He was asking me? And since when did he go to church?
“That’ll be perfect. It’ll give me a chance to do my run for the day.” I winked at him and walked out, leaving him to ponder that.
Chapter Twenty
Greydon
Marin didn’t have a clue. She had gotten to me –gotten behind the walls, the same ones I’d vowed never to bring down. Not only that, she made me hard, so fucking hard, harder than I’d ever been for any woman. My showers were getting longer and longer each day. And my analytical brain wasn’t making any sense out of it. How could I be interested in someone who was sixteen years younger than me? Not to mention she was the complete opposite of Susannah, from her rainbow-colored hair, to her clothing, which wasn’t anything close to designer labels. But there was something about her. Maybe it was her sass because damn if she didn’t have plenty of it. Or maybe it was the fact she loved my kids. Or had the nerve to stand up to me and didn’t care what I thought—or anybody else for that matter. It made me wonder how she’d acted when she’d taken Kinsley to school. Of course it was summer break now, but as I thought about it, when I went to that program, she’d been alone, no one within striking distance of her. It didn’t seem to bother her, but who knows. If that had been Susannah, she would’ve been holding court.
The trip to the amusement park was a great idea. She handled the kids like an expert. When it came time for Kinsley to ride certain rides, she was adamant about her not going on one.
“Absolutely not.”
“But why, Marnie?”
“You’ll be sick afterward. And I’m not comfortable with you getting off and throwing up.”
I chuckled at their banter constantly. Kinsley was persistent as hell and did her best at working Marin over, but Marin was tough. When it came to the important things, she stood strong.
“Marin is right, polka dot. That ride is way more than you can handle. Let’s go.”
Marin added, “No more arguments on it or we can call it a day.”
“What does call it a day mean?” Kinsley asked.
“It means we’ll just go home.”
“But I don’t want to call it a day and go home,” Kinsley said.
“We won’t if you don’t argue with me,” Marin said.
“Okayyy.”
We walked around and took Aaron to the little helicopters. They strapped him in while Marin grilled the man about safety. It was clearly a ride for kids his age, as it claimed on the board up front, but she wasn’t satisfied until she saw how slow it went.
“That thing doesn’t even go off the ground,” she commented.
“You expected it to?”
“Well, yeah. It’s a helicopter.”
“In name only. It’s the impression they give.”
Aaron was kicking his legs, as usual, and Marin snapped photos of him every time he passed us. She was going use up all the memory in that damn phone if she wasn’t careful. Which reminded me.
“Hey, do you really have videos of Kinsley’s programs I missed?”
“Sure do. I was waiting for you to ask for them.” She combed through a gazillion pictures and handed me her phone. As I watched, tears sprung to my eyes and an immense pang of remorse plowed into me that I’d missed my daughter do these amazing things. I was mesmerized.
“Remind me when we get home, and I’ll download these to your laptop.”
After clearing the emotions from my throat a few times, I nodded. “Thanks. This means a lot.”
We were headed to the car when I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Allie Gordon standing there with two children close to Kinsley’s age or maybe a little older.
“Mrs. Gordon.”
Her brows drew together as she took in the scene—Kinsley, Aaron, Marin, and me. A surge of pain nailed me for what this woman experienced. Her children—both girls—were holding each of her hands. “Yes, I see you’re …”
“I should introduce you. This is Marin, my nanny, and these are my children.” I hesitated to say their names. It was awkward as shit. All I wanted to do was get to the car and go home.
“Yes. I hope things are better…” She kept staring at Aaron. I looked at her daughters as well, though I couldn’t see any resemblance between them and Aaron.
“We should be going,” I said.
“Have a nice day.”
We turned and left for our vehicle. Marin looked at me oddly while Kinsley asked, “Who was that lady, Daddy.”
“Just someone I know, polka dot.”
Seeing Allie had put a stain on our day. Too many old memories were conjured up. But I was glad the children had a blast even though I cringed at what they ate. As Marin reminded me, every now and again wasn’t going to kill them.
When we got home, and the kids were out of earshot, she asked, “Who was that woman?”
“That was the wife of the man Susannah had the affair with.”
“Oh, God. No wonder it was so awkward. She kept staring at Aaron.”
“You noticed that too?”
“It was so weird.”
“Honestly, I feel sorry for her, but I wish she hadn’t approached us. There’s really nothing to say.”
“I agree. It made for an uncomfortable exchange.”
Kinsley ran up to us then, cutting off the rest of that conversation. “Marin, I’ll bathe the kids tonight.” When I told her, I’d never seen such an expression of mortification. Even Kinsley looked taken aback.
“Daddy, you don’t know how to do that.”
“Yes, I do, polka dot. I used to give you baths every night.”
“You did?”
“Come on, let me show you.”
The entire time, Kinsley would say, “Marnie does it this way and Marnie does it better like that.” By the time I finished, I was pretty fucking sure Marnie was the expert on everything. Aaron was fussy during his bath, but I attributed it to him being tired. It was a long day in the sun and he looked somewhat flushed. Perhaps he’d gotten a little burnt.
We all traipsed back downstairs, but Aaron remained cranky. Marin felt his head and claimed he was warm. “Maybe he has a fever. Let me get the thermometer.”
Sure enough, he was running a temp of one hundred. I wasn’t concerned since it was so low. But not Marin. Panic was her middle name all over again.
“The thing about kids, Marin, is they catch things. They have little illnesses. He’ll be fine.” She ignored me. By the time we put him down, she was convinced he was dying.
I grabbed her shoulders and said, “You have to stop this. You’re scaring Kinsley and quite honestly, it’s way overboard. Kids pick up viruses all the time. Kinsley did when she was his age. This is borderline neuroses. I love the fact you’re so concerned, but please calm down.”
“Right. You’re right. I don’t know why it worries me so much.”
“We gave him acetaminophen and he’ll be fine in the morning. He probably caught a little bug. By the way, I’ll be leaving early. We have a staff meeting and I need to do some things in the office beforehand.”
She nodded, saying, “Okay.”
“You know how to reach me if you need me.”
I left her standing there. I would check on Aaron again before I went to sleep, but I was sure he was fine. Being at that picnic yesterday exposed him to a lot of people and he just probably picked something up there.
The next morning, I left early because my plans were to address the way the staff had treated Marin. On my way out, I checked the camera in Aaron’s room, but he was sleeping soundly so I decided not to disturb him. That comforted me because sick babies usually didn’t sleep like that.
My office was more quiet than usual since I was the first to arrive. Emails had accumulated over the weekend which I took care of. Then I got to work on deciding what to say to the staff. The physicians and nurse practitioners didn’t know I had this planned, which was done on purpose.
Everyone was surprised to see me in my office when they arrived
. When we were all in the kitchen, which was where we held our meeting because it was the only room in the building large enough to seat us all, John began with the usual housekeeping items. After that, some other things were addressed. When he was finished, and everyone was getting ready to dart out of the room, I stood and asked for their attention.
“I’d like to address something. On Saturday, I witnessed some of you exhibit rude behavior toward the woman who takes care of my children. I’m not going to name anyone, but you know who you are. First, it more than disappointed me. You were hired as employees in this office because we thought you were professionals. What I saw was not professional at all. It was small-minded and petty. Second, I’m not sure why you thought it was necessary to treat her that way, but I would appreciate if we have any other office functions where she is present that you treat her with the courtesy and respect she deserves. If you find that you can’t, see me afterward and we can arrange for a separation package for you. Thank you for your time.” As I walked past everyone, you could’ve heard a pin drop in the room. I believe I got my point across, loud and fucking clear.
Ten minutes later, Nicole poked her head into my office and told me my first patient had arrived.
“Thank you, Nicole.” The warmth that we used to share was gone. The woman I thought was kind and caring wasn’t. What she had done to Marin was unacceptable. Nicole had acted like she was better than Marin and it really bothered me.
My first patient was in a gown, waiting for me. He should’ve had an EKG, but hadn’t. In the past, I would’ve let it slip. Not today.
“Excuse me, Mr. Jeffries, I’ll get the nurse in here right away.”
Storming out the door, I called, “Nicole!” She was sitting at the nurse’s station, which was in the center zone in the office.
“Yeah?”
“Where’s Mr. Jeffries’ EKG?”
“I haven’t gotten to it yet.”
“Why is that?”
She looked at the nurse sitting next to her.
“Don’t look at Sharon. I’m talking to you.”
“I … I don’t know.”
“Go and do it. There’s no point in examining him without one. You should know that. Let me know when it’s done.”
“Okay.”
“And Nicole? That’s unacceptable. You know every patient should have one before I get in the exam room.”
“Yes, Dr. West.”
I stayed on her ass all day long and by the middle of the afternoon, Josh hit me up. “Hey man, what’s up with you today?”
“Me? What do you mean?”
“Your attitude toward Nicole.”
“Long overdue. She’s way too slack and I’ve had it up to here.” I slashed my hand across my neck.
“Hmm. I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“Josh, how many times do you go in to see a patient and an EKG hasn’t been done?”
“Never.”
“My point exactly.”
“Get rid of her.”
“I’m going to if she doesn’t straighten out. Just making her day miserable first.”
All the things I’d let slide over the years, came to an end today. She was going to have to work from now on if she wanted to keep her job. Dr. Nice Guy was gone.
At the end of the day, she knocked on the door and came into my office. “Have I done something wrong?”
“Just the things I’ve called you on today. Do your job, Nicole. You know what the requirements are.”
“But, I’ve been doing it this way all along and you’ve never said anything.”
“Yeah, and that was my mistake. I’ve been doing your job and mine so what am I paying you for?”
“I get the feeling you’re angry.”
“I am. For the reasons above.” My eyes bored into hers until she looked away.
She eventually said, “I’m sorry. I know I was one of the girls who was rude to your nanny.”
“It was worse than rude. You whispered to the others about her behind her back. You made offensive comments about her hair and the way she was dressed. You acted as though she was beneath you somehow. I expected better out of you.”
“But we’re protective of you.”
“I’m a grown man who doesn’t need protection, but you don’t protect someone by hurting another. Especially if it’s someone they care about. Did you stop to think about that?”
“You care about her?” The way she said it indicated her shock and disbelief that it was even remotely possible.
Leaning back in my chair, I crossed my arms. “That’s none of your business. However, your holier than thou attitude where Marin’s concerned is a bit disturbing.”
Her hand flew up. “No, it’s not that.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’re my employee and you’re not doing your job. Is there anything else?”
“No, I guess not.”
Her question rang in my head. You care about her? Did I? I desired her, yes. One thing was true—I was not happy to hear those women speaking poorly of her. I wanted to see Marin happy. Seeing her happy made me happy. Shit. That gave me more insight. And then there was something else. Lately, every time I looked at her, I saw something other than the nanny. My brain said—oh man, don’t think that. But her eyes called my name, even if she didn’t think they did. I lusted after her to the point it was painful. And dammit, she was pretty. No, it was more than that. She was beautiful from the inside out.
Josh stuck his head in and asked, “Hey, you up for the poker night tonight?”
“No, I—”
He sat down in the chair Nicole vacated. “Come on. You haven’t been in months and the guys are about to write you off. You know we don’t do late. We start at six thirty and you’ll be home by ten, tops. Besides, it’ll do you good. And Ashley raved about your nanny. Now she wants Marin’s clone. So, your kids are in good hands. And you’re not on call tonight. I just checked.”
Shit. He’s covered all the bases.
“I have to run over to the hospital to check on a couple of things.”
“So, do it and come on. Don’t be such a loser, man. You need a guy’s night out and you know it. When’s the last time you had one?”
“I can’t remember.” It was the truth. It was before Susannah died. “Okay, I’m in. See you at six thirty. Your place?”
“Yeah.”
It was already past five-thirty, so I needed to get a move on. I called the house from the office phone and no one answered so I left a voicemail, letting Marin know of my plans. It had been such a busy day and I’d meant to check on Aaron during the day but with everything happening here, I didn’t have a chance. When there weren’t any texts on my phone by noon, I figured he was fine. Then I grabbed my stuff off the desk and made tracks for the hospital. I needed to sign some things on a few patients, which always took longer than expected, and then I was back in the car, headed to Josh’s.
Poker night was always a great time. There were eight of us and the guys yanked my chain about not being around for so long. I kept my drinking to a bare minimum—only two beers for the night—and at ten-thirty, I was opening the door to my car. It was then I noticed my cell phone on the seat. It must’ve fallen out of my pocket when I got out of the car. Picking it up, I saw the battery was completely drained. I set it on the charging base of the console and headed home.
By the time I got there, the phone had enough juice to power on. When it sparked to life, about twenty texts from Marin and some from my mom lit up the screen. They sent my heart rate to about two hundred beats per minute and all the air went surging from my lungs.
Chapter Twenty-One
Marin
Aaron woke up and his fever had worsened. He was fussy, but not all out crying. I gave him more medicine and prayed he’d get better. But by noon, it developed quickly into a cough. Again, I thought maybe he had a cold, so it wasn’t too much of a concern. Only he progressively got worse throughout the day. After sending multiple texts to
Dr. West in the early afternoon, which went unanswered, I was at my wit’s end.
Late in the afternoon, I broke down and called my mom, crying.
“Honey? What’s wrong?” She knew it was bad since I wasn’t the type to cry very often.
“It’s Aaron. He’s sick and I don’t know what to do. I’ve called Dr. West. He’s not answering and neither is his mom.”
“Don’t you remember? We’re all out in Vegas for the next four days.”
“What should I do?” I asked in a panic.
“Tell me everything that’s going on.”
I explained it all and between Mom and Paige, they decided I needed to call Aaron’s doctor. When I did, he suggested I take him to the hospital urgent care.
I texted Dr. West again, letting him know what was going on and still no response.
Packing up a sick child, along with Kinsley was no picnic. I didn’t know how much time it would take, so I wisely brought Kinsley some snacks because my appetite was nonexistent. We got to the urgent care and it was packed. They must’ve felt sorry for me since I was in tears because I didn’t have to wait too long.
They ushered us back and a nurse came in to take Aaron’s blood pressure and temperature. Then someone came in the get some blood samples. It scared Kinsley and she started crying, along with Aaron. I wasn’t much better but trying my best to hold it together. Why the hell wouldn’t Dr. West call me back? Had something happened to him?
The lady was really fast and she gave both kids stickers, which appeased Kinsley more than it did Aaron. He was coughing up a storm by now and breathing weird. How could he go from feeling fine yesterday to this sick so quickly? It was scaring me something fierce.
Another nurse came next and took us down to radiology. They wanted an X-ray of his chest, which made sense since his cough sounded so awful. We waited … and waited … and waited. I was super anxious because Aaron’s coloring had gone from pink and flushed to ashen. He was whiny and his breathing sounded even worse than before. I wondered if he had asthma or something.
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