Chapter 1
Audrey Novak stood outside the gate to Windy Corner Apartments, her brain feeling like mashed potatoes. She’d been called away yesterday afternoon for a birth, and the adrenaline that had sustained her through the early-morning hours had crashed as she drove home. Now she couldn’t remember the code to unlock the gate.
Audrey’s thighs were sore from squatting with the birthing mother, her stomach ached because she hadn’t eaten a full meal since lunch yesterday, and she desperately needed to wash her hair. The locked gate was the only thing that stood between her and a hot shower and food inside her apartment.
“Rough night?” a voice to her left said. It took her a second, but she turned in the direction of the voice. Her eyes landed on an Adonis. He stood holding his leg in a quad stretch, his other hand gripping the Windy Corner sign for balance. Her gaze fixated for a moment on the short, clean nature of his cuticles. The fingernails of a surgeon, her mushy brain thought. He released his leg.
Her eyes then bounced to his face. He smiled at her, his teeth braces-straight and toothpaste white. His strong jaw was covered in cleanly manscaped stubble, the kind that was more than a five-o’clock shadow but not quite a beard. She noted his blond hair and the sporty shades covering his eyes.
“Do you need the code to get in?” he asked. He pushed his sunglasses to rest on top of his head, revealing startling blue eyes.
Audrey just stared at him. She knew he had asked her a question. The auditory receptors in her brain seemed to be working just fine. But the part of her brain that could open her mouth and cause speech had stalled. Audrey blinked a few times, distracted by the way the sun made his hair look like spun gold. She’d been told her auburn hair looked like copper in the sunlight. Was he noticing that about her right now?
The gate began to open from the other side, and Audrey managed to take a step back before it hit her in the face. At least her more primitive reflexes still seemed to be working. Her down-the-hall neighbor Freddy Kappal stepped through the gate. “Oh, hey, Audrey,” he said, then pointed a finger at her. “Is that blood on your face?”
Audrey touched her cheek.
Freddy laughed. “Just kidding.” He then looked at the guy stretching his legs. “Ammon, you ready to go?”
Ammon nodded. He took a few steps in Audrey’s direction and paused. Her heart bounced oddly as he reached across her. He smelled like citrus. His long surgeon’s fingers typed in the code on the keypad, and with a quick flick of the wrist, he opened the gate. She caught a glimpse of his smirk as he and Freddy jogged off.
So that was Ammon Parker.
***
After a shower, during which she washed her hair twice, Audrey fixed herself a bowl of leftover vegetarian curry and sat at the kitchen table. She felt much more like herself and now had the good sense to be mortified by her recent interaction with her new neighbor. Had she really not said a single word to him?
Her roommate, Ellie Lavish, padded out of her bedroom, yawning. Even though she’d just woken up, Ellie looked photo-ready. Her dark hair was in a messy top bun that only girls with cheekbones like hers could pull off. And she had flawless skin, which Audrey knew Ellie worked hard at, applying at least three different creams on her face each night.
“When did you get home?” Ellie asked.
Audrey glanced at the clock on the stove. It was 8:32 a.m. “About a half hour ago.”
Ellie nodded and joined her at the table. “How was the birth?”
“One of the least beautiful I’ve attended,” Audrey replied. “The mother’s water broke while she was pushing and doused me in fluids.”
Ellie grimaced. “And now you’re eating?”
Audrey laughed and took another bite.
She and Ellie were an unusual pair. They had met at a church service project about a year ago. Ellie had just graduated from Utah State and had moved to Salt Lake. Audrey had just returned to the city from working with Doctors Without Borders in Ethiopia. And while Ellie was makeup and designer handbags and Audrey was essential oils and Teva sandals, they’d bonded over their love of old movies and formed a quick friendship. In January, when Ellie’s old roommate, Charlotte, got married, Audrey had moved in.
After swallowing her bite of food, Audrey pointed her fork at Ellie. “You never mentioned Freddy’s new roommate looks like Captain America.”
“I thought it would be a given that he’d be absurdly muscly and hot since he’s friends with Freddy.” Ellie shrugged.
Sure, Freddy was hot, but he was too goofy for Audrey’s taste. That didn’t mean his friends were going to be good-looking, too—as evidenced by Audrey and Ellie’s friendship. Audrey was nowhere near Ellie’s level of beauty.
“So you ran into Ammon, then?” Ellie asked.
“Outside the gate as I was getting home.”
Ellie grinned. “So he saw you in all your midwifery glory?”
“If by ‘midwifery glory’ you mean raccoon-eyed and unable to form a complete sentence, then, yes.”
“You probably still sparked his interest,” Ellie said.
“I doubt it,” Audrey replied.
Ellie persisted. “He’s an ob-gyn, you know.”
Audrey did know this. All the single women at church had gone spastic two Sundays ago when Freddy had mentioned his doctor friend would be moving in now that his sister, Lucy, had gotten married and moved out. Audrey hadn’t been instantly impressed though. She caught babies all the time, and men didn’t go gaga over her because of it. Plus, she knew most of those women would lose interest once they found out he was an OB.
“He and Freddy left before we could really talk, anyway.”
“You saw Freddy, too?” Ellie asked with a little too much interest.
“Oh, is it his turn to ghost you?” Audrey asked with a laugh. Freddy and Ellie had a noncommittal on-again-off-again thing going on. It was too complicated for Audrey to keep up with.
Ellie narrowed her eyes. “Anyway. What’s your schedule like this week?”
Audrey yawned and took another forkful of food before answering. She’d let the change in topic go. She had no interest in getting in the middle of Ellie and Freddy’s not-so-love affair. “My friend is being induced on Thursday,” Audrey said. “And she wants me to be her doula. Unless she goes into labor early, my schedule should be pretty predictable.”
Ellie scoffed, and Audrey knew why. Her schedule was never predictable. She could be called away at any moment to go catch a baby at a home birth, and she supported women during hospital births as a doula. Being friends with her meant understanding she might have to cancel plans at the last minute or leave in the middle of something, and Audrey was grateful Ellie did understand.