Celebration's Family. Nancy Robards Thompson

there’s more, Dr. Thayer,” Dunlevy growled at him. “We’re talking about the bachelor auction first so that Ms. Macintyre can get back to her office. But while we’re on that agenda item, I want to make it clear that we’re a team. I expect every player to be on board.”

      Player. If that wasn’t the operative word. Liam worked with a bunch of players. While he respected his colleagues as professionals, doctors who put heart and soul into serving the patients of this hospital, he and the six of them were worlds apart when it came to the time they spent away from work.

      They were single.

      He was a single father.

      “Don’t look so put upon, Thayer,” ribbed Quinn Vogler, the new orthopedic hospitalist who’d recently joined the staff. “You’re not the only single father in the bunch. I have a daughter, but I don’t have a problem with this.”

      Right. Vogler had moved to Celebration from somewhere out west after a nasty divorce. Liam didn’t know the details other than that Quinn had a daughter around Calee and Amanda’s age who studied ballet at the same dance studio as his girls...or something like that. Liam wasn’t sure. He didn’t have time to keep track of his colleagues’ personal lives.

      “Out of all of us, it seems like you could use a night out,” Vogler said. “You work too hard and take life way too seriously.”

      “Maybe you don’t work hard enough, Dr. Vogler,” Liam said.

      Quinn scoffed, and Liam suddenly remembered his girls saying something about not liking Vogler’s daughter very much because she was a bully. Liam hadn’t put too much weight into that because he figured it had something to do with competition among teenage girls.

      Now he wondered if the Vogler girl’s needling nature came naturally. But Liam made it a policy not to meddle in his colleagues’ personal lives. In turn he expected Vogler, the new guy, to show him the same courtesy.

      Donning a layer of emotional armor, Liam crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. Ignoring Quinn and silently challenging the others to test him further, he felt like the only grown-up in the room, embarrassed that this scene was unfolding in front of Kate Macintyre.

      So he wasn’t the only family man on the small staff. It didn’t mean he needed or wanted a night out. The agonizing torture of those initial minutes, hours and days without Joy had accumulated into weeks, then added up to months that had stretched into years that were marked by the passing of birthdays, holidays and anniversaries that were nothing without her.

      He did well to drag boxes of Christmas decorations down from the attic much less summon the energy to cajole the kids to put them on the tree. But somehow the three of them had managed to go through the motions. If their family had once been a tight circle when Joy was alive, now that she was gone, the circle was broken, and had become a straight line in which he and the girls were desperately hanging on to each other, grasping, making it through day by day.

      Physically Liam left almost everything he had at the hospital. The emotional reserves were left for his kids. Not for a date with a woman who had won him in a sophomoric bachelor auction. Even if it was for a good cause, Amanda and Calee were the only company he wanted.

      Kate Macintyre continued on with her spiel. “A moment ago I mentioned that this event would happen in short order because we have a special incentive.” She paused, and, obviously knowing who her best audience was, she looked at Liam’s colleagues with sparkling eyes, as if she were trying to contain her enthusiasm.

      “Have you all heard of the reality television show Catering to Dallas? It stars Pepper Merriweather—who happens to be my sister-in-law—Sydney James, A.J. Sherwood-Antonelli and Caroline Coopersmith. It’s filmed locally but is broadcast internationally. It chronicles the inner workings of the local catering company called Celebrations, Inc.

      “It’s a fun show, and it’s really caught on with the television audience. They have a huge fan base. I just learned that a scheduled event canceled, and the producers have agreed to let us have the vacant spot. The bachelor auction will be recorded and broadcast at a later date on international television. They’ve also agreed to give viewers an opportunity to contribute to our cause at the end of the show. Even though the show will air later, the hospital’s building fund will have an ongoing need.”

      Everyone except Liam broke out into a round of whooping fist bumps and applause.

      Liam stood. “I’m sorry to be a wet blanket, but this isn’t a good fit for me. I’ll write you a check in lieu of participating. Just let me know what the average auctioned bachelor goes for these days, and I’ll be happy to reimburse you for my part.”

      As he waited for her to quote him a figure, Kate gaped at him, the pleasant smile still affixed to her perfectly formed lips but uncertainty clouded her blue eyes.

      “We’ve never done this before, so I’m not exactly sure.” She paused for a moment, and he could see her virtually weighing her words. “I can assure you, Dr. Thayer, that the auction will be in very good taste. However, I certainly won’t force you to do anything against your will.”

      Damn right, you won’t.

      But he had to give her credit. She was good. Tossing the ball back into his court like this, trying to make it hard for him to refuse. Too bad he wasn’t playing, because once upon a long time ago she might have been just the type who could’ve changed his mind.

      “I need to do my rounds now,” he answered. “When you figure out how much I owe you, let me know, and I’ll get you a check.”

      The chief of staff cleared his throat, and Liam’s gaze zagged over to Cullen’s impassive expression. The guy was only a couple years older than Liam, but the message in Cullen’s eyes was full of authority, a promise that he wasn’t going to cause a scene, but this match wasn’t over. Cullen Dunlevy simply had too much class to duke it out in front of their guest and the rest of the senior staff.

      Liam looked away, feeling like a jackass. But at least he’d stood his ground and won this set.

      “I understand that you’re busy,” Kate said. “I appreciate your time this morning. How about if I call you, and we can set up a time to discuss this?”

      She pulled a business card from her pocket and handed it to Liam. It read Kathryn Macintyre, President, Macintyre Family Foundation. He glanced at it, unsure how her giving him a card would help her call him as she’d offered.

      Liam answered with a curt, noncommittal nod. “I don’t have a business card on me right now. But you can reach me through the hospital.”

      With that, he left the conference room, closing the door after him. He’d made it only a few feet down the hall when a voice sounded behind him.

      “Liam, hold on a moment.”

      He turned around to see Dunlevy standing outside the conference room, his hands on his hips.

      The old familiar fight-or-flight sensation churned inside Liam, and he had to take a moment to reframe his urge to quarrel.

      Reframe. That was the technique that the grief counselor had taught Liam when he felt like lashing out in anger. Of all the stages of grief, he seemed to fluctuate between feeling nothing—or as the counselor called it, “denial”—and wanting to lash out in anger. Or so thought the powers-that-be at the hospital who had forced him into counseling.

      Those authorities had given him two choices: get help or take a sabbatical. Liam had still had enough of a handle on himself to know that he’d end up self-destructing if he had chosen the sabbatical. He couldn’t be alone with himself for that long. Despite how he craved more time with the girls, they were so busy with school and their ballet program that he’d have way too much time on his hands. That wouldn’t be good for the girls or his career.

      Cullen Dunlevy had been one of the proponents of the ultimatum, and Liam still wasn’t sure if he’d forgiven Cullen yet. As the chief of staff walked toward him, Liam knew that he’d better