by Robin Gianna
“Not feeling too good, are you?” Bree squeezed her hand, hoping to comfort her. “Did you get hold of your husband?”
“Yes, thankfully. And ‘not feeling too good’ is an understatement.” Natalie gasped and clutched her middle with both hands. “I’ve had two friends who had ruptured spleens, and neither one of them told me how much it hurts, which I’m really ticked about.”
Bree had to grin. “Yeah, surfers like to be tough and stoic and act like they just shake things off, don’t they? And you’re being amazing, too. I’ll check on you when you’re in recovery, okay?”
Natalie just nodded, obviously gritting her teeth as transport wheeled her out. Bree watched her leave, then decided to call surgery directly and get them ready to take her as soon as the scan was done.
“Did you get hold of the surgeon?” she asked the nurse. “Who is it?”
“Dr. Latham took the call, because Dr. Stone is stuck in a complicated surgery.”
Bree felt her eyebrows practically hit her hairline. Sean? How was that possible when he was watching Will?
She pulled out her phone and called him. “Sean? It’s Bree. I hear you took the call for a Natalie Groomes. It’s obviously her spleen, and I want to get her directly into surgery the second the scan is done. You ready?”
“I’m ready. I’ll let them know to just send her here and not back to the ER.”
“Good. But I have to ask how you’re working when you have Will. Planning to strap him to you with the baby carrier before you head to surgery?” she joked.
“What? I thought you had Will!”
She swore her heart actually stopped for a second, then fell right into her stomach. “Sean, I don’t—”
“Honey, I’m kidding. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have teased you that way.” He must have heard the panic in her voice, because he sounded worried and remorseful. Maybe even knew she’d felt downright woozy with an instant, cold fear. “I have someone watching him. Tell you about it later—I need to get the call in to radiology.”
He hung up and she slowly slid her phone into her pocket, still feeling shaky. Obviously, Sean would have left the boy with someone safe. He’d simply done what he had to, finding someone to fill in, which was the way it should be.
So why did it feel like more than that? As if the connection she felt to Will was way stronger than it should be after such a short time?
She shook her head, feeling a little steadier. None of what she was feeling was so strange, right? Of course she felt a connection to the baby—who wouldn’t? After all, she’d brought him into the world, so scared that he wouldn’t make it. So thrilled for Emma, and for Sean and his family, too, that Will was fine. And of course, feeding him, soothing him and watching him sleep were all part of the fondness she felt for him.
She drew a long breath, then moved on to her next patient, refusing to think about it another minute. But even as she said it, she wondered whom he’d found to watch Will, and sure hoped Sean had shared all they’d learned about the little guy’s habits over the past couple of days so he’d be comfortable.
She pulled her phone out to call Sean again.
“Hey, you,” he answered.
“Hey. I was just wondering if you told the babysitter how he likes his bottle. Nice and warm, you know? And how if you don’t make sure you get a good burp from him, he’s sure to get cranky and cry in pain. And how he’d rather be held when he’s awake, instead of being stuck in his little seat.”
There was a short silence at the end of the line before Sean answered in an odd voice. Rumbly and oh-so-warm, along with some other note she couldn’t quite place, all of which seemed to gently settle inside her chest to relieve her worries. “I forgot about the burping. I’ll call right now to make sure she knows. Thanks for reminding me. And, Bree?”
“What?”
“He’s in good hands, I promise. So don’t worry. He’ll be happy to see you later, though. I’m sure of it.”
The line went dead in her ear and she slowly turned off her phone and slipped it back in her pocket, wondering why she’d been feeling so weird. No doubt the babysitter he’d found had much more experience with all kinds of babies than Bree did. Sean was probably rolling his eyes at how silly it had been for her to call him about Will’s habits. Standing there staring unseeing at the wall, it struck her that, for the first time in her life, she understood at least a tiny bit why her mother still worried about what Bree ate and where she lived and traveled and what she was doing with her life.
Because her mom had been there from the beginning, taking care of her the way she and Sean were caring for Will. And that very second, she vowed to be nice to her mom when she showed up in Hawaii to help, because Bree not needing help wasn’t really the issue, was it? It was her mother’s need to see how she was and be a part of her life. From now on, when her mother annoyed her, she’d picture little Will and how close to him she’d come to feel after mere days together.
The hours passed and, with her shift over, she decided to check on Natalie Groomes, who was out of recovery and in a room. She peeked inside to see a little girl perched on the side of her bed, and what must be Natalie’s husband standing there holding a blond-haired child who looked to be about three in one arm with his hand on the other child’s shoulder. Probably to make sure she didn’t jump into her mother’s lap right after she’d had surgery, which Bree had seen happen a few unfortunate times.
She knocked on the doorjamb. “May I come in?”
“Dr. Donovan!” Natalie looked up and smiled, looking pretty alert, considering she was getting pain medication. “I really appreciate you coming to check on me.”
“How are you feeling? Other than like you just had your spleen taken out?” she said, smiling back.
“Not too bad, really. Thank you so much for realizing so fast what the problem was. And here I was sure I just needed a little food.”
“Because hitting those early morning waves on days you can is the only thing you think about,” the man said, shaking his head with a smile.
“Sometimes true. My bad.” Natalie made a face. “This is my husband, Michael, and my girls, Madison and Kaylee. This is Bree Donovan—she’s a champion surfer. Remember we watched her on TV?”
“I do remember,” Michael said. “Nat couldn’t stop talking about your three-sixty. I heard she even badgered some other members on the Save the San Diego Seas board to come watch you a couple months ago.”
“You’re on the SSDS board of directors? That’s such a great group.”
“She’s on several boards, because she’s an ocean nut,” her husband said, looking at her with such clear love and admiration in his eyes, it made Bree’s heart hurt. Reminding her of the way Sean used to look at her, and how wonderful that had felt. “Even she’s going to have to take it easy for a while, though, after this surgery. But we’ll take good care of her, right, girls?”
“Right!” both chorused, the older child on the bed leaning up to put her hands on her mother’s cheeks and give her such a sweet, gentle kiss, it was like something out of a heartwarming movie.
Bree stared at Natalie. “You’re obviously superwoman. How do you manage a full-time job, serving on multiple boards, surfing, and fitting in having two cute girls, too?”
“I just do what I love.” She turned to smile at her family. “I love my kids, I love my job, and I love the ocean. Oh, and I love my husband, because I couldn’t do it without him.” She reached to grasp his hand. “He’s my partner, and we make it work, don’t we, sweetheart?”
“Right.” He tucked the younger child close and leaned over, giving Natalie a kiss even sweeter than her daughter’s had been.
The whole scene mesmerized Bree, at the same time the heavy ache of failure hollowed her chest. Bree couldn’t be the person Sean wanted her to be. She just couldn’t. Tha
t had become horribly obvious their final days together, and the dull pain drained deeper into her soul. All she could be was who she was. Who her parents had always expected her to be.
“Well, I’m glad everything went well.” She managed a smile. “Best of luck to you.”
Barely hearing the thank-yous and goodbyes, she made her way out of the room, not sure where she was going. Until she remembered she was on duty with Will starting now. Except she had no idea where he was.
Last thing she wanted to do at that moment was talk to Sean, but she had to, and dialed his number. With any luck, he could simply direct her to Will and she wouldn’t have to see him until he got off work.
“Hi, it’s me. Is Will at your place?”
“No, he’s here. I found out there’s a day care in the hospital for employees, on the first floor of the orange wing. They don’t usually take newborns, but they made an exception under the circumstances.”
Her mood lifted slightly since it sounded as if she could get the child without having to see Sean. “That’s perfect. Do they know I’m going to pick him up?”
“Your name is on the reams of paperwork I had to fill out and sign, but might be easiest if I meet you down there. If I’m not in the middle of a surgery, that is.”
“I’ll head there now. You don’t need to come. I bet they’ll probably just want to look at my ID to make sure I’m not a babynapper.”
“Last thing you’d want to steal anyway.”
Was he really going to go there again? Because she sure didn’t want to, and decided to ignore the comment, instead of getting into another pointless and unpleasant argument. She was feeling raw enough already. “I’ll let you know if they let me take him or not.”
Bree left the ER to head down the hallway to the elevator, hitting the button to the first floor. She leaned back against the elevator wall and shoved her hands through her hair. Utter exhaustion began to creep through every bruised bone in her body, and dread along with it.
One more night in Sean’s house until his mother got there in the morning. Surely they could be civil, even friendly, as they had been on and off the past couple of days. Without any more of the kissing and touching that had made her forget everything but how he’d always made her feel. Pride demanded she not admit that she was bothered in all kinds of ways when she was around him, not the least of which was wanting him so much it hurt worse than her bruises. She could pretend the past was long gone and didn’t affect her in any way anymore, right? Be in his house, stay cool and collected, then say goodbye with a cordial smile. She could. She would.
She looked at the signs directing her down the long labyrinth of halls to the day care, actually smiling at the sense of calm she’d managed to find as she’d talked herself through tonight’s scenario. Finding the day care turned out to be easy when she rounded a corner. The end of the hall was filled with solid plate-glass windows showing a surprising number of kids running around inside the big, open space full of heavy plastic jungle gyms and slides and toys. But the second she pushed open the day-care door, that calm conviction and confidence was blown apart.
Across the room stood Sean, looking tall and beyond handsome, his wide shoulders tugging at the fabric of his scrub shirt. His muscled arms held Will. Not awkwardly, like the first day he’d taken the baby home. This Sean was relaxed, grinning at Will and the admiring caregivers. One of whom seemed to be admiring Sean more than she was admiring the baby in his arms, standing extremely close to his body, her hand on his back and her hair sweeping across his biceps as he held the baby.
A shocking spurt of hot jealousy jabbed her hard in the solar plexus. And how stupid was that? The man wasn’t hers. In fact, she’d been surprised he didn’t already have another girlfriend who’d have been thrilled to live in his house to watch Will while he worked.
But she couldn’t deny she was beyond glad he didn’t. That she didn’t have to know it and see it and that when he did have another woman in his life, she’d be long gone.
Because now she knew something she hadn’t thought about until Emma had mentioned setting him up with a dating service. Until she’d walked into this room to see the woman practically draped over him. Yes, seeing him with someone else would break her heart all over again.
She gulped in a breath, desperately trying to find the calm confidence she’d felt just seconds before. Just as she was about to make herself move toward the group in front of her, to take Will as quickly as possible and get the heck out of there, Sean’s gaze lifted to hers. Something about the way he looked at her left her weak, as if her legs wouldn’t work, as if he’d sapped what little energy she had left with just the power of that brown gaze focused solely on her.
Very much like the way Michael had looked at Natalie.
Thank heavens she didn’t have to find her leg muscles at that moment, because he left the group hovering around him and walked purposefully toward her, the grin he’d been giving the women having faded to a slight curve of his lips. There was a surprising warmth there, considering his parting jab to her on the phone not ten minutes ago, and something else that made her heart flutter, despite her stern reprimand to that organ as it did.
“Right on time,” he murmured, his arms and the bundle inside them brushing hers before he stopped.
“I told you I’d call,” she managed.
“I thought you might pay me back for teasing you earlier and making you worry. Hide him under your lab coat, or something, and tell me some other beautiful redhead took him.” His voice still had that odd quality to it. The warm rumble that sent her flutters into overdrive. A low tone that didn’t quite match his joke.
“Unlike you, I don’t have that kind of mean streak.” She reached to touch Will’s round cheek, because there was no way she could stroke his soft skin without feeling a little more relaxed. Not to mention it helped her ignore the appeal of that teasing twinkle in Sean’s eyes. Helped her forget the ache in her heart as she’d thought about him just moments ago. “But it’s good you’re staying on your toes. As they say, payback is hell,” she said, hoping her voice sounded light and unaffected by his nearness. By that quality in his voice she’d heard many times before, had loved so much in the past, and never expected to hear again.
“Can’t help but wonder what that payback might be. But I’m prepared to pay up, whatever it is.”
This flirtation between them felt so delicious, she had to stop herself from answering with a similar suggestive comment. Maybe it had something to do with the kiss they’d shared, and the touching, and...and...she needed to stop thinking about that pronto before she started salivating for more, because it was all too dangerous.
She reached to take Will from Sean’s arms, cuddling him close. The way she wanted to hold Sean close. “While I’d like to come up with something evil, you’re in luck that I won’t be around to do that,” she said, managing to push aside sudden, inappropriate and completely unwelcome thoughts of sexual favors she might demand as payback.
“In luck. Yeah.” All that twinkling heat left his eyes. His expression cooled and he took a small step back.
The distance was a good thing. It was, and she forged on to widen it even more. “Am I correct that I have him just until you’re off at seven? I’m trying to plan my life here.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be home shortly after seven, unless I have a surgery that runs long. And you’ll be happy to know that Mom contacted me this morning to tell me she definitely should be here early tomorrow.”
“That’s great.” More than great. Which made her wonder why she didn’t feel elated at that news. Not seeing Sean and Will would get her stupid heart back into a normal working order.
“You good with taking Will? I have surgery scheduled in about fifteen minutes.”
She looked down at the baby so she didn’t have to look at Sean. Shocked at the regret sh
e felt that the flirting, the warmth, the breathless intimacy of the moment was over. How could she still fall so easily into all that? Still be such a sucker for the man?
She didn’t know. But she did know she couldn’t let those feelings wiggle any deeper to get a stronghold. Turning her inside out all over again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SURGERY RAN UNEXPECTEDLY LONG, and Sean hoped Bree understood and wasn’t ticked about him not showing up to relieve her until nine p.m. He didn’t expect her to be, because she was a reasonable woman who understood how unpredictable any doctor’s schedule could be, including her own.
When he walked in to see her sitting in his armchair, Will curled up sound asleep in her lap, he fought the feelings that washed over him again. The touching picture of beautiful Bree, her hand resting on the baby’s belly as she read a book. She looked up and sent him a brief, friendly smile, but not a warm one, and his chest ached a little more even as he knew he should welcome some distance between them.
“Long day. Did the surgery turn out okay?”
“Yeah. Just ran into a few issues that dragged it out, but he’ll be fine, I think. Sorry I’m so late.”
“Not a problem.”
She’d returned her eyes to her book as she spoke. He knew he should be glad that the Bree inside his house tonight was the cool woman he’d talked with earlier. Not the sexy, teasing Bree that kept unexpectedly appearing, reminding him of the woman he’d been so crazy in love with. Not the angry-at-him Bree who conjured up bad memories of their breakup.
But he found that the masochistic part of him he hadn’t known existed until recently had wanted either one of those Brees, or both, far more than the distant one who seemed intent on acting as if they barely knew one another.
And, yeah, that was probably smart on her part, but smart didn’t feel right. Or good. Trying to pretend their past, their former closeness, their hurt and anger—and, yes, their intense chemistry—hadn’t happened between them, that it didn’t still exist, was futile. At least, it was for him.