From Dare To Due Date

Cooper had sold him on the concept that where there was a tourist trade that catered to extreme sports such as downhill skiing, river rafting and hiking, there was a need for orthopedic surgeons. It wasn’t a hard sell since not only was the town unpretentious and as far removed from the limelight as Garrett could get, it also desperately needed a physician who could actually serve the local community for the better.

“What’s happening, Coop?” Garrett said by way of greeting.

“I just got off the phone with Mayor Johnston and the city approved the zoning for converting that old lumber mill you bought into medical offices. My wife’s friend has a brother who is doing some contracting and thinks he can have a crew start construction tomorrow.”

“Is he any good?”

“As far as I can tell. But now that you’re going to be living in a small town, it’s best to realize that’s how they do things here.” Cooper was a transplant himself, first from Detroit and then the military, and during a previous conversation he’d confided that he was still adapting to the slower-paced life. “Everyone knows somebody who is related to someone else who can get things done for you. It took me a while to get used to it, but the system can be beneficial.”

“Okay. Have him email me an estimate and a contract. As long as people up there know how to mind their own business, then I’ll hire whoever they want.”

Coop laughed. “Now, I didn’t say they know how to mind their own business. But the community as a whole is a tight-knit group, and if they like you well enough, they wouldn’t sell you out to some big-city paparazzi. How did that talk with your old man go, by the way?”

Cooper was one of the few people who knew Garrett was related to the famous television producer. But that’s because the guy would investigate the depth lines on a ship’s anchor if he felt like it. And when he’d been hospitalized with two consecutive knee surgeries and nothing else to look forward to, the marine had been bored enough to investigate his surgeon.

“It went as expected. He wanted what he always wants, which is for me to return to California and start filming alongside him. I told him about my new plans. He said there’s no reason for me to go into private practice in some—no offense—Podunk town where my patients will only be able to pay for my services in taxidermy animals and squirrel meat casserole.”

“Ouch. Although, that’s what I expected, too, before I actually visited Sugar Falls.”

“Well, let’s hope for everyone’s sake that my dad and his entourage of cameras never decide to visit.” Garrett thought about his former patient’s family history and realized he might sound like a spoiled, ungrateful child. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the man. But I should’ve known better than to meet him last night. If it weren’t for that stupid dinner, I never would’ve gotten so pissed off and...”

What? He never would’ve walked to the hotel bar and experienced the most magical evening in his life?

Of course, he couldn’t say any of that to Cooper. Even though the two men’s relationship was moving into friendship territory, Garrett wasn’t ready to confess to anyone that his unsinkable heart had nearly been caught in a rip current.

He climbed into his late-model truck and dropped his head to the leather-covered steering wheel. He was too embarrassed to say anything to anyone and didn’t need a bored police chief to start asking too many questions.

Wait a second. Having Cooper asking questions on Garrett’s behalf might be another thing altogether. The idea of having his friend assist him in finding the mystery lady was ridiculous, but that wouldn’t stop him from exploring the possibility of it later. When he didn’t already have eight hundred things to do before the big move.

“Anyway.” Garrett started his engine. “Speaking of expectations, tell me more about some of these small-town neighbors I’m going to be meeting in Sugar Falls.”

Chapter Three

Eight weeks later, while her two best friends sat in her living room for their regular Thursday night dinner together, Mia came out of the bathroom holding the small plastic stick in her hand.

“That was quick,” Kylie Gregson said, looking down at the empty box. “It says that you needed to wait three minutes for the results.”

“I know. But I didn’t want to wait in there alone to find out. Here.” Mia set the pregnancy test on a paper towel on the kitchen counter then rushed back to the couch and pulled her favorite throw blanket up to her chin. “It probably needs about two more minutes. I can’t look. You guys tell me what it says.”

Maxine Cooper walked over to the counter and looked at the stick. “Well, I don’t think we need to wait that long. The second blue line is pretty clear already.”

“What do two blue lines mean again?”

“It means positive,” Kylie said, checking the instructions.

“Let’s give it a little more time,” Mia whispered. “Maybe the other blue line will go away.” But she was a smart woman with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. She knew none of this was going away.

She was pregnant. Single and pregnant.

A flood of emotion overcame her and she didn’t know how to feel at first. Even though she’d thought about this possibility well before she’d sent her friend around the corner to Lester’s Pharmacy to pick up the test, she knew she wasn’t upset.

She was terrified, but she’d dealt with scarier things in her life. She was in denial, but then, she’d lived as a shell of herself for the past few years, so the feeling wasn’t too uncommon. She was ashamed, but there was something else pushing her guilt aside and giving her a glimpse at a happiness she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

“Aw, sweetie,” Kylie said. “I know this is overwhelming, but you’re a strong woman. And you have us to help you.”

“I know,” she said, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “I promised myself I would forget about that night in Boise. And it was almost getting easier until I realized my cycle had never been this late. I guess in my determination to forget everything, I didn’t think about the consequences, either.”

“Do you want to talk about your plans?” Maxine asked.

“I’m scared. Obviously. I don’t know how I’ll do it.” As soon as she realized she was late, a fear set in. But so did another emotion—excitement. “Like a tiny part of me is kind of looking forward to having this baby. I know this sounds selfish because I hated growing up without a father and I always swore that if I had kids of my own I wouldn’t make the same mistakes that my mom made with me. But I’m actually a little bit excited.” She rubbed her knee, which was getting sorer with each passing day. “That bastard Nick took so much from me—and not just physically. I thought I’d never recover after he attacked me, that my life was ruined. Yet, the thought of having a baby—having someone who is only mine and who needs me—is unreal, but in a positive way. This pregnancy might make me feel like I have a purpose again.”

Both of her friends looked at each other before turning back toward her. Then Kylie asked, “What about the baby’s father?”

“What about him? It’s not like I know him or would even know where to find him.”

Maxine hesitated before saying, “Cooper has some connections with the Boise PD and he can talk to the hotel security, maybe ask some questions on the down low—”

“No,” Mia interrupted. “What if the guy is married? Or a psychopath? I don’t need him. We don’t need him,” she corrected, as she put her hands protectively over the not yet visible bump of her tummy.

Her friends looked at each other again and Maxine shrugged. “Nobody has to make any decisions right this second. How about you let everything sink in and then, if you change your mind, we’ll help you find him.”

Mia nodded, but knew she wouldn’t ever change her mind. She was about to take control of her own life, of her own destiny, and she wasn’t going to invite some strange man into her world to start calling the shots or vetoing her decisions—even if she knew where to find him.

The women turned their conversation to pregnancy symptoms and childbirth and their doubts about ancient Dr. Suarez, who was the town’s only general practitioner and should have retired twenty years prior.

“I think I might look for an obstetrician in Boise,” Mia said.

“Thank goodness I’m covered under Drew’s insurance,” said Kylie. She was married to a lieutenant commander in the navy and twenty weeks pregnant. “I only have to drive as far as Shadowview Hospital when it’s my time to deliver. Don’t you think going all the way to Boise might be a bit far?”

Mia flexed her knee, trying to stretch out the pain that had only increased over these past weeks. Her friend was right, but going to the town doctor would be tantamount to hanging a huge banner outside her dance studio announcing to the world that she was pregnant and unmarried. Some of her students’ parents might think she wasn’t a fit role model for their precious offspring. She also helped coach the high school cheerleading team and knew the PTA would surely call her morals into question. Sugar Falls was a small town, and her career didn’t need that kind of negative publicity.

“What about that new medical center out at the old lumber mill?” Maxine asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Kylie was nodding her head. “My brother, Kane, has been doing the construction on the building and said the first offices are unofficially opening next week.”

“What kind of doctors will they have?” Mia was skeptical but any physician who was new to town would still be considered an outsider and wouldn’t be so quick to divulge patient information to the rest of his cronies in the Kiwanis Club, as Doc Suarez was known to do.

“Cooper’s surgeon from the base hospital is opening up an orthopedic clinic there now that he’s out of the military. And I heard there was a new dentist moving in next month. But no OBs, as far as I know.”

“Actually,” Max added, “it would probably be a good idea to talk to Dr. McCormick about your knee, Mia.”

“I know. It’s been killing me lately. But now that I’m pregnant, I probably shouldn’t have surgery or anything.” Besides, a retired navy doctor sounded just as old and cantankerous as Dr. Suarez.

“That’s true.” Kylie patted her own stomach. “But trust me, when you start packing on the pounds, it’s only going to get worse. Maybe he could give you a cortisone shot or something to get you through the next several months.”

“Yep, the last thing you want is a bum knee when you have a newborn to take care of,” Maxine said. “Trying to run the dance studio on top of everything else is going to be taxing on you.”

These women knew Mia better than anyone. They were her former teammates on the Boise State cheer team and her lifesavers when she’d later fled Miami to start over in Sugar Falls. And now Mia was turning to them again.

Maxine was the owner of the Sugar Falls Cookie Company, the star attraction of the downtown Sugar Falls tourist industry and a famous bakery specializing in flavored cookies. She’d opened her shop when her eleven-year-old son had been a toddler and had firsthand experience on raising a child alone while managing a growing business. Kylie was a CPA and had spent last summer raising her husband’s twin nephews while singlehandedly maintaining the financial records for half the town. Mia was glad she had friends who had already gone through something similar and could help her navigate the unfamiliar terrain.

“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “Give me his number and I’ll make an appointment.”

Her friends left and, as much as she adored the two women, she was glad to finally be alone to come to terms with her new reality.

After securing the dead bolt, she grabbed the paper towel off the counter, sat down on her comfy old sofa and stared at the little test stick with the two blue lines. She was going to be a mother. Mia could hardly believe it. Growing up, whenever she’d complain about not wanting to audition for a certain play that had nothing to do with dancing or not wanting to move to an entirely different state because her mother had it in her head that Mia could land a talent agent if she would only take up acting classes, Rhonda Palinski would tell her daughter that she didn’t even know what she wanted.

And for the past few years, Mia had allowed herself to believe that maybe her mom was right and she didn’t know what she wanted out of life.

Putting the stick down, she stroked her still-flat belly. She knew with a certainty she hadn’t felt in years that she wanted this child more than she had ever wanted anything. She’d always lived her life for others, having her dreams diminished or jerked out from under her feet. But this baby was hers. And nobody, not even GP What’s-his-name, could take this away from her.

She reached into her sweater pocket and pulled out the gold and onyx cuff link, looking at the initials.

GPM.

The morning following their lovemaking she’d almost made it down to the lobby when she’d spotted a small bit of gold winking at her from the corner of the elevator. When she’d picked it up, she remembered the way he’d had her body pressed up against the mirrored walls, her hands pulling him in closer and slipping under his suit jacket—which had gotten in her way. She’d heard a thunk right before the ping of the elevator alerted them that they’d reached her floor. But he’d scooped up the fallen case along with his discarded coat before they exited and fatefully made their way to her room.

Mia didn’t wear much jewelry and had no idea what the cuff link was worth, but its potential monetary value wasn’t what made her slip it into her satiny pocket that morning. She should’ve turned it in at the front desk lost and found. And if she hadn’t been completely embarrassed by her lack of inhibitions and the threat of discovery, maybe she would’ve.

She thought about the careless way he’d left them at the bar and his annoyance at his father’s idea of a gift, telling herself that GPM probably didn’t care about the things anyway. Sneaking away from the elevator, she decided that having such a small memento would help her remember that she was still a woman with passion and life left in her.

Even Prince Charming had kept a glass slipper. Of course, unlike the smitten royal, Mia had no intention of traipsing around the countryside trying to find its owner.

She traced her finger over the gold-embossed letters.

If she thought about the man she’d left naked and asleep in her hotel bed, or the way he’d made her body come alive, responding to his skillful touch and his adoring mouth, she would lose all rational thought and make a pathetic attempt to take Maxine up on her offer to have Chief Cooper perform some miracle and attempt to track him down.

No. Things would be better if she just forgot about him and their night of sensual lovemaking. She reached for the little wooden treasure chest Maxine’s son had given her for her birthday three years ago. She put the cuff link inside then snapped the box closed, along with her heart.

She doubted that a man like GPM would even want to be found. He’d seemed to have his own share of problems he’d been trying to escape from and probably wouldn’t appreciate having any long-lasting reminders of that night, let alone an unexpected paternal responsibility. In fact, he’d most likely been more than relieved to have found Mia long gone the morning after.

Really, she’d saved them both from an awkward situation.

She’d never been the type of woman who had casual sex with strangers she’d met in bars. Heck, she wasn’t even the kind of woman who went to bars, or slept with many men, for that matter. Her actions that night had been so out of character for her that her first instinct the next morning was to run and hide before pretending that it had never happened.

From the moment she’d driven her five-year-old Prius away from the hotel, she’d forbidden herself from ever thinking about GP again.

Yet she couldn’t help remembering how, as they’d walked down the deserted hallway, her plastic key card quivering in her hand, she’d known that she was making a conscious choice.

When they’d stood at her door she lifted her face toward his and saw the passion in his eyes, dimmed only slightly by a furrowed brow, as if his own set of second thoughts was playing out in his mind. Then and there she decided that maybe he needed her just as much as she needed him.

It had taken her two tries to get the key card inserted and she remembered letting out a breath when the little green light signaled that the lock had finally released, because for once in Mia’s life, she had followed her physical urges—and her heart.

But now it was time to return to reality.

Getting off her sofa, she walked across her tiny apartment and opened her patio doors looking out onto Snowflake Boulevard, the main street leading through Sugar Falls. This was her reality. This town was her safe haven and home now. She took a deep breath of the cool mountain air, wanting to inhale the familiar sights and scents as if she could absorb enough of the environment into her brain so that she could push aside all thought of her carefree and careless night in the anonymous big city.

Because that was the key. Anonymity. She’d thought about leaving her telephone number for him, or staying a couple more hours to share breakfast and possibly something more.

But no matter how much she might want to see her mystery lover again, or how guilty she might feel for keeping this baby a secret, she knew she wasn’t ready for that kind of intimacy. She was just now allowing herself to put down roots and come out of her shell. All it would take was one bad relationship to put her right back to square one.

And that was a chance she just wasn’t willing to take.

* * *

Garrett wasn’t quite sure what to make of Cessy Walker. The older socialite had kindly volunteered to fill in at the front desk until he hired a nursing staff, but she didn’t seem like the best fit for a small-town physician’s office. After all, she was dressed in a designer wool knit pantsuit—Garrett recognized it as a staple brand from his last stepmother’s closet—and enough pearls to sink a life raft.

“Have you ever worked in a doctor’s office before, Ms. Walker?”

“Please, call me Cessy. Not in an office per se, but I did chair the Boise Children’s Hospital black-tie gala back in eighty-nine and we raised over fifty thousand dollars for a new sports medicine wing.”

“And tell me again why you want to work here?”

“I figure I needed to be doing something a bit more stimulating with my time. I tried to do that volunteer patrol program with the police department, but Cooper got all bent out of shape when I played my Barry Manilow CD on the squad car’s loudspeaker.”

Garrett bit the inside of his cheek, all too familiar with the eccentric personalities of the bored elite. Apparently, even small towns such as Sugar Falls had their share of overprivileged do-gooders looking for something to spice up their daily routines. The woman was sincere enough and probably had good intentions, but he really didn’t need her help. If his first patient wasn’t coming this afternoon, he would’ve politely declined her offer to act as a quasi-receptionist. But before he could make a decision one way or the other, she continued talking.

“I can see by your expression that you’re a bit shocked at my resourcefulness when it comes to entertaining. My third husband used to look at me the same way. But just between the two of us, it didn’t take a party-planning whiz to realize that the Labor Day parade was going to be a major snoozefest with that Mae Johnston running the show. Personally, I think the townspeople enjoyed me adding some festive music and pepping things up. But afterward, the chief was concerned other townspeople might follow suit and utilize public resources in an unauthorized manner.” Ms. Walker made it sound as if her Fanilow utilization was completely authorized. “Anyhoo, Cooper suggested that you might need some temp help, and since I know everyone who’s anyone in town, I figured I would be an asset to you setting up shop and establishing yourself with the crème de la crème of our town.”

Hmm. It sounded to Garrett as if Cooper wanted his wife’s former mother-in-law out of his hair and had dumped her into his lap. He’d met her a couple of times when she’d brought her grandson to visit Cooper at Shadowview and had an idea that she was used to getting what she wanted. But he was new in Sugar Falls and, as much as he prided himself on his independence, it couldn’t hurt to have an established and well-connected member of the community give him her bedazzled seal of approval.

Plus, he was about to ask for a favor himself, so keeping Cessy Walker busy would make the chief of police indebted to him.

It had been over eight weeks since that night in the hotel, and he hadn’t been able to get the woman from the bar out of his mind. He’d tried everything he could think of to look for her—everything from calling the hotel the following day to try to find the guest who’d been staying in room 804 to researching dance performances in Boise hoping to come across her picture. He’d even spent a few evenings sitting in the hotel bar the following week, closely watching every brunette that walked through the door—but always ended up at a dead end. The more time that went by, the colder her trail would get. It was time to call in the big guns.

“All right, well I appreciate your helping me out just for the next couple of days.” He purposely paused to emphasize that her receptionist skills—or lack thereof—would only be temporary. “My first patient is a referral from a friend and she’s coming in an hour. Have her fill out these forms and get copies of her insurance card. Technically we’re not open for business yet, and I don’t expect many calls in the next few days, but if you could answer the phone and take down messages for me, that’d be great.”

“No problem, Doc. And keep in mind that I can only volunteer for the next two weeks. I go on my sabbatical after that.”

He couldn’t imagine what a woman like Cessy Walker needed a sabbatical from. But he wasn’t going to ask because he had a feeling she’d tell him.

He took a seat behind the battered desk he’d found online. Garrett wasn’t in the habit of using money he hadn’t earned himself, and he’d already dipped into his trust fund account to finance the building and splurge on his top-of-the-line medical equipment. While he wanted to make his patients comfortable, he didn’t really see the need for wasting money on decorations or frivolous extras when it was surgical equipment and state-of-the-art radiology machines that he needed most. But hiring a full-time professional staff just jumped to the top of his to-do list.

He probably should’ve made a telephone call, but he didn’t want his new “receptionist” to overhear his very personal conversation. So he fired off an email to Cooper, listing as much information as he could think of about the mystery woman from the hotel. He told himself that if she wanted to be found, she would’ve left her contact information. But the more time he spent recalling every little detail about that night, the more obsessed he became with locating her and seeing her again.

Maybe he was romanticizing it. Or maybe he didn’t like the lingering feeling of rejection. Although he’d grown up a pampered rich kid, it wasn’t as if he was some spoiled brat who only wanted things he couldn’t have. Most likely, it had been a one-time experience and, if he met her again in person, none of that sizzling spark would be there anymore.

But what if it was?

He clicked Send and then slammed his laptop closed. This whole search was probably the most futile endeavor he’d ever embarked upon. And it would probably only give Cooper extra ammunition for busting his chops. Garrett needed to focus and get back to work.

He was putting away supplies and arranging one of his exam rooms when he heard his first patient arrive. She was early and he wasn’t quite ready. Besides, he didn’t want to look too eager—as if he had nothing more important or doctoral to do with his time.