Second Chance Pass (Virgin River #5)(20)

“You know Carol,” Tom laughed. “The sooner she can get you fixed up to her satisfaction, the less she has to worry you’ll fall for someone who makes his home in Florida. She always covers her bases. She’s on top of everything.” He put the baby in the crib. “How’d he do on the trip?”

“Great. He’s a good little traveler.”

“How’s my man Paul?”

“Good. I keep begging him to come back here, but he won’t commit. Hey, how was your weekend?”

He ducked his head. “Nice,” he said. “We watched a movie.”

“You seem pretty relaxed,” she said, smiling.

“I’m not telling you anything,” he said.

“That’s okay, buddy. But everything around here was all right while we were gone?”

“Yeah.” He left her bedroom. Then he stuck his head back into the doorway and said, “Know what I said about wishing I’d had a big brother? I take it back.” Then he disappeared.

Three

L ess than a week after visiting Grants Pass, Vanessa opened the front door of her father’s house to find Cameron Michaels standing on the stoop. “Well, hey,” she said, surprised.

“Hey,” he said, showing her that sexy, dimpled grin. “I decided to have a look at this little town, see what all the fuss is about.”

“No kidding? You should’ve called. We could have made some plans together.”

“Is it too late for that? Because all I was going to do is drive around the area. Maybe drop into that bar you and Paul were raving about. If you’re not too busy…”

“Kind of far to come for just a look around…”

He shrugged. “I have a couple of days off in a row, which I pay for by being on call all weekend, and I thought, what the heck? It’s worth a shot. It was a very last minute idea.”

She lifted one brow and folded her arms over her chest. “You didn’t have any trouble finding the house.”

He had the grace to laugh a little and avert his eyes, caught. “Carol,” he said.

“Look, you should understand something. I respect my mother-in-law, but she can be a little pushy and—”

He put a hand on her arm to stop her. “Hey, Vanni—I asked her. And I didn’t call on purpose. I didn’t want to give you time to think of an excuse. I thought if I popped in unannounced, you might just cave in. Spend a couple of hours with me. You can punish me for bad manners later.”

She smiled at him. “I look forward to it.”

“So, do you have a little time?” he asked.

“It’s not as though I’m busy, but I have a baby who still nurses a lot.”

He tilted his head and grinned. “I’m pretty comfortable around babies.”

“Yeah. You would be, huh. Well, come on in.”

He stepped inside and looked around. “Wow,” he said. “What a great place. From the outside it looks like just an ordinary house.”

“My dad had the inside completely gutted and remodeled while he was serving his last tour in the Army. Last summer he and my brother Tommy came out and I joined them in the fall.” She walked into the great room and found her boots sitting by the chair. She sat down to pull them on while Cameron went to the window and looked out at the stable, corral and pasture. “Do you ride?” she asked.

“I did years ago. I haven’t been on a horse since I was a teenager.”

“Do you like horses?”

“I have great respect for horses. The last time I was near one, he stepped on my foot. Broke it.”

“Yeah, they should beep when they back up. You have to be alert.” She stood and smoothed her jeans. “Mattie is due to wake up any second. I can feed him, change him, beg him to behave and we could take a little run around Virgin River. How’s that sound?”

“Like just what I was hoping for.”

“You’re very presumptuous, you know,” she said, but she smiled.

He smiled right back. Confident. “You’re very beautiful, you know.”

She felt her cheeks grow instantly warm. “Help yourself to something to drink from the kitchen. I’ll see about the baby.”

“Take your time. Put him in a good mood.”

Forty-five minutes later they were underway in Walt’s big Tahoe. Cameron had come to Virgin River in a Porsche and there was no room in it for a car seat. She drove him out Highway 299, through the redwoods, then out to sit at the Virgin River where there were only a couple of anglers, it not being the best time of year for fishing. She explained the seasonal sports—fly-fishing in the summer, salmon in fall and winter was best, bear and deer hunting season from September through October, waterfowl hunting season October to January. Forest fire season from June through October. In summer the hikers and campers were all over the place.

While they were looking at the sights she learned that Cameron hailed from Portland, went to undergrad and medical school at Stanford and had parents, one brother and one sister in Portland, both married with kids. He did his residency in family medicine, then decided pediatrics was his first love. “I’ve disappointed my parents in the area of grandchildren, but I don’t think they should be so quick to write me off.”

“Certainly not,” she said. “Mel, my midwife, and her husband, Jack, didn’t marry until he was forty—and they’re expecting their second now. Jack says each one makes him feel younger. Mel frowns at him when he says that. I think the babies are a little closer together than she likes.”