Page 142 of Summer with the Single Dad

Rolling his eyes as if to say he was bored with their conversation, he pressed his lips together into a thin line. “This is my one-time offer to forgive you for leaving, and for you to come home with me. We can pretend like nothing has happened. Go back to how we were. You can even have your ring back.”

For him to forgive her? For what exactly?

She was about to open her mouth and ask for clarification, but then realized she didn’t need it. She didn’t care. So instead, she simply smiled. “Thanks for the offer, Tad, but I’ve never been happier since arriving on the island. It’s exactly where I’m meant to be and Bennett is exactly who I’m meant to be with.” Even if it wasn’t for the long-term. “He makes me happy.” Her smile turned wistful, and she sighed. “I’ve been stuck on what to do next. Whether medicine is even my path anymore. But after today, I realize that I am a good doctor. I’m actually a better doctor than you are.”

He made a face like he’d just caught a whiff of three-day-old fish on a radiator.

“And I like interacting with people. Not just cutting. I want to help.”

“Uh … it’s impossible not to eavesdrop since I’m standing right here,” Ellie interjected. “But the hospital here just had a doctor leave to go fix cleft palates in Africa. I bet if you spoke with Dr. Malone, he’d offer you a job on the spot.”

Justine beamed at the woman, then turned her giant smile to Tad.

Puffing up his chest like a bird with brightly colored feathers but very little brains, Tad shook his head. “I can make it so nobody in Seattle will hire you.”

“Go for it,” she replied.

Then he took his bad attitude and cummerbund and turned around to leave, but he’d only taken four steps before somebody, Justine didn’t see who, accidentally knocked into him and he lost his footing, falling right into the koi pond.

Brooke snorted. Justine covered her mouth.

Not a lot of people knew this, but Tad was a massive germaphobe.

She left a thrashing and floundering Tad to be rescued by a spa employee, and headed back into the building to go and finally clean the blood off her face and hands, but as she turned the corner, she ran smack into a big, broad chest that smelled wonderfully familiar.

“Hello,” he said, grabbing her gently by the elbows.

Brooke winked at her as she passed by to the change room.

“H-hi,” she stammered.

He took in her bloody and disheveled appearance. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Nodding, Justine exhaled. “Yeah, a woman went into anaphylactic shock and I had to perform an emergency cricothyrotomy.”

His eyes flew open wide. “You did an emergency cric? Here? Just now?”

She nodded.

He raked his fingers through his hair, staring at her with what could only be described as awe. “I’ve seen emergency crics in the field when I was a marine, but … wow! How do you feel?”

She smiled. “Really good, actually. I didn’t choke. I didn’t panic. I saved that woman. I’m not meant to leave medicine, Bennett.”

“I overheard most of what Tad said, and what you said.”

She stared at the ground. “I’m okay if this is temporary, but know that somehow, I want to make it back here. I do want to live here. I wish that we weren’t temporary though. I’ve fallen in love with the island and with your girls.”

“Just the island and the girls?”

“Don’t you think it’s a little early to be making such strong statements to each other?”

His lips twisted in thought, but then, ultimately, he nodded. “You came here to the island seeking clarity. Seeking peace. And in doing that, you made me fall for you. It doesn’t make sense how fast it happened. We come from very different worlds. But I want you. I can’t breathe or think clearly without you anymore—and I don’t want to. You took my heart—and my girls’ hearts—and repaired them in ways I didn’t even know it was broken.” He laughed softly. “Which makes sense considering your profession.”

She smiled and hot tear pricked the back of her eyes.

He blew out a long, slow breath. “I came here to tell you that I’m wrong. I don’t want you to be temporary either. I want you to stay. I want this to work between us. And if I need to build another cabin for you, or ask guests to move into cabin five so you can have a different one, then I will. Or we’ll rent or buy you a trailer. But if this island … if this life, with the girls and me makes you happy, then I don’t want to take that away or crush your dreams. I had a dream too, one time. To move to the island and build a life for my family. I have no right to deprive you of the same dream.”

A throat cleared and Brooke reappeared in a new robe and clean hands. “Does everyone seem to forget that I’m, like, stupidly rich?”

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