what happens without enough time to study a place.”
As she surveyed the lobby, she pointed at the skylight. “Clouds. That’s something I didn’t expect. I had this picture of sunshine and green mountains, not oceans and heavy cloud cover.”
“You can get that here, too. Wait an hour and everything changes.” He watched her lean back and thank the waitress with a friendly smile.
“How wonderful. Scrambled eggs are my favorite. They’re the perfect start for a beautiful day. I bet you hear that all the time, don’t you?” She picked up a fork and waited patiently for the waitress’s answer.
The woman stopped and thought for a minute. “No, ma’am, I don’t. But I like a good breakfast, so it’s nice to meet another fan.” She pointed at the skylight. “And it’s nice to meet someone else who isn’t bothered by a few clouds.”
Of course she wasn’t bothered by clouds. Stephanie was like sunshine—wherever she went it was only a matter of time until the clouds passed.
The waitress made sure to pour Stephanie a nice cup of coffee. She happily dug into her breakfast and he shook his head as the waitress brought her a fresh bowl of jelly, a stack of clean napkins and a paper from the front desk.
He’d had to lay down a healthy tip to get service with the same friendly attitude.
“I’m sure you’re in a hurry to get on with whatever brings you to Peru.” He was always in a hurry. He sipped his lukewarm coffee and wondered if he could get her to ask for a refill. “How long are you here?” And could you just hand me the checks and let me get back to my day?
The homesickness had no cure, but getting back to work would help the symptoms.
She fiddled with the edge of the folded napkins for a minute and the niggling thought that everything wasn’t going to go according to his plan settled in his brain.
“Your sister, Jen and I have this sort of agreement. Maybe it’s a dare. I’m not really sure.” She picked up a slice of toast and carefully, thoughtfully chewed it all while he did his best to ignore the impatience he could feel building with the tick of the clock. He rested his elbows on the table, propped his chin on his hands and pretended he was patient.
“I threw a dart. It landed on Alto. I have to go there or listen to them clucking at me for the rest of my life.” She shrugged. “You get that, right?”
He leaned back in his chair and wondered who in the world could figure out what was happening from a nonsensical statement like that.
Only one who’d spent countless Friday nights listening to his sister and her friends giggle over badly thrown darts. He’d also learned to carefully consider every sentence that came out of Stephanie’s mouth. She’d always been the one to give him the most trouble. Rebecca he could threaten into compliance by mentioning their parents. He was pretty sure nothing threatened Jen but she’d never tried cajoling him, either. All that had come from Stephanie. At sixteen she’d been good at getting cooperation, even from a cocky high school senior.
“Let me translate. You won the lottery. They dared you to throw a dart at the map and get on a plane. If you don’t do it, they’ll never let you forget it.” And just like when they were kids, he’d been dragged into their brilliant plan.
The urge to lecture her on the dangers of traveling alone to spots off the beaten path was strong.
“Sort of. You’ve got the basics anyway.” She spread grape jelly on her toast. “So, how soon can we leave for Alto? I need a picture of you, me and your clinic. Then I’ll be out of your hair and you’ll have some nice donations.”
She didn’t meet his gaze as she said it, so he was pretty sure that wasn’t the full story. “You want to come to Alto?” He shook his head. “Impossible.”
“There’s the reaction I was expecting,” she muttered and sipped her steaming hot coffee.
“Now the safari getup makes more sense, but—” he yanked off his ball cap and ruffled his hand through the hair that was long enough to drive him crazy, something he didn’t need with a woman bound to get him there in two seconds flat “—it’s a hard drive and once you get there the amenities are seriously lacking. The Andes can be dangerous, and if you fall or break something, it’s a long, painful ride back to Lima. It’s nothing like home. Better just leave the check. If you’re determined to see the sights, head to the tourist towns or even stay here for a few days. It’s a nice place. Lots of interesting history. The hot running water will be right up your alley.”
If he warned her about the traffic, protecting her valuables and being aware of her surroundings, Stephanie would mock him. He might deserve it. The dangers in Lima were much the same as in any big city and she’d been navigating Houston and Austin with two troublemakers at her side for years.
Stephanie pursed her lips and pushed away her empty plate. Instead of dragging in like a woman who’d spent most of the night on a plane, she seemed energetic. Full of life. She always had.
“Here’s the thing. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but I’ve flown halfway around the world to satisfy the doubters back home, have a little adventure and, yes, leave you a big check.” Stephanie shook her head. “The question you have to ask yourself is how bad you want it. Bad enough to play tour guide for a couple of days?”
“I moved to Peru to avoid donor requests like this, Stephanie. You know I have important work to do. The drive up to Alto takes a full day, but there are stops to make along the way because there are people who need doctors, don’t have them and have no way to get to them. So I go to them. I’m too busy for a sightseeing trip.” He banged his hand against his bag. “By the time I make it to Alto, unload the medical supplies, hike out to all the villages that need attention and come back to Lima, you’re looking at two weeks. Nobody has time to load you up and bring you back to wash your hair.”
She blinked as though he’d slapped her, and Daniel noticed the guy with the paper had pursed his lips and was shaking his head in disapproval. Daniel sighed. The nosy guy was right. She didn’t know how hard the travel was and treating her like some shallow nuisance was unfair. Besides, he didn’t like the way disappointing her made him feel.
“Sorry. That was a little more forceful than I’d intended.” He spread his hand out over the cursed laptop. “I have a few things on my mind.”
“No ‘Hi, how’ve you been?’ or even ‘What’s new?’ or ‘What brings you to the neighborhood?’ Just full-on skipping the small talk and telling me how busy you are.” She nodded. “At least you haven’t changed much.”
“Did you hope I would? Change?” The question about whether she thought time in the mountains would make him think differently of her and their...romantic potential hovered on the tip of his tongue, but he wouldn’t ask it. He was afraid of her answer. Friends were a lot more valuable and harder to come by than dates. Or at least he thought that was still true.
“Not really, no, although you could stand to relax.” She raised her eyebrows at him and just like that he could picture her teasing him in front of the dartboard. Even in high school he’d been driven. His sister and her friends had sort of adopted him, included him and teased him for the arrogance that had raged nearly unchecked until he’d hit medical school and someone educated it out of him.
She patted his hand as though
