Page 16 of When You Blush

Besides, it feels good to be back. I missed the mountains and everything familiar to me. I was ready. And I refuse to stay away from myhomesimply because a man I once had the best sex of my life with also lives here.

I’m an adult. I can handle this.

“You’re going to kill it.”

I glance at my best friend. “What’s that?”

“I think you’re quiet because you’re nervous, but you don’t need to be. You’re thebest, Harpsichord. The best baby nurse ever. The hospital is lucky to have you.”

“I love that you’re so good at being a best friend.” I pull her in and give her a smacking kiss on the cheek. “What do you have going on today?”

“Clients, meetings with a couple of contractors. The usual.” She lifts a shoulder. “Then I’m coming over here tonight with some vodka and olives, and we’re going topour us some dirty martinis and talk about your first day.”

“Deal.” I grin and grab my coffee, my sack lunch and purse, and we leave Xander’s house, lock the door, and head for Ava’s pretty little Lexus. “Thanks for the ride, by the way. I’ll buy something sooner or later.”

“You could drive Xander’s car,” she reminds me as she fires up the engine.

“He drives aMaserati,” I remind her. “No way. With my luck, I’ll get in a fender bender that costs more to fix than I make in a year.”

She smirks at that as we pull away from the house and toward the highway that leads us to Bitterroot Valley.

Silver Springs is a neighboring town, less than thirty minutes away, and Xander lives roughly halfway between the two towns, so it’s extra convenient for me to live at his place. Much less of a commute this way.

And Ava’s office is in Bitterroot Valley too, so I’m on her way to work.

Super handy.

“When do you start the night shift?” she asks.

“I have three days of days, three days off, then four nights on, then two days off. That repeats. I’ll be a zombie, but it’s fine. I don’t mind the night shift. I’ll do my best to have a car by then, though, because there is no world where you should have to get up at, like, five to pick me up from work.”

She nods and reaches over to pat my leg. “Thank you. Not just for the car thing, but for coming home when I told you I needed you.”

“You should have told me months ago. I’m your family, Aves. If you need me, I come home. That’s the rule.”

She lets out a gusty breath. “Well, there wasn’t a position open at the hospital that you’d want.”

“Are you telling me that you kept an eye on thewant adsso you could talk me into moving home?”

“I’m notnottelling you that.” She laughs and puts on her blinker to turn into the parking lot. “What will you do if you run into Dr. Big Dick?”

I choke on the coffee I just sipped and do my best not to spill all over myself.

“Ava!”

“What? It’s an honest question.”

Ava’s the only one in the world who knows what happened last Thanksgiving, five months ago. As soon as I walked into her condo, she started drilling me because she said I hadfreshly fuckedwritten all over my face.

“I’ll say hello. I don’t know. I’m trying not to think about it. Besides, he’s in the ER, and he works in his clinic. We’re in separate parts of the hospital. I probably won’t run into him.”

“Famous last words,” she mutters, then smiles sweetly. “For what it’s worth, I hear the Blackwell family is nice. Tucker knows their oldest brother, Brooks.”

Of course, he does.

Because this is a tiny community, and we were destined to have some overlap somewhere.

“How does your brother know his brother?”