Montana Actually by Fiona Lowe Read Free Book Online

qualified ER physician.”
    “Oh, I used to like that George Clooney,” a woman who looked to be in her sixties said with a dreamy smile.
    Now he was seriously in the twilight zone. “He’s an actor,” Josh said firmly, his voice sounding overly loud. “I’m board-certified. A real doctor.”
    The room went silent and the geriatric inquisition stared at him unhappily. This wasn’t going quite like the ticker tape parade he’d imagined.
    “I’m quite aware that Mr. Clooney’s an actor,” the woman said with a sniff. “He made a fine doctor.”
    The inference was clear—Josh was coming a distant second to a Hollywood actor who’d starred in the role fifteen years ago. What the hell sort of a town had he come to?
    “No one can live up to George, Doris,” said a new voice behind him.
    He turned to see a young woman wearing baggy scrubs, smiling at him.
    “That’s very true, Millie,” Doris replied. “I guess for now we’ll have to give Doctor Stanton the benefit of the doubt. Mind you, he’s got a look of a younger George with his height and curly hair.” Doris sounded slightly mollified.
    “I’ll do my best,” Josh said, uncertain exactly how to proceed. Right now he’d take a patient with a gunshot wound or an off-his-face meth addict rather than face this group of critical seniors. He was used to being judged on his clinical skills, not his ability to look like an actor.
    The woman who looked to be in her twenties stuck out her hand. “I’m Millie Switkowski, nurse practitioner, and I’m your go-to person here at the clinic. Welcome to Bear Paw, Doctor Stanton. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
    He gripped her hand like it was a life preserver in a choppy sea. Finally, he’d met someone who seemed professional and competent. Hell, she was the first person he’d met in Bear Paw who seemed normal.
    The memory of dancing green eyes, a sassy mouth and a sweet behind flooded him, and he immediately tried to shut it out. Katrina McCade wasn’t normal—she was difficult, bitter, bossy and annoying.
And as sexy as hell.
    Someone coughed—a wet and hacking noise that was the insidious sound of heart failure. It immediately focused him. The town and its population might be as foreign to him as Kazakhstan, and he may not have gotten the welcome he’d anticipated, but this he knew. He swung round briskly. “Whoever owns that cough, I’ll see you first.”

Chapter 4
     
    K atrina usually worked the breakfast shift at the Big Foot diner and then had the middle of the day to herself before pulling beers at Leroy’s for a couple of hours in the early evening. Today was different. She was working until midafternoon because Shannon Bauer, the owner of the diner and her boss, had a meeting at the middle school and she’d asked Katrina to cover.
    At times, the diner unofficially doubled as the community center, and today a Mommy-and-Me group had taken over the couches Shannon had in the corner for casual coffee. Between the babies who were practicing walking around the coffee table and the ones asleep in their strollers, it was a bit of an obstacle course as Katrina delivered coffee and freshly baked muffins.
    She’d always loved babies and had been more than happy to cuddle them and breathe in their sweet smell of milk. To her, that distinctive scent had always represented hope and joy, but just lately holding a baby filled her with regret. Truth be told, everything about her life at the moment filled her with varying levels of regret.
    The bell over the door tinkled and a woman walked in pushing a stroller. She stopped and stared. “Oh my God. Katrina McCade? I thought you’d left town and were never coming back?”
    Katrina’s stomach sank. Eight years ago when she’d left town in a blaze of
I’ve outgrown Bear Paw,
she’d said things to Chrissie Stapleton that she wasn’t proud of. She and Chrissie had been friends in high school but they’d shared different ambitions. Neither of