He laughed lightly. “I like you a lot,” he confessed.

“Oh, good.” She snuggled up to him.

“Are you hungry, honey?”

“No, I’m sleepy, Aiden. Every time you rolled over in your sleep, you had a new idea.” She yawned hugely. “I’m very, very happy, but I’m tired. I need a little nap before company comes.”

He kissed her on the cheek. “I’m going to set up your coffeepot and leave you. We’ll see each other over the weekend, families all over the place. Then I want a date with you the second you’re alone.” He rolled over to scrape what was left of his box of condoms into the top draw of the nightstand and what did he find? “Whoa,” he said, pulling out a not-very-mysteriously-shaped vibrator. “Toys. I didn’t know we had toys!”

She yawned again. “Didn’t I mention that? I told you—I didn’t really date that much…”

He put the device away. “Gotta love a modern woman. We’ll play with that another time.” He rolled back to her and pressed his lips against hers. “Thank you, honey. I had a wonderful time.”

He began to roll away from her when she said, “Aiden?” He turned back. “What is this? Is this a summer fling?”

He gave her another kiss. “At the very least.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, smiling and closing her eyes.

Aiden had worked up a pretty good appetite. He didn’t want to bang around in Erin’s kitchen looking for food, because she needed her sleep. He, on the other hand, felt as if he could bench-press three-fifty and eat a cow. He readied the coffeepot so she would only have to flip the on switch, and left the cabin.

He wasn’t sure what he had in his place for food, and since he’d gone missing for a couple of days and it was 10:00 a.m., he ran through town and decided he’d get a bite to eat at Jack’s. When he walked in, the place was nearly deserted. Mel sat up on a stool while Jack was behind the bar. They appeared to be having a cup of coffee together. When Mel turned toward him, her eyes lit up. “Hey, Doc! Haven’t seen you in a while. How’s it going?”

“Great,” he said, sitting up beside her. To Jack he asked, “What are the chances Preacher’s still making breakfast?”

“For you? I don’t see a problem. Coffee?”

“Please,” he said, giving the bar a couple of taps. “How’s the Sheridan family?”

“Growing, always growing,” Mel said. “If we can get David to stop peeing in the yard, we’re going to really celebrate.”

Jack leaned on the bar. “Tell her, Aiden—men love it when they figure out they can pee anywhere. Women hate it. Women hate the complexity of their sit-down lives. This is why I put the seat down—it’s pity. I realize they have it rougher. Plus, we just have to shake…they have to wipe. Life just isn’t fair sometimes, is it?”

Aiden couldn’t help but laugh. “If you think I’m getting anywhere near this discussion, you’re delusional.”

“Fine, be a wimp,” Jack said, pouring him a coffee. “I’ll go back and talk Preacher into one more omelet.”

“That would be appreciated.”

Mel turned toward him. “You still logging on hiking miles?” she asked.

“More or less. And other stuff. Mostly kicking back—but I did have a quasi-interview with a couple of OBs who have a practice in Redding. Great practice, but I don’t know about the location…”

“What are you looking for? As far as location?”

“Not sure,” he said with a shrug, lifting his coffee to his lips. He took a sip and lowered it to the bar. “Maybe more to the south…”

“Bigger city? Like maybe San Francisco? John Stone from Grace Valley was in an OB practice in Sausalito. Very successful, well-known and according to John, totally dysfunctional practice. Maybe you should talk to him about it, just so you can avoid the well-known dysfunctional shops.”

“Good idea.”

“Seriously, south of here? Like, where?”

He thought for a second, then felt himself smiling automatically. “Really, not sure, but I’ve just started kind of seeing a woman from Chico….”

“Erin?” Mel asked immediately, with excitement in her voice. “Erin Foley?”

“You know Erin?”

“I do!” she said. “Oh, I love Erin. She’s awesome, isn’t she? How did you meet her? Because she’s way out there on the mountain and hardly ever comes to town.”

“I was hiking,” he said. “I put in a lot of miles around these hills and valleys and came across her cabin.” He decided to leave out the part about the concussion, but if he knew anything about Virgin River, plenty of people probably already knew.

Jack came out of the back and said, “You lucked out—no grumbling from the cook. He’s working up an omelet and some sausage patties.”

“Jack, Aiden has been seeing Erin Foley!” Mel said rather enthusiastically. “Isn’t that great news?”

“I guess so,” Jack said with a shrug. “Women get a lot more excited about those kinds of hookups than men do. I’ll tell you this, though. This place? A lot of guys, including me, come here thinking they’re just going to have a quiet, peaceful life, do a little fishing, maybe in your case, hiking. But if you happen to run into a woman here—it’s curtains, man. Quiet is out the friggin’ window.”

“Jack,” Mel scolded with a little laugh.

“It’s the truth, baby. I’ve seen it a dozen times, starting with me. I was way past getting married and having a family when this hot little mama came sashaying into town and I fell hard.”

“Bet you fought it like a man, though, didn’t you, buddy?” Aiden asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

“I fought it not at all, my brother. She did all the fighting, but I trapped her.” He leaned toward his wife and gave her a small kiss. “Preacher will bring out your breakfast, Doc. I have to drive over to Eureka for supplies. We have a big town picnic on Monday.”

“So I heard.”

“You’re coming, aren’t you?”

“Me and every Riordan and Booth within a hundred miles.”

Jack’s lips split in a huge grin. “Now, that’s what I like to hear.” To his wife, he said, “I’ll be gone about three hours, baby. Can you manage without me taking Davie along?”

“I’m keeping the babysitter all day. I’m going to catch up on some paperwork at the clinic and then I’m going home early. If there’s nothing going on, that is.”

“Perfect,” he said. “Later, Doc.” And he was gone.

Aiden focused on Mel. “So. I’ve known Erin a few weeks at most. How long have you known her?”

“I met her a couple of years ago, but hadn’t seen her till she came back up here this summer. I know her sister, Marcie. Marcie came up here in search of her late husband’s sergeant—her husband’s best friend and the man he served under in Iraq. Well, actually, Ian wasn’t just his sergeant and friend, but the man who saved Bobby’s life. But sadly, Marcie’s husband was catastrophically wounded—a quad with severe brain damage. He lived in a nursing home for a few years before a sweet, quiet death. And Ian was holed up in that cabin, almost as unresponsive as Marcie’s husband. Do you know Marcie?”

“I haven’t met her, no,” Aiden said.

“Well, she’s a spitfire. She was determined to find Ian and make sure he was all right, that he didn’t have posttraumatic stress disorder or whatever. Ian had risked his life to save Bobby’s and had been wounded in the process, then just disappeared. So Marcie felt she had to know what happened to him. But Erin was very concerned. She came up here to bring Marcie home.” Mel laughed and shook her head. “Marcie wouldn’t go and Erin was a little beside herself. She was used to calling the shots in the family, used to being the parent figure…”

“I guess things worked out,” he said. “Marcie’s the one having a baby, right?”

“That’s right. I haven’t seen Marcie since just before Christmas. She and Ian like to come up here for the lighting of the town tree.”

“I hear they’re due back for a visit—maybe they’ll come into town.”

“Oh, I hope so,” Mel said. “She’s an amazing young woman, but all that determination…I just can’t imagine what it must have been like raising her.”

Preacher brought out a steaming plate and placed it in front of Aiden. “Morning, Doc,” he said. He reached under the bar for utensils rolled in a napkin. “That do it for you?”

“Perfect. I really appreciate it.” Then to Mel he said, “Erin said her folks have passed away, so I guess you’ll never know.”

“Erin would be the one to ask. She raised her brother and sister.”

The fork was midway to Aiden’s mouth and stopped in midair. “She said she had a lot of responsibility….”

“Well, that’s putting it mildly. Erin’s mother died when she was eleven years old. Marcie was four and her little brother, Drew, was about two years old—still in diapers. As I understand it, their father was kind of oblivious—grief-stricken and all. When he wasn’t grief-stricken and oblivious, he was working and Erin was needed to manage the house and kids. Erin rushed home from elementary school and then junior high to babysit, clean house, do laundry, start dinner and get babies settled into bed. Then, when the younger kids were just teens and Erin was in her first semester of law school, their father died. I think the youngest was thirteen. Really, she’s been mothering since she was eleven.”

The prom, he thought. “Eleven?” he asked. He put a forkful of omelet in his mouth, though his horrendous appetite seemed to have dried up.

“Quite something, isn’t it? And it’s not as though she got them to the age of eighteen and could finally have a life of her own. Drew went to college and then medical school—Marcie said he’d never have made it without Erin. Oh—and Marcie? Well, she had a disabled husband and gives Erin all the credit for eking every available benefit out of the Marine Corps for his care. And she didn’t just manage that—she was there at the nursing home along with Bobby’s family and Marcie, helping hands-on. I know she doesn’t look like your average nurse’s aide, but Erin was as involved as anyone in the two families.”

He took another bite, though he could barely swallow. Eleven? A full-time law student running herd on teenagers? A lawyer with a busy practice helping to care for a disabled marine in a nursing home? “Sounds like she had to work unbelievably hard her entire life….”

“To tell the truth, I think she missed a lot of her childhood,” Mel said. She jumped off her stool and walked around the bar. She grabbed the coffeepot and refilled his cup. “Marcie and Ian just moved out of her father’s house last summer. Drew went to L.A. to start his residency in orthopedics. I don’t think Erin’s had a life of her own before now.” Then she smiled. “You just can’t imagine how happy it makes me to think you’ve been seeing her. A good man to pass the time? That’s perfect. So, don’t tell me anything that will make me blush, but how do you pass the time?”

Aiden grinned at her and it was the best acting job he’d ever pulled off. “Well, let’s see—I chased a bear out of her kitchen.”

“Get out!”

“I did. I think that’s what made her decide I was man enough for other activities. She was baking cookies, left the doors open while she was in the bathroom and Yogi paid a visit. There’s a bear out there somewhere with a bellyful of chocolate-chip cookies and cookie dough. Then I took her biking along the coast and almost killed her—apparently she hadn’t indulged in any strenuous exercise that lasted longer than fifteen minutes. So, next, we had dinner together—lifting the fork worked out. A little sightseeing, a lot of getting to know each other…you know…”

“It’s been a long time, but I think I remember. Jack took me to see the whales.”

“I guess since we’re all going to be around town for the Fourth, we’ll meet each other’s families,” Aiden said. “I’m anxious to meet Marcie and Ian, but I don’t know if I’m ready to introduce Erin to my family.”

“Why ever not?” Mel asked in surprise. “You have a wonderful family!”

“Have you met my brothers? Do they ever shut up?”

“Oh, I see—you’re going to be teased.”

“Pretty much relentlessly,” he said.

She patted his arm. “You’re a big boy. You’ll get through it. And if it’s any comfort to you, I won’t tease you. And if Jack starts, I’ll step on his foot.”

“Very nice of you, Mel,” he said.

She looked at her watch. “I’m going to leave you. I want to get that paperwork finished so I can get home early today. When you’re ready to settle up, Preacher’s in the kitchen. Just poke your head in.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

“Good luck on the job search, Aiden. I wish you were staying close, but I understand your need to find a bigger town. We can’t really support another OB around here.”

“Mel? Do you think Erin missed things that she still thinks about sometimes? You know—things that the rest of us took for granted. Like football games and dances? Sports and other after-school stuff. The prom? Things like that?”