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“I don’t date.”
“If those are the questions you ask, I’m not surprised.”
“I don’t date because I don’t have time, not because I don’t get offers.”
“Ah, so the machine has feelings.” A smile played around his mouth and she glared at him.
“We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about Dan.”
“No, you were interrogating me about Dan. Why haven’t you asked your sister these things?”
“My sister thinks she’s in love. She’s incapable of thinking objectively.”
“You don’t think she can make her own decisions?”
Katie stared ahead of her. How much should she say? “She’s my sister. I love her. I’m protective.”
“I’m sure.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You have a touch of the Rottweiler about you, that’s all. Does your sister need protecting?”
“Sometimes.” Katie frowned. “A Rottweiler? You’re not only saying I’m a dog, you’re saying I’m a savage dog.”
“I’m comparing personality traits. It’s something I do when I meet someone. Helps me figure out who they are. And Rottweilers aren’t savage. They’re intelligent working dogs.”
An intelligent working dog. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad description. “So if I’m a Rottweiler, what’s my sister?”
He thought for a moment. “Possibly a cocker spaniel.”
Katie typed it into her phone and scrolled through the results. “Loyal, gentle and affectionate.” She pulled a face. “Not bad, in fact. Seems as if you know my sister.”
“Or she could be a Labrador. Kind. Makes a good assistance dog.”
Katie thought about the times Rosie had visited the elderly lady who lived next to them when they were growing up. Whatever her mother had been cooking, Rosie had taken one of whatever was cooling on the kitchen table to Enid. Cupcakes. A slice of warm apple pie. It had been Rosie who had insisted Enid join them for Christmas lunch because no one should be on their own on Christmas Day. Rosie, who couldn’t bear to see anyone hurt and never wanted to do the hurting, which was one of the reasons she was slow to ditch bad boyfriends. And she’d had a few.
“She could be a Labrador.”
“You have a dog?”
“My lifestyle isn’t conducive to pet ownership.”
“Nothing removes stress lines better than a dog. Maybe you should rethink your lifestyle.”
Lately, she’d done nothing else. “I’ve been a doctor for a decade. Longer if you count medical school.”
“And?”
“And you don’t rethink something you’ve been doing for that long.” She stared out of the window, wondering if she’d even be able to care for a dog. A dog would need regular meals, and pizza probably didn’t count. And what if her sister visited? “The mountains are pretty. And the forest. Is that where you work?”
“I work wherever I’m needed.”
“But half the trees are covered in snow. Are you quiet this time of year?”
He smiled. “Busy. People want Christmas trees. And they want lights strung around their houses.”
“You do that? I get delivering a Christmas tree, but lights?”
