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Another wave of disappointment that Amy wasn’t there hit Taylor. Not that Amy could help it that her grandmother had fallen and broken a hip two states away, but Taylor had really been looking forward to catching up with her best friend. Amy had come to Louisville last summer immediately following the finalization of Taylor’s divorce, but that seemed forever ago, and Taylor hadn’t done much more than cry.
Tears for lost dreams and tears of happiness that she’d escaped Neil’s controlling, abusive hands.
“Amy has a picture of the two of you on her fireplace mantel,” the medical staffer continued. “I recognized you immediately.”
Taylor knew the photo he spoke of. She had the same one displayed at the tiny apartment she’d leased following moving out of Neil’s sprawling showplace. The photo was a close-up following her and Amy’s nurse pinning ceremony. Their smiles had been huge, as had their dreams for the future.
Her university roommate had tried for years to get Taylor to work the infamous annual festival that took place in her hometown. Taylor finally had and now Amy wasn’t even in town.
Agreeing to work the music festival had been more about spending time with her friend than the generous sum she’d be paid for her three twelve-hour shifts. But the extra pay wasn’t a bad thing.
Still, if her job interview that morning had gone as well as she thought, they’d soon have lots of catch-up time.
If all went according to plan, she’d be living with her former roomie yet again. Amy had tried to get Taylor to relocate last summer, but Taylor had needed to put her life back together on her own. She’d needed to stand on her own two feet. It would have been too easy to let Amy take over and just have gone through the motions.
Which was what Taylor had done her whole life.
Gone with the flow. Done what had been expected. First with her parents and then with Neil. She’d never stepped outside the boundaries they’d set. Not until she’d left Neil and filed for divorce.
She was a work in progress but was happy with the woman emerging from the wreck she’d been. She was still peeling back the layers of years of toeing the line, but most mornings she liked the person staring back at her in the mirror.
“Amy was excited you’re working the festival.”
Taylor’s attention zoned back in on the man who was studying her. The man who’d been inside her friend’s apartment.
Was Amy dating him? She hadn’t said so, but her friend had been enthusiastic when talking about him. She’d gotten the impression Amy had been hinting at a possible romance between Taylor and the doctor during the music festival, hints Taylor had ignored because she’d not been interested in a man since long before her divorce. She had no plans for a relationship and, even if she had, she’d just as soon have her fingernails ripped out as to get involved with another doctor.
He held out his hand. “Jackson Morgan.”
He’d introduced himself without using his medical title, something her ex would never have done. Kudos for that.
“Nice to meet you, Jackson.” Taylor returned his smile, shook his hand, and marveled at the tingles of awareness that shot up her arm at the warmth of his hand.
Men sworn off or not, the guy was electric.
“My friends call me Jack,” he commented as she pulled her hand free from his.
“Jack.” Taylor let the name roll off her tongue. “You’re the hotshot traveling emergency medicine doctor Amy works with at Rockin’ Tyme each year.”
“My reputation has preceded me yet again.” His eyes danced with mischief.
Taylor tried to recall what her friend had said but couldn’t pull up much. She’d thought Amy matchmaking when she’d gone on and on about the doctor they’d be working with at the festival. Taylor had been excited about seeing her best friend, not about meeting a man. What had Amy said?
“Good looking, funny—can’t wait for you to meet him. Think you’ll really like him. He’s the best.”
“Nothing bad,” she admitted, smiling at Jack. If he and Amy were an item, then good for her friend and even better for this guy. Any man would be lucky to call Amy his own. If he was good to her friend then, doctor or not, Taylor would hug him for a totally different reason than the one that had hit her upon first seeing him.
“Good to know she’s not talking smack about me.” He glanced around the medical tent, his gaze skimming over the cots along a far side where a group of workers was chatting. “I’ll miss her being here. Hated to hear about her grandmother.”
“That makes two of us. She convinced me to sign on and now she’s not here.” Following his gaze out the open flaps of the tent, she took a deep breath. “I can’t help but wonder what she’s gotten me into.”
“No worries. She made me promise to take good care of you.”
Taylor’s gaze cut to his. “Oh?”
He grinned, and his eyes crinkled. Wow, such a great smile. “At least a dozen times—and that was just this morning.”
Taylor smiled. Her friend always had looked out for her.
