Second First Kiss

“Ten times!”

“Steep, for sure.”

Well, depending. If anyone were to bid at all, he couldn’t picture it being more than five bucks. Not in Mendon. Not for game-losing Jasher Hotchkiss. “At least there will be Constantini spaghetti.”

“You know she makes her cinnamon rolls for the hospital cafeteria now. I—I mean we—recruited her after she retired from the school. She comes in every Wednesday and bakes for us. In fact, what’s today? Oh, yeah. Could you smuggle me one of those babies? I’m famished.”

There was a knock at the door, and Sage Everton peeked in. “I thought I heard voices in here. Hello, Mr. Dooley. How are you doing?”

Sage immediately set to work checking Danny’s vitals. Jasher immediately set to work drooling over Sage’s every move—so rhythmic they were almost like a dance. His brain emptied of every thought but her graceful motions.

I kissed that girl once.

There was exactly one upside to staying in Mendon: the slim chance of a repeat of that kiss.

“So, Sage Everton,” Danny scooted up in his hospital bed a little. “I assume Inchy fulfilled her assignment of talking you into attending Friday’s fundraiser. She was in charge of rounding up all the single ladies.”

Single? Confirmed!

Behind his back Jasher made a surreptitious fist of triumph. So maybe she hadn’t married whoever that was. That … basketball player her senior year. What had his name been? Kyle somebody?

“That woman is a force of nature.” Sage scribbled on a chart.

“Excellent. Which bachelor will you be bidding on?” Danny reached over and tugged on Jasher’s lab coat, but he spoke to Sage. “Someone in mind already?” He gave Jasher an exaggerated wink.

Jasher could have punched him hard enough to land him in the hospital, if he weren’t a patient already.

Without looking up from her charts, Sage responded, “All I know is which bachelor I’m not bidding on.” She glanced pointedly at Jasher.

How was it that one moment of eye contact could feel just like a roundhouse kick to the stomach?

Danny emitted the weak cackle of the recently operated-on. “Don’t disappoint him too much. I think he’s counting on you.”

Sage huffed. “He’s made that abundantly clear.”

Jasher took a reflexive step backward and bumped into Dooley’s rolling meal tray with the cup of ice chips on it. Sage thinks I’m a jerk, too? Seriously?

“Some guys, eh?” Dooley chuckled.

Jasher shot him an un-doctor-like drop dead look. Resolve solidified in him: whether or not she was interested in him now, Jasher was going to convince Sage Everton that he wasn’t the bad risk every person in Mendon seemed to think he was.