Page 69 of The Doctor's Irreplaceable Love

“Thanks.”Emmett turned away quickly, and Trip let it go.Emmett wasn’t good at accepting help, and Trip was hoping that now the girls were older, he might open up a little—out of logistical necessity if nothing else.

“What about you, anyway?Janey was saying you brought Shelley to the MacFarland place for lunch yesterday.Are you going to be the next one to settle down and get married?”

Trip swallowed.He didn’t know how to even begin to answer that question.

Emmett tilted his head.“Is that a no?”

“To the getting married part, it is.I … you know my take on marriage.Once was more than enough for me.”

“Right, but what about the settling down part?From what I hear, Shelley’s good people—nothing like Katrina.”

“Yeah, she’s totally different.She’s easygoing and laid-back.”He let out a bitter laugh.“And unlike Katrina, she actually likes me.”

Emmett made a face.“I don’t want to talk badly about her; there must have been something between the two of you at one point—I just never understood what it was.”

“I wish I could tell you.If I had to come up with something, I’d say it was my ego.She was beautiful—at least on the outside.”

“Shelley’s a good-looking woman.”

Trip smiled.“She is.But the most important thing is that she’s beautiful on the inside.”

Emmett smiled back.“So, you can see yourself settling down with her even if you don’t want to marry her?”

“Yeah, I can.But I don’t even know yet if she plans to settle here in town—let alone with me.”

“You’d best get to work on that then, hadn’t you?Let her know you want her to stay.I know you; you’re probably waiting for her to make up her mind and tell you.”

“Kind of.”

“Well, if she were still here, my Emily would tell you the same thing she used to tell me—sometimes a woman needs to hear what’s in your heart because as smart as they are, they can’t read minds.Even when you think they can, they still need reassurance.”

Trip nodded slowly.“Thanks, bud.”

“Yeah.I don’t know where that came from.I don’t talk about her much anymore, but …”

“You can if you want to, you know.I’d be happy to meet up—or come over if you don’t want to leave the girls.We can have a beer and talk about Em.About anything you want.I miss her too, you know—we all do.”

Emmett glanced toward the theater building.“Maybe one of these nights I’ll come to you.I wouldn’t want to risk the girls overhearing.”

That puzzled Trip.He would’ve thought Alana and Tanya would love to hear about their mom—but what did he know?“Anytime you like, you come on over.If you want to bring the girls, they can come too.You know they used to love hanging out at the house—they could go through Mom’s closet while we talk out back.”

“Thanks, Trip.I think they might be a bit old for dressing up in your mom’s stuff now—but then again, maybe not.Maybe they’ll think all her gowns and things are retro cool or whatever it is they call it.But you don’t need the three of us descending on you—you’ve got Shelley now.”

“I don’t know about that.”He was more hopeful than he’d been—she’d actually said she’d love to stay, but … “But no matter what’s going to happen in the long term, she has a friend staying with her for the next couple of weeks, so she won’t be around as much anyway.”

He smiled.“You’d be doing me a favor if you want to come and hang out.”

Emmett smiled back.“In that case, I’ll have a chat with the girls—and if they don’t want to come, I’m sure they’ll be happy to get me out of the house for an evening.”His smile faded.“So they can get up to who knows what!”

~ ~ ~

Harper curled her legs up under her and turned on the sofa so that she was facing Shelley.

Shelley laughed when Harper raised her glass and said, “So tell me again why you’d even consider leaving this place.Trip’s gorgeous.The town is wonderful.I haven’t seen this valley that you talk about so much yet, but even from here, the mountains are beautiful.And then there’s Yellowstone right on your doorstep.”Harper took a sip of her wine.“I think I might take myself off down there tomorrow while you work.So, come on, Shelley-Bells.Tell me why you’d leave.Because I don’t understand it.I know you; you rarely do anything without good reason.So, what’s the reason you’d walk away from all this?”

Shelley blew out a sigh.“There’s no good reason for me to leave, is there?”

Harper shook her head emphatically.“Not a one.I mean, damn, girl, if you want to walk out on this life, I might just stick around and see if I can fit in where you left off.”