Chapter One
Molly Malone’s Saturday took a left turn somewhere between Fred Nagel’s dog eating half the carpet in the family room, and a flat tire on River Road. The flat tire she handled just fine. She changed it out with the spare, dropped her car off at Hank’s Garage for a new one, and headed to Malone’s Veterinarian Services, the clinic she and her brother Zach owned.
It was the carpet-eating dog that really put a kink in her day.
Fred had rushed in with Buddy around four in the afternoon, and with Zach already gone for the day, Molly had her hands full. The good news was that the surgery had been successful and Buddy would live another day (most likely to destroy the other half of the carpet). The bad news? It was nearly nine o’clock in the evening, and she had no time to shower or do anything about her appearance because she was already an hour late.
“Don’t you have to be somewhere?”
Molly looked up from her perch in front of Buddy’s kennel. Lainey Daniels stood just inside the room, hand on her hip and a knowing expression on her face. The hand on the hip was fine—it was the look on her face that made Molly squirm, because there were a whole bunch of reasons she didn’t want to go tonight. And one in particular had her stomach in knots.
The older woman shook her head and frowned. “I know what you’re doing.”
Alarm bells rang in Molly’s head.
Big. Fat. Loud. Bells. Did Lainey know her secret? Was she that obvious? Mouth dry, she took a moment and got to her feet.
“What would that be exactly?”
“It’s Jess, isn’t it? Everyone knows you’re not a fan of your brother’s fiancée.”
A sweet rush of relief filled Molly and she shrugged, while inside, she gave herself a high five. This was about Jessica Baker.
She walked toward her office and scooped up her bag and phone, glancing down quickly to note at least four missed calls from her brother, several text messages from the guys, and one from… Her heart dropped to her toes, and it took a couple of seconds before she could put it back in place.
One from Nate.
Hey, where the hell are u?
She pocketed her cell and cleared her throat. “Can you blame me? The girl’s got air between her ears. She thinks Canadians ski in the summer, which is crazy considering we border Canada.”
“Zach loves her.”
“And all she does is post pictures to Instagram.”
“Zach loves her.”
“I mean, come on. Influencer? She poses in a bikini, and that’s a job?” When Lainey opened her mouth to speak, Molly held her hand up. “Yes. I know, Zach loves her. But geez, she drives a pink car.” Molly slammed her palm against her forehead. “Pepto-Bismol pink with matching fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror. Who does that?”
Lainey’s eyes narrowed in a way that made Molly want to crawl inside herself and hide. The woman had worked for their father before she and Zach took over the practice, and Molly had known Lainey most of her life. Right now, it felt as if she was standing in front of her mother being threatened with a timeout in the corner of the kitchen.
“I’m wearing pink scrubs. Do you have a problem with that?”