My One and Only(45)

The doc didn’t look happy about Carrie sharing that detail. In fact, she looked as if she were bracing for a blow. He didn’t see why, since this sounded like what she’d been talking about Friday night when he brought up the theater project.

“That’s a great idea,” he said, enjoying Haleigh’s shocked expression. At least now she was looking at him.

Eyes narrowed, she said, “What did you say?”

“I said it’s a great idea. You should do it.” Molly grabbed his lips and Cooper wrestled her hand away. “Friday night you said more important needs than a theater were being ignored. If you believe that, then do something about it.”

“I . . .” she sputtered. “That’s not what I meant.”

“So girls like Jessi aren’t stuck with no place to go?”

“Yes, that’s a problem.”

“Okay then. Now you have a chance to change it.”

The idea seemed simple enough. Haleigh had the intelligence, the determination, and the experience to make a difference. Not that delivering babies wasn’t making a difference, but this option would have more far-reaching effects.

“See,” Carrie said. “Even Cooper agrees.”

“Cooper was a saint in a former life. Of course he agrees.”

“That’s me,” he said, rocking on his heels. “The patron saint of motor oil.” Molly chimed in with some incoherent gibberish, and Cooper nodded in agreement. “Even Molly thinks you should do it.”

Haleigh squirmed in her seat as if something more than the shelter idea was making her uncomfortable.

“Fine,” she snapped. “You two can stop ganging up on me. I’ll think about it, but I’m not committing to anything.” Snatching a folder off the table, she added, “If I decide not to do it, I promise to at least recommend someone who would be a better choice.”

“There is no better choice,” Carrie said stubbornly. “You’re the perfect person to make this happen.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“What makes you so sure you aren’t?” Cooper asked.

She met his challenge with a level glare. “Lack of time, for one thing. Then there’s lack of connections and experience.”

“The only thing you’re lacking is faith in yourself, and we have more than enough to make up for that.”

History had proven that once Haleigh set her mind to something, nothing stood in her way. Whether scoring perfect grades or earning her MD, she’d achieved every goal she’d set for herself.

“Like I said, I’ll think about it.”

“Good.” Carrie bounced out of her seat. “Now we have to get moving.” She whipped some pink contraption off the high chair near Cooper’s hip and stuffed it into the diaper bag. “Little one’s good mood is about to go out the window. Today is her four-month shots.”

“I should go, too,” Haleigh said, wrapping up the remnants of a half-eaten muffin.

“I’d like to talk to you if you have a minute,” Cooper said. His run-in with Abby had left him worried, and the only other person who knew her as well as he did was Haleigh.

She tossed the garbage in the can behind her seat. “I need to do my rounds.”

“It’s about Abby,” he explained. “I’m worried about her.”

With a glance to her watch, she said, “We’ll have to make it fast.”

“Let us get out of your way,” Carrie said, taking Molly. “My number is in the file. Give me a call when you make your decision or if you have any questions. See you later, Cooper.”

As mom and baby disappeared out of view, Cooper took the seat that Carrie had occupied. “How does Abby seem to you?” he asked.

Haleigh lifted one shoulder. “Distant. Irritable. Sad.”

“So, not like Abby at all.”

“Cooper, she lost her husband. We can’t expect her to be back to normal on our schedule.”

“I know,” he said. But he hated seeing her hide away, as if her life had ended along with Kyle’s. “This morning, she nearly ripped my head off for making a joke about the laundry.”

“Yeah,” Haleigh agreed. “Her fuse has gotten way shorter lately.”

At least he wasn’t the only person to see it. “I get that this is grief, and she needs to go through it her own way, but there has to be something we can do to help.”

One side of her mouth curled up. “That white horse of yours isn’t going to work in this situation.”

“So we don’t even try?” He couldn’t stand to sit back and do nothing. “Are you working this Saturday?”