Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Rhonda

Present Day, October 2024

Rhonda shivered as she dropped her yoga pants on Tina and Anne’s patio. The steam rising from the hot tub curled like smoke in the chilly night air. Her fingers fumbled with her shirt, the cold making them clumsy. She laughed as she finally got it over her head, then slipped into the water with a contented sigh. It was dark enough this time of year that she didn’t even bother putting her swimsuit top on in the first place.

Emma grinned as she took hers off and draped it over the edge of the tub.

“That’s my girl.” Rhonda laughed and quickly pulled her hair up with a clip so she could sink to her neck.

Penny opened the cooler. "You're a terrible influence."

"Don’t knock it till you try it." Rhonda grinned as Penny dropped her coat and pants, holding her drink above her head as she slid into the water. “It’s like a warm massage, and they just float.”

Tina rolled her eyes. “Yours float since they stick out more than an inch from your body.”

Rhonda shrugged. “All the more reason to set them free—they don’t even need to be restricted.” It was her personal mission to bring more non-sexual nudity into the world, or at least her small piece of it. Women hated their bodies when they thought everyone else looked like the airbrushed images they were bombarded with. But in her experience, everyone pretty much looked the same. A different mole or roll here or there. None of it mattered, and baring it all was a good way to convince her brain of that truth.

“I think I’m going to dye my hair,” Tina started.

Rhonda laughed. “We’ve been talking about this since August.”

“I know, but now I’m really thinking about it.”

“Darker for fall?” Penny pulled her jet-black hair up into a ponytail.

“Maybe a balayage? Dark undertones?” Tina squinched her face.

Rhonda sighed. “You white girls have it so hard. Too many options.”

Tina rolled her eyes. “More like I’m pretty sure my hair is thinning, and I need to do something to distract myself.”

Anne took a sip of her drink. “Collagen. They sell it in bulk at Costco now . . .”

The mention of a supplement snapped Rhonda back into work mode. She let the conversation flow around her, white noise as she mentally ran through the list of meetings she needed to set up for next week. Dr. Henson in Lethbridge, Dr. Patel in Edmonton, and that new clinic in Banff. She'd been waiting for shoulder season to approach them. No ski accidents to fill up their waiting rooms for at least another few weeks.

She closed her eyes, letting the chilly air and hot water create a delicious contrast on her skin. She peeled one eye open as Emma started recapping the Snowballs game they'd gone to the night before. "I swear, I haven't seen that kind of energy this early in the season ever."

"Well, we’ve missed the cup for the past two years, and the team is damn good. We want momentum," Penny said.

Tina nodded. "It was electric. Even without Jack, the offence was solid."

“Ugh. I’m happy for him, but we need a deeper line.” Emma leaned her head back on the tub.

Rhonda shifted in the bucket seat. “Sean’s still recruiting, isn’t he?”

Emma nodded. “Yeah. Tyler’s working on it, too.”

“Brett found a guy through his AA meeting. I think he’s practicing with them next week,” Penny added. “After Pucks Deep stole—what was his name, Patrick or something?”

Emma jumped in, but again, Rhonda snapped into herself. Pucks Deep. She’d tried to avoid thinking of Jordan since the summer with some success. She hadn’t seen him again at Dusty Rose, thankfully. In her current drought, she didn’t know if she’d be strong enough to say no to another hook up.

She thought about that plenty. They’d been more than compatible, and late at night, when she was alone in some hotel waiting for a meeting the next morning, she’d been tempted more than once to look him up and slide into his DMs.

Which was the worst idea ever. They’d met up twice, and that was one time too many. Three would be bordering on a relationship, especially since they knew too much about each other at this point.

"Did you hear Jack and Delia are going to be at Sunday Supper tomorrow?" Tina reached for her water bottle.

Emma grinned. "Mom’s making her famous lasagna in celebration.”

“Has she met Delia before?” Anne asked.

Emma scoffed. “Sharla is positive they’re besties.”

Rhonda laughed. Sharla Thompson was positive she was besties with everyone. And she was right. “Didn’t you try to recreate that lasagna once?”

Emma shot her a look. “My mom won’t give me the actual recipe. She’s holding out so hers is always better.”

“Uh-huh.” Rhonda grinned and took a sip of her sparkling water. “I’m going to be bringing my world-famous bagged salad. So, be jealous.”

Anne put her feet up on the side of the tub. “You love food too much not to cook.”

“I love other people’s food. I wouldn’t like it nearly as much if I had to do all the work.” Rhonda pushed up on her knees, laughing as Tina did a quick check over the fence to make sure the neighbours weren’t out. “We don’t even have the lights on. Chill!”

Penny sat up across from her. “You just need a boyfriend who can cook.”

“She needs a boyfriend, period.”

Rhonda blew out a breath. “Fine. Get it out of your systems. We’re in, what, Q3? I haven’t had this lecture since first, so I’m overdue.”

Emma laughed. “It’s not a lecture, we just want you to be happy.”

“I am happy!” Rhonda threw out her hands, and her bobbing breasts accentuated her point.

Tina groaned. “Okay, but sexuality oozes from you like?—”

“Can we not use the word oozes?” Rhonda wrinkled her nose.

“Oozes like what, though?” Emma leaned in.

Tina paused. “Like, I don’t know, garlic from your pores?”

“Gross!” Rhonda flicked water at her.

“She’s not wrong, though.” Emma sighed. “You walk into a room, and men just know . You can see it in their faces.”

Rhonda sank back into the water. “Exactly! Which is why I don’t need to settle down. I can just have fun with it.”

“You don’t know that’s more fun than finding someone to be with permanently.” Penny cocked her head.

Rhonda took another sip of her drink. “You don’t know that it’s not more fun.” Penny had no rebuttal to that. They’d known each other long enough to be well-versed in each other’s pasts. Penny had gone from one serious relationship to the next. Emma had crashed and burned in a long haul, then tried the whole casual thing with Tyler. The ring on her finger was proof she’d failed miserably.

Penny stayed on topic. “Brett was telling me about this friend of his. He's a contractor, rugged, loves the outdoors. I thought?—”

Rhonda laughed, rolling her eyes. “Oh, Penny, you're adorable.”

“No, this guy is very non-committal.”

Emma laughed. “I can’t believe that is a selling point for you.”

Rhonda leaned back against the tub. “Does he meet my top qualification right now?”

Penny pursed her lips. “I told you he’s a contractor, not a doctor.”

Anne shook her head. “She was seriously searching up staff at Rocky Ridge Medical Centre the other day.”

“And?” Emma raised an eyebrow.

Rhonda leaned forward, sending a low wave of water across the tub. “I’m not going to get physically involved with any of them, I just need to know who’s most likely to be . . . interested. At least enough to hear me out on Reviact.”

“This drug works, right?” Emma teased.

“Of course it works.” Pharma reps got a bad rap, but she couldn’t do this job if she didn’t believe in the drugs she worked to get on formularies. She was particularly passionate about this one. Reviact was a medication designed to help manage opioid addiction, a unique formulation that combined an extended-release component to reduce cravings with a blocker to prevent relapse. The independent trial results were beyond statistically significant, and with the number of opioid addiction and abuse reports through the roof, there was never a bigger need for a medication that brought real hope.

But this was Canada. It took more than stellar results to supplant the old favourites, especially when shiny new drugs didn’t yet have federal approval or funding and cost ten times more.

"They haven’t even phoned you back?" Tina frowned.

Rhonda shook her head. "It's like trying to convince my mom that tofu is a real food. They're not budging."

Penny smirked. “Well, I don't know any doctors there, but I do know a very masculine contractor who?—"

"Thanks, but no."

Penny pursed her lips. “It's been a while for you, Rhon.”

Rhonda sighed. “I know. I’m just . . . busy. You know that.”

Anne nudged her knee under the water. “Yeah, but you need a life outside of work.”

Rhonda shrugged. “I have a life. I have you guys.” And her mom, but she didn’t see any of them as often as she wanted to. Not with all the travel.

Emma blew out a breath. “You know I’m not judging you?—”

“Here we go.” Rhonda leaned over and made grabby hands in the direction of the cooler. Tina laughed and passed her a beer.

Emma waited for her to use the bottle opener and take a sip. “‘Kay, but hear me out. You make great money, you’re hilarious, sexy, and you’re not superficial or arrogant?—”

“Thank you.” Rhonda nodded gravely.

Emma held up a hand, ignoring her sarcasm. “I don’t understand how someone hasn’t locked all of this down.”

Anne pointed a finger at her. “Do not use the peanut allergy metaphor. We’ve already discussed how that doesn’t hold up.”

Rhonda snorted. “Because I need therapy?” Anne shot her a look. “When would I have time for therapy?”

Anne dropped her chin onto her arm. “No. If you’re happy, I’m good with that. I just—” She blew out a breath. “I don’t like the idea of you being alone.”

Rhonda grinned. “You’ve been dating Gary for six weeks, and you’re already one of those people? Pitying me?”

“Not pity! You’re just travelling all the time by yourself. What if one of these times you bring home a guy that . . .” Anne shrugged, and Rhonda looked around the hot tub.

“Exactly! I travel too much to be in a serious relationship. You guys are the only thing I have time for when I’m home.” She paused, chewing her lower lip. “Is this what you’re all thinking, though? That I’m pathetic? Sad and alone all the time?” Her heart picked up speed. She was very aware that her lifestyle choices weren’t pedestal-worthy, but she didn’t love the feeling that her best friends were secretly judging her, too.

She stiffened and was about to push up out of the water when Tina said, “Sit your ass down, Rhonda. You know we love you. This is what friends do. They worry about you and your lady parts. So just accept that you’ll get a version of this lecture every six months or so.”

Emma nodded. “You’re over thirty-five. It’s like a mammogram.”

Penny gave her a serious look. “And if you’re still happy, fulfilled, and alone in another forty years, I’ll scour Rocky Ridge and find you the hottest medical student to change your bedpans.”