The Dummy Between Us: He Kept The Mannequin, She Kept The Grudge, A Second-Chance Medical Romcom

Some people get a second chance at love. Colette Rourke gets one with a medical mannequin watching. After nineteen years of carefully avoiding the one boy she never quite forgot, Colette walks into a hospital simulation center expecting to spend eight weeks designing a new emergency medicine curriculum. Instead, she finds herself sharing an office barely large enough for two desks...and one unnervingly lifelike patient simulator named Preston. Waiting inside is Dr. Gideon Marchetti. The quiet, brilliant boy who once built an aurora in a box. The first person who ever made her wonder what it might feel like to stay. Now he's the calm, methodical anesthesiologist whose teaching philosophy clashes spectacularly with hers, whose maddening patience makes every argument impossible to win, and who somehow remembers everything about a summer they both pretend never happened. Forced to work together on a high-stakes curriculum that could change how an entire hospital trains future physicians, Colette and Gideon spend long days debating medicine, challenging each other's assumptions, and trying very hard not to notice that the chemistry between them never disappeared. Meanwhile, Preston keeps choosing the worst possible moments to go into cardiac arrest. As deadlines close in, old misunderstandings begin to unravel, forgotten feelings refuse to stay buried, and both of them must decide whether the greatest risk they'll ever take isn't in the simulation lab at all—but in trusting the person who once broke their heart without ever meaning to. Warm, witty, and irresistibly romantic, The Dummy Between Us is a sparkling second-chance romantic comedy filled with razor-sharp banter, unforgettable characters, laugh-out-loud workplace chaos, and a love story that proves some hearts simply need a little more time to find their way home. Perfect for readers who love intelligent romantic comedies, slow-burn chemistry, mature protagonists, and stories where the laughter is as memorable as the happily ever after.