The Billionaire's Matchmaker(49)

When he walked into the exam room, he was all business. No intimate glances, no fleeting caresses. After offering a polite smile and the standard greeting, he said, “So, what brings you and Charlie here today? He hasn’t eaten any more undergarments, I hope.”

“No.” Her laughter was strained, laced with nerves. She could only hope Gid hadn’t noticed. “But he seems a little less, well, hyper than usual. Do you think anything could still be in his system?”

Gid studied her a moment before giving the dog his full attention. “Has he been going to the bathroom on a regular basis?”

“Yes.”

“Any more vomiting?”

“No.”

“How has his appetite been?”

“Good. The same as before, I guess.”

Gid palpated the dog’s stomach, after which he gave Charlie a playful rubdown and declared, “Everything feels normal. I don’t detect any hard spots in his abdomen. I really don’t think there’s any need for another X-ray at this point since he’s eating and voiding as usual.”

“Oh, okay. I just wanted to be sure.”

Finally, Gid met her eye again. “Playing it safe?” he asked, leaving her to wonder if he meant with the dog or with him. When she said nothing, he asked, “So, when are Marney and Dell due back?”

“This afternoon. The house is going to be quiet tonight,” she remarked before she could think better of it.

“Are you going to miss him?”

“I am.”

“Nothing worse than a quiet house.”

She nodded, not sure of the proper response.

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his white lab coat. “I’m here till seven tonight finishing up some paperwork. I could stop by Luigi’s and bring you a pizza on my way home from the clinic,” he said.

She swallowed. “You would do that?”

“I would.”

“Thin crust?”

“If that’s what you prefer.”

Gid, a born and raised Chicagoan, naturally was a deep dish guy when it came to his pizza. Thin crust was for New Yorkers, or so he’d claimed the first time Mia had ordered it while they were on a date.

“You’ve always been so good at compromising,” she murmured. And wasn’t that true? Her heart squeezed.

“Thin crust.” He shrugged. “It’s a small sacrifice to make.”

Yes, but they both knew he’d been willing to make much bigger ones where Mia was concerned. California. A dream job at a state-of-the-art facility attached to one of the most renowned schools of veterinary medicine in the country. And a position on its faculty.

Gid’s eyes had lit with excitement when he’d told her the details of the job offer the previous summer, even if he’d tried to feign indifference when she’d asked if he was going to take it.

“Nah. It’s nice to be asked, but I’ve got everything I want right here.” He’d pulled her close, kissed her breathless.


He’d been willing to stay in the small Midwestern town where Mia had made friends who were her only family and had begun to sink down roots for the first time in her life. He’d never wavered in his decision until after she’d broken off their relationship. She’d been the one with all of the doubts.

Her heart squeezed again, this time painfully. “You know, deep dish sounds good to me.”

He blinked in surprise. “Since when?”

She lifted her shoulders. She had no rationale to offer. Compromise didn’t come as easily for her as it did for him. Her smile trembled.

“It just does.”

…

“Something’s different about you,” Marney declared the moment she walked through the cottage’s door.

“I’m wearing makeup,” Mia deadpanned.

“So, I see. But that’s not it.” Marney tossed her dark curls over her shoulder and tapped her lips. “You look…happy.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Seriously. There’s a twinkle back in your eyes, almost like you…Oh, my God!”

Mia turned away, but Marney wasn’t letting her off the hook.

“You had sex.”

Charlie barked, as if responding to Marney’s statement.

Rather than deny it, Mia said, “I am allowed, you know.”

“With Gid,” Marney announced smugly.

“How do you know it was with Gid? The flower shop has a hot new delivery guy. I could be doing it with him.”

“Are you?”

Mia huffed out a sigh. “Okay, it was Gid. So?”

“Details. I want details,” Marney said, setting her purse aside and taking a seat on the couch. “Are you back together?”

“Not exactly.”

“Do you want to be back together?”

Mia swallowed. “I want things to be the way they were…before.”

“Relationships evolve, honey. Consider how Dell and I got started.”

Hadn’t Gid said that very same thing?

“I don’t like change,” she said quietly and settled on to the cushion next to her friend.

“Change doesn’t have to be bad. I never thought I would find someone like Dell. And Gabby can attest that love is worth the risk.”