“So leave!” She shrank away as far as possible and slung her knee onto the seat between them. “If you hate it so much, why don’t you just go?”

“Sweetheart, don’t make a scene.”

An acid-laced laugh squeezed past the flaming, fury nugget and emerged as a strangled cry. “Are you kidding? First of all, nobody can hear us, and second, like, five hundred people are down there. You’re smack in the middle of a scene.”

He took out his phone.

Again. She wanted to grab the thing and launch it into orbit. “For the love of God, Richard, you don’t have service. You want one hundred percent reliable cell service? Then get out of town!” She flung wide her arms. “If you’re so much better than all this, why don’t you leave?”

He fisted his hands against his thighs. “Because I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I have a job for one thing. St. Luke’s needs me. My patients need me. I’ve got a family and friends—and I’ve got a woman I’m head over heels in love with despite the fact she’s damned near impossible. I can’t just leave!”

His words tumbled into empty space, and she held her breath. Silence settled over the valley like a sheet snapped upward and left to fall inch by inch onto the bed. The sun slid behind the western ridge, and neon signs flickered on soundlessly all around. “You have family in Green Ridge?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

“My father haunts that hospital like some white-coated ghost. I can’t sit on a bench without catching my pants on a plaque dedicated to him. And my mother? She died in room 312 so…” He raised his shoulders a few inches and released them slowly. His eyes darkened. “And then there’s you. What do I do about you?”

The question landed like a heavy parcel in her lap. She slumped beneath its weight. “I might not be here forever either.”

His high forehead creased, and his brows knitted. “If you’re so crazy about Green Ridge, why would you leave?”

“I’m not ashamed of where I’m from.” She took a breath, and the sky purpled one shade deeper on the color wheel. “But I don’t plan to stay for the rest of my life. I’m moving to New York soon.”

The wrinkles on his forehead deepened. “I thought you said New York was out of the question.”

“The situation changed, but it’s not a done deal.”

Eyes flashing, he clasped her hand and drew it to his chest. “I know you feel adrift right now, but you won’t forever. Before you know it, your parents will come home, and we’ll get you a place in town. I’ll help you find a job at the hospital—”

“Help!” A terror-stricken voice rang from below.