Page 15 of The Bitterroot Inn (Jamison Valley 5)
A doctor? “No. Absolutely not.”
“He’s really nice,” Sara pleaded. “He worked here before, a couple of years ago, but left to go back to the city. He’s so ho—”
“No flipping way! Never happening.”
“But—”
“No.” I interrupted Gigi, shaking my head and setting down my wineglass. “No doctors.” I hated being so firm, but there were some things I would never do. Dating another doctor was one of them.
Been there. Tried that. Had his baby.
Thankfully, Gigi didn’t press. “Okay.”
“Are you talking about Doctor Calvin Klein?” Felicity asked. “He’s back?”
Gigi and Sara both nodded. “I guess going back to his city life wasn’t as exciting as he’d thought.”
“Does he need a house?” Felicity asked. Her bright blue eyes lit up with the possibility of finding a new client.
Gigi shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ll ask him on Monday.”
Felicity turned to me. “You should make an exception to your no-doctor rule. Dr. Calvin Klein is hot.”
“Wait.” Sabrina spoke up before I could refuse. “Can we take a moment to appreciate the fact that my best friend of many, many years just referred to someone by a nickname?” She lifted up her wineglass for a toast. “To Felicity Grant. I’m so proud of you. Getting married to Silas. Having baby Victoria. Those moments were all well and good. But this? I’m just so happy. For years, you’ve teased me for nicknaming people, refusing to acknowledge how awesome some of them have been. I’m glad to see you’ve realized the error of your ways and come over to the dark side.”
“Hilarious,” Felicity muttered, taking a long sip of her wine as the rest of us laughed.
I looked over at Sabrina and mouthed, “Thank you.” She tucked a lock of her blond hair behind an ear and winked. Best future sister-in-law ever.
Luckily for me, the conversation didn’t return to my love life. We all broke into smaller huddles and I was saved from more dating discussions.
“How are you feeling?” I asked Emmeline, who was standing at my side. She looked beautiful, her skin was glowing, and her long auburn hair was as shiny as I’d ever seen. But I knew from experience that those pregnancy symptoms often belied others, like back pain, heartburn and—my personal favorite—urinary incontinence.
She looked down to her round belly and smiled. “Good right now. I’m grateful that it’s almost summer break and I can spend these last three months at home relaxing and enjoying my pregnancy. Nick and I decided she’s going to be our last so I want to savor this time.”
I was happy for Nick and Emmeline, but back came the pang of jealousy. Being pregnant with Coby had been anything but relaxing. The first two months had been spent in constant worry because his father had wanted me to have an abortion. The seven months after that, I’d been dealing with the aftermath of killing the man.
Pushing those memories down deep, I focused on Emmeline and baby questions. “Did you guys pick a name?”
She leaned in and whispered, “Nora.”
“Cute! Oh my god, I love that,” I whispered back.
“Thanks. We actually let Draven pick. Nick came up with his top two names and then I came up with mine. We decided that the one Draven could pronounce the best would be the winner.”
As if he knew she was talking about him, Draven, Nick and Emmeline’s two-year-old son, came running into the room, hiding behind his mother’s legs as Ben and Coby chased after him. As quickly as the boys had come into the kitchen, they scampered out, giggling and laughing as they disappeared.
“More wine?” Felicity asked me.
“Please.” I held out my glass and decided it would need to be my last before dinner. If I didn’t eat something soon, I’d be blitzed by the time Jess drove me back to the motel.
I wanted to enjoy my lazy morning without a wicked hangover.
“Okay,” Felicity said as she poured, “so I think we’ve established you won’t be dating any doctors. But how about a wealthy investor who happens to be recently divorced and now living in Prescott?”
I looked to the heavens and pleaded, “Save me.”
“This guy is great,” she insisted. “I met him a while back when he mov
