“Genetic testing?” Emma repeated. That sounded like a little much. She had never even considered doing something like that.
“With more information comes peace of mind. At least as far as I’m concerned. Genetic testing is something I’ve been able to add to our services here at the clinic. I don’t recommend it for everyone, but with your family history, I think it’s a good idea.”
Emma felt like the world was spinning way too fast. Her world. Dr. Rivers was right. Even with a clean bill of health, Emma would still live with some level of fear. She didn’t want that. “Peace of mind sounds good,” Emma finally said, gathering as much courage as she could muster.
“Is that a yes?” Dr. Rivers asked.
Emma nodded. “Yes.”
Chapter Eighteen
An hour later, Emma walked out of the Women’s Wellness Center and got into her car. She sat there for a long moment and collected her thoughts. She didn’t want to think too much. In fact, she’d prefer not to think about what she had just done at all.
She grabbed her cell phone and dialed the café.
“Sweetwater Café,” Nina answered a couple rings later. If she were busy, there’d have been more rings. This was a good sign.
“It’s Emma. Are you busy over there?”
“Not especially. Jack stopped by, and I told Sam to go with him. It’s just me, and even so, I have time to play Words with Friends on my phone.”
“Not something you should probably confess to your employer,” Emma pointed out.
“I can play while cleaning. Don’t worry.”
Emma laughed, which was good medicine. “Mind if I just go home, then?”
“Of course not. I’m fine here. Jack dropped off a couple slices of pizza for me a few minutes ago, so I have everything a girl could want…except a handsome single cowboy who wants to ride off into the sunset with me.”
“A cowboy, huh?” Emma asked.
“That’s my preference. Although, there aren’t too many in the mountains.”
“You said you saw Jack? How was he?” Emma asked.
“He was bummed that he missed you here. I told him you had an appointment. What kind of appointment did you go to anyway?” Nina asked.
So much for not thinking about it. “I met with Dr. Rivers.”
“Right. This event you’re planning is a lot of work,” Nina said.
Emma didn’t tell her that she and Dr. Rivers hadn’t discussed the event. It was bad enough she had to wait for all the results to come back. She didn’t want someone else waiting anxiously with her or asking for updates. This felt too personal.
Dr. Rivers said the genetic testing could take one to two weeks. From now until then, Emma intended to distract herself in any way she could. She hoped that she could do that with Jack, but it’d been a full day and she hadn’t heard anything from him. “Thanks for watching the café tonight. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Sure thing. Bye.”
When Emma arrived home, she closed the door behind her, not intending to open it back up until the next morning. She walked into her kitchen with Barnaby at her heels and poured herself a glass of water, her eye catching on the note that Jack had left her at some point during the night. It promised that he’d call her sometime this morning. But he hadn’t.
He had stopped by the café this afternoon though. Was it just for Sam or was he looking for her too?
Her questions were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Barnaby set off running.
Emma set her glass down and hurried to stand behind the door, taking a moment to catch her breath. Then she peeked out the peephole, seeing Jack’s distorted figure on the other side.
She opened the door and smiled at him, unable to even pretend that she wasn’t happy to see him. She’d thought she wanted to be alone right now, but she suddenly needed him. “Hi.”
“Hey.” He held an extra-large pizza box in his hand. “I come bearing pizza.”
“Well, then you can certainly come in. But I only want you for the food,” she said.
Jack chuckled. “Warning. I dropped off a couple slices to Nina at the café, and Sam took a couple. So this is only half of an extra-large pie, but I think that’ll suffice for the two of us.” He headed toward her kitchen and slid the box onto the counter. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out some silver-foiled chocolates. “I also came with Hershey’s Kisses to sweeten the deal if