I chuckled. “I will make sure to tell him that.”
“What are you two giggling about over here?” Karina asked, coming up to the table with sandwiches and drinks. She set a meal down in front of her daughter with a smile.
“Aunt Hannah's gonna marry Dr. Matthews,” Leigh Ann explained.
Karina raised an eyebrow at me. “Is that so?”
“That's what Leigh Ann wants,” I quickly told her. “She wants Mary Louise to be jealous.”
Karina shook her head. “The two of them were inseparable this spring, but Mary Louise got a new bicycle and has been lording it over Leigh Ann.”
I nodded. The drama of girls started young.
“So, tell me. How are things between you and Dr. Matthews?” Karina gave me a sly grin as she sipped on her soda. “You told me some things, but I want more.”
I glanced over at Leigh Ann, but she was now engrossed in her sandwich.
“Things are good. Well, as good as they can be with the town telling him to break up with me and get back with Katie.” I picked at my sandwich. Two bites and I was full. I knew I should eat, but it no longer looked appetizing.
“You two are perfect for one another, you know,” Karina took a big bite of her tuna sandwich. The smell made my stomach flip a little and I shifted so I wouldn't be so close.
“What do you mean?”
“He's the bad boy and you were Miss Perfect,” Karina explained. “Plus, I see the way he looks at you. He looks at you the way I look at pie.”
I chuckled at the image in my head. Karina loved her pie.
“I heard they are opening up a new hospital across the highway,” Karina said. “It shouldn't be too bad a commute. Not that I want you to go work there,” she quickly explained. “Just in case the town gets to you.”
/> I nodded. Jacob and I had already talked about it. Dr. Taggert wasn't happy with him and he had two weeks to turn things around. At least Dr. Taggert was giving him a chance. There was still a very good chance I would be fired soon, though. If enough patients refused to come because of me, I would be a liability to the clinic.
Still, we both were brushing up our resumes. I hated it. I'd just gotten comfortable here and I really liked my job. Jacob loved being a small town doctor more than Karina liked pie.
That, and with the baby coming... I hadn't told Karina that yet. I hadn't told anyone but Jacob, and I didn't dare tell her in a crowded place like this.
“Oh, Leigh Ann don't tip the cup...” Karina motioned to her daughter to stop tipping her ice laden soda up, but it was too late. “...like that.”
Ice, soda, and straw all rained down on Leigh Ann's face. Her eyes went big at the sudden cold and she let out a yelp of surprise as her shirt suddenly became very cold and wet.
Karina sighed. “Let's go get you cleaned up. We'll be right back, Hannah. Don't leave, okay?”
“I'll stay, but just for you,” I promised.
Karina took her daughter's hand and led her inside to the restroom to get cleaned up. I sunk down in my chair, keeping my back to the street and hoping that no one recognized me.
“Did you hear about Cassandra Reynolds?” A woman's voice said behind me. I snuck a peak to see two local women sit at the table across from us. They were both active members of the Ladies' Bridge Club and I assumed they just didn't see me sitting there.
“No,” the second woman said, taking her seat. “What about her? Who is she?”
“She's Libby's daughter” the first woman explained. “She just graduated college.”
“Oh, yes. I remember. Dark hair. Quiet.”
“She's pregnant,” the first woman announced, her voice haughty and condescending.
“No!”
“Yes. And by Richard Smoke's boy.”