CHAPTER ONE

      “LOOKS LIKE YOU’VE been getting plenty of sun, Mr. Collins,” Elaine Watson murmured as she looked over his vitals. “That might be good for your blood pressure but not your skin.” She glanced over her glasses to see Robert Collins roll his eyes over a sunburned nose.

      “I’m old, Doc. I’ll risk a little burn to feel the sun on my face.”

      “Skin cancer is no joke,” Elaine answered and realized what a bossy know-it-all she sounded like. But she’d seen countless families suffer through the disease, and she didn’t want to watch Robert Collins do the same. He was her favorite patient.

      Then she remembered that he’d lost his wife to cancer and realized what a waste of breath lecturing him was. He’d already lived through the worst. No one could forget that.

      “Just try some sunscreen while you’re out on Spring Lake, okay? For my sake.” He nodded once, and she decided to believe he was agreeing with her instead of moving the conversation along.

      “Any new complaints? You’ve lost another ten pounds, so whatever you’re doing is working.” Elaine flipped through his chart. When he’d arrived at the after-hours emergency care center two years ago, he’d been in bad shape with chest pains and blood pressure through the roof. His improvement was thanks to an angioplasty and medication to control his blood pressure combined with a desire to make a change.

      “Fit as a fiddle, Doc. In fact, I’m about to take more of your advice. I’m going to get a new hobby. Bet you never thought you’d see the day.” Noting the gleam in his eyes, Elaine braced herself. A teasing Robert Collins was a charming, dangerous thing.

      When they’d first met, getting him to talk about anything had felt like an accomplishment. Over time, this strong, silent type had thawed.

      Elaine set his chart down. “Hit me with it. I can’t wait to hear what piece of life-saving advice has trickled in.”

      “I’m going to travel.” He stuck out his chin as if she’d pin a star to his chest if they handed out medals for good ideas. “Gonna get one of those high-class travel trailers and see some purple mountains and gold waves of grain and white, sandy beaches.”

      “Really?” Elaine tilted her head as she considered the suggestion. “By yourself?”

      Robert frowned. “If I have to. You don’t think I can?” It was an insult he would never stand for. Even after all they’d been through, he had a hard time believing he was no longer bulletproof.

      She studied his clear eyes, shining with intelligence and a little bit of annoyance, thought about his vitals and then nodded. “Sure. You can. Do you want to?”

      He snorted. “What difference does it make? I’m out there all by myself every day. Gets old after a while. A change of scenery would be a nice thing.”

      Too much alone time was something Elaine understood. Sometimes being by herself was wonderful. At the end of every day, she needed some silence to catch her breath. Other times, it was lonely. Lately, a restless dissatisfaction had intruded on her quiet. But nothing would tempt her away from Robert’s spot on the lake if she was lucky enough to own it.

      “You mean the prettiest view of Spring Lake and the mountains around Tall Pines isn’t enough?” Elaine tapped her pen. “I’m not sure I can imagine anything better than sitting on the porch of the Bluebird Bed-and-Breakfast.”

      “You haven’t been out to the inn for years, Doc. Been more than a decade since Martha died and the place...” He stared at his folded hands. “It’s not what it used to be. Until recently, I couldn’t stand the thought of changing anything.”

      Elaine patted his shoulder. This was the biggest challenge of treating her patients: knowing what to say or do when absolutely nothing she said or did would ease the pain. Some hurts only time would heal. No doubt losing his wife would make it difficult to enjoy the view from the wraparound porch of the Bluebird Bed-and-Breakfast. Maybe Elaine couldn’t imagine anything better than a rocking chair and the calm of Spring Lake after a hard day, but she didn’t have his memories, either.

      A single rocking chair might not be as satisfying as she tried to convince herself it could be.

      “I should have hit the road years ago. Might have been easier to deal with losing her.” His choked voice said clearly that nothing in the world would make losing his wife any easier. Elaine hated to hear that pain even as she wondered if she’d ever find someone who’d miss her that much when she was gone.

      “Mr. Collins, you’re on the right track. The best part is that if your trip isn’t what you dream of, you can always come home to Tall Pines. This place will still be here, Spring Lake will still have some of the best fishing in the state and we’ve got plenty of mountains, too.” The fact that Tall Pines changed slowly was one of its finest features. Life moved quickly. People came and went, most of them before she was ready to say goodbye, so a place like this was ideal.

      She tried an encouraging smile that must have worked, because the sadness on his face drained away.

      “What are you going to do with the Bluebird? I spent some great summers there, so if you’re thinking of selling, I’d love to make an offer.”

      At that moment, anyone checking Elaine’s pulse would definitely be concerned. She’d been working and saving forever without any notion what she was hoping for.

      Now she knew. This inn was meant to be hers.

      The frown that wrinkled his brow was unusual. No matter how sad he might be, Robert Collins always smiled. The day he’d walked into the emergency clinic with chest pains, he’d led with a joke and done his best to keep the mood light while the nurses scurried around him.

      “Well, now, here’s the problem.” He sighed. “You remember Dean, right?”

      “Sure. Vaguely.” Dean Collins was a few years older than she was. He’d been around the Bluebird Bed-and-Breakfast the summers she’d visited, but neither one of them had taken much notice of the other. To her, he’d always seemed so wild and mysterious. “And I’ve seen some of his work.” She was going to leave it at that. A son who would let his father recover from heart surgery alone didn’t rate very high in her book even if he’d won awards for his photography. No matter how she struggled to manage her mother’s wild mood swings, she’d never desert her.

      “Well, he’s in town. Showed up out of the blue last week, moved into his old bedroom like he hadn’t been gone and announced he wants to reopen the inn.” He shook his head. “Just like that. I was surprised, to say the least.”

      She was, too. The ache of disappointment that settled in her chest was silly. She hadn’t even had a chance to buy the Bluebird, much less actually lose one.

       Don’t be so emotional, Elaine. He’s been planning to leave it to his son, of course. That’s what families do. There’s no need to take it personally.

      She forced a smile. “Well, that’s good, then. You won’t have to worry about the Bluebird while you’re seeing America the beautiful.” And she’d keep on working, saving her money for who knows what, and ignore the strange dissatisfaction that was getting harder to shake even with double emergency shifts and crazy office days.

      Robert Collins moved his head back and forth as if he wasn’t quite as convinced. “Except he’s proven more than once that this is not where he wants to be. He’s gotten tight-lipped with all this travel, so I haven’t managed to figure out where the change of heart is