“Yes, but—”

“That doesn’t sound like management,” Dr. Ferrin observed.

“There were extenuating circumstances.”

“Seems like a lot of extenuating circumstances to me. I’m not saying that you’re purposely making terrible decisions. I’m saying trouble is attracted to certain people, and you are most definitely one of them. However, you did rescue Mr. Kleckner, and I am awfully fond of him and his wife. So that weighs heavily in your favor.”

“Did you see him? Is he okay?” Remi asked.

“Mr. Kleckner will be fine. Thanks to you and our fine emergency services. Let’s talk about what you do when you’re not in the midst of extenuating circumstances. Tell me about your prescriptions, your exercise, your diet.”

“Don’t you have other patients to see?” Remi asked weakly.

Dr. Ferrin’s smile was sharp. “It’s your lucky day. There isn’t a ton of doctoring going on in February on an island of five hundred. Now, prescriptions, exercise, diet. Talk. And if there’s enough time left over, maybe we can figure out when your cast can come off.”

* * *

Forty minutes later, Remi stepped into the waiting room with three fresh prescriptions and a host of medical advice about how she was living her life all wrong.

Worse yet, Brick was still there. Standing hip-shot, arms crossed, staring at her as if he’d been willing her to appear.

“Well?” he asked.

“Everything is fine,” she said.

“Good. Come on.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, Brick.”

“I’m not babysitting you. I’m feeding you lunch because you earned it and then taking you home.”

“I earned it?”

He sighed and held the door open for her. “If you hadn’t gone to visit the Kleckners, it might have taken Lois a lot longer to check on Ben. He could have been out there for an hour or two before anyone realized he was missing. His tracks would have been gone.”

“So I wasn’t incredibly irresponsible?” she asked, fishing for a compliment.

“Maybe not in this case. Though not wrecking their snowmobile would have been a better solution.”

“That wasn’t my fault.”

He held up a big hand. “I know. That thing has needed an overhaul for fifteen years.”

“Where are you taking me for lunch?” she asked, suddenly starving.

The Cherry Blossom Cafe was a little lakefront place with water views and really good pies. Remi settled into the cherry red booth and rested her head against the cushion for a moment before opening her eyes to study the man in uniform across from her.

He looked as exhausted as she felt.

They placed their orders without making any eye contact and when the server skedaddled, Brick stared down at the stainless steel tabletop.

“You didn’t call me,” he said finally.

“No. I didn’t. I called my mother.”

“I didn’t like it.”

“I’m not apologizing for that,” she said.

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Then why are you telling me.”

His sigh moved those massive shoulders up, then down. “I don’t really know.”

The buzz of the heater above them filled the silence. The snow outside turned finer, like dust.