would have a different clientele, though, wine bars being a bit more upmarket than a country-style pub. No offense.”
“None taken.” Darcy’s smile hardened slightly. The guy was a jerk. “I take it you’re new to the village?”
“Oh, I don’t live here. I’ve got a winery with a restaurant in Red Hill. My financial planner suggested I start up another business. You know, for a tax write-off.” He looked out the window onto the quiet street. “This place is a bit of a backwater.”
“We like to think it has character,” Darcy said.
“Yeah, real cute. I notice some big houses along the cliff and on the north side of town. There’s a bit of money here.”
The more Wayne opened his mouth, the less Darcy liked him. “This is a diverse community—some rich, some middling, plenty of working folk.”
Wayne was in here checking out the competition. Darcy wasn’t worried. He knew his clientele, who, for Wayne’s information, included doctors, stockbrokers and teachers as well as tradesmen and business owners. They came for the friendly atmosphere and the familiarity of his establishment. They liked their beer and they tolerated his limited wine list.
No upstart wine bar could compete with that.
Setting aside his distaste for the guy’s attitude, he stuck out a hand. “Welcome to Summerside.”
CHAPTER THREE
Late February
EMMA MENTALLY ADDED UP the days and weeks since her last period as she walked briskly along the corridor of Ward 5G North. When she figured it out she stopped dead, forcing an orderly pushing a patient on a gurney to weave around her.
Six weeks.
She would definitely call that overdue. Add in the breast tenderness she’d been experiencing and the frequency of having to pee... A smile spread across her face. She wanted a baby so badly.
Tracey, filling in paperwork at the nurses’ station, glanced up as Emma approached. “What are you grinning about?”
“Nothing.” She leaned over a filing cabinet and pulled out a drawer, pretending to riffle through the files for a patient’s case notes. She didn’t want to say anything about the baby, not even to Tracey, until she knew for certain.
If she was pregnant, the baby had to be Darcy’s. She’d been out with a few men she’d met online in the past four months but she hadn’t liked anyone enough to do more than kiss them good-night.
Tracey reached for the phone. “I’m going to call Barb and Sasha. Where do you want to go for drinks after work?”
Drinks were a Friday-night ritual for her and Tracey, plus Sasha, a midwife, and Barb, who was a manager in hospital administration. But alcohol would be out of the question if...
Emma stayed Tracey’s hand before she could punch in any numbers. “My niece is having her birthday party this afternoon.”
She hadn’t planned to go even though she was invited. It was too hard. Tessa was turning three, as Holly would have been if she’d lived. The girls had been born, amazingly, on the same day. Twin cousins, she and Alana had called them. Emma had a present for Tessa all wrapped and ready to drop off at the door. But if she were pregnant, maybe, just maybe, she would be able to bear to see Tessa.
“We could go out for dinner instead,” Tracey suggested.
“Um, I’ve got a tentative date for tonight. Can I confirm that before we make plans?”
“A date, huh?” Tracey grinned. “Who is it this week? The firefighter? Are you going to do the deed at last?”
“Er, no, the IT guy.” There was no date. Emma kept her head down, hoping Tracey wouldn’t ask questions even though in the past she’d sought her advice.
“I thought we’d decided he wasn’t right for you.” Tracey peered into Emma’s face. “Hey, why so quiet?”
“No reason.” Emma bustled about the station, moving a stack of files from one spot to another.
Tracey studied her pointless movements. “Have you been in touch with your ex since the cruise? Is Darcy why you can’t go out with us?”
“Why would you say that?” Emma felt the blood drain from her face. Tracey had an uncanny knack of tapping into what she was thinking. She didn’t always get it exactly right, but close enough to be spooky.
“You’re acting weird. And you never told me what happened that night on the cruise.”
“Nothing happened.” After confiding in Tracey about her divorce, Emma was embarrassed to say she’d slept with Darcy. She would look like an idiot. Fair enough, she was an idiot. All she’d admitted to Tracey was that she’d gone for a walk with Darcy