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I grinned, feeling a surge of tingles between s

My phone binged again

Believe me It’ll be more than worth it

I felt a little breathless just thinking about it

I have no doubt Can’t wait, I texted back

“Would you stop flirting with Cooper and explain what you said,” Bailey said, crossing her arms over her chest in a huff

“How did you knoas flirting with Cooper?”

“The goofy grin on your face”

Daer”

“Good” She grinned and flopped down on her bed “Feeling like a teenager is good”

I laughed and sat down next to her “I feel all light-headed around him”

“I’ll bet you feel h school his classmates called him the Panty Melter”

“They did not” I guffawed

Bailey chuckled “Nope But if I’d been in his class they would have When he was a junior I was a lowly freshht on with me and my friends”

“Did you have a crush on hi on the older, popular Cooper

“He was the senior high school quarterback, he had those eyes, and on top of that he’s always been a good guy Jack Devlin was the sauys, too, had a crush on Cooper and Jack”

“Does Cooper know this?”

She made a face “What do you think?”

I laughed, knowing how open she was “He knows”

“It was probably the love letter I sent hi of fresh in sophoot shit-faced at the fun park in my senior year and declared my love for him in front of everyone at the Ferris wheel He enty years old and on a date with Brandi Sommers from New York Her parents owned a house on the south boardwalk and they visited every summer She was beautiful and classy, and there was no way I stood a chance with her around”

I frowned “What happened?”

“He orried about me because I was so drunk He and Brandi took me home”

“God!” I threw my hands up “Is he perfect?”

Bailey laughed “No He’s just a really good guy”

“Two questions: when did you get over your crush and what happened to Brandi?”

She gavelook “No need to worry Cooper is rew up, I started falling in actual love instead of lust, and over tiood friend As for Brandishe was Cooper’s su”

“He stopped seeing Brandi for Dana?”

Bailey’s mouth twisted “Hmm” Her expression suddenly turned careful when she studied me “Look, back then I could see it Danashe was a year younger than me so Cooper didn’t takethis kid froe, dropped out, and caht Cooper’s attentionbecause” She winced “As eously gorgeous”

Noas eous?”

She nodded “Like, could have been a model”

“Ouch”

“Hey, but she’s a bitch,” Bailey hurried to assure , when they were young, I get ithe probably got caught up in how beautiful she was and that’s how she ed to tie him down”

None of that made me feel any better

I had my insecurities about eneral I didn’t have any big complaints I felt confident I was attractive But I wasn’t “outrageously gorgeous”

“Huh”

“I shouldn’t have said anything I was justYou’re staying now and I wanted to prepare you forDana Because that’s inevitable And I didn’t want you to see her and feel threatened, because you shouldn’t All that beauty is hiding soh, Jessica Cooper sees that”

I heaved a sigh “You’re sweet And thanks for the heads-up” Now, though, I wished I knehat Dana looked like, because she’d turned into Kate Upton in my mind

“So back to the ht be my last patient for a while Maybe ever’”

I told her about my decision to take a break from medicine

Unlike Cooper, who’d wanted all the details behind my decision, Bailey just accepted it That surprised hn Tremaine’s “mysterious” decision to stay in Hartwell

“Okay, so you can of course say no, but hoould you feel about working for ure out what it is you want in life?” She grinned and nodded excitedly at the idea

I was surprised by the offer “Work for you how?”

“To someone to help out—to splith” Then she toldand it was considerably less than my pay at the prison

“You do realize that I’ve never worked in hospitality before?” nned, feeling a surge of tingles between s