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probably right. I’m focusing on winter, when brotherly love is possible. I’m forgetting about the rest of the year. When it gets so hot and sticky that I feel like an abandoned lollipop glued to the sidewalk. Like if you pulled me up, I’d make that terrible sucking sound like a cleaner fish in a tank. Ah, Philly. The smog-soaked, history-heavy city that holds one attraction for me: You, Dr. Kevin Novak.”
    “I’m honored.” Somehow, he doesn’t sound honored.
    As we get off the Interstate, I have this sick feeling in my stomach. “But it’s still one hundred times better than Atlanta.”
    “You’ve made your point. Atlanta is not an option.”
    Somehow, I don’t think I have. I know Kevin’s mother, and she’s going to use my absence. Somehow. It’s just how she rolls.
    “Do you think I’m slow?” He cocks his eyebrow and beams those beautiful eyes at me.
    “No, I think your family is…persuasive.”
    He winks at me. “You have one advantage over them.”
    “Only one?”
    Kevin finally parks the car and cuts off the motor. He turns to me and looks into my eyes in that captivating way that he has, as if I’m the only person on the planet. The very same look that makes his family worth enduring. It’s as if he can see inside my very soul and comfort me with a glance.
    He shakes his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking to send you away. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like to come home to an empty house.”
    “It’s not empty,” I remind him. “Rhett is there. You’re not going to forget to feed my dog, are you?”
    “Emily will feed the dog.”
    “Emily?” My stomach lunges. “Emily, your sister?”
    “She’s coming to stay with me while you’re gone.”
    “In our house?”
    “Ashley, would you rather my sister visit while you were there?”
    Truthfully, I’d rather she not visit at all. “Rhett doesn’t like Emily.” Translation: I don’t like Emily and my dog is an equally good judge of character.
    “The dog will be fine. Kay needs you. Have you forgotten?”
    “Doesn’t Emily have a baby to baste? What’s she doing traveling all over the country when she’s pregnant?”
    “My sister isn’t exactly following God. Do you want my nephew or niece raised in the kind of environment Emily will currently provide?”
    “Is that a trick question?” My breathing is coming too fast. I’m going to lose the filter between my brain and my mouth, and that’s never a good thing. “I’m wondering, when did you and your mother and Emily plan all this…behind my back?” See? It came out as an accusation and I didn’t mean it that way!
    Kevin’s jaw tightens. “I’ll work on a timeline for you.” He rubs his eyes. “I’m not up to this now.”
    My fingers and toes are tingling, like I’m losing my grip. “I just find it interesting that she’s coming while I’m in California. Is that why you’re sending me?”
    “Of course not! You’re welcome to stay home and visit with Emily if you’d like.”
    I’d rather wear cheap shoes that were a size too small. “No, thank you.” I clasp my fidgety hands in my lap. “Kevin, she’s going to tell you about a job in Atlanta. I know this is going to happen as sure as I sit here. I can feel it. It’s like the more I resist it, the more I am going to become a transplant Scarlett O’Hara.”
    Kevin pulls in a noisy breath. “Ashley, you already are a transplant Scarlett. No matter where you live.” Another shake of his head. “And my sister didn’t plan this. She just called yesterday and said she needed to get away.”
    “ We need to get away. Alone. You and I.”
    “We can make that happen, Ash, but not right now.”
    Fear bubbles to the surface again, like I’m losing the man I love. “Just…keep your sister out of my shoes.”
    Kevin tilts his head. “Your shoes? She’s not going to wear your shoes.”
    See, how he makes me sound totally ridiculous while I know Emily’s going to be stuffing her