“How’s that relationship?” Cassie asked.

“With my dad?”

Cassie nodded, sipping her wine.

Erika’s chest tightened. Such a loaded question. One she had no idea the answer to. They got along fine, they worked well together. But it hadn’t been the same father-daughter relationship they’d once had in a long time. “Complicated in a different way.”

“Still struggling for his approval?”

Her friend’s “getting it” without her having to say anything proved that despite time and distance, Cassie was still the one person who truly did “get” her. She should have made this visit sooner. She wouldn’t allow ten more years to pass without another one. “Yes. But you know, I’m not sure it’s even attainable,” she said.

“Why does it matter so much? I get it when you were a kid, but now you’re a success. And you’re happy, aren’t you?”

She paused. “There’s different definitions of happy, right? I mean, I’m not unhappy...or at least I stay busy enough that I wouldn’t notice if I were.” Staying busy seemed to keep a lot of hidden wolves at bay. She didn’t like that they all seemed to be closing in now that she wasn’t keeping up her usual frantic pace. And her honest vulnerability in that moment made her slightly uncomfortable. Few people got to see this side of her.

“Your mom would be proud,” Cassie said. “And she’d be thrilled that you’re working with your dad on that new clinical drug.”

Erika frowned. She hadn’t mentioned anything about that to her friend. “How did you know about that?”

Cassie grinned. “We may not have kept in touch much, but I’ve been silently stalking you on social media.”

Erika shook her head. “I haven’t posted anything to social media since 2005.”

Cassie laughed, raising her hands in defeat. “Fine. Reed told me when I stopped by the station to have lunch with him today.”

Okay, that was unexpected. He’d obviously been paying attention to her conversation with Dr. Smyth. But then he’d also talked to Cassie about her? “What did he say?”

“Not much, just that Dr. Smyth at the community hospital was very complimentary to you and said this new antirejection drug might be a medical breakthrough.”

“Dr. Smyth has always been supportive of my career and my dad’s.” It was too bad her father didn’t think it was important enough to stay in touch.

“Anyway, Reed was impressed.”

She scoffed, but her heart missed a beat. His approval obviously meant something to her.

“No, really—he was. And even though he acted like a jerk after the other day on the mountain, he said you were really great at helping that injured skier.”

“Well, snapping bones back into place is my thing,” she said with a light laugh. Reed had told his sister she’d done a great job? He was talking about her? Did that mean he was thinking about her as well? The idea that he might not have been kidding the night before in the bar made her stomach queasy. Or was it just too much peppermint fudge? She prayed it was the latter. No entertaining thoughts of her and her best friend’s brother.