How to Marry a Doctor (Celebrations, Inc.)

by Nancy Robards Thompson

  The way she felt right now was proof-positive that she needed distance. She didn’t want to hate him. The only way she could stop that or any more damage from happening was to let her wounds heal. Right now, contact with Jake only tore them deeper.

  She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She centered herself by reminding herself that the hapless, nameless man who should be waiting for her in the bar would not bear the brunt of her sorrow.

  The floor-to-ceiling doors that opened onto the sidewalk in front of the bar were open. A few of the outside bistro tables were occupied, but nobody looked as if he might be waiting for a blind date. Anna circumvented the hostess stand, where Emily would be if she was indeed working tonight, and entered the bar via the open sidewalk doors.

  The bar was virtually empty, save for a man and a woman making eyes at each other at a cozy corner table and four middle-aged women who occupied a four-top. Okay, so he wasn’t an early bird. She pushed the button on her phone: six forty-six. Their reservation wasn’t until seven. So technically she was early...as Jake had suggested.

  What if her mystery date didn’t show until seven?

  So not only was it an inconvenience, it was awkward.

  Now what?

  Anna turned in a circle for one more look to make sure she hadn’t inadvertently missed him. She hadn’t. Great.

  She decided to sit at the bar and order a cup of tea—chamomile tea. She couldn’t drink coffee because that was too much caffeine too late in the day, and she was already wound up as it was. She certainly didn’t want to order a glass of wine because that would send the wrong message. When the guy arrived, she would simply tell him there had been a miscommunication and she had to leave at seven o’clock.

  If she were thinking about Jake, she would want to strangle him. But she wasn’t thinking about him. Nope, not at all. He was the furthest person from her mind.

  The bartender had just brought her tea—she felt a little silly sitting at a bar drinking chamomile tea...but who cared? The bartender had just placed it in front of her when she heard Emily say, “Oh, my gosh, there you are. How did I not see you when you passed the hostess stand?”

  That was an odd choice of words.

  “How did you know I’d be here to even walk past the hostess stand?”

  Emily opened her mouth to say something but then closed it quickly and glanced up at the ceiling, before she said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I have something to show you, so come with me.”

  “What? No, Emily. I’m meeting somebody and, well, it’s a long story, but this is not a good time. I just got my tea, and you know if I step away for even a second, my date will arrive.”

  “Hey, Porter,” Emily said to the bartender, “watch my sister’s tea for her, okay? If someone shows up looking for her, tell him she’ll be right back.”

  Emily winked at him. She actually winked. But that wasn’t the only thing that was odd. First of all, she hadn’t said anything about Anna being on a date tonight after she’d had to come rescue her last night, and completely let slide the fact that Anna was drinking chamomile tea at a bar. God, the mileage she could’ve gotten out of that one.

  Instead, she was all but pulling Anna off the bar stool and herding her toward the dining room.

  Then the cherry on top of all the prior weirdness happened when Emily stopped suddenly and turned to her. “Look, don’t be difficult tonight.” She looked deadly serious. “Just go with this. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

  “What?”

  Emily gave an exasperated shake of her head and continued leading Anna out of the bar, across the entry and into the dining room.

  What the heck was Anna supposed to say to a warning like that? When Emily got serious, which wasn’t very often, she always meant business.

  So what was going on?

  Whatever it was, Anna decided to heed her sister’s advice and just go with it.

  Emily paused in front of the door to the private dining room. It was closed, but the room was partitioned by a wall with dark wood wainscoting on the bottom and leaded, beveled glass on top. The glass was fogged to give the diners privacy. Anna could see a flickering light coming from the other side, but she couldn’t see who was inside.

  The sudden frightening thought that the mystery man was somehow in cahoots with Jake—and had gotten her sister involved to trick her into having dinner—nearly had her hyperventilating.

  Well, she wouldn’t stay. He couldn’t make her. And neither could Jake.

  Fifteen-minute rules still applied, and she pulled out her phone, clicked the button and saw that the guy had exactly five minutes.

  He can always take home a doggie bag. Give her meal to Jake, the louse. She’d made it perfectly clear she would only stay for fifteen minutes and then they’d agreed that Jake would never fix her up on a blind date again.

  Would he really go to these lengths to win this absurd bet between them?

  Anna didn’t have time to ponder it because all of a sudden Emily threw her arms around her and said, “I am so happy for you.”

  Then she opened the door to the private dining room, grabbed her hand and tugged her inside.

  It took a moment for Anna to register what was happening because the room was filled with red roses and candlelight and Jake was there and he was thanking her sister...for her help?

  Then, after Emily left the room and shut the door behind her, he said, “God, you can be so difficult sometimes. I thought you weren’t going to come.”

  “What are you doing? Jake, what’s going on?”

  They were the only two in the room. There was no mystery man and now Jake was reaching for her hand.

  “I’ve tried twice now to tell you something important, but we keep getting interrupted. So, I figured I needed to go to drastic measures to get you alone.

  “Anna, I’m your date. I’m the one. You’re the one. That has become so clear to me since you’ve been back in Celebration. I guess sometimes it takes a lifetime to see that the love of your life has been right in front of you all along.”

  A peculiar humming began sounding in Anna’s ears and her knees threatened to buckle beneath her. Was this really happening?

  “I lost you once to a man who didn’t deserve you, and I’d be an idiot to let you get away again.”

  Was he saying he wanted a commitment? But Jake didn’t, not the kind she needed.

  But maybe she needed to stop overthinking it. Stop making everything so blasted heavy and just go with it.

  She loved him. She’d been in love with him her entire life. So what was the problem? Marriage hadn’t given her the happily-ever-after she’d expected. So, just—

  But then Jake was down on one knee and he had a small black box in his hand.

  “I love you, Anna. I don’t want another day to go by that I don’t wake up and see your face first thing when I open my eyes. Will you do me the honor of being my wife and building a family with me? If you say yes, I promise I will make sure you have no regrets.”

  With tears streaming down her face, Anna was so choked up that all she could do was nod, but that was enough of a go-ahead for Jake—her mystery man, the last man she’d ever date, the one man she’d spend the rest of her life with—to take the ring from the box and slip it on her finger.

  The gorgeous, classic round diamond sparkled in the candlelight as if it were celebrating with them. The sight of it on her finger and her hand in Jake’s was instantly sobering.

  “I love you so much,” she said.

  He pulled her into a deep kiss, the magic of which was only interrupted by Emily’s voice. “So, I gather she said yes?”

  Tears glinted in her sister’s eyes.

  “I did. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

  Emily put her hands on her hips. “Sorry, but I have to ask. If you two are marrying each other, who won the crazy bet?”

  “We both did,” Anna and Jake answered together.

&nbs
p; * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from REDEMPTION BAY by RaeAnne Thayne.

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  SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM

  McKenzie Shaw works harder than anyone as the

  mayor of her hometown, Haven Point. But all of her hard work might be for nothing when her long-ago crush, Ben Kilpatrick, shows up again, about to wreak havoc in Haven Point—and on McKenzie’s heart.

  Read on for a sneak preview of

  REDEMPTION BAY,

  the latest book in New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne’s heartwarming series,

  HAVEN POINT.

  On sale now!

  Redemption Bay

  by RaeAnne Thayne

  CHAPTER ONE

  THIS WAS HER favorite kind of Haven Point evening. Mckenzie Shaw locked the front door of her shop, Point Made Flowers and Gifts. The day had been long and hectic, filled with customers and orders, which was wonderful, but also plenty of unavoidable mayoral business.

  She was tired and wanted to stretch out on the terrace or her beloved swing, with her feet up and something cool at her elbow. The image beckoned but the sweetness of the view in front of her made her pause.

  “Hold on,” she said to Paprika, her cinnamon standard poodle. The dog gave her a long-suffering look but settled next to the bench in front of the store.

  McKenzie sat and reached a hand down to pet Rika’s curly hair. A few sailboats cut through the stunning blue waters of Lake Haven, silvery and bright in the fading light, with the rugged, snowcapped mountains as a backdrop.

  She didn’t stop nearly often enough to soak in the beautiful view or enjoy the June evening air, tart and clean from the mighty fir and pines growing in abundance around the lake.

  A tourist couple walked past holding hands and eating gelato cones from Carmela’s, their hair backlit into golden halos by the setting sun. From a short distance away, she could hear children laughing and shrieking as they played on the beach at the city park, and the alluring scent of grilling steak somewhere close by made her stomach grumble.

  She loved every season here on the lake but the magnificent Haven Point summers were her favorite—especially lazy summer evenings filled with long shadows and spectacular sunsets.

  Kayaking on the lake, watching children swim out to the floating docks, seeing old-timers in ancient boats casting gossamer lines out across the water. It was all part of the magic of Haven Point’s short summer season.

  The town heavily depended on the influx of tourists during the summer, though it didn’t come close to the crowds enjoyed by their larger city to the north, Shelter Springs—especially since the Haven Point Inn burned down just before Christmas and had yet to be rebuilt.

  Shelter Springs had more available lodging, more restaurants, more shopping—as well as more problems with parking, traffic congestion and crime, she reminded herself.

  “Evening, Mayor,” Mike Bailey called, waving as he rumbled past the store in the gorgeous old blue ’57 Chevy pickup he’d restored.

  She waved back, then nodded to Luis Ayala, locking up his insurance agency across the street.

  A soft, warm feeling of contentment seeped through her. This was her town, these were her people. She was part of it, just like the Redemption Mountains across the lake. She had fought to earn that sense of belonging since the day she showed up, a lost, grieving, bewildered girl.

  She had worked hard to earn the respect of her friends and neighbors. The chance to serve as the mayor had never been something she sought but she had accepted the challenge willingly. It wasn’t about power or influence—not that one could find much of either in a small town like Haven Point. She simply wanted to do anything she could to make a difference in her community. She wanted to think she was serving with honor and dignity, but she was fully aware there were plenty in town who might disagree.

  Her stomach growled, louder this time. That steak smelled as if it was charred to perfection. Too bad she didn’t know who was grilling it or she might just stop by to say hello. McKenzie was briefly tempted to stop in at Serrano’s or even grab a gelato of her own at Carmela’s—stracciatella, her particular favorite—but she decided she would be better off taking Rika home.

  “Come on, girl. Let’s go.”

  The dog jumped to her feet, all eager, lanky grace, and McKenzie gripped the leash and headed off.

  She lived not quite a mile from her shop downtown and she and Rika both looked forward all day to this evening walk along the trail that circled the lake.

  As she walked, she waved at people walking, biking, driving, even boating past when the shoreline came into view. It was quite a workout for her arm but she didn’t mind. Each wave was another reminder that this was her town and she loved it.

  “Let’s grill some chicken when we get home,” she said aloud to Rika, whose tongue lolled out with appropriate enthusiasm.

  Talking to her dog again. Not a good sign but she decided it was too beautiful an evening to worry about her decided lack of any social life to speak of. Town council meetings absolutely didn’t count.

  * * *

  WHEN SHE REACHED her lakeside house, however, she discovered a luxury SUV with California plates in the driveway of the house next to hers, with boat trailer and gleaming wooden boat attached.

  Great.

  Apparently someone had rented the Sloane house.

  Normally she would be excited about new neighbors but in this case, she knew the tenants would only be temporary. Since moving to Shelter Springs, Carole Sloane-Hall had been renting out the house she’d received as a settlement in her divorce for a furnished vacation rental. Sometimes people stayed for a week or two, sometimes only a few days.

  It was a lovely home, probably one of the most luxurious lakefront rentals within the city limits. Though not large, it had huge windows overlooking the lake, a wide flagstone terrace and a semiprivate boat dock—which, unfortunately, was shared between McKenzie’s own property and Carole’s rental house.

  She wouldn’t let it spoil her evening, she told herself. Usually the renters were very nice people, quiet and polite. She generally tried to act as friendly and welcoming as possible.

  It wouldn’t bother her at all except the two properties had virtually an open backyard because both needed access to the shared dock, with only some landscaping between the houses that ended several yards from the high watermark. Sometimes she found the lack of privacy a little disconcerting, with strangers temporarily living next door, but Carole assured her she planned to put the house on the market at the end of the summer. With everything else McKenzie had to worry about, she had relegated the vacation rental situation next door to a distant corner of her brain.

  New neighbors or not, though, she still adored her own house. She had purchased it two years earlier and still felt a little rush of excitement when she unlocked the front door and walked over the threshold.

  Over those two years, she had worked hard to make it her own, sprucing it up with new paint, taking down a few walls and adding one in a better spot. The biggest expense had been for the renovated master bath, which now contained a huge claw-foot tub, and the new kitchen with warm travertine countertops and the intricately tiled backsplash she had done
herself.

  This was hers and she loved every inch of it, almost more than she loved her little store downtown.

  She walked through to the back door and let Rika off her leash. Though the yard was only fenced on one side, just as the Sloane house was fenced on the corresponding outer property edge, Rika was well trained and never left the yard.

  Her cell phone rang as she was throwing together a quick lemon-tarragon marinade for the chicken.

  Some days, she wanted to grab her kayak, paddle out to the middle of Lake Haven—where it was rumored to be so deep, the bottom had never been truly charted—and toss the stupid thing overboard.

  This time when she saw the caller ID, she smiled, wiped her hands on a dish towel and quickly answered. “Hey, Devin.”

  “Hey, sis. I can’t believe you’re holding out on me! Come on. Doesn’t your favorite sister get to be among the first to hear?”

  She tucked the phone in her shoulder and returned to cutting the lemon for the marinade as she mentally reviewed her day for anything spill-worthy to her sister.

  The store had been busy enough. She had busted the doddering and not-quite-right Mrs. Anglesey for trying to walk out of the store without paying for the pretty hand-beaded bracelet she tried on when she came into the store with her daughter.

  But that sort of thing was a fairly regular occurrence whenever Beth and her mother came into the store and was handled easily enough, with flustered apologies from Beth and that baffled “what did I do wrong?” look from poor Mrs. Anglesey.

  She didn’t think Devin would be particularly interested in that or the great commission she’d earned by selling one of the beautiful carved horses an artist friend made in the woodshop behind his house to a tourist from Maine.

  And then there was the pleasant encounter with Mr. Twitchell, but she doubted that was what her sister meant.

  “Sorry. You lost me somewhere. I can’t think of any news I have worth sharing.”