walked in and spotted her sisters already at a booth.
Technically Nevada was the oldest, with Dakota born in the middle and Montana last. They were separated by all of fourteen minutes. When they were young, they had truly been identical, nearly impossible for even family members to tell apart. As they’d grown, their personality differences had influenced their appearance.
Nevada was the most sensible of the sisters. A civil engineer, she favored short hair, jeans, shirts and boots that were practical on work sites. Dakota was as smart as Nevada, but slightly more nurturing. She was a child psychologist by trade, with a Ph.D. in her field. In the past three months, she’d adopted a little girl from Kazakhstan, fallen in love, gotten pregnant and then engaged.
Montana loved her sisters but there were times she felt like the family screwup. It was only the past year that she’d discovered what she really wanted to do with her life. Working with the therapy dogs was everything to her. She would deal with the fact that her love life was nonexistent another time.
“How’s it going?” she asked as she approached the table.
“Great.” Dakota slid in to make room for her. “Can I persuade you to order a lemondrop tonight?”
Montana greeted Nevada, then turned to Dakota. “Why?”
“I want to smell it.”
Because being pregnant meant not drinking, Montana thought. She looked across the table. “And you wouldn’t indulge her?”
Nevada motioned to her vodka and tonic. “I offered to let her smell this.”
Dakota shuddered. “No, thanks. Tonic water? I don’t think so.”
“Then I’ll take care of your need to sniff,” Montana said as Jo, the bartender, came over. “A lemondrop.”
Dakota grinned. “Because she loves me.”
“I could make you a virgin lemondrop,” Jo offered.
“Isn’t that just fresh squeezed lemons and simple sugar?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I was hoping for more.”
“We all need a goal,” Jo muttered and walked away.
Montana watched her go. Jo had arrived in Fool’s Gold a few years before and bought the failing bar. She’d had the money to completely refurbish it, but had never talked about where she’d gotten the funds. In fact, Jo rarely talked about her past. Rumors flew about everything, from her escaping an abusive husband to being a Mafia princess hiding out from her family. No one knew the truth and Jo wasn’t the kind of woman who took well to questions.
“Finn home with Hannah tonight?” Nevada asked.
Dakota nodded. “They’re watching Sleeping Beauty. He won’t admit it, but I swear he loves the movie as much as she does.”
“Probably not news you want to spread around,” Nevada told her.
Dakota laughed. “I’m not worried about what people might say. Let them get their own guy.”
“I wish,” Montana said wistfully, refusing to figure out exactly how long it had been since she’d been on a date. Too long, for sure. Soon, she promised herself. And this time it would go better. This time she wouldn’t feel as if she wasn’t good enough.
“We’re a town with a man shortage, remember,” Nevada said.
“Men are moving here. Last year we had busloads.”
“Oh, yeah.” Nevada picked up her drink. “I’m dying for a guy who can walk away from his life and take a bus to a place he’s never been simply because he’s heard there are desperate women there. That’s my idea of a dream come true.”
Dakota wrinkled her nose. “Have you considered your sarcasm is one of the reasons you’re still single?”
“No. Sarcasm is my version of charm.”
“How’s that working for you?”
“Just fine.” Nevada scowled. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She turned to Montana. “Distract her, please.”
Montana knew just what to say. “Mayor Marsha came to see me today.”
Dakota groaned. “That’s never good. What did she want?”
“There’s a new doctor in town. A plastic surgeon who specializes in children who have been burned. He goes from place to place, only staying a few months. She wants me to convince him to settle permanently in Fool’s Gold.”
As she finished talking, she instinctively tensed, waiting for her sisters to start laughing at her. After all, why would anyone think she could convince Dr. Simon Bradley of anything? But they didn’t laugh.
Dakota shrugged. “Makes sense to me.”
“Why? She said I should charm him. I’m not charming. I wouldn’t know what to say or do.”
Her sisters exchanged a glance. “Just be yourself,” Nevada told her. “That’s enough charm for any man. Trust me, he won’t know what hit him.”
“He seems amazingly unimpressed by me.”
“Are you sure? Have you looked in the mirror?” Dakota asked with a laugh. “I know that in theory we’re identical, but you’re the pretty one. And funny. How can he resist you?”
Jo brought Montana’s lemondrop. She appreciated the timing. Thanking the other woman meant it was more difficult for her mouth to drop open. The pretty one? Since when?
“I’m not pretty. I mean, not any prettier.” She’d always thought that her sisters were gorgeous but that she was not quite there. As for being funny, maybe, but it wasn’t always on purpose. “He’s not like anyone I’ve ever met. He’s really serious. Stick-up-the-butt serious.” She told them what had happened at the hospital.
“I’ve met Fluffy,” Nevada grumbled. “She’s a menace. Adorable, but not the best-trained dog on the planet.”
“She has a big personality.”
“And no sense of her size. She needs to be with a family. One with boys.”
“Dr. Bradley would agree with you.”
“He came to see you,” Dakota reminded her. “He needs your help. You can bond over that. Then show him around the town. That will give you things to talk about.”
“Maybe. I could—”
The phone on the bar rang. Instantly the large room went quiet as everyone watched Jo pick it up.
“Is it time?” she asked, sounding worried.
After a pause, she shook her head. “Not Pia,” she told the crowd.
Conversation resumed.
“Poor Pia,” Dakota said sympathetically. “I know she’s ready for the babies to arrive.”
Pia was pregnant with twins. Everyone had assumed they would come early, in the way that twins often did. But not Pia’s. So far they were hanging on until the very last day.
“She’s huge,” Nevada said. “I saw her two days ago and I swear my back started to hurt just looking at her.”
Dakota raised her eyebrows. “Talk to Pia about your doctor friend. She knows everything about the town and it will be a distraction for her.”
“Great idea,” Montana said, holding out her lemondrop for Dakota to sniff.
“If that doesn’t work, you can seduce him into staying,” Nevada teased. “Wrap yourself in cellophane.”
“I’ve never understood the point of that,” Dakota admitted.
“You’re