2. Prescription For Love

“Is that what you’re looking for? A romantic?” Flann asked. For some strange reason, Abby’s assumption she wasn’t capable of romance bothered her. Not that she’d ever considered herself romantic or had been looking for romance. Far from it. But Abby’s quick dismissal rankled. Abby frowned. “How did we get from your love of the city life to my love life?” “Natural progression.”

“This is my turn, isn’t it?” Abby frowned, feeling oddly displaced. The countryside looked practically foreign despite the bright sunshine and clear skies. She’d traveled the road barely twentyfour hours before, but subtle changes in the landscape, as if someone had rearranged familiar pieces on a chessboard while she hadn’t been looking, left her uneasy and wary. Even the discussion with Flann had started out innocently and veered into areas she’d rather not discuss, areas she’d rather not even think about.

“Yes—turn right.”

Abby signaled and turned in to the drive leading to Presley’s, hoping to derail the strange turn in the conversation. Her personal life was barely existent, and romance had never been on the horizon. She’d been a mother before she’d barely had a chance to date other women. Oh, she’d been tempted now and then during medical school and after to do more than casually date, but there’d just never been time. She’d hardly had the energy to maintain the grueling training schedule while helping to raise Blake. Personal relationships weren’t even a consideration. “I’m not in the market for romance.”

“Is there someone back in the city, then?” Flann asked, a tightness in her voice that sounded almost like anger. “A trail of broken hearts?”

“No,” Abby said, “nothing dramatic at all. I’ve been a little busy the past few years, so

nothing serious.” She wasn’t about to admit to nothing at all. Really, how pathetic would that seem? “Blake is fifteen, isn’t he?” “Almost sixteen,” Abby said.

“So in sixteen years, nothing serious?”

Abby looked away from the road long enough to meet Flann’s questioning gaze. “That’s a little personal.”

“I know.” Flann didn’t sound the least bit apologetic.

Clearly, Flannery Rivers would not be put off when she wanted something. Abby had never run into anyone who probed beneath the surface of her personal shields with such unabashed arrogance and persistence. She ought to be irritated. She was irritated, but more with herself than Flann. Irritated because she didn’t want to keep her shields up. Protecting herself, protecting her privacy, protecting Blake’s privacy, was exhausting. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d let anyone see the needs and hopes and desires she harbored beneath the surface. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d thought of them herself. Maybe the last time she and Presley had talked, really talked, before Abby had gone off to medical school and Presley had left to pursue the life her family had raised her to live.

“You first,” Abby said, thinking a reversal might dissuade Flann from probing any further. “What are you looking for?”

“That’s easy. Someone smart, adventurous, with her life together, and no serious aspirations.”

Abby nodded wryly. Why was she disappointed? “A good-time girl.”

“More or less. I’d prefer she’d only be having a good time with me.”

Abby raised a brow as she pulled up in front of Presley’s house. “Fun for how long?”

Flann grinned. “Until we aren’t having fun anymore.”

“For how long?” Abby shut off the engine and turned to face her. “For how long will it be just fun?”

Flann’s grin disappeared and a muscle jumped along her jaw. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’m cut out for anything else.”

“I’m not sure I believe that,” Abby said quietly.

“You should. Your turn,” Flann said just as quietly.

Abby shrugged. “I used to think, a long time ago, I’d have a traditional family—spouse, couple of kids, a comfortable house, a few animals. And my career, of course.”

“2.5 kids, station wagon, and a house in the suburbs?”

“Not exactly. I grew up in the suburbs, but my grandparents had a place in the Adirondacks. Ten acres on a lake. I’m not looking for a lake, but I’d like to have a place where the neighbors aren’t too close, where my children

where Blake can have a dog and we wouldn’t have to worry about traffic.” Abby laughed. “Maybe even a few chickens.”

Flann laughed too. “You said you used to think that. You don’t anymore?”

“Tell me about your mother,” Abby said. She didn’t want to talk about herself anymore. She didn’t want to think about a relationship, and even if she did, Flann wasn’t the person she wanted to share her dreams with.

“My mother?” Flann’s voice held a note of surprise and affection. “She’s

she’s amazing. If it weren’t for her, I don’t know how any of us would’ve turned out, really.”

“What about your dad? From what I understand, everyone at the hospital thinks he’s close to God.”