Carrie shifted in her seat. “So back to the doctor…what’s holding you back?”

  “I think she might be seeing someone. I don’t know.” She didn’t tell her that the beautiful blue-eyed brunette was her competition.

  “Well, find out.” Carrie took a drink of wine. “Married puts her off-limits, but only seeing someone means she’s fair game.”

  Maggie relaxed into the couch and took a drink of wine. “I’m not going to stalk her.” Her stomach churned as the image of Russell’s face flashed in her mind as he said The doctor is married. It had happened only a week ago, and she was still stunned by the news. She hadn’t had a chance, nor had she wanted to get more information yet, so that fact was still unconfirmed.

  “Okay, so just think about it. Who does she interact with?”

  “Everyone. She’s very friendly.” Thoughts of Lynn’s beautiful smile floated through her head.

  Carrie pulled her eyebrows together. “Hmm. Does she come to work alone?”

  “I think so.”

  “Does she leave with anyone?”

  “Yes. The person she may be involved with.” She’d seen her leave the hospital with Pam several times.

  “Damn it, you’re not making this easy.”

  Maggie chuckled. “Correction. She’s not making this easy.” Pam was an awesome woman and would be stiff competition if Maggie decided to push forward.

  “Why don’t you just ask her out?”

  “It would be really awkward if she says no. I pretty much have to see her every day.” After having Lynn reject her years ago, Maggie didn’t know if she had it in her to make the first move again.

  “Jesus, Mags. Stop playing it so safe, or you’re never going to find the right girl. When will you see her next?”

  “When I get back to work day after tomorrow, and there’s a softball game scheduled one evening next week.”

  Carrie’s eyes widened. “She’s in the hospital softball league? Perfect.” Her voice rose. “You’re awesome at softball, so dazzle her with your skills.”

  “The suspected girlfriend plays on her team, and she’s really good too.”

  “Fuck. That’s an obstacle.” Carrie shifted on the couch. “Okay, then get your flirting game going. I know you can do that. I’ve seen you in action.”

  “Uh, not in a long time.”

  “Stop. If I were into women, you’d have had me a long time ago.”

  “Really? I had no idea.” She raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. “You’re sure you’re not into women? I can teach you some things.”

  Carrie leaned forward and stared into her eyes. “Ooh, you think so?”

  Both of them laughed and fell back into their corners. That would never happen. Maggie had lost any interest she’d ever had in Carrie once she met Lynn. Not that anything would’ve ever happened between them anyway. They were best friends, and Maggie wanted it to stay that way. Her biggest worry about starting a relationship with Lynn was that it would upset Carrie again. But she had to take that risk, or she’d never know if Lynn was the one, and she’d never get over her. Four years in different cities had already proved that getting over her was impossible.

  “So what about you?” Maggie needed to move from the subject, or she’d end up spilling more information than she intended. “How are things going with super-smart and gorgeous Scott?”

  A dreamy glimmer appeared in Carrie’s eyes, and she looked up at the ceiling. “He’s absolutely awesome, Mags. I want to spend the rest of my life with him.”

  “Oh my God. Have I been replaced?” Maggie had seen that coming since the first time Carrie had told her about him.

  “I’m sorry,” Carrie said as she put on her best puppy-dog face. “You knew it’d happen sooner or later.”

  “So, are you two actually together?”

  “Well, we’re not totally together, but we have a lot of sleepovers and spend a lot of time in the on-call room. You know those times when you need a certain type of stress relief?”

  Maggie nodded as memories of the bare-bones room with a single twin bed at Boston Hospital flew through her mind. She’d spent a bit of time there herself. No-strings-attached mid-shift commingling with some of her fellow medical students and one or two very experienced residents relieved a lot of stress. She’d learned a few things about how her body worked, what turned her on, and what didn’t, as well as how to satisfy a woman and make her come back for more. The call rooms at Johns Hopkins weren’t much better, but she hadn’t had the opportunity to use them in ways other than napping. Had Lynn ever used them for the same kind of stress relief? She shook the thought from her mind and tried to focus on Carrie’s romance with Scott.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  “Yes. Sorry. I just came off an overnight call shift, and I’m still a little wiped out.”

  “Gotcha. Let’s hit the sack, and we can continue this conversation in the morning.” Carrie got up. “I need a pillow and blanket.”

  “Just bunk with me. Stacy will be home in a couple of hours, and she’s all kinds of noisy.” Maggie dropped the wineglasses off in the kitchen before heading to the bedroom. “Besides, I don’t want her to freak out about a stranger sleeping on the couch.”

  Carrie raised an eyebrow. “A stranger?”

  “You are strange.” She glanced over her shoulder and winked. “She’s a little nutty about people she doesn’t know.”

  “Noisy and nutty. Can’t wait to meet her.”

  “She’s in lust with Russell, one of the other interns on our service, and that’s making her worse.”

  “I thought you weren’t going to do the roommate thing again.”

  “I kinda got trapped into it, and this place is a little pricey.”

  Carrie climbed into bed, fluffed her pillow, rolled to her side, and tucked her arm underneath it. “Think that’ll work out?”

  “What? Stacy or Russell?” She hadn’t let anything slip about Lynn, had she?

  “Stacy and Russell.”

  “I don’t know. Russell’s really focused. I’m not sure he’s even getting the hint.”

  “He’s probably forgotten how flirting works. Too much medicine will do that.” Carrie grinned. “Maybe he’ll have a reawakening, like you.”

  Back to her again. She needed to get off the subject. “So tell me, romance queen. How did it unfold between you and Scott?”

  “It was a total glass-slipper moment. I told you I initially met him at the gym, right?”

  Maggie nodded.

  “So, one night after shift, some of us went to the usual place after work to screw our metabolisms by eating some over-fried food and drinking too much.”

  “Hmm. I can almost taste the wings now. Is it weird that I miss that place?”

  “Totally, but they still have the best ones.”

  “Sorry. What happened after you ordered and slammed down a pound of wings?”

  “Buffalo sauce and ranch dressing on the side.”

  “Of course.” Maggie missed having Carrie close by. The things they’d experienced together made everything flow between them so well.

  “Nothing happened while we were there, but I drank a little too much and forgot my phone on the table when I left.”

  Maggie propped up on her elbow. “And he brought it to you?”

  “He followed me out of the bar and gave it to me.” Carrie rolled her lips in and looked at the blanket between them. “And I thanked him with a kiss.”

  “Oh my God,” she said, covering her mouth, unable to contain her laughter. “Alcohol always did make you push your boundaries.”

  “Only it didn’t backfire this time. He kissed me back and then walked me home.” The dreamy look in Carrie’s eyes was unmistakable.

  Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Did you two?”

  “No, not that night. He’s a ridiculous gentleman.” Carrie grinned. “He did kiss me again, though. It took everything I had not to pull him inside and tear all his clothes off.”

  “Sooo?”

  “On our next night off we went on an actual date, and we haven’t really spent a night apart since.”

  Maggie smiled. “I’m so happy you got your fairy tale.” She closed her eyes, and her thoughts floated to Lynn. Maybe one day she’d be able to have hers as well.

  She had just drifted off to sleep when she felt Carrie slide closer and snuggle her back against her stomach. Carrie reached back, took Maggie’s hand, and laced their fingers together before she tucked it close to her belly.

  “Are you sure you’re straight?” she asked, her eyes still shut.

  “Absolutely. But I miss Scott. So shut up, share your heat with me, and keep your hands to yourself.”

  “I’ll do my best.” Maggie chuckled. “Tell me more about your Prince Charming.”

  Carrie continued with the details as Maggie tried to focus on her and Scott, but her mind wouldn’t let her. All she could think about was how fate had brought her full circle. When she’d received her hospital assignment on Match Day, no one had been more surprised than Maggie to learn she’d be going back to Baltimore. Even though Carrie hadn’t said anything, she knew Carrie had concerns when she’d told her Brenda wasn’t coming with her.

  It was noon on the third Friday in March. Match Day. Students dressed surprisingly alike—men in pants, colorful shirts, and vibrant ties, and women in brightly spring-patterned dresses, tights, slacks, and blouses—stood in a room decorated with red and white balloons and streamers. The hum of excited conversation filled the room as Maggie and one hundred and forty or so others drank champagne just a few feet from the tables where plain white envelopes that dictated the next three to seven years of their futures lay taunting them.

  Maggie stood with the rest of the Boston University School of Medicine fourth-year students waiting to receive her internship assignment. She’d applied to fifteen different hospitals, including Boston Children’s, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Johns Hopkins. She’d been invited to interview at more than half of those where she’d applied.

  Her first choice was to remain in Boston, where she’d lived and studied for the past four years. She’d completed a visiting rotation there, as well as a few other East Coast schools. Maggie had become accustomed to the changing seasons and loved the way people kept to themselves when necessary, but as any medical student would, she’d be happy with anything offered. She’d considered returning to Baltimore closer to her family but felt it wasn’t the best option due to her still-strained relationship with her mother.

  The conversation in the lounge lulled when the dean entered and made a short speech. Everyone joined in the countdown to noon, starting at the number ten. The number one had barely slipped from her lips when everyone rushed the tables and searched for their names on the hundreds of envelopes. Maggie swiped hers, which had been lying amongst the others, and opened it. She was stunned. The vibrant pink of Carrie’s dress caught her eye as she rushed across the room toward her. She looked gorgeous, as always, and Maggie’s stomach dipped. In recent years, Carrie had begun to look more and more like her aunt. Specifically, her smile, but that smile wasn’t glowing at this moment, and Maggie couldn’t read her face. She wasn’t jumping up and down and hugging people like some of the others were. Neither one of them was.

  “Where’d you get?” Carrie asked.

  She showed her the letter stating she would be interning at Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital. Crazy feelings of disappointment mixed with excitement filled her.

  “Seriously?” Carrie blew out a short breath.

  She nodded. “You?”

  Carrie handed her the letter. Boston Children’s. “You’ve got to be kidding?” She chuckled. “How did that happen?”

  “Not my first choice,” Carrie said as she swept her long, dark hair from her face. “I guess it could be worse.” She folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. “At least I know the commute.” Carrie had chosen Johns Hopkins as her number one because she wanted to go back home to be closer to her aunts. Maggie had chosen the exact opposite. She’d hoped to remain at Boston Children’s because she had a nice apartment, a girlfriend, and had become attached to so many people here. They’d become her family, and starting all over would be difficult. And then there was Lynn, which meant avoidance would become central in her life again.

  “You’ll always have a place to stay with me if you get tired of your aunts,” she said. Even though she and Carrie had cultivated different circles of friends due to their medical specialties, Maggie in pediatrics and Carrie in neonatology, they’d remained friends throughout medical school.

  “You know I’ll take you up on that.” Carrie swept her into a hug. “I’ll miss you, though.”

  “I’ll miss you too.” She would miss her much more than she let on. “You can always text, FaceTime, or even call me.” She rolled her eyes. “Any time.”

  Carrie gave her a slight smile. “I know, but it’ll be different knowing I can’t just come over when I want.”

  “I’ll definitely miss your late-night pizza deliveries,” she said with a grin.

  “Now I know why you’ve put up with me for all these years.” Carrie chuckled. “Do you think Brenda will go with you?”

  “I doubt it. Her job here is pretty solid.” Maggie folded her letter and slipped it into the envelope.

  “You don’t seem sad about that.” Carrie always had a way of reading her.

  Glancing up at the ceiling tiles, Maggie studied the ridges that formed the checkered pattern as she thought about the discussion between her and Brenda a few nights before. She shook her head and refocused on Carrie and shrugged. “I’m not. She’s a sweet girl, but we just don’t have the connection I want. Plus, she’s really high maintenance, and I won’t have time to make sure she’s happy in a new place.”

  “Sounds like you’ve already thought this through.”

  “We’ve had the conversation. She doesn’t want to leave Boston because her family is here.” Maggie tapped the envelope in her palm. “I don’t know how she’s going to take this, though. I was so sure I was staying.”

  “Same. I was sure I was going.” Carrie took Maggie’s hand before she leaned in and whispered, “Maybe we can secretly trade.” They both laughed loudly and squeezed each other’s hand before a few of their friends raced across the room toward them and pulled them back into the crowd of happy graduates.

  One of the benefits of going to Boston for medical school was that she was too busy to think about what she’d left behind. Maggie didn’t look forward to starting over again, but she’d made the best of it. At least Baltimore was familiar. Now if she could just keep her mind on medicine instead of the huge distraction it presented. Getting Lynn out of her heart was more difficult than anything she’d ever come up against. She’d feared she would never forget what had happened between her and Lynn and never be able to move on to someone else, which was absolutely true.

  Chapter Eight

  Lynn sat outside on the deck taking in the faint sounds of birds whistling, along with a chorus filled with the long, high-pitched, vibrating call of the American toads and the siren-like trill of spring peepers gathered near the lake. Each sound on its own would probably be annoying, but together they formed the most beautiful symphony. Teamwork at its best.

  She’d loved this place from the first time Pam had invited her along on the yearly girls’ trip, which didn’t seem like that long ago. They’d barely met, and Lynn had been working for Heather in her practice for only a short while when Pam had included her. But they seemed to get each other and hit it off right away. Pam was a constant at the office, visiting her and Heather whenever she could escape from the hospital, and they’d become immediate friends.

  The cabin was large, containing six rooms—two downstairs and four upstairs. Although others paired up and shared rooms, she and Pam hadn’t. The weekend was a planned clandestine getaway for some of the couples.

  Her first trip here had been what seemed like the possible beginning of something, but when Heather had showed up unexpectedly single, the spark between Heather and Pam was noticeably visible and undeniable, something Lynn herself had experienced with only one other person. It seemed Pam had just been patiently waiting for Heather to become unattached. She didn’t know why she hadn’t seen the attraction between them before, but knew immediately she and Pam were only destined to be best friends, which was okay with Lynn. Pam was her advisor and confidant, so she couldn’t ask for a better friend.

  Annoyed with herself that she couldn’t get Maggie out of her thoughts, she sprang up and paced to the end of the deck. She loved the serenity of the forest. It could break through the constant hospital noise filling her head the moment they arrived at the cabin, but Maggie—her smile, her voice—had found a presence in her head and wasn’t leaving so easily. Maybe that was because she felt a calmness around Maggie she’d never experienced before, even when they were at the hospital. Her marriage to Beth had always been filled with turmoil. They did everything on Beth’s terms or had a lengthy discussion, which ultimately ended in them doing what Beth wanted. Lynn eventually avoided the discussions and just let Beth run the show.

  The door slapped shut, and Heather strolled onto the deck with a cup of coffee in each hand. “What’s going on with you?”

  “Nothing. Just enjoying the peace and quiet.” She crossed the deck and stood next to Heather at the railing.

  Heather handed her a cup, then set hers on the railing and looked out at the lake as she stretched her arms up over her head and twisted from side to side at her waist. “Don’t give me that. You enjoyed the quiet the whole way up here.”

  “Did I? Sorry. I didn’t realize.” She’d been in her head a lot lately.

  Heather nodded, then walked over to one of the many natural-wood Adirondack chairs lining the cabin exterior and sat. “Even Pam noticed the usual chatty you didn’t have much to say. I expected an earful of new-intern stories.”