Page 8 of The Doctor's Irreplaceable Love

When he came back from the kitchen with the decanter, she gave him a puzzled look.

“I thought that was empty.”

He chuckled.“It was.I figured we might both want another glass, so I refilled it.”

He sat back down beside her and filled her glass.

“Thanks.”

“Do you want anything else?Any munchies or anything?”

“Want?Yes.I’d love one of those sundaes I spied in the freezer.But…” She sighed.“I couldn’t.I ate too much already.”

“I know the feeling.I was thinking the same thing.We can have them tomorrow.”

He frowned.What was he talking about?Tomorrow?It wasn’t as though she was here for the weekend.She was just staying over so that she could have a drink.

He was relieved when she laughed off his mistake.

“Are you suggesting that we should have sundaes for breakfast?”

He shrugged.“We could.There’s so much food in there that we can have whatever we like.Although, I’m more of a bacon-and-eggs-for-breakfast guy.”

She smiled.“Me too.And I’ll bet that’s one thing Maisie hasn’t left ready for you.So how about I make bacon and eggs in the morning?Let me at least feel like I’m pulling my weight.”

“It sounds like a plan to me, if you want to do that.”

She nodded and took a sip of her wine.“I do.”She stuck her tongue out at him.“Now, would you be quiet and let me watch the movie?”

He laughed and settled back into his seat.“Well, excuse the fuck out of me.I guess you’re really not just watching it to humor me, are you?”

She gave him a mock frown.“I amnot, and if you keep talking over it, I’m going to have to rewind a bit.”

He laughed and pretended to zip up his lips.After that, they sat mostly in silence apart from the occasional laugh.

It made something clear to him, one of the reasons why he enjoyed her company so much; she wasn’t a big talker.

Well… maybe that wasn’t the right way to say it.They’d had some great conversations, but she didn’tneedto talk all the time.

He scowled when he realized he was comparing her to Katrina.Katrina liked to talk.

All the time.

She used to exhaust him.

He didn’t know why he was even thinking about her.She was long gone, and he was well rid of her.

He glanced over at Shelley again.She was divorced, too.She hadn’t told him much about her marriage or her husband.She didn’t seem to hold any bitterness, though.From the way she’d explained it to him, she’d burned out in her old career as a lawyer.

He admired the way she’d chosen to live since then.The way she told it, she’d hit a wall in her career.And when she faced that, she’d also had to face the fact that her marriage was over.

The way she dealt with it sounded perfectly reasonable to him.Instead of sticking around to carry out a post-mortem on her old life, she’d packed a single suitcase, climbed into her car, and headed out.If he understood correctly, that had been a couple of years ago now.

She’d been living as something of a nomad.When she left Pennsylvania, she’d headed down to Florida and spent a couple of months by the beach, decompressing.From there, she’d worked her way across the country, stopping in whatever town suited her for as long as she wanted to.

He could see the appeal in living life that way.Although just because he found the idea appealing didn’t mean he’d consider it for himself.

He was happy here.The valley was his home.Sure, he’d been gone for years while he was in the Navy, but he’d always planned to come home.

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