Jennifer Greene - Millionaire M.D.

“No, no. He said you’d be tired from working and from carting the baby around all day. He’ll be here. Just ten minutes late, he said. But he wanted you to start eating. Manny-” she motioned toward the grill cook in back “-he says the pork chops are extra tender today.”

“I was thinking a salad-”

“Now, you can’t build up your strength on leaves and rabbit food, honey. Much less can you build up a bust, and men do tend to like a substantial woman, you know. Did you see my pies up front?” She motioned toward the revolving pie stand near the front door. “Strawberry rhubarb today. And I got a banana cream to die for. You need me to warm up a bottle for the baby? You sleeping with Dr. Webb?”

“Cobb salad. No dessert. Yes, thank you on the bottle, I have one in the diaper bag here. And none of your business.”

Sheila cocked up an eyebrow. “Now, hon, with the Gerards gallivanting on vacation the winter months, who’all’s gonna give you advice if your friends in town don’t? But I don’t see the question made you blush, so I’m thinking, no, not yet. Ask me, I’d nail that man fast and any way I could. There’s some men you can string along, they like the hunt and chase. But him, I wouldn’t risk nothing like that. Too many girls got their eyes on him. He’s too cute and too rich. You get a chance, you get that boy in the sack and you don’t give him a chance to even look at anyone else.”

“Thank you so much.” Winona swiped a hand over her eyes. “Is there anything else you want to offer me advice on? Deodorants? Hemorrhoids? Constipation?”

“There now. You won’t be so crabby after you have some food. I’ll bring you the chops and my cheddar cheese mashed potatoes. Trust me. You’ll like them. And the whole town’s been asking whether Wayne’s gonna actually let you bring that baby to work right in the police station.”

“It’s only a temporary circumstance, my having the baby. It’s worked out for a few days. But obviously, I wouldn’t have the baby around any situation that could be dangerous. It just takes time to find an answer for-”

“Yeah, yeah.” Sheila waved off the politically correct answer. If she couldn’t have dirt, she didn’t want anything. “So, did you tell the Gerards about the baby yet?”

Winona sighed. To a point, it was easier to answer the questions than exert all the energy it took to duck them. “Yes. They’re still vacationing in Japan and having an outstanding time. But I talked to them on the phone two nights ago.”

“They love you.” Sheila set out the silverware, working around the baby’s carrier in the middle of the table. Two other customers waved hands to get her attention, but she clearly didn’t want to move quite yet. “And I just know they’d be happy if you were involved with Justin, because the Webb and the Gerard families were always so close. And really, at your age, hon, I think they’d expect you to be, how should I say it, physically involved-”

Winona propped her chin on her knuckled hand. “Okay. I give up trying to deny it. I’m having wild, unprincipled sex with Dr. Webb. If it’ll make y’all happy, tell the town, tell the whole universe-”

She was stunned into immediate silence when she suddenly saw another face appear behind the waitress’s-and Justin was grinning to beat the band.

“Now, darlin’. Please don’t be giving all the wild details of our sex life to Sheila. You didn’t tell her what we did two nights ago in the Porsche, did you?”

Smoothly, as if they’d been a couple for a hundred years, he bent down, bussed the top of her head, chucked the baby’s chin, and then plunked down on the opposite side of the booth. “Sheila, I’ve only got forty minutes, max. I want the greasiest hamburger you’ve got back there, heavy on the barbecue, and a ton of fries-”

“Like you need to tell me this, sweetheart?” Sheila whirled around, clearly delighted with him, and sashayed off to deliver their order.

Winona needed a second to recover her equilibrium. Five minutes ago, she’d had no equilibrium problems, but suddenly her heart was flopping in her chest louder than a beached whale and her nerves were suffering hiccups. She didn’t have nerves. She’d certainly never suffered from arrhythmia-at least until Justin walked in. And that kiss from two nights ago seeped back into her mind with a twinge of guilt.

She felt his gaze on her face. Nothing new, their looking at each other. They’d known each other for five million years, for Pete’s sake. Only, nothing was the same since that kiss. He’d never-never-looked at her this way before. As if she were a woman, instead of an old ragtail-younger-neighbor friend. As if she were a woman who sexually interested him. As if he didn’t have all that much trouble imagining her in bed. And was enjoying that imagining.

Her gaze frittered around the diner. The red barstools were all taken, the long Formica counter filled up with locals. Booths lined the walls, mostly spilling over with young families, but, traditionally, medical personnel popped over here to grab the counter seats because the hospital was so close by. No one in the medical field ever seemed to eat healthily. On the jukebox, someone was wailing about losing somebody. There was a truck and a cup of a coffee and a dog in the song, so no question it was a country-style wail. Manny, the cook, was visible from the open window of the grill kitchen. He was wearing his beefcake-style white undershirt that showed off his shoulder and upper arm muscles, and he was wielding a black spatula. Sheila patted his butt every time she went by.

The diner was familiar. Comfortable. The teasing was a pain in the keester, but what could Winona expect from a small town where everyone knew her, and, damnation, everybody cared? Hell, she cared, too, and could pry with the best of them when she was in the mood. Normally it was as easy to be in the Royal Diner as at home.

Except tonight.

She felt a sensation of panic, as if her whole world were shifting on her. It wasn’t exactly that she minded his looking at her in that new way. That intimate, hot, unnerving-damn-him way. But she’d always known what to say to Justin, how to behave, what to do around him, and suddenly all that comfort level was lost.

Finally he got around to saying something. “You look tired, Win.”

“Thanks, Doc. That’s just what a girl wants to hear.”

“And not just a little tired. You look just plain whipped.”

Immediately she bristled. What had happened to all the sweet talk he’d used when Sheila’d been around? “Are you looking for a sock right in the labonza ? I’m not the least tired,” she snapped.

The insult went right over his head. “What’s wrong?”

Her shoulders sank. The feeling of strangeness disappeared. This was, after all, Justin, who she’d known forever-and who already knew all about Angel. “Everything.”

“So. We’ll fix this ‘everything.’ But that’s a little tough to do unless you’re willing to be a little more specific.”

Out it poured. All the frustrations from the last time she’d seen him. Even though technically Angel should have been promptly turned over to Social Services, no one really had a sweat with her temporarily baby-sitting. Still, the whole world, and especially her boss, kept reminding her that the baby showing up on her doorstep didn’t mean she had any dibs-or legal rights-on Angel. And she knew that. But for the same reason, one of the first things she’d done was check out what was going on with foster care.

“Okay.” When Sheila served dinner, Justin didn’t even look up, just kept his eyes on hers, encouraging her to keep talking.

“There’s no great foster-care family waiting in the wings. The court finds a place when it has to. That’s the way it is. So there are the Barkers, who’ve already taken in two kids, even though they barely had room for the second one. They can take in a baby for a couple of weeks if there’s no other place. They’re good people, but they don’t want Angel, Doc.”