Test Drive - Samantha Chase Page 0,77

floating on a cloud of pure bliss. She loved being a full-time nanny, and even though juggling Josh and the dogs was a little more challenging than she thought it would be–and she had the skinned knees to prove it–she wouldn’t change a thing.

Well…okay, there was one thing she would change, but it had nothing to do with her job.

It had to do with Levi’s.

Good grief, did he work a lot! Before their trip, when they had those two weeks together to get to know one another, she thought his schedule was flexible, but now that they were dating and trying to spend more time together, she realized it really wasn’t. He worked all the time, and it was like his boss didn’t even care about the pub! Levi was doing all the work! And with her working all day and him working most nights, it didn’t leave a whole lot of time for them to be together.

Willow wasn’t a big late-night person to begin with, but if she wanted to see Levi, she had to get used to their dates starting at one in the morning.

That only worked on the weekends.

During the week, she was busy with Josh and the dogs and didn’t think it was right to take a toddler to the pub. Although it was pretty family-friendly, she just didn’t think the Moores were paying her to go on lunch dates with her boyfriend.

Something had to give. She knew she could be patient, and eventually Levi’s schedule would have to lighten up. Maybe his boss was giving him the extra hours to make up for the time off he took while taking her to Florida, but…that should have been done by now, right?

It was Thursday night, and she was getting ready to make herself something to eat when her phone rang. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of Levi calling to say he took the night off, but when she ran over to grab her phone, she saw her mother’s name and number on the screen.

Talk about a buzzkill…

“Hey, Mom,” she said, forcing herself to smile even though her mother couldn’t see her. “How are you?”

“Fine, sweetheart. Just fine. Listen, I wanted to run something by you.”

“Oh, okay.” Sitting down on the couch, Willow braced herself for whatever this was going to be.

“You remember Dr. Barrett, don’t you? She’s been with our practice for the last three years.”

“Yeah, I remember her. Is she okay?”

“Yes, yes, she’s fine, but her mother isn’t. The poor woman fell when she was getting out of the tub and broke her hip. Now Carol needs to take a leave of absence so she can go and take care of her mother.”

“O-kay…”

“Your father and I were talking, and we thought this might be the perfect way for you to test the waters.”

“Test the waters for…what?” And now her heart was racing for a completely different reason.

“Willow, you can’t keep avoiding this subject forever. You have a degree, and you need to be using it. Carol said she would be more than willing to let you take on half of her patients while your father and I help with the other half. It would only be a month; a trial run.”

“Mom…”

“But you’d need to be here on Monday so you can look over the case files and then start with your first patient on Wednesday. We’d like for you to be prepared.”

“Mom…” she said with a little more assertion.

“We’ll pay your airfare, of course. We know you probably can’t afford to fly across the country on such short notice. You’ll stay with us and we’ll cover your rent on your apartment there in New York to help you out. This is really a wonderful opportunity, Willow. Not many people get the opportunity to join a prestigious practice right out of the gate.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Willow willed herself to stay calm. “May I speak now?”

“Of course, dear. I’m sure you have a ton of questions.”

“Actually, I don’t.”

Silence.

“There’s nothing to ask because there’s nothing I need to know. I’m not accepting the invitation,” she stated, hating the slight tremble in her voice. “I appreciate the offer, and please tell Dr. Barrett that I hope her mother’s recovery goes well, but I will not be coming to Seattle to cover her patients.”

“Why must you be so difficult?” The exasperation in her mother’s tone was blatant and obvious. “This is a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity.”

“I have a job, Mom.”

“Oh, please,