Hill Country Reunion

“Thanks, but I’ll stick with just coffee.” He scanned the menu board behind Diana’s head. “Unless I could have one of those Greek yogurts instead?”

Pursing her lips, she wondered when the guy who used to inhale junk food like it was going out of style decided to eat healthy. “Sure. Plain, berry or lemon?”

“Plain, thanks. Any chance you have soy milk for the coffee?”

“On the condiments bar to your right.” Diana retrieved a yogurt from the cooler, then turned her attention to Doc Ingram. “How about a warm, buttery scone for you, Doc—or have you gone health-nut on me, too?”

A bemused look in his eye, the vet quirked a grin. “I’ll take two, thanks. Need some carbs to tide me over for my farm calls.”

“Great. Y’all find a table and I’ll bring your scones right out.” Diana took Doc Ingram’s payment and handed him a receipt.

When another customer stepped up to the counter, it was all Diana could do to tear her gaze from Tripp’s retreating back. She hurriedly filled a coffee order, then snatched two scones from the display case.

Kimberly had just returned from disposing of the shattered mugs. “You’re looking a little freaked out. Want me to deliver those?”

“No—actually, yes. I think I’m getting a headache.”

“Hope you didn’t catch Nora’s bug.” Kimberly leaned closer and squinted, then wiggled her brows. “Nope, looks more like a bad case of blast-from-the-past blues. I’m warning you, soon as things slow down around here, you are telling me everything you know about our good-looking newcomer.”

While Kimberly took the scones out to Doc Ingram’s table, Diana made sure the other customers had been served. The steady flow seemed to have tapered off, so she took advantage of the lull to clean up the workstation.

And to eavesdrop. Even with all the other conversations droning around her, she had no trouble homing in on Kimberly’s voice as the perky bakery assistant chatted it up with Doc Ingram and Tripp.

“So you’re new in town?” Kimberly was saying. “Didn’t catch your name.”

“Tripp. Tripp Willoughby.” His rich baritone was still as silky-smooth as Diana remembered. “Just moved here a couple days ago.”

Oh, great. He was living in Juniper Bluff now? Stomach flipping, Diana squeezed her eyes shut.

“Tripp’s taking over the small-animal side of my practice,” Doc Ingram explained. “Now I’ll be able to focus entirely on horses and cattle, like I’ve been hoping to do for a while.”

“So it’s Doctor Willoughby—cool!” Kimberly bubbled. “My little dachshund’s about due for her yearly checkup. I’ll be sure to make an appointment.”

Diana scoured the coffee stains around the sink drain and hoped she hadn’t flirted quite so overtly when her former high school classmate Seth Austin would stop in before he and Christina got engaged last year. Now they were happily married and expecting twins.

While Diana remained depressingly single.

Of your own choosing, she reminded herself. She hadn’t exactly been dateless since things ended with Tripp, but no relationship since had made it past the superficial level.

She dared a glance across the shop. Kimberly had moved on from Tripp’s table to pour coffee refills for other customers. Without other distractions, and without being obvious, Diana could observe the man who’d unceremoniously broken her heart the fall of her senior year in college—and just when she’d been so certain they had something special going on.

Apparently, she’d completely misread Tripp’s signals, and everything she’d imagined about sharing a future with him was just that—all in her imagination.

* * *

Was it only Tripp’s imagination, or was Diana staring a hole through the side of his head? He didn’t dare shift his gaze to find out.

He’d sure gotten an eyeful when he’d stepped through the door earlier. Diana Matthews was every bit as beautiful as he remembered. Yep, even without the waist-length dark brown braid he used to love weaving his fingers through. The fresh herbal scent of the shampoo she’d always used still lingered in his memory.

What had he gone and done, accepting Robert Ingram’s offer of a partnership in his veterinary practice—and when Tripp knew Juniper Bluff was Diana’s hometown?

Okay, so he’d wrongly assumed Diana would be married, with 2.5 kids and living somewhere far, far away from here by now. Hadn’t his sister told him only a few months after the breakup that Diana was seeing someone else?

Besides, he couldn’t pass up this opportunity to get out of the big city and leave behind the pressures of a huge practice where he was one of fourteen vets on staff and rarely got to see the same patient twice in a row.

“Coffee okay?” Robert’s question, laced with friendly concern, interrupted Tripp’s thoughts.

“Yeah. Fine.” Not the coffee fanatic he used to be, he stirred in another splash of soy milk and hoped his stomach would settle quickly.

“Had no idea you knew Diana. Small world, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Robert polished off the last two bites of his scones, then drained his coffee mug. “Need anything else before we head back to the clinic?”

“I’m good, thanks.” Pushing back his chair, Tripp avoided so much as a glance in Diana’s direction, scared to death of what he’d see in her eyes. After how he’d left things, she had every right to despise him.

He’d just hoped, after all these years, she might have forgiven and forgotten.

Like he could ever forget her. Or forgive himself.

Outside, he inhaled a bolstering breath of sun-warmed Texas air and followed Robert to the white dually pickup with Ingram Veterinary Hospital and the clinic phone number emblazoned across both sides.

As they neared the clinic on the south edge of town, Robert broke the silence that had settled between them. “Ready to hold down the fort while I head out on some calls?”

“No problem.” Tripp mentally reviewed the small-animal appointments scheduled for the rest of the morning. It should be a slow and easy first day on the job.

Robert pulled in behind the long, gray-brick clinic building and shut off the engine. He angled Tripp a curious grin. “You always this talkative?”

With a self-conscious chuckle, Tripp shook his head. “Guess I’m still recovering from the shock of running into Diana.”

“I’m getting the impression y’all were way more than just college friends.”

“Yeah.” Tripp sighed. “We were.”

“Well, she’s still single, and so are you, right?” Quirking a grin, Robert shoved open his door. “And Diana’s Donuts is the best place in town to get your morning cup of java.”

Tripp sat in the pickup a moment longer while his new partner’s words sank in. Could it be more than mere coincidence that had landed him in Juniper Bluff? Was this God’s way of fixing the worst mistake Tripp had ever made in his crazy, mixed-up life?

Noticing Robert already had the back door to the clinic unlocked, Tripp scrambled from the pickup. Not a good idea to flake out on his first day. While Robert geared up for his farm calls, Tripp grabbed a lab coat on his way to check in with Yolanda, the salt-and-pepper-haired receptionist.

“Good, you’re back.” Yolanda nodded to the waiting area. “Mrs. Cox just got here for her ten a.m. appointment—Schatzi’s annual checkup and shots. Plus, we’ve got two walk-ins. Sue Ellen Jamison’s cat needs to be dewormed, and Carl Vasquez’s German shepherd tangled with a coyote last night.”

Tripp smiled toward the pet owners. “Bring Mr. Vasquez and his dog to exam room one. Apologize to Mrs. Cox for the delay, and tell Ms. Jamison we’ll work her in as soon as we can.”

Two hectic but gratifying hours later, he scanned the empty waiting area. Yes—all caught up, and none too soon. It was lunchtime, and his stomach was growling louder than Sue Ellen Jamison’s angry cat.

“I heard that,” Yolanda said with a snicker. She made a notation in a patient file, then tucked it into a slot on the shelf behind her. “By the way, Sue Ellen said to tell you nobody’s ever gotten Cleopatra to take her medicine as easily as you did.”