Page 94 of Paging Dr. Summers

“All right, last question.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “What is the one moment you had together that best captures who she was?”

I hadn’t expected that, and I admit I wasn’t sure how to answer. How did you define someone by one moment?

Brooke placed her hand on my arm. “I know this is a hard one, but I really want to love her because you do, and I thought this question would be the most helpful.”

Damn, how did I get so lucky to have two incredible women to love? I gazed into Brooke’s eyes, looking for the answer there, strangely knowing I would find it. She was looking for something that connected them. It took a moment, but the answer came.

“When I was a resident, there was one night—one of those brutal, never-ending shift nights. I was completely exhausted, and I had just lost a patient. I knew it was coming, but it still gutted me. Erica showed up at the hospital—unannounced—with coffee and food. She hardly said a thing, but she held my hand, just knowing I needed her. A lot like you tonight.”

Brooke’s eyes filled with moisture. “I love that,” she whispered.

“Me too.”

She leaned in, her lips hovering above mine, not saying a word for several moments. Her fingers traced lightly over my hand while our breaths synced.

Finally, she said, “Thank you for sharing her with me.”

I couldn’t believe she was the one thanking me. “It’s you who deserves all the credit. I didn’t even know I needed this. Thank you, Brooke.”

“You’re welcome.” Her lips brushed mine. “Now, let’s eat cake.”

I chuckled, but the moment didn’t escape my attention. The thought struck me that because the relationship Erica and I had, while not perfect, was good, it had made me want to love again. In her own way, she had led me to the woman in front of me.

Brooke handed me a fork, smiling, bordering on smirking. “You can eat dessert for Erica.”

I took the fork, holding Brooke’s gaze. “For Erica. And for you too.”

“OKAY, LADIES, NO PRESSURE, but this podcast episode has to be the most amazing one ever.” I gazed around the table at Eden, Lola, Camila, and Marianne. These women meant so much to me. So, when SoundWave said they were thinking of acquiring my podcast and bringing it under their umbrella—but wanted to see how well I would do with guests before making a final decision—I’d known exactly who to ask.

Eden and I had already planned something, and we would still do our episode, just the two of us. But I knew I needed all these women with me for this. I could feel my mom pushing me toward this idea, just like she had brought them all into my life.

The woman was a legend.

All the ladies laughed, but I knew they were taking this as seriously as I was.

“No pressure, right?” Eden chirped. “Just the fate of your career.”

“Exactly,” I said, grinning but feeling a tad sick.

Marianne leaned forward. “We believe in you, Brooke.” It was something my own mother would have said, but she would have added something like, “And even if you screw this up, I’ll believe in you even more.”

I swallowed, nodding. “Thank you.”

Marianne’s words, coupled with the ones from my mom in my head, made me even more determined to make this moment count. Iknew one of the reasons she’d sent me there was for this shot to make a career out of my podcast. Even if it meant that I accepted some help from Maxwell.

Honestly, she would probably like that too. She wanted him to be the man she’d fallen in love with. Jury was still out on whether he was. And ... there was the little matter that I needed this deal to go through so I could afford to stay in Aspen Lake. I think more than anything, Mom had wished that for me.

I could be an Aspen Lake girl, right? Logan sure thought so. Even Camila had tried to convince me to stay. She wanted to get to know her stepdaughter, her daughter’s sister. It meant the world to me. Once she’d started talking to her husband again, she’d offered to throw a party to introduce me to all their friends and associates in Aspen Lake.

It was very sweet, but I wasn’t ready to be Maxwell Harrington’s daughter yet. I wasn’t sure I ever would be. Besides, I already got plenty of stares whenever I went into town. Word about my parentage was getting around. To me, I would always be Roxanne Crawford’s daughter.

“All right,” Lola said, clapping her hands together. “Let’s do this. What’s first?”

I flipped through my notes, heart pounding with excitement. “First, I’ll do my intro and make a brief introduction of you all. Then I’ll announce the song and try to tie it into the theme of tonight’s episode. After that, we talk about life and play more music. And somewhere in between, we make magic.”

Logan slid behind me and kissed my cheek. He’d helped me set up all the equipment around his kitchen table, and, of course, he wanted to be there to cheer me on.

I mean, we were in love, after all. So in love.

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