“We’ll leave them here on the porch for him,” Arianna said. “Set them right down there.”
“What if someone steals them?” Sophie worried.
“No one will.”We should be so lucky.
This was the last goody delivery she was making here, she vowed. She was not desperate and she was not interested.
Where was Alden Brightman? Did he have a date?
7
Alden hadn’t gotten what every man wants for Valentine’s Day, but his mom had stopped by earlier in the day with a giant cupcake—banana cake with buttercream frosting, his favorite—and a dog treat for Buster, and that would have to do. Meanwhile, he had plenty to occupy his mind.
An emergency room was always busy, even on Valentine’s night. There was the woman who hadn’t discovered her engagement ring in her chocolate mousse and had swallowed it. Both she and the boyfriend had been worried that they’d seen the last of the ring.
“This too shall pass,” Dr. Swan had joked to Alden.
Alden didn’t think the woman would see the humor in that smart-ass remark. Fortunately Swan had been diplomatic, assuring the pair that the ring would show up in the toilet in a few days. Pretty gross, and Alden vowed never to hide a ring in any kind of food, especially chocolate mousse.
Then there was the couple who had been enjoying a candlelight dinner until she leaned forward to enjoy a bite of cheesecake that he was feeding her and managed to catch a lock of her freshly hair-sprayed hair in the flame of the candle. The burns weren’t bad, but the boyfriend felt terrible, and Alden felt sorry for him. And all the other patients who came in with their day sliding sideways.
Of course, an evening sliding sideways beat a whole relationship sliding sideways. He remembered his last Valentine’s Day. What a disaster. The restaurant wasn’t the one Cynthia had hoped he’d take her to. Really? This was the best he could do for Valentine’s Day? He’d only sent her roses and brought chocolates. No ring hidden anywhere.Very disappointing, she’d informed him.
About as disappointing as their relationship had become. There’d been no ring because the warning voice at the back of his head had been getting louder.Think about this, dude.Once you buy the ring that’s it.
V-night was when he finally admitted the voice was right. When Cynthia was happy, everything was great. The problem was Cynthia was unhappy a lot. How did you please a woman who couldn’t be pleased? The evening had ended in a heated conversation in his truck instead of a heated session in his bed. She’d told him he’d better get it together or she was leaving. He’d informed her what he had was as together as he was going to get so maybe it was time for her to leave.
If she’d cried, said she wasn’t giving up on them, done anything, it would have drowned out the voice. She hadn’t.
“I can do so much better than you!” she’d spat. “You’re not even a doctor.”
Ow. He was perfectly happy doing what he did, being what he was. He didn’t need to be anybody’s status symbol.
“Good for you that she’s gone,” his sister had said. “She was like a hurricane in your life, always tearing it up.”
She’d been right. Work, with all its drama and chaos, was nothing compared to the stress Cynthia had brought into his life. He was well rid of her.
Even so, it wasn’t so easy recovering from the damage she’d inflicted. Even though she’d made him crazy, he’d still been crazy about her. Her final words coupled with how easily she’d vacated his life had left a wound. He’d spent the last year trying to put those words out of his mind. They remained lodged there, a bullet too close to the heart to remove.
“Love overlooks faults,” his mom liked to say, but even she had been relieved when things had ended. “I’m sure there’s someone better waiting in the wings,” she’d said.
Or next door?
No. Arianna White made his pulse jump, but not always in a good way. She was wounded, too, and wound too tight. He wanted someone mellow, easygoing, with no issues.
Did such a person even exist?
He got home a little after seven thirty in the morning to find a plastic container sitting on his front porch. He picked it up and saw cookies on the other side of the opaque plastic. The neighbors, of course.
Buster was barking on the other side of the door and Alden opened it and let him outside to race off his energy and pee on his favorite bush. They’d have to do a walk before Alden went to bed. Maybe he needed energy for that walk. He opened the container and found heart-shaped cookies with pink icing. On top of them sat a folded kid-made card. He opened it, read the misspelled message and smiled. Little Sophie next door was one cute kid, just the kind of little girl he hoped he’d have someday.
Her mom was cute, too, and for a moment he indulged in a vision of her in a little black dress. All those curves—she would really fill it out. And if she got rid of the dress.... Black bra and panties underneath. And if she got rid of those?
He pulled his wandering thoughts back in line and set aside the cookies. Then he got Buster’s leash and started them down the street. Buster was ready to go next door, but Alden directed him the other way.
“No, dude,” he said. “We’re not getting any friendlier with those guys.”
But when he got home, he couldn’t resist sampling a cookie. Man, it was good. Had Arianna made them? It didn’t matter. He was not interested. Not. Interested.
