She watched him work for a few minutes, moving efficiently in the kitchen, pulling a tray of warm Hawaiian rolls out of the oven. A feeling of contentment and ease glowed within her.

Occasionally, Hudson popped into her mind, but she pushed him right out using her meditation skills. She pictured a babbling brook instead of the way she’d leaned in to kiss him and how he’d physically restrained her to stop her. He’d stopped her. He wasn’t even supposed to be more than a speed bump in her life.

She pictured the babbling brook running right over his face.

“What are you thinking about?”

Annika almost choked on her lemonade. “S-sorry?”

Her dad waved an oven-mitted hand in the air. “You looked completely lost in thought, like you were trying to map the genome in your head.”

“Oh. Um, no. Definitely not trying to do that.” She attempted a light laugh. She knew what was coming.

“It’s not too late for medical school.” There it was. His back was turned to her, but she knew the look on his face: equal parts grave, concerned, and patronizing.

“Which would be helpful if I wanted to become a doctor. But I don’t.”

He turned and considered her, the recessed lighting shining in his impeccably groomed silver hair. “And why not?”

Annika threw up her hands. “Dad. Can you not? We’ve had this conversation so many times. I have a job, remember? I have my own business. How do you think it makes me feel when you keep bringing up medical school?”

Her dad frowned. “Makes you feel?” he said, as if those words didn’t make sense.

Oh my god. Why was it that every time they had an argument, Annika felt like she’d been sucked into a vortex and was fifteen years old again? “Yes, makes me feel! People have feelings, Dad, and you’re not making me feel good ones right now.”

He still looked confused. “But this isn’t about feelings. This is about making a financially secure career decision, which has nothing to do with emotion.”

Annika glared at him. “There’s more to life than money.” She knew she wasn’t being completely fair. Her dad was not the shallow type, and he’d always been very generous with her. But he was getting on her nerves.

“I know there is. And when you have money, you can enjoy those other things a lot more. Let me tell you, Annika, not once since about five years after medical school have I had to worry about how I was going to pay the bills.” He leveled a glance at her. “Can you say the same?”

Annika felt her blood pressure rising, along with her embarrassment. “No, I can’t. Not yet. But that doesn’t mean it’ll always be this way.”

“Do you have an idea of when that’ll change?”