which was more romantic.

Then there were the nightly phone calls that came after Pip was asleep, the dishes were washed, and she was settled in her own bed.

Last evening, Dean had spent fifteen minutes passionately explaining why the referees had completely missed an obvious interference penalty. Vivian had grown up with a hockey player brother, so she was no stranger to what she called “referee rage.”

Once he settled down, she took a turn, venting about insurance companies requiring prior authorization for medications patients needed desperately.

They’d continued chatting until the line on the other end finally went silent. Vivian had called his name a couple of times, grinning when a soft snore drifted through the speaker. It wasn’t the first time he’d fallen asleep mid-conversation. She’d been guilty of doing the same a couple of times. It was because neither of them ever wanted to say goodbye.

Last night, instead of hanging up, she’d remained on the line for a few minutes, listening to him breathe. The sound had settled something restless inside her. She missed sharing the ordinary parts of her life with someone. It was nice knowing he was there at the end of each day.

Eventually, she’d whispered, “Good night,” and ended the call.

Boyfriend. That word kept drifting through her mind.

Is that what Dean was?

Neither of them had sought to define this thing between them. Instead, they simply drifted from one date to the next, not bothering to label it. Or announce it to anyone.

As her feelings for Dean grew, the secrecy got harder to maintain. If it had just been her, she would have rented a plane and announced to the world in skywriting that she was dating Coach Dean Fields.

But with Pip…

“Ugh,” she groaned aloud, to the empty house.

Enough.

She couldn’t sit here with her head in the clouds all day, dreaming about the hunky new man in her life.

Well, she could. But she shouldn’t.

So she downed the rest of her coffee, forced herself out of the chair, and started working her way through the to-do list. Before she knew it, Pip was bursting through the front door, Belle following in her wake.

“We had a half-day,” Pip declared loudly, stating the obvious.

“I know. Did you have a good morning?”

Pip launched into a long story about how she’d wanted to use the purple glitter, but her best friend took it all, and now her dinosaur picture was ruined because she had to use the green instead.