dibs Read Free Page B

along.
    “Jared?” I asked.
    “Samantha?”
    I nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
    “And you as well. Wow, You exceeded my expectations.”
    “Thank you,” I said, sitting on the park bench wondering why his nose was so red. “Which one is your grandson?”
    He pointed to a group of children on top of the monkey bars. “The one in the Cubs T-shirt.”
    The boy was adorable and reminded me of long ago days when Jake was little. How could time have slipped away so quickly?
    “Ah-choo!”
    His sneeze surprised me, causing my entire body to jolt.
    He pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose, which explained the inflamed schnoz.
    I sat next to this man, honestly knowing there was no attraction, but how vain to ask to be excused from a date.
    “Ah-choo!”
    My body jolted again. I’d just shaken his hand, coming into direct contact with these germs.
    “It’s that time of the year,” he said. “I’ll be blowing for the next three months. Just call me Rudolph.”
    He read my mind. “Allergies?”
    “Yep.”
    “Papa!” a little voice squealed.
    Both of us glanced toward the young boy who rested on his belly in the middle of a tire. We both smiled at the cuteness.
    “Ah-choo!”
    My body jolted. Three months of this?
    My work cell phone rang. “Excuse me, Jared?”
    It was the hospital.
    “This is Dr. Casey.”
    “Dr. Casey, the Whitman baby should be here soon. We need you to come in, please.”
    “Thank you, Amber. I’ll be there within a half hour.”
    Though relief washed through me, when I looked at Jared, disappointment crept into his expression.
    “Duty calls?”
    I nodded. “Yes. Babies don’t like to wait for us to be ready.”
    He leaned back, stretching. “Samantha. You are a very beautiful woman. You should have no need for a dating site. Guys must be beating down your door. Honestly, even though I’m a federal judge, you…are out of my league.”
    I began to protest, but his hand coming up stopped me.
    “Please. Let me finish. If you ever want a night of fun…just grab a drink sort of thing, please holler. I’d be honored to share a drink with you. In the mean time, stop this website dating. You could run into some real creeps.”
    “Jared. Trust me, I already have. Thank you. For all that you said.”
    After we said our goodbyes, a small flicker of hope ignited inside of me—not for the perfect man, but for the goodness of humanity. Everything happens for a reason and I needed this encounter. As far as dating…as far as finding Mr. Right… it just wasn’t in the cards for me.

Chapter 1~ Sam
    Cruisin’
     
     
    When I zipped the suitcase and heaved it off the bed, a sharp pain shot through my damn back, tweaking it.
    “Son of a bitch!” I shouted to no one, dropping the overweight bag directly onto my toe. There was no pulling it out from under the heavy bag. I had to lift the freaking thing a second time to free my foot, which consequently wrenched my back out further.
    “Shit!” I hissed, squeezing my toes and rolling back onto my bed like a two-year-old mid-tantrum. “Shit! Shit! Shit!”
    The toenail polish on my big toe was jacked up. As I tried to daintily smooth the almost dry polish, the corner of the toenail broke off.
    “You have got to be kidding!” I screamed, pounding my fists on the bed.
    I shot up off the mattress, yanked my other suitcase out from under the bed and randomly started transferring…throwing half the clothes and shoes from the heavy bag into the empty one.
    In my mind I went down my checklist again. Mail stopped. Paper stopped. Patients covered. Clothes. Swim suits. Sunscreen. Medication. Tickets.
    Jake...everything was in place. He was going home from school with a buddy and was staying with friends, for the most part, while I was gone. Bryan was still going to have his weekend visitation; hopefully he showed up. Jake and I had said our goodbyes this morning. But…leaving him was dreadful. The thoughts of having something happen to him while I