by Lucy Clark
As she walked to her office to read over the notes and reports from last night, sipping her coffee as she went, she told herself to be satisfied with everything she had. She was head of the NICU, a job she’d worked long and hard to achieve. The people she worked with on a daily basis were some of her closest and dearest friends. They’d supported her through her father’s cancer treatments, had been there for her when he’d decided he was through with fighting the debilitating disease and had passed away.
They were a family. Kaycee and Ray and Helena and Sheena. Arthur was over in the residential wing, always looking out for her, just as her father would. There was also the staff on the maternity ward and Charisma, the hospital director who was an advocate for the right person in the right job. Janessa may not have any blood relatives, she may be all alone in the world as far as biological family went, but here, at Adelaide Mercy, she had her real family and she didn’t need anything more … especially not romantic or sensual thoughts about Miles.
So the man had kissed her. It didn’t mean anything. He’d simply meant to kiss her cheek in a polite gesture of thanks for a nice evening. The fact that their lips had met meant nothing … nothing at all.
With her mind firmly back on track, she was able to focus on her work. She had a meeting about Sheena’s conjoined twins at nine-thirty, and headed to the maternity ward to say good morning to her friend just after nine. By this time the breakfasts would have been served, the ward rounds would have been done and Sheena would no doubt be ready for a soothing cup of herbal tea.
Janessa stopped off at the maternity kitchenette, made two cups and headed towards Sheena’s room, calling various hellos to the staff as she went. She was humming happily as she nudged the door open to Sheena’s room.
‘Hi. Sorry I’m a little later than usual, this morning,’ she said, her hands full with the two drinks. As she turned and looked towards her friend’s bed, she was startled to see Miles Trevellion sitting in a chair by Sheena’s bed.
‘Oh. Hi. Sorry. I thought you’d be free.’
‘Miles was humming that same song when he came in this morning,’ Sheena pointed out.
Janessa looked at Miles, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights. The fact that she was humming the same song as him meant he knew she’d heard him singing it in the shower earlier that morning and for a split second it was as though the two of them were transported to another world, away from the hospital room, away from Maternity—back to when they’d been having a conversation that morning, only plasterboard and paint between them. Intimate. Indulgent and completely insupportable. She simply had to stop her mind from contemplating her new colleague in such a fashion.
‘We both must have heard the same song on the radio,’ Miles eventually murmured, his lips curving into a small smile that told Janessa that he knew exactly where she’d heard that song this morning and it hadn’t been the radio.
Sheena held out her hands for the cup of tea. ‘Ah, thanks for the tea,’ she remarked, seemingly oblivious to the undercurrents passing between Janessa and Miles. ‘I’ve been waiting for an eternity. I was starting to become quite desperate for my morning Janessa cuppa-tea-time.’
Janessa smiled at her friend, blatantly doing her best to ignore the tall, dark and sexy man in the room. ‘I see the exaggeration hormones are working well this morning,’ Janessa remarked.
Sheena laughed, but sipped the tea as Janessa put her cup down on the bedside locker, knowing that if she didn’t she might drop it. She could feel Miles’s gaze on her, watching everything she did, taking in the camaraderie between the two women. It was quite astonishing that he had such an ability to unsettle her, especially as she hadn’t even known him for twenty-four hours.
Janessa pulled up a chair on the other side of the bed from him and looked at her friend. ‘Did you keep sleeping after we left?’
‘On and off, but no more waterworks, thank goodness,’ Sheena admitted with aplomb.
‘You told me you’d managed to sleep well,’ Miles immediately interjected with instant indignation.
Sheena sighed. ‘Yes, but I can lie to you. I can’t lie to Janessa. She knows me far too well for me to get away with it.’
Janessa picked up her tea and hid her smile at Miles’s reaction behind her cup. ‘But Sheenie, you shouldn’t lie to any of us,’ she said after a moment. ‘You don’t like it when your patients lie to you,’ she pointed out calmly.
‘My patients can’t lie to me. In fact, nine times out of ten they can’t even talk, given that they’re babies and young toddlers,’ Sheena felt compelled to point out, but looked from Janessa to Miles. ‘Oh, all right,’ she grumbled. ‘I won’t lie to Miles any more, and it wasn’t technically a lie, more like a nice exaggeration of the truth.’
‘Thank you.’ Miles nodded, seemingly satisfied, then turned to Janessa. ‘Would you like to examine Sheena?’
Janessa shook her head. ‘I’m sure between you and Riley, Sheena and the girls are well cared for. Besides, the nurses keep me up to date with anything out of the ordinary. We’ve got a good team here.’ She sipped at her tea. ‘I’m just here for a chat before our morning meeting.’
‘Yes, and it’s a meeting,’ Sheena remarked indignantly, ‘that I’m not allowed to attend, even though it’s about me and my girls.’
‘You’re not the doctor, remember. You are the important incubator.’ Janessa’s words were not unkind but spoken with utter respect. She held out her tea cup and the two women chinked their mugs together. ‘No one else can do your job.’
Sheena scoffed at that. ‘Ha! Job? I lie here and do absolutely diddly-squat.’
‘And that’s the most difficult job of all,’ Janessa agreed. ‘See? We keep the tough jobs for those who can handle them.’
‘Yes,’ Miles agreed. ‘It’s important for your blood pressure to remain constant and as such …’ he waggled a finger at her ‘… no cajoling the staff for information about patients.’
Sheena grimaced. ‘It wouldn’t work even if I wanted it to. Janessa’s put a gag order in place.’
‘A gag order?’ Miles looked from Janessa to Sheena.
‘I’m not allowed to know the ins and outs of what’s happening in the wards because if I knew I’d get all bothered and impatient and want to go and help.’
‘Really?’ His eyebrows were raised in surprise.
‘I know.’ Sheena rolled her eyes. ‘Can you believe it?’
Miles met Janessa’s brown gaze and smiled, nodding slowly. ‘An excellent idea, Janessa. Gag order. I’ve never heard it called that before. Well done.’
Janessa raised her eyebrows in surprise at the compliment. ‘Er … thank you?’
‘It’s good to see that you’re not only looking out for your friend in a personal capacity but in a way most doctors wouldn’t have even thought necessary.’ He stood from his chair and straightened his jacket, buttoning it up. ‘I give credit where credit is due.’
‘Nice to know,’ she murmured, only glancing once or twice in his direction. If she looked at him, really looked across and met the deep blue of his eyes, she wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to look away, especially given how gorgeous he looked in that suit.
There was a silence in the room for a second and an uncomfortable one at that, with the awareness she had of her new colleague. She sipped her tea, glad of something to do. As the room clock ticked on for another ten seconds, Miles eventually cleared his throat and addressed his comments to Sheena.
‘I’ll come by later and check on you again. Better go get ready for that meeting.’
‘OK. Thanks for visiting,’ Sheena replied as he headed around the bed and walked towards the door.
‘Janessa, I’ll see you at the meeting,’ he remarked.
‘Yes. See you there,’ she sort of threw over her shoulder, looking vaguely in his direction. When he was gone, Janessa visibly relaxed in her chair, closing her eyes for a moment, only to encounter Sheena’s interested stare when she finally
looked at her friend.
‘What was that all about?’ Sheena asked with astonishment.
‘What?’
‘You and Miles. Honestly, you could cut the air with a scalpel the tension between the two of you is so palpable.’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Janessa feigned innocence and continued drinking her tea.
‘Oh, seriously? There were sparks flying between the two of you from the instant you entered this room.’
‘Sparks?’
‘Janessa. He’s not like Bradley. Miles has been through things and, unlike Bradley, he’ll stick around. I know you were devastated that Bradley wasn’t there for you, to be with you as you both grieved for Connor’s loss, but not all men are like that.’
‘All men? Meaning Miles?’
‘He’s a great guy, Nessa. Strong and dependable. You two are good together.’
‘Together? No. We’re not together.’ At her words, Sheena gave her a disbelieving look. ‘You think there’s something going on between Miles and myself, don’t you?’
‘Is there?’
‘Yes.’
At this word, Sheena sucked in a breath and clenched her hands at her chest, excitement in her eyes.
‘It’s you. You are why we’re here, why our worlds have connected. We are both here, working together because of your girls. They deserve the best care in the world and that, if I may be so bold, is Miles and myself. So technically, Sheenie, it’s all you. There are no sparks, no tension. Just real honest concern for you and your girls.’
‘Now you’ve made me disappointed.’ Sheena dropped her hands back to her rub her belly. ‘Hear that, girls? Aunty Janessa is trying to fool herself into thinking that she’s not attracted to Uncle Miles.’
‘Uncle Miles? When did he get promoted to uncle status?’ Janessa wanted to know, feeling mildly indignant that he should get the same level of honorary title as herself, and yet Sheena didn’t know him nearly as well. She finished her drink and stood, hoping that leading Sheena down this track might also prompt a change in topic. The awareness she had for Miles was definitely there but that didn’t mean she had to do something about it, neither did she want to discuss it.
‘Hush. I can say what I like and assign titles to whomever I choose because I am the incubator and I have spoken.’
Janessa shrugged her shoulders as though she didn’t have a leg to stand on with an answer like that. ‘You are absolutely right. Anyway …’ she collected Sheena’s cup ‘… I have to go. I don’t want to be late for the meeting.’
‘You’ll come by later and give me an update?’
‘On most things, yes.’
‘Good.’ Sheena lay back and closed her eyes, getting ready to settle down for a nap. ‘Nessa,’ she said softly as Janessa headed to the door, ‘don’t push him away. He’s not Bradley.’ The words were spoken quietly and with complete seriousness.
‘Understood,’ Janessa replied, realising she hadn’t fooled Sheena one bit with her attempt at changing the subject. Her friend knew her far too well. ‘Thanks, Sheenie.’
Sheena yawned. ‘That’s what friends are for.’
As Janessa returned to her office and gathered the papers she would need for the meeting—the first of many on the conjoined twins—she pondered Sheena’s words. Was she resisting the attraction she felt for Miles simply because of the way Bradley had pulverised her heart? Was she too afraid to even take a tiny step outside her very comfortable comfort zone in case she once more ended up in tiny pieces? Was she that much of a coward that she would deny herself happiness simply because she’d been burnt so badly in her past?
Possibly.
CHAPTER SIX
THREE days later, after several meetings with key personnel as well as the hospital administrator, Miles arranged another one-on-one meeting with Janessa in her office. He had initially suggested that they meet in his apartment to discuss the upcoming operations the twins would require over a soothing cup of herbal tea, but even the thought of being alone with him, in his apartment, made her entire body quiver with nervous apprehension. Her office was definitely safer.
Ever since the kiss, Janessa had been overcome by masses of tingles every time she’d seen him. She’d constantly thought about him on the other side of her apartment wall, her curiosity about him increasing, and although she wanted to keep him at arm’s length, she also wanted to know as much about him as possible.
Every look he gave her seemed to linger just a fraction of a second longer than normal. If he accidentally touched her hand or brushed past her during the normal course of any day in the NICU, she wasn’t able to hide her quick intake of breath as her body suffused with heat.
‘As you know, in order to separate the girls, they’ll need extra skin to cover the actual incision site. Therefore, one of the first procedures we’ll be performing once they’re stable and healthy is to insert tissue expanders beneath the skin in order to grow extra skin in that area.’ Miles lounged in the chair, relaxed and completely comfortable in her presence. Janessa had to admit that whilst he had the ability to set her body on fire with just one look, she, too, liked spending time with him in this way.
Under the guise of work, even though it was necessary work, for her to know exactly what procedures and steps would be taken with regard to separating the twins, she liked that she was able to spend time with him … like this. alone. He never talked down to her, always explained things thoroughly and answered any and all questions she had. Sometimes she thought she asked too many questions but he never became impatient, insisting that he would rather answer her questions a hundred times over so she knew what to expect than risk making mistakes.
He was thoughtful, too, and always the gentleman. Tonight he’d arrived in her office with a bag full of takeaway Chinese food. ‘Thought we might get hungry,’ he’d stated as a means of explanation when she’d raised her eyebrows at the gesture. And so there they sat, papers and documents spread out before them on her desk, the scent of Chinese food filling the air as they ate and discussed the various aspects of the different surgical procedures.
‘I have to confess, I have very limited experience when it comes to tissue expanders. It’s just something I haven’t come across that often. I have, however, read every paper you’ve written on this subject and the techniques you’ve used during the surgical procedures,’ Janessa remarked quite enthusiastically, and was rewarded one of Miles’s heart-melting smiles. Tingles flooded her body as she smiled shyly back at him. She still felt strange admitting she was such a big fan of his work.
Apart from that very first day in her NICU, when he’d been jet-lagged and completely exhausted, he’d been relaxed and friendly, as well as being totally in control of the specialised neonate team they were pulling together to care for the girls post-delivery. No one in either the NICU or Maternity had a bad word to say against him and half the women would swoon every time he came near. Janessa, however, hoped she wasn’t as obvious whenever she was near him.
‘Have you ever seen the operation performed?’ He used the chopsticks with ease as he lifted another mouthful of food to his lips.
Janessa sipped her green tea. ‘Many years ago, in a two-year-old. Never in a baby. I think it’s fascinating how the body can grow extra skin through this means.’
Miles nodded, impressed with the way she seemed eager to know everything about the twins’ upcoming surgeries. ‘It’s much the same as how the skin expands in a pregnant woman.’
‘Where do we order these special little bags?’ She looked at the picture on the information she’d been studying then back at Miles. ‘They’re made of silicone, right?’
‘That’s right. They have a tube attached to them. In some of the older children we might leave the edge of the tube showing outside, making it easier to fill, but for the twins it’s easier if the filling tube is just under the skin, thereby decreasing the risk of infection.’
‘Which is the last thing we want.’ She finishe
d her noodles and used a napkin to wipe her face, before sipping the last of her green tea. Miles watched, delighted that she was the type of woman who didn’t worry about her figure but instead seemed to have a very healthy appetite. Even when they’d been at the Italian restaurant, Janessa had eaten each course with appreciation instead of nibbling on a salad. It wasn’t that she needed to watch her weight, far from it. She was perfectly proportioned … very perfectly.
He forced his thoughts back to the present, to the operation details they were discussing. ‘Exactly. The bags will be gradually inflated over a number of weeks.’
‘How long will the whole procedure take? I mean from the time the tissue expanders are inserted until there’s enough new tissue for them to be removed?’ She started to pack away her rubbish, tidying up, making things ordered and neat again.
‘Approximately two months. We want to grow this new tissue slowly and carefully. Then, after another small operation, the expanders are removed and voilà—new tissue.’ He, too, finished his food, and she held out her hand to take the empty container so she could dispose of it. ‘Thanks.’ He smiled as he wiped his face with a napkin.
Janessa smiled widely. ‘That’s what I love about medicine. The new breakthroughs in technology that make so much difference to the lives of our patients.’
Miles couldn’t help but smile at her words, at the excitement she seemed to exude in discussing these surgeries. ‘You really do love your job, don’t you,’ he stated.
Janessa met his gaze, feeling a little self-conscious. ‘Of course. Don’t you?’
‘Most days.’ He paused and sipped his green tea thoughtfully, watching her closely. ‘Tell me, Janessa, have you ever thought of expanding your horizons?’ At her blank look, he continued. ‘You’re excited by surgery. Have you ever thought of doing more training?’
Janessa was stunned by this idea. ‘Uh … no. I’m more than happy where I am.’