They started up the sidewalk toward downtown without speaking. Giving Hannah way too much time to think.

Well, Kyle was her ex. Big deal. People had exes and went on with their lives. He was really her only ex. He’d been the first guy she’d ever dated and the only she’d ever slept with or talked about a future with. That was probably why she was having trouble shaking him. It was nothing more than that.

Except that it was painfully clear she wasn’t over him. She wasn’t surprised that she still had feelings for him. It wasn’t like he’d done anything to make her fall out of love with him. But she’d hoped to be more over him than she evidently was.

And there was also the tiny detail of her ruining everything for him. Some of her feelings toward Kyle were absolutely guilt.

But as they crossed the street that put them officially on the main part of Main and at the heart of Sapphire Falls’ business district, she had to admit that it didn’t seem like she’d ruined everything. Kyle lifted a hand and waved at some of the passing traffic. He had a little bounce in his step. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he started whistling. He seemed the very picture of contentment.

And why wouldn’t he? He was practicing in the clinic in the town he’d always dreamed of. He was here with his family and friends. He was a part of the community.

Okay, so she’d messed up the marriage and family thing. And he wasn’t living in a house he’d designed and built on the ten acres out east of town. But she hadn’t ruined that. He could still have that.

Just with someone else.

And she hated that her heart ached a little with that thought.

“Have you seen your parents?” Kyle asked, seemingly out of the blue, as he raised his arm to wave at yet another friendly soul.

Hannah shook her head as they hit the final block to Dottie’s. “Not yet. They’re coming over to Grandma’s for dinner tonight.”

“Oh, great. I know your dad is eager to see you.”

She snapped her head around to look at him. “What?” He’d talked to her dad?

“Your dad is glad you’re home. He’s eager to see you,” Kyle repeated as if she hadn’t heard him rather than not understanding what he’d said.

“How do you know that?”

“He told me.” He stopped and pulled the door to Dottie’s open, stepping back for her to precede him.

Her next question—or twelve—was swallowed up by a chorus of “Hey, Doc!” and “Dr. Ames!” and “Hide the tomatoes.”

You could tell the time in Sapphire Falls inside of Dottie’s without ever looking at a clock. From six to eight, the place was packed. The farmers came in for breakfast after feeding their livestock and before starting their other work for the day. All the main businesses in town, including City Hall, surrounded the square, and everything opened at eight. So everyone stopped here for coffee and news before unlocking their doors and flipping their signs to “open”. At eight, the hubbub died down and the diner filled with retired residents who wanted to linger over their coffee and conversation. The place was usually pretty quiet by ten. And then the lunch rush hit, and the tables were again filled as people grabbed sandwiches and soup and shared any gossip that had happened since eight. Which wasn’t usually much. So they’d rehash old gossip. Or speculate over what the next topic of gossip would be.

That was where Hannah and Kyle would fit around noon today, she was sure.

It was easy to take attendance of the dozen or so people in the diner at this time of the morning. There were three in a back booth who looked to be actually doing something other than drinking coffee and gabbing. The other nine were gathered around four tables that had been pulled together into one large one right in the center of the diner. Six of the nine had been meeting there for morning coffee and gossip since Hannah could remember. It looked like two new retirees had joined them in the past three years. And then there was Levi Spencer. Sapphire Falls’ own millionaire philanthropist.

Levi Spencer was a hard guy to forget once you saw even a photo. Incredibly good-looking, charming, funny…he had it all.

Hannah stared a moment longer than was strictly polite, she knew, but Levi was a sort-of local legend. She’d heard all about him from Alice. He and his brother both lived in Sapphire Falls now, but they came from big Las Vegas casino money. Money that Levi spread around Sapphire Falls and the surrounding area like the farmers spread fertilizer. The money had a similar effect too. There were numerous businesses and charities and restoration projects in the area that had sprung up or grown, thanks to Levi Spencer.

He and Hailey Bennett were actually quite a pair evidently. Hailey had the crazy go-big-or-go-home ideas and Levi had the crazy go-big-or-go-home money. They both loved Sapphire Falls with a passion and they both liked to make a splash.

The table in the midst of the men was covered with coffee cups, two carafes, spoons and sugar packets, and a huge basket of fried green tomatoes. The basket had quickly been covered with napkins and slid behind the collection of coffee cups, but Hannah was sure Kyle had seen it. He’d likely been expecting it. She grinned. Apparently, they didn’t want their doctor to see their morning snack.

Hannah could admit that the tomatoes weren’t the healthiest option for breakfast, but Dottie made some of the best. And they were, after all, tomatoes. And of the nine men around the chipped Formica tabletops, only two were under the age of seventy. Clearly they were doing something right.

Kyle nudged her forward and she took a step deeper into the diner.

She’d known every person in here all of her life, including Dottie and the head waitress Vi—who had been the head waitress and had the same exact hair color and style for as long as Hannah had been alive. Well, except for Levi. But she suddenly felt shy as their collective attention settled on her. And Kyle. She’d purposefully avoided the diner earlier when she’d gone looking for coffee on her way to her grandma’s that morning. She was sure everyone knew she was home. It was hard to even buy a new pair of jeans in Sapphire Falls without everyone knowing what size they were.

She’d been at the Come Again last night with Kade. But this…this was her first real public appearance. In front of men who were self-appointed guardians of the news in Sapphire Falls. Meaning, the biggest gossips in town. And this time she was without Kade. And with Kyle.

“Morning, everyone,” Kyle said, pressing a hand against Hannah’s lower back to move her toward a booth to the right. There was no sense in going too deep into the diner. Everyone would want to talk to them so they might as well stay up front.

Hannah gave everyone a small smile as she slid gratefully into one side of the booth. It made her feel less center stage. And it meant Kyle had to move his hand off of her. That simple touch, one he probably hadn’t thought about at all, made Hannah want to cry. She had felt that hand on her back hundreds of times. It had always felt caring and protective. Now it was clearly an automatic reflex. An indifferent gesture.

It was going to be a very long six weeks.

“Nice of people not to get sick until after you’ve had breakfast, huh, Doc?” Vi asked, bringing two cups and a carafe to the table.

Kyle gave her an easy smile. “Everyone here is just so considerate,” he agreed with a nod.

“You don’t want to piss off the guy with the needles,” Frank called from the center table, blatantly nosing into the conversation as if it involved everyone in the diner.

And in all fairness, you didn’t have private conversations at Dottie’s. Everyone just knew that.

Kyle poured Hannah and himself coffee and nodded. “You’re catching on,” he said without looking at Frank. “And it’s only taken four needles.”

“Slow learner,” Conrad, another of the men, said. “I figured it out after one.”

Kyle smiled and lifted his cup. His gaze was on Hannah instead of the gathering of men.

“Those cortisone shots are bitches though,” another, Larry, said. “I got one too, and those are worth like three flu shots.”

Conrad looked over at Kyle. “You gave me a cortisone shot and the flu shot.”

“Well, interestingly,” Kyle said. “Cortisone shots don’t actually prevent the flu.”

“And you bruised me!” Conrad said.

Again, Kyle didn’t look at them as he lifted his shoulder. “You disparaged my golf swing.”

“Your golf swing is atrocious,” Conrad told him. “And I got the flu anyway.”

“You got a sinus infection,” Kyle said, sipping his coffee and smiling at Hannah. “Not the flu.”

That smile made her stomach flip. But not because it was flirtatious. It was full of pure amusement and affection.

“Felt like the flu,” Conrad told him.

“Sinus infection,” Kyle repeated. “I know because I also got the pleasure of swabbing your nostrils.”

“That was wholly unpleasant,” Conrad agreed.

“For us both,” Kyle said.

“Hey, it’s better than other things he could swab,” Frank said.

“I’m sure he’s swabbed it all,” Jerry, one of the newer additions to the group, said. “You have to practice swabbing stuff in med school, Doc A?”

“Can we stop talking about infections and swabbing things?” Vi asked, returning to the table to take their orders.

“Oh, come on, Vi,” Larry piped up. “How many times have people puked in here? Stuff happens.”

Vi pointed her pen at him. “One more mention of infections or puke and I’m cutting off the coffee.”

They all groaned good-naturedly.

Hannah sighed, cradling her cup in her hands, thankful that there wasn’t a single place to input anything because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get words out. It was just so…nice. They were talking about infections and puking and it was nice. Wow.

“All I’m saying,” Jerry said, “is that Doc A has probably seen a lot of very…interesting…things.”

“And disgusting,” Kyle said with a nod. “Farmers are the worst. They hate coming in, so stuff is bad by the time I see it. And they mess around in dirt and worse. Lots of potential for infec—” He cut himself off when Vi pointed her pen at him. “Sorry,” he said. Then waited a beat and said, “Lots of potential for…pus.”

“No,” Vi said. “No, no, no. You’re not getting strawberry jelly with your toast this morning, Doc. That is also a topic not allowed in here.”

“But, Vi,” Kyle said, clearly fighting a smile, “these are just normal, everyday things for me. I forget that they sometimes make people a little uncomfortable.” He gave Hannah a wink and then said to Vi, “Maybe we should make a list of things that come up at my place of business that wouldn’t be appropriate here. Maybe the guys can help.”

And just like that, the nine grown men in the middle of the diner became a group of kindergartners who had been told they had to make a list of naughty words. All with grins as they watched Vi’s reactions.

“Well, obviously there’s shit.”

“He’d call it something more official than that.”

“Yes, true.”

“What about snot?”

“He’d probably say mucus, right?”

“Hey, Doc, is it snot or mucus?”

“How about menstruation?”

“Is someone actually writing this down?”

“Vi, you writing this down?”

“Oh, fecal material.”

“Definitely a good one.”

“Ejaculation.”

“Is that bad?”

“In a diner?”

“Yeah, okay maybe.”

Vi looked down at Kyle. “Now you’re not even getting toast,” she told him under the hubbub that continued.

Kyle laughed. “Totally worth it.”

That laugh. Hannah felt heat curl through her belly at the sound. And at the amusement on his face. And at the familiar taste of Dottie’s terrible coffee. And the smells, and the faded apple wallpaper border that hung above the window where Dottie handed the food to Vi, and the napkin dispensers. Yes, even the napkin dispensers were exactly as she remembered them.

Hannah drew a shaky breath and sipped her coffee. Dammit she was in trouble. She missed this place with an ache that was only growing. And she’d been in town less than twenty-four hours. She’d been with Kyle for only a couple of hours altogether, and she was feeling a similar ache about missing him. No, not similar at all. Much, much stronger.

She rubbed her head. She couldn’t believe her grandmother had hung that much hope on Hannah coming home. And yet…she could. Why would anyone, least of all the grandmother who had spent her life in Sapphire Falls, believe that Hannah had found something better? Hannah’s life plan had always been to stay here. Even before she’d fallen for Kyle, Hannah had pictured her life in her small hometown, living the life her grandmother, and even her parents to some extent, had lived. Her parents had had a rougher time, with her dad’s injury and money being tight. But honestly, Hannah knew they would have never chosen anywhere else to live.

Yes, Hannah had to go back to Seattle. But she wasn’t sure she could convince her grandmother that she wanted to go back.

This was going to be very complicated.

It seemed clear that the easiest way of handling being back here—and not buying a house and calling dibs on this booth…and the man across the table from her—was to stay away from the public places and social times as much as possible.

That could work. Alice wasn’t going to feel up to much for a while, so Hannah would just lie low at her house for as long as possible. She’d make short trips out, she’d take Kade with her when she could, and she’d just avoid as many things as possible that would remind her of how much she loved it here.

That meant no races at the track, no get-togethers at the river, very little time at the Come Again—though if Kade was writing there, she needed to be there to keep an eye on him—and nothing to do with the summer festival.

“How do you want your eggs, honey?” Vi asked.

Hannah snapped back to the moment and the fact that they were now ordering breakfast. She looked up at Vi. The warm, friendly, familiar face that had served her more French fries than all other waitresses combined.

“Hash browns,” Hannah said.

Vi tapped her order pad. “Got ’em. With brown gravy. But do you want fried eggs or scrambled? You always went back and forth on those.”

And Hannah felt tears well up. Vi remembered her order. After all these years. All she could do was nod.

“Fried,” Kyle said, glancing from her up to Vi, “It was usually fried.”

“Got it.” Vi made a note. Then she put a hand on Hannah’s shoulder. “Good to see you, honey.”

She moved off to place their order. “No toast for Doc!” she called to Dottie through the window.

That pushed a soft snort out of Hannah.

Kyle gave her a grin. “Some things never change.”

The words could have felt like a jab, a reminder about the things that had changed and the fact that it was Hannah’s fault, but in that moment, with the scent of bacon and toast and coffee swirling around them, and the sounds of the older men now arguing about whether it was okay to say penis and vagina in the middle of the diner, and those stupid napkin dispensers that had always been there, and it felt more like they were just reminiscing.

She nodded. “Thank God for that.”

And she meant it. The unchangeable, the steady, the dependable meant so much more to her now than it had even when she was young and just sensed that she wanted that in her life. Now she knew how valuable it was to have things to hold on to when you were adrift in the sea of the-shit-that-sometimes-happens-in-life.

The accident had changed her whole perspective about plans. She’d had a whole to-do list of plans that day. They’d even been written down. In Sharpie marker in her planner. And nowhere on that list had been an ambulance trip or a fractured C5 vertebra. She knew now that plans were no guarantee about how things would go, and that you couldn’t make the universe bend to your will.

Kyle’s gaze hadn’t wavered from her face. “Some people find it boring. Or too easy. It’s not very exciting around here.”

Hannah met his eyes directly too. She had known this guy all her life. Maybe more importantly, he knew her. Did she feel guilty about leaving and not coming back? Yes. But dammit, she’d learned a few things while she’d been gone. Things she was glad to have learned. Like how to not get so hung up on perfection and how not to take things for granted.

“I guess it depends on your definition of boring and easy and exciting.”

Kyle opened his mouth to reply, but just then Jerry got up from his chair to go the restroom. One of the other men gave him a hand up, almost automatically, as if he did it all the time. Within the first three steps, it was obvious that some things did change.

“Jerry had a stroke?” Hannah asked Kyle quietly.

Kyle glanced at Jerry and nodded. “About ten months ago.”

Jerry was a lifelong farmer, on and off farm machinery, lifting and carrying and pushing and pulling…even a moderate stroke would change his life, and from the way he was having to lift his leg to move his foot and not trip, this was a little more than moderate.

She swallowed as she watched him. “Is it hard?” she asked.

“His boys took over the farm but yeah, it’s hard for him to not be able to do all the things he loves.”

She shook her head and focused on Kyle. “Is it hard for you? To see people you’ve known your whole life aging and getting sick and going through things that change everything?” She knew she was treading close to a topic that was far too personal for her that she didn’t want to talk to Kyle about. But his answer mattered. A lot. Maybe Kyle had learned something about how life changed in spite of your best efforts sometimes, and that it was okay to adjust your plans.

“Of course,” he replied, keeping his voice low. “But it just makes me all the more determined to help things not change when I can.”

Right.

“Hey, Doc, what time are you and Butch going fishing next Saturday?” one of the men from the table called out.

“Early,” Kyle said. He glanced over at the men. “You want to come?”

“Thinkin’ about it.”

“Let me know. I’ve got Brady and Hunter coming over to collect night crawlers before that,” Kyle said.

“Will do.”

“You go fishing with these guys?” Hannah asked. “That’s new.” She liked thinking there were new things in Kyle’s life. Maybe things he hadn’t expected.

“I go because it’s the only way Butch will go,” Kyle said, lifting his cup.

“Why’s that?”

“He had a heart attack fishing last year. He was alone and he barely got the phone dialed before he passed out. Scared the shit out of him. Now he won’t leave the city limits without me.”

“You specifically?” she asked. “Not just any friend?”

Kyle shrugged. “I’m a doctor. I make him feel safe.”

That made some sense. But what she loved most was that Kyle was willing to do it. “But you don’t even have time to dig your own night crawlers. I think it’s sweet that you take time out to make sure Butch still gets to fish.”

He gave a half grin. “I could buy night crawlers at The Stop. Brady and Hunter are doing it for me because they owe me.”

She couldn’t help it. She was intrigued. She didn’t even know who Brady and Hunter were for sure, but she loved this peek into Kyle’s life. His happy life. She wanted him to be happy. Needed for him to be. “For what?” she asked, with her own smile in place.

“Well, technically because I loaned them money to buy their mom a birthday present,” he said. “But the purse they got her was like forty bucks. I don’t think they can dig that many night crawlers in a summer. But they feel like they’re paying me back. I’m actually doing it because I like that they’re spending time together doing stuff other than playing video games or watching TV. Brady’s about two years older than Hunter and has been hanging out more with his friends, and I know Hunter misses him.”

Hannah knew she was staring, but…wow. “Are you making this stuff up?” She glanced around. “Did you plant all of this?”

He lifted an eyebrow and looked around. “Plant what?”

“All these people who love you and who you help with all this stuff that’s so much beyond just being their doctor,” she said frankly. “This is a little…do-gooder, even for you, isn’t it?”

He frowned slightly, set his cup down, and leaned in. “You think I’m trying to impress you?”

She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. It just seems like…a lot.”

Kyle huffed out a laugh that didn’t sound particularly amused. “Well, this is my life. So yeah, it’s a lot. But I’d hate for my life to be anything but a lot.”

She looked at him for a long moment. The thing was, this wasn’t above and beyond the possibility for the man she knew.

He reached out and ran the pad of his finger over the back of her knuckles where she had her hands folded around her cup.

“I sure as hell hope your life is a lot,” he said, his voice a little lower. “Dammit. I really do hope that.” He looked a little pained by that admission.

“You’re not secretly wishing that my life is miserable in Seattle?” she asked.

“I probably should be. I guess no one would blame me,” he agreed. “But no. I would hate to think that anything short of amazing got you to stay out there.”

Hannah felt her chest tighten. There were lots of things about her life that she did like. But no, it wasn’t amazing. Not really. Some of the moments, the people, the things she did were. But overall, that was not why she’d stayed. But in that moment, she realized she couldn’t tell him that. No matter what had happened, or not happened, between her and Kyle, she knew it would hurt him to think she was less than incredibly happy. And even while that was sweet and made her feel humble, she also knew she couldn’t hurt him with the truth.

Just like after the accident had happened; she couldn’t have put that on him. Kyle fixed things. He took care of people. He couldn’t have fixed that for her. And he couldn’t have come to take care of her. So it would have only hurt him to know what had happened.

The stroking of his finger on her hand sank in at the same time she realized they were being watched. So, she pulled her cup away, removing her hand from his touch.

And she hated doing it. Very. Long. Six. Weeks.

“Hey, Larry,” Kyle said as Vi set their breakfasts in front of Kyle and Hannah.

“Yeah?”

“You know that elbow that’s been bugging you? Maybe you should ask Hannah about it.”

Hannah stopped unrolling her silverware from the napkin that Vi had set down. “What?”

“Oh, yeah? Albert said she had some ideas about his back.”

“Yeah,” Kyle said with a nod, shaking hot sauce over his eggs.

God, even that made Hannah feel nostalgic. And she thought hot sauce on eggs was disgusting.

“You wanna take a look?” Larry asked Hannah.

“I…um…” She sighed. If Kyle was going to keep doing this, she needed to tell him—all of them—the truth. “I’m happy to talk with you about what I do for pain,” she said. “But you should know that I’m not practicing PT.”

Larry chuckled. “Well, I hope you’re past the point of practicing.”

All the guys laughed with him. Kyle just rolled his eyes at her. That was possibly not a new joke. She smiled at the men. “I mean, I’m not a physical therapist.”

Man, she hadn’t said those words out loud very many times. They sounded very strange.

Kyle frowned. “What are you talking about?”

But she addressed the information to Larry. “A couple of years ago, I got very interested in treating chronic pain.” That was true enough. It was her chronic pain, but she’d definitely been interested in treating it. “I wanted to know what techniques could be used besides prescription drugs.” Because she’d been an addict who was trying to get clean while still suffering from the pain she needed the pills for. She thought it was okay to not share every detail. “So I found myself learning about massage therapy and essential oils—”

“Like what Hope does?” Levi asked.

For a second, Hannah was flustered by having Levi Spencer’s attention on her. That was ridiculous of course. He was one of the guys… Oh, who was she kidding? He was not just one of the guys. He was a minor celebrity and, okay, she was a little starstruck. She smiled, though she was sure she looked nervous. “Yes, I guess so. From what Kyle and Albert told me anyway. But I also practice acupuncture.”

“No way,” Levi said. “That’s amazing. Hope has done some massage stuff on me, but I’d love to try acupuncture. You setting up appointments? I have this spot in my shoulder blade that kills me sometimes,” he said, reaching behind his back as if to indicate the spot.

“You get that from rolling the die at the craps table or pulling the lever on the slot machines?” Conrad asked him with a huge toothy grin.

Levi laughed. “I think it’s from hoisting all those gold bars around in my money room.”

Conrad thought that was hilarious. “Yep, that’s probably it. I could come over and help you get rid of some of that.”

Levi clapped Conrad on the shoulder. “And you know that just makes me want to spray-paint a bunch of bricks gold for you to come over and haul them around for me.”

“Well, now I know they’re fake,” Conrad said. “I wouldn’t fall for that.”

“You would if I told you that one of them is real and you have to figure out which one.”

Hannah watched the exchange, torn between saying hell yeah to Levi coming over, taking his shirt off, and letting her work over his muscles, and saying hell no to the whole thing. The idea of sticking any of these people with needles made her jumpy.

“Hey,” Kyle said from across the table. He snapped his fingers in front of her. “Hey.”

She focused on him again. “Um, yeah?”

“You’re picturing Levi without a shirt on, aren’t you?”

She was pretty sure her blush confirmed it without her having to say a thing.

Kyle narrowed his eyes. He didn’t seem to find that funny. “You do acupuncture? Really?”

Oh, right, back to the big confession. She nodded. “I do. And massage. And yoga and meditation.”

“No PT?”

“Nope.”

“Because of the big pain research study you stayed out there for?”

“Right.” That had been part of it. Of course, she’d been one of the subjects of the study. They’d needed people with a narcotic addiction who were willing to try alternative pain-control techniques. She’d been treated with acupuncture and had been grateful ever since that it had worked for her. It was the best thing for managing her pain when it got bad. “I became fascinated with it when I saw what it could do.”

“And you just gave up on the PT?” Kyle looked pissed off.

She knew that he wouldn’t necessarily embrace the alternative medicines that she was passionate about, but why did he care? She wasn’t doing it here. And she wasn’t trying to convert anyone. He was the one who had told Larry to ask her about his pain. “Yes,” she said. She hadn’t given it up, exactly. She couldn’t do it anymore. But she couldn’t tell him that without going into all the details.

“I found something else I was passionate about,” she said.

It looked like he was gritting his teeth.

Levi Spencer suddenly slid into the booth beside her. Man, the guy even smelled amazing.

“So,” he said, giving her a big, charming grin. “Tell me more about the acupuncture. I’m intrigued.”

“I can’t imagine anything that you do that would actually cause a muscle strain,” Kyle said, frowning at the man.

“Oh, there’s lots of things,” Levi told him. “There’s writing checks. Making all those zeroes could technically be a repetitive-motion injury. Or there’s flying my private plane. That’s not as easy as I make it look. Or it might be shifting the gears in my Porsche,” he said thoughtfully.

“You’re an ass,” Kyle told him.

Levi grinned. “And you’re jealous. But don’t worry, I really do just want her to stick me with needles.”

“I’m going to tell Kate you’re flirting,” Kyle said.

Levi laughed. “Call her right now.” He shifted and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He hit the number one on his speed dial and then pressed the button for the speakerphone.

Hannah looked over at Kyle, but he just gave her an exasperated look.

A moment later a woman’s voice answered, “Hi, honey.”

“Babe, I’m at the diner,” Levi said.

“I’m shocked.”

“Hi, Katie!” a few of the guys called.

She laughed. “Morning, guys.”

“Hey, I was just calling to tell you that I’m being accused of flirting with another woman, but I don’t want you to worry.”

“If you were conscious and around another woman, I’d be concerned if you weren’t flirting. That’s the sign something is wrong.”

Levi grinned. “It’s actually mostly because it seems to be riling Dr. Ames up a bit.”

“Ah, yes, the trifecta—you’re conscious, there’s a woman, and it will irritate someone else if you do it. Of course you’re flirting.”

Hannah could swear she could hear Kate’s grin…and her eye roll.

“Oh, and she’s an acupuncturist, so she can stick needles in my sore shoulder,” Levi added. “That okay with you?”

“Honey, I’m just glad it’s not a jealous husband wanting to stick his fist in your face,” Kate said.

Levi nodded. “You’re the best.”

“I know.”

“See you later.”

Kate disconnected and Levi grinned at Kyle. “So, I have permission to get half-naked with Hannah. Are you okay with that?”

Kyle scowled at him. “Not even a little.”

He couldn’t have surprised her more. Hannah flashed Kyle a look, and then said to Levi, “Don’t worry about Kyle. We’re just friends.”

“That’s not what I hear,” Levi said.

“Oh?”

“I know the whole story.”

Hannah’s gaze flickered past him to the men perched around the center table, watching them. “Oh.” Yeah, he probably did.

“So.” Levi looked back and forth from her to Kyle. “This will be interesting.”

“I’m trying to talk Hannah into staying,” Kyle said, flashing her a look.

She read it loud and clear—no time like the present to put the plan into motion. Fine.

“But I have a life in Seattle,” she said. “So, while it’s great to be home to visit, I’ll be going back.”

“Well, we’ll see,” Kyle said.

And damn, that sounded real. Real enough for her stupid nipples to tingle anyway.

Levi was studying them both. He finally focused on Hannah. “As a guy who came to this town to visit for Christmas and now can’t imagine home being anywhere else, I think it will take a mighty strong something to pull you back to Seattle after being here again.” Then he glanced over at the older men. “Did you guys hear that? Mighty strong. I’m sounding more like you all the time.”

He got a thumbs-up, a couple of eye rolls, and several chuckles. While Hannah worked on not feeling like he’d just kicked her in the stomach. A mighty strong something? Like fear? Like weakness? Like not wanting to hurt anyone any further? She looked across the table at Kyle. He was watching her closely.

But there was something strong that would make her go back to Seattle at the end of this visit—the desire to do what she’d promised Kyle she would do. This time.

“Anyway, I actually came over to talk to you about Michael Kade and his new book,” Levi said.

“Oh?” That surprised her.

“I want to be in it. How can I go about that? Send him a gift? Offer him cash? Take him out for a drink?”

Hannah laughed. “You want to be in his book? Really?”

“Eccentric-playboy-millionaire-turned-small-town-philanthropist. I think that would be a great protagonist.”

“You know that he writes thrillers, right?” Hannah asked.

Levi’s eyes actually sparkled. “I know. I’m thinking I could be…a zombie.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Kyle muttered. He scooted to the edge of the booth. “I have to get back to the clinic.” He looked at Hannah. “You coming with me?”

Well, there was an eccentric-playboy-millionaire-turned-small-town-philanthropist blocking her way. For one thing. For another, she was supposed to be resisting Kyle. And that seemed like a really good idea.

She shook her head. “I think I’ll stick around and talk about zombie millionaires and acupuncture, actually.”

Kyle narrowed his eyes, then looked around the diner. “You all behave, okay?” he asked.

They all gave him wide-eyed innocent looks. He rolled his eyes.

“I’ll see you later,” he said to Hannah. And it seemed like there was a lot of meaning in those words.

The only problem was that she didn’t know if that meaning was fake, for the sake of the onlookers, or if he meant it.

No, that wasn’t the only problem. The other problem was that she didn’t know if she wanted it to be fake or for him to mean it.

Very. Long. Six. Weeks.