Page 7 of Careless Hope
“I hardly think you’re interested in all that.”
“I sure am. You got outta this town. I’ve been stuck here my whole life. Let me live vicariously a little.”
Caroline sighed, though her eyes still danced with amusement. “Where do I start? After graduation, I traded lockers for lecture halls, hit the books hard, and ended up doing, well, exactly what I was supposed to, I guess. Not very exciting.”
“You’re a doctor. That is exciting. I always knew you’d do something big,” I said, meaning it. I remembered those days—she’d always been head and shoulders above us in smarts. “And now you’re back in town, taking over your father’s practice?”
“Yep, that’s the plan.” She tucked a loose strand of auburn hair behind her ear. “It’s been . . . an adjustment. Most of the patients so far seem to still see me as Doc Cressley’s little girl, not Doctor Cressley in my own right. But I enjoy the work. Healing people, helping them—it feels right.”
“Ah, they’ll come around. You know how things work here. Takes forever to get anything to change.” A thought of Gray and his resistance to my ideas shot straight into my head, but I ignored it. “Must be nice, having such a clear path.” I caught myself before diving too deep into that well of thoughts.
“Well, the path has always been clear, but I think I’ve been experiencing an urge to veer off it.” She almost looked surprised at herself, then pushed on. “I don’t know. I guess I never thought I’d be back here, but now that I am, I’m finding myself happier. I’ve worked so hard, so many crazy hours for so long, I like the idea of staying in one place. Working a consistent job. Putting down roots. Maybe start living a little.”
Her eyes grew distant for a brief moment, and then she shook her head, as if to clear it.
“Anyway, enough about me. What have you been up to?”
“I’m still working on the ranch. Not much has changed there.”
“Still wrangling horses and breaking hearts?” she teased, a spark of mischief in her gaze.
“Only the horses these days, or at least, I learned to make it clear up front that I ain’t lookin’ for love,” I confessed, finding honesty easier than I expected.
She let out a soft laugh. “That’s good. I still remember that epic fight between Cheryl Gleeson and Abby Potts. You would have thought they each wore your ring the way they insisted you loved them.”
I cringed, my neck muscles stiffening at the memory. Luckily Caroline just laughed. “God, that was bad, wasn’t it? I sure am glad I grew out of that real fast. I might not be a saint, but I know not to lead women on now.”
“Well, we’re all a little dumb as teens.”
“Not you. You never were.”
“Sure I was. Maybe just not in the same way. I couldn’t have a conversation to save my life back then. Too shy and awkward.”
“Well you’ve sure grown out of that, Doc. It looks good on you.”
I let my eyes travel down what I could see of her body behind the table. I shouldn’t have. Caroline was sweet and smart and nothing that I should be messing with. But she was an attractive—no, a gorgeous—woman now, and I was only human. But she caught me, when my eyes reached hers again, I could see they sparkled with laughter and she raised a brow.
I shrugged. Old habits die hard and I wasn’t above noticing a beautiful woman.
“So you’ve been working the ranch this whole time?”
I nodded. “Yep, not much changed about that except we lost my dad a couple years ago.”
Her face fell and she leaned forward. “I’m so sorry, Walker. I didn’t know.”
“Thanks. It was hard, hell, it still is. But we rallied. My brother took over the running of the ranch. Mason Bridges, if you remember him, he does all the financial stuff.”
She sat back again and pursed her lips in thought.
“So where does that leave you?” she asked after a moment.
Marge appeared then, offering a reprieve from talking about my troubles. Dropping off my usual plate of eggs, bacon, and homefries, she winked at me, then disappeared to another table. I dug in, not realizing Caroline was watching me.
“What?” I said around a mouthful of bacon.
“I’m curious about what you do at the ranch.”
“Oh. Really?”
