Evening Stars. Сьюзен Мэллери

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      “I do! I ate breakfast without having to throw up. I call that progress.” Andi reached the main floor and grabbed Nina’s mug. She inhaled deeply. “God, I miss coffee. More than wine. I would have thought the wine would be the hardest to give up, but it’s not.”

      She returned the mug and glanced at the stack of files. “Looks like a busy day.”

      “We had a fairly light schedule, but there were a few last-minute calls.”

      “There always are on Monday.”

      They talked about who had phoned for an emergency visit, then Andi led the way to the break room.

      “Guess who we had dinner with last night?” Andi asked as she filled a mug with water, then set it in the microwave. Her green eyes danced with amusement.

      Nina took a step back. “No way. I don’t want to know.”

      “But I want to tell you and you have to listen.” She grinned. “Dr. and Mrs. Harrington and their son, Dylan.” Andi clapped her hands together. “I can’t believe I’ve been on the island nearly a year and this is the first time I’m meeting the infamous ‘my son, the doctor.’”

      Nina groaned. “Seriously? They had you over?”

      “Uh-huh. It was great. He’s handsome. I wasn’t expecting him to be so ruggedly good-looking.”

      “He’s okay.”

      Andi hesitated. “Is this hard for you? Should I not fill you in on the details and tease you?”

      Nina wanted to say yes, but that was ridiculous. She squared her shoulders and instead said, “Of course it’s fine. Dylan and I were over years and years ago. I never think about him.” Or she hadn’t until this past weekend. Which was his fault. If he hadn’t stopped to help her, she would have been completely fine. And happy not to have him on the brain.

      Because he’d never called back. Not that she wanted him to. She didn’t. She wasn’t interested. But she would have enjoyed having him call so she could have told him that to his face. Or at least his ear.

      “He’s single,” Andi announced. “I asked if he was seeing anyone.”

      Nina leaned against the counter and clutched her coffee. “You didn’t.”

      “Why not? I’ve never met him before. Asking questions is a part of polite conversation. He didn’t have a date, so I asked if he’d left someone special behind, and he said no. It was a natural bridge to ‘Are you seeing anyone?’ He said he wasn’t.” Her smile was smug. “So it’s a clear field.”

      Nina held in a groan. “I don’t want a clear field. I’m not interested. What part of ‘it’s been decades’ doesn’t make sense to you?”

      “It’s been only one decade and you were both young.” Andi pulled the mug out of the microwave and dropped in her tea bag. “Oh, and his parents mentioned that they’d been instrumental in your breakup. They feel bad about that.”

      Nina felt a tic starting under her right eye. “You talked about me?”

      “Not a lot. But I think it’s interesting, don’t you?”

      “That my boyfriend let his parents dictate his love life? No. That’s not interesting.” Not that she was surprised by the admission. Dylan’s parents hadn’t worried at first. Nina would guess they’d assumed, once he got to college, the relationship would naturally end. But it hadn’t. He’d come home on weekends, and they’d spent breaks together. By the summer after his second year of college, the elder Harringtons had been pressuring them both. Nina hadn’t been about to give in, but Dylan had finally ended things with her.

      Which she supposed she could accept. What had really hurt was he’d tried to make it her fault. He’d said... She reminded herself it didn’t matter what he’d said.

      Andi pulled out the tea bag and set it in the sink. “He was a kid.”

      “He was twenty.”

      “Still, he wasn’t completely mature or he wouldn’t have let you go.” She smiled. “I liked him. He seems intelligent without being annoying about it.”

      Nina knew that was a reference to Andi’s parents, who were both brilliant. “I’m not going to be dating Dylan.”

      “Why not? You’re single. He’s single. What if the flame still burns?”

      “There’s no flame. There’s not even ash. I’m sure Dylan is a great guy.” After all, he’d stopped to help her long before he knew who she was. Which meant he’d been willing to have a stranger drip on his expensive leather seats. “But I’m not looking to get involved with him.”

      “You never date,” Andi started. “It would be fun for you to go out. I’m not trying to be pushy, but why not—”

      “You are being pushy. I can find my own guy.”

      Her boss shook her head. “I’m just trying to help.”

      “I appreciate that, but you can let this one go. Dylan and I are long over.”

      In the end, it wouldn’t matter, Nina told herself. Dylan hadn’t called, wasn’t going to call and she didn’t want him to call. Problem solved.

      Andi’s smile faded. “You’re my friend and I want you to be happy. Your whole life is work. Either here or dealing with the store. You take care of everyone all the time. It’s exhausting, and I’m just watching. I thought maybe a good-looking guy might be a nice break.”

      “I agree with the theory, but not with the guy.”

      Andi’s smile returned. “You’re saying if a handsome stranger swept you off your feet, you’d be open to it?”

      Nina thought about how long it had been since someone had shown interest in her girl parts. “I’d be begging.” A safe statement considering how few single men there were on the island. It was a family place. Most visitors came as part of a couple.

      “Then I’m on the lookout for a handsome stranger,” Andi told her.

      There was a loud bang as the upstairs door slammed. Andi sighed.

      “That’s Carrie’s bedroom door. She’s running late again.”

      Nina couldn’t remember a morning when the teen hadn’t been running late.

      Sure enough, there was the sound of someone rapidly descending the stairs, followed by a loud, “Mom? Where are you?”

      “Back here,” Andi called.

      Carrie, fourteen and still gangly, burst into the break room. She flung herself at Nina and hung on tight.

      “Morning,” Nina said, putting down her coffee and hugging her back. “I heard you’re late.”

      Carrie grinned at her, then turned to Andi and hugged her. “I know, I know,” the teen said cheerfully. СКАЧАТЬ