He shrugged. “I made the mess. Least I could do was clean up after myself.” His low voice tickled her ear.
“Well…thanks,” she managed, around her suddenly dry throat. Her discomfort only intensified when a familiar voice called, “Ellie! I’ve been hoping to run into you ever since I heard you were back.”
Chapter Three
Ellie spun and came face-to-face with Roger’s ex-fiancée.
“Oh my gosh, Melody, hi!” Inwardly, she grimaced at the brittle enthusiasm of her reply. “You look beautiful, as always.” That much, at least, was true. Her sea-blue sundress matched her eyes and displayed her enviable figure to perfection.
The blonde smiled. “Thanks. So do you. Love your outfit. I wish I could wear cargos, but they make my hips look huge. Hey, Tyler.”
“Hey.” He flashed a smile and glanced at his watch. “Much as I hate to greet and run, I’ve got a meeting. Catch you later, Mel. Doc.” He leaned in, tucked a flyaway hair behind her ear, and brushed his lips over her cheek. To anyone in the coffee shop, the gesture probably looked exactly the same as Roger’s—friendly and innocent. In truth, the kisses were worlds apart. Tyler’s kiss stirred up all kinds of reactions, none of which she’d call “friendly” or “innocent.” She backed up, still reeling a bit, and he snagged a finger into the vee of her T-shirt to halt her retreat. “See you Thursday,” he whispered.
Before she could so much as nod in reply, he shot her a cocky grin and headed out into the sun-soaked morning. She found herself staring after him, admiring how he filled out his Levi’s.
“Ellie, I’ve been wanting to ask you something. Do you have a minute to talk?”
Melody’s hesitant tone pulled Ellie’s head out of Tyler’s pants. During school, gorgeous, popular Melody had rarely sounded unsure. But she did now, and looked it, too, with her questioning eyes and the serious set to her mouth. Whatever she wanted to discuss, the topic clearly made her nervous, and this triggered a domino effect in Ellie.
“Um, sure. Want to walk over to my office with me? It’s just on the other side of the square.”
Melody nodded. “Perfect.”
Yeah, perfect, she thought as they started across Main. The perfect opportunity for Melody to say, “I saw you eavesdropping at DeShay’s yesterday and you should mind your own damn business.” Braced for anything, she nearly tripped over her feet when Melody said, “I heard you were opening your practice and I wondered if you needed an office manager.”
She blinked and tried to get her brain to switch gears. “I called an agency in Lexington and asked them to send a temp on Monday, but I’d love to hire locally, if possible. Why? Do you know someone who might be interested?”
The blonde’s tinkling laughter followed them along the pretty row of nineteenth-century brick storefronts. “You could say that.”
Ellie stopped in front of the carved limestone steps leading to her office and glanced up at Melody.
“It’s me, Ellie. I’m interested.”
“But…I thought you worked at Reynolds & Reynolds?”
“Yes, but I’m overdue for a change. I can’t work for Roger Sr. the rest of my life. The grand plan, of course, was for Roger to take over his dad’s practice. I’d run the office until we started having kids.” She sighed and shrugged. “You’ve probably heard by now Roger and I broke up, so that’s not going to happen. It’s time for a new plan. I want…no, I need a change.”
Melody’s words resonated with Ellie. Fate sometimes dealt out disappointments. A healthy person took time to grieve, and then did her best to adapt and overcome. She couldn’t blame Melody for not wanting to continue at Reynolds & Reynolds, surrounded by constant reminders that her grand plan hadn’t quite panned out.
Some people never moved on. When a three-car pileup on the Double A had robbed Ellie’s father of his beloved wife, he’d clung to his pain like a keepsake. She’d watched him grow bitter and resentful, incapable of appreciating his blessings, including her, to the extent that he’d ever been inclined to count her among them.
All the more reason to admire Melody for choosing to move forward, but hiring Roger’s ex probably wasn’t a good idea.
“I understand, Melody, better than you know. The thing is, I…ah…I like Roger.”
“Of course you do. Everyone likes Roger. I like Roger. Heck, I love Roger, just not the way you need to love someone you’re going to marry. And he feels the same way. Our breakup truly was mutual. We parted friends, so don’t worry. You won’t get pressed into taking sides.”
Ellie stared at the cheerful red geraniums overflowing the window boxes and debated her conscience. What could she say? “I don’t just like Roger, I like like him.” God, no. Too adolescent.
Instead, for some inconceivable reason, she blurted, “Roger told me the breakup was his fault,” and immediately wished she could kick herself for bringing up personal details she wasn’t entitled to and really didn’t want.
“Well, he’d put it that way. Fault’s a strong word. We just weren’t meant to be. It’s fine, Ellie. Really. If you hire me, I don’t expect Roger to be dead to you.”
“Are you sure you want to work for a start-up doctor still trying to build her practice? The pay probably sucks compared to what you’re used to, or could earn in a bigger market like Lexington.”
“I like the idea of working in town. There’s no quality of life in a long commute. As for the money, tell me, are you a good doctor?”
She thought about her years in medical school, her internship, her residency. She also thought about the neat, precise line of stitches in Tyler’s butt. “Yes, I think so.”