The M.D. Next Door. GINA WILKINS

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      “Chicken.”

      “Cluck, cluck.”

      “You’re hopeless, Meagan. What’s it going to take to make you pay a little attention to your own needs, for a change?” Madison’s smile disappeared abruptly. “You nearly let yourself die because you wouldn’t stop long enough to take care of your own health.”

      Because she knew her illness had frightened her sister, Meagan replied patiently. “I didn’t almost die, Maddie. I went to Meilin as soon as I realized I needed attention.”

      “It took you too long to reach that realization. Because you were so busy taking care of everyone else.”

      “Look who’s talking, Dr. Baker. Who’s training to spend the rest of her life taking care of troubled kids?”

      “A job,” Madison said with a wave of her hand. “I don’t plan to spend my every waking moment doing it. That was one reason I chose psychiatry over surgery, remember? Better hours.”

      Knowing career demands had much less to do with her sister’s choice than the calling of her heart, Meagan didn’t even bother to argue that point. “This is an academic conversation, anyway. Seth and I spent all of an hour together, and that hour was mostly focused on Alice. It’s not as though he asked me out or anything.”

      “And if he should?”

      Meagan shrugged, trying to hide the little ripple of nerves that coursed through her at the suggestion. “I doubt he will. I’m Alice’s friend, not Seth’s.”

      “Mmm.”

      She didn’t even ask what her sister meant by that enigmatic murmur. Instead, she glanced toward the chair where Alice was being worked on. “Ouch. That looks like a lot of hair falling.”

      Madison shrugged dismissively. “She needed a good cut. She has pretty hair, but you couldn’t even see her face in that mop of curls. Wonder how her dad feels about contact lenses.”

      “We’re not getting her contact lenses today.”

      Laughing, Madison shook her head. “I’m not sure we could arrange that on such short notice, anyway. Just saying.”

      Meagan was relieved that the conversation had drifted away from her dating life—or lack of one. Maybe she privately agreed that it was time for her to get back into the social scene, and had thought about doing so quite a bit during the past few days but that didn’t mean she regarded every single man she met as a viable partner. No matter how intriguing Alice’s father might be.

      

      Seth arrived home just over half an hour before he was scheduled to drive Alice to her party. He was rather proud of himself for concluding his work early enough that he didn’t have to make a mad rush to get her there. He had time to change and have a cold glass of tea before they walked out the door.

      “Alice?” he called out as he walked into the kitchen from the garage, dropping his car keys on the counter and setting his brief case on the kitchen table. “I’m home.”

      “Hi, Dad,” she called from another room. “Just a sec, I’m almost ready.”

      He could hear Waldo barking from out in the backyard. The dog must have heard Seth’s car. Seth decided to spend a little time with the mutt while Alice was at her party. It wouldn’t hurt to get a head start on those obedience lessons, he figured, and he knew the dog would enjoy the extra attention, though Alice had probably played with him all afternoon after her shopping excursion. She sure loved that dopey—

      His thoughts drifted off to stunned silence when his daughter walked through the kitchen door.

      She made a slow rotation in front of him, her smile self-conscious and satisfied. “How do I look?”

      “You look …like a teenager.” His voice sounded a bit husky even to him.

      Her smile flashed even brighter, braces gleaming. “Sweet.”

      He couldn’t decide at first exactly what was different about her. There seemed to be several changes. Her hair, for example. The wild mop she had always bemoaned but he’d thought impishly cute had been shortened, layered and tamed into softer curls framing her face and just brushing her nape. While still youthful, the new style was a little more sophisticated than before.

      She was wearing makeup. Not enough for him to object to—just a touch of glitter on her eyelids and a little clear gloss on her pretty pink mouth.

      Her new dress was a halter style, baring her slender shoulders and arms, but still modestly styled. A yellow satin cummerbund with a jaunty bow separated the black surplice top from the flared white skirt with three rows of narrow black ribbon at the hem. Her shoes were black, with lots of straps and low platform bottoms that gave the illusion of heels even though they weren’t too high for her age. All in all, a very pretty and appropriate outfit—for a teenager, he thought again, swallowing hard.

      Her smile wavered a little. “Don’t you like it, Dad?”

      “You look beautiful,” he told her simply.

      She beamed again. “Really?”

      “Yes. Uh—you couldn’t find a ruffled pink dress with puffy sleeves and a lace pinafore?”

      “Daddy.”

      He laughed wryly. “Just teasing, sweetheart. It’s not easy for a dad to admit his little girl is growing up. I guess we’ll have to see about an appointment for those contact lenses you’ve been begging for. We’ll get you some as soon as school’s out for the summer, which will give you plenty of time to get used to them before fall semester starts.”

      She almost bounced in pleasure, pushing her glasses up on her nose as if in eagerness to be rid of them. “I was going to remind you about that. Madison said I have pretty brown eyes and it’s a shame to hide them behind glasses.”

      “Madison is right.” He opened the fridge and pulled out a canned drink. “So you had a good time on your girls’ outing?”

      He’d already talked with her since she’d returned; he’d made her promise she would call as soon as she was home safely. She’d chattered excitedly about the shopping excursion until he’d had to disconnect the call and return to his client.

      “I had a great time. Madison is really fun and cool and she knows everything about fashion. And Meagan always makes me laugh with her little comments about stuff. I got my hair cut and then I tried on a lot of dresses and then we had Chinese for lunch—Meagan treated us—and then Madison bought me this bracelet from a little booth out in the center of the mall.”

      She showed off a band of small black stones tied with a yellow ribbon to match her dress. “I paid for the dress and shoes and haircut with my debit card, like you told me. And I stayed on the budget you gave me. The dress was on sale! Twenty percent off. Madison says she never pays full price when she can find a sale.”

      “Well, that’s—”

      “And Meagan said she’ll take me shopping again sometime if I want her to. I said a lot of my clothes are getting too little because СКАЧАТЬ