“You think not?” he asked. “Well, maybe I can take you in groups of three, then.”

“Maybe,” she said, sitting at the table with him. “What is it you’re trying to say, Rawley? That you like to cook?”

“I always liked to, I just wasn’t sure of that before. And you make passable company.”

“Thank you. I think,” she said. “I’m not exactly looking for a man in my life. But there’s a thing or two you probably don’t know about me. I’ve been alone a very long time. My husband walked out when Gina was five years old and never bothered to drop a check in the mail. Not once. The next time he turned up, he turned up dead. Gina was around thirteen, I think. He never divorced us, but he did get himself a new family—a new wife and child. I’ve been in a bad mood about that ever since. Consequently, I don’t much trust men.”

“I don’t much, either,” he said. “But I do find I like to cook. I couldn’t leave Cooper. He’s perfectly useless on his own, and he does need me around. He’s talked a bit about hiring on some new help, but there’s no evidence he’s done anything about that. I wish he’d get on with it because I’m game to help him around the bar, but I’m not crazy about serving. And there ain’t nothing to cook there. Bear in mind, I have to be around those kids. I don’t know that anyone would see to it they get to go fishing if not for me.”

“That’s pretty obvious. But how many hours a day can one man work? Living in Elmore and all?”

“Well, that has come up as a problem,” Rawley said. “Cooper did offer up that apartment over the bar, but that wouldn’t be right. I think that place is the guesthouse now. But I’m looking for a change or two. I been in that bar five years now, and I don’t know if you noticed, it just keeps getting busier.”

“I noticed,” she said with a smile.

“I like it quiet.”

“And you’d like to cook.”

“I guess that’s right. I don’t mind stocking, cleaning, opening early, closing up. I like to get in a little fishing, work a little on the truck. I particularly like to cook with you. I hope that doesn’t put you off.”

She leaned back in her chair and smiled. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were making me a proposal of some kind.”

“Some kind, but what kind I can’t say.” He cleared his throat. “I wonder if we should keep cooking together. I can do the heavy lifting and make sure what cooking you need gets done.”

“And that’s all?” she asked.

“Ain’t that enough?” he asked.

She just chuckled and shook her head. “For the time being,” she said. “What am I paying you for that?”

“Can’t I just have all the good food I can handle?”

“You could stand a few pounds, I guess. And I can use the help.”

“The way I see it, Miss Carrie, you need the help, I need a little company, and who knows? Maybe I won’t live in Elmore forever.”

“Don’t get any ideas, Rawley Goode. I like living alone!”

And he flashed her a very handsome smile, showing off his false teeth. “I haven’t had a passable good idea in a hundred years, Miss Carrie.”

And so they left it at that. He wanted to work less at the bar, more in her catering kitchen and he liked her company.

A match made in heaven.

Twelve

Peyton quickly learned that the people of Thunder Point had their own ideas about what was and was not their business. Scott remained thoroughly professional on the job and completely respectable about demonstrations of affection in public when they weren’t on the job, but people still regarded them with twinkling eyes and sly smiles. When they went to the high school to provide athletic physical exams, she overheard one of the high school boys make a cute comment about “the doc’s new girl.” It made Peyton blush and Scott laugh.

“Come over to dinner tonight,” Scott said. “Let’s grab something from Carrie’s. I’m on call, but it will probably be quiet.”

“Famous last words,” she said.

“It’s okay. Gabby and Charles are on duty if I get called. They’re staying in tonight. We won’t see them unless I text her and tell her to come upstairs for the kids.”

“Does she have a whole apartment down there?”

“Close. No kitchen, but a little refrigerator, a microwave and lots of space. It’s a nice suite with a big bathroom. They’ll fix something to eat upstairs and then hide away, watch TV, whatever. If I’m on call, they have date night at home so Gabby can take care of the kids if I’m called out. She’s going to be irreplaceable.”

“How are you going to replace her?”

“For call-outs, with Devon and Spencer. Right now, Eve is willing to do a lot of babysitting during clinic hours. She’ll be in school full-time so I’ll have to get a backup sitter, but Devon has some ideas. She found a preschool-slash-day care for Mercy and Jenny, Will will be in school, and they have an after-school program for working parents. We’re ironing out the details. Devon was educated in early childhood development, and she’s the perfect person to find our next solution. Come over for dinner. When the kids go to bed, we can curl up on the couch and...talk.”

“You don’t want to talk!”

“I love to talk to you,” he said. “And do other things.”

Of course, she went. The four of them had spaghetti and meatballs from Carrie’s deli while Gabby and Charles had a pizza downstairs. When the kids were bathed and in bed, they curled up on the couch and made out like a couple of teenagers while Gabby and Charles were probably doing the same thing downstairs. “This is crazy,” she said. “Don’t you feel strange, making out up here while your babysitter is making out downstairs?”

“I feel young,” he said with a smile. “This is all I have to offer tonight. It’s Gabby’s night off, unless I’m called for an emergency. Tomorrow night she’s on, and I can come to your house. If you feel like company.”

Peyton toyed with the idea of saying no, that she needed a night off, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want a night off. And she was aware that their time together was running out. She might take that job in Seattle if it was just too good to pass up. But she knew that if he came to her house without the kids, they would do much more than talk. She might climb him like a tree. And she trembled at the thought.