a hand across her forehead. “I know better than to scrimp on lunch. But sometimes I can slide by.”
“Not today. You were as white as the bride’s dress.” He sat down in the chair next to her as though he was in no hurry to join the rest of the wedding guests. “Does Justin know about these episodes?”
Misery swept through her. He didn’t know. Cooper Sullivan had been Justin’s friend and closest competitor all through college and medical school but they’d gone their separate ways after graduation. Actually, after Justin and Natalie married. More than ten years had passed since she’d last seen the darkly handsome doctor. A lot can happen in ten years.
“Oh, Cooper.” Natalie reached for his hand to soften the coming blow. “Justin died.”
As a medical doctor, he must have said or heard those words dozens of times, but he jerked back, shocked. “Died? How? When? Natalie, no.”
Even after all this time, the grief could sometimes slam into her like a shark attack, fierce, sharp, tearing. When it did, she replaced the pain with anger. If he’d had any sense, if he’d loved her and the twins enough, Justin would still be here.
“Two years ago. A motorcycle accident.”
No use going into the horrifying details. When a motorcycle takes on an eighteen-wheeler, the motorcycle loses every time.
“God,” he said and leaned back against the wall to run both hands through the sides of stylishly groomed black hair. “Nat, I am so sorry. Are you okay? You should have called me.”
She didn’t bring up the fact that he had been the one to fade out of their lives when he’d moved to California to accept a residency training program at USC. She also didn’t mention the competition between him and Justin, a competition that had extended from the classroom to the sporting arena and finally to a bid for her affections. When she’d chosen Justin, their friendship had died out. Natalie was smart enough to realize it had never been her whom Cooper had wanted. His real desire had been the thrill of victory.
“The girls and I are fine, Cooper. It’s been hard, losing Justin, making a life without him, but we’re managing.” In truth, she was barely staying afloat.
“The girls?” Still shocked, his handsome face registered bewilderment.
He had no way of knowing Justin had left her with the most amazing daughters. Without them to care for, she might have given in to the awful grief and simply disappeared.
“Twins. Rose and Lily. They’re eight now.”
“Twins. Amazing.” He shook his head, soft smile pensive. “Old Justin has two little girls. I’d like to meet them.”
Natalie carefully sidestepped the subtle hint. “What about you? What are you doing back in Boston after all this time?”
White teeth flashed against a Southern California tan. “All that sunshine and warm weather grew tiresome. I yearned for a good old Massachusetts nor’easter. Snow, wind, frigid air.”
“No, seriously.” She turned in her seat, picked a grape from the plate, and popped it into her mouth. “Are you only here for the wedding? Visiting friends? Or maybe someone special?”
Had that sounded too…interested? She hoped not. She didn’t care one whit if Dr. Cooper Sullivan had twenty women on the string. Which he probably did. For Cooper, women, like everything else, were a prize to be won, a competition. Once he claimed the trophy, he quickly grew bored and moved on. Medicine and success were the only lovers that could hold him for long.
“Not visiting, though my family lives in the area.” He reached for a strawberry. “I’m back to stay.”
Oh, yes. How could she have forgotten that Cooper was one of the Sullivans, one of Massachusetts’s prominent political families? “They must be thrilled to have you closer to home. Where will you be practicing?”
At the mention of his family, something curious flickered in Cooper’s brown eyes but he said, “I’ve joined a surgical team at Children’s. Top-notch group with a great rep.”
Of course they were. Children’s was a fabulous facility. “Congratulations.”
No doubt he was the top recruit and they’d paid him a fat bonus to join their team. Cooper had been the number-one student in the entire medical school, something that had driven Justin crazy. Cooper was always one or two points ahead of his strongest competitor, her late husband. She knew without asking that he’d enjoyed the same success in his residency program and subsequent practice.
Dr. Cooper Sullivan was the single most brilliant human being she’d ever met. In fact, there was nothing he couldn’t succeed at if he tried. It was as if he had golden boy encoded on his DNA. The only problem with Cooper was his attitude. He expected to win. He expected to be the top and he didn’t back off until he was. The same attitude extended to his love life. She wondered if he’d ever dated a woman because he liked her rather than viewing her as trophy for his shelf. She’d known Justin loved her for herself. Cooper had seen her as a challenge, a Mount Everest to conquer. Cooper Sullivan was not her kind of man. That is, if she was looking for a man, which she most assuredly was not.
By now the wedding guests crowded the dance floor, moving to the energy of a fast track. Belle Mackenzie, the matronly blond owner of the Wedding Belles and Natalie’s boss, floated amongst them, occasionally speaking into her headset as she made sure every detail of the wedding went off without a hitch. Belle’s warm, Southern style and true love of people was what made the Wedding Belles a success. Not a woman to miss anything, she was certain to have noticed that her cake designer was paying an inordinate amount of attention to a darkly handsome guest.
“I really should be going now.” Natalie stood, glad her knees were no longer made of wet noodles.
He caught her hand. “Dance with me first.”
She pulled back. “I’m not a guest.”
He grinned. “I am.”
Before she could protest further, he swept her into his arms and onto the dance floor. For a nanosecond, annoyance ruffled her feathers. The arrogant man never considered that she might not want to dance with him. To his way of thinking, every woman longed to be in the arms of Dr. Cooper Sullivan.
But Natalie swallowed her protest and went along with the dance. After all, he was Justin’s long ago friend and, as much as she hated needing help, he’d been there for her today. His quick reaction had probably kept her from fainting and disrupting a very nice wedding. Even though Boston was his home city, he’d been gone a long time. Perhaps, he’d been relieved to find a familiar face among the new acquaintances. The least she could do was dance with the man.
She loved to dance, had been on the dance squad in high school, and had taken jazz and tap for years. Justin had promised to learn ballroom dance with her as soon as his residency was completed. She was still furious with him for having procrastinated about the lessons, just as he’d procrastinated about most things, including taking out life insurance.
One thing Justin hadn’t put off was spending. If he or she had wanted something, no matter how expensive, he’d charged it. According to Justin, all residents lived on credit, knowing they would soon be making tons of money. She’d believed him. As a result, she was still paying off the mountain of debt, one month at a time.
