Cowboy Baby Daddy

Emma nodded tearfully, and I took that as my moment to step in. “Do you want Daddy to kiss your boo-boo all better?” I asked. When I received another nod, I didn't hesitate to do just that. “How's that, sweetheart?” I asked.

“It still hurts,” Emma said, but she wiped her eyes.

“When I came in here, it looked like you guys were looking for ice cream,” Olivia said, an encouraging smile on her face. “And ice cream is the best thing when it comes to making boo-boos feel better. Even better than kisses.”

Emma climbed hesitantly to her feet. “Daddy?” she asked.

“We were looking at ice cream, weren't we?” I asked her, standing up and scooping her into my arms, trying not to let on how badly she had worried me with that cry.

She nodded solemnly, and I carried her back toward the previous aisle. Olivia trailed behind us. “What's your favorite kind of ice cream, Emma?” she asked.

“Strawberry,” Emma told her.

“Oh, yum,” Olivia said. “I love strawberry ice cream. Especially when it has chocolate chips in it.”

Emma's eyes grew wide. “Daddy, can we get strawberry ice cream with chocolate chips?” she asked shyly.

I smiled. “I think we could do that,” I said, thankful to Olivia for solving the question of which frozen treat we'd be taking home. I could see how great she was with Emma, and there was something about that, coupled with the fun that we'd had the other night, that made me want nothing more than to invite her out for another evening.

I couldn't date her; I knew that would be wildly inappropriate. But maybe we could meet up and discuss what we were going to do about her mother. She must still have questions.

I turned toward her, about to open my mouth, but before I could say anything, the bells above the door chimed again, and Georgia Witherspoon waltzed into the shop. I grimaced, but there was no hoping that she wouldn't see me; we were pretty obvious, standing right there at the front of the aisle. I heaved a mental sigh and braced myself.

Georgia Witherspoon was a nice enough woman, and beautiful to boot. She could have been a model if she'd wanted to. Maybe she was; I didn't know enough about her to really know. She was blonde and rail-thin, with big blue eyes and a sweet smile. And she'd been chasing after me ever since Emily died, making no attempts to sugarcoat her interest in me.

I was no longer quite as bothered by her advances as I had been right after Emily had died, but I didn't exactly welcome them, either. She showed absolutely no compassion when I was mourning, and I didn't want to dishonor my former wife's memory. But it seemed like the more I held Georgia at arm's length, the pushier she became until the whole town knew that she was interested in me.

In light of those advances, I had begun to actively avoid her as much as I could. Of course, some run-ins were inevitable, given what a small town Tamlin was. But why does it have to be here, when I'm with Emma and Olivia?

The thought came unbidden, and I frowned. I wasn't asking Olivia out; we were discussing specifics of her mother's health. It didn't matter if Georgia overheard that.

Georgia made a beeline toward us. Well, toward me, rather: she didn't even bother to introduce herself to Olivia,

even though I was sure that the two hadn't met before. In fact, her eyes barely even grazed over the other woman. She was fixated on me.

“My good Dr. Jones,” she said breathily. “How lucky that I ran into you here. See, I've been having this pain in my shoulders, and I was hoping you could look at it. It's not a sharp pain, but I've had it for a few days now, and I'm starting to get worried about it. What do you think it could be?”

I barely resisted rolling my eyes, wondering how anyone could be quite as forward as her.

Forward wasn't the word that I wanted to say.

“Georgia, I'm off-duty now; you know that,” I told her. “I only deal with emergencies on the weekends.”

“But what if it is an emergency?” Georgia asked, feigning real worry. “For all I know, I could have cancer.”

I wanted to slap her, hearing that. As much as it hurt to hear her say something like that, though, my immediate thought was to look toward Olivia. I was sure it couldn't be easy to hear someone so flip about the idea of cancer, not with everything Olivia was going through with her mom at the moment. But Olivia's face was carefully neutral.

Of course, that meant that I couldn't tell what she was thinking about this whole meeting. And for some reason, that worried me.

“I doubt that a pain in your shoulders is cancer,” I told her. “But if you want me to take a look, there are tests that we can do when I'm actually in the office, if you want to make an appointment.”

“But right here,” Georgia said, catching my hand and placing it on her front, dangerously close to her breast. “What do you think, Doctor?” she asked. “Is there a lump there? Can you feel anything?”

I politely extracted my hand, hardly believing how bold she was being. I could only imagine what Olivia must be thinking.

Not that Olivia would care, even if Georgia and I were dating. I was just her mom's doctor, but for some reason, I seemed to keep forgetting that. I shifted Emma in my arms, surprised that she had stayed so quiet through all of this. I knew it was because she needed a nap.

That was the perfect excuse for me to get out of there, I realized.