by Gina Wilkins
They fell into step toward their grandmother’s room, both nodding greetings to hospital staff they knew and worked with on a daily basis.
“I’ve hinted, too,” Meagan said, “and I think Mitch came right out and told her last weekend, after the respiratory incident, that Meemaw doesn’t have much longer. All that seemed to do was make her even more determined to fight for more time. She’s been cooking like crazy all week, making Meemaw’s favorite foods, coaxing her to eat and spend more time out of the bed. Meemaw’s been cooperating as best she could, but you and I both know it’s a losing battle.”
Madison sighed and nodded sadly.
They found their mom standing in the hallway outside the room. “The nurses asked me to step out for a few minutes while they do someone in there,” she explained, looking disturbingly wan. “They said they’d let me know when we can come back in.”
“I brought you a cappuccino, Mom. One of the vanilla ones you like.” Meagan nodded toward her sister, who pressed the disposable cup she’d carried into their mother’s hands.
“Thank you, Meagan. That was very thoughtful of you.”
“You’re welcome. There’s a sitting area at the end of this hallway with some recliners and couches and tables. Let’s go wait down there and drink our coffee.”
Her mother frowned. “The nurses won’t know where to find us.”
“I’ll go in and check on things,” Madison volunteered, moving toward the closed door of the room. “You two go on down and rest a minute.”
Reassured, their mother allowed herself to be persuaded to sit for a few minutes with her beverage. Meagan and Madison exchanged looks of concern as Meagan led their mother toward the small sitting area, which was, fortunately, unoccupied at the moment.
Madison rejoined them a few minutes later. “They have her settled comfortably,” she reported, motioning her mother to remain seated when she started to rise. “Finish your coffee, Mom, Meemaw’s sleeping. She wouldn’t even know you were in the room. And don’t worry, she’ll be fine for a few minutes alone. If she needed constant watching, she’d be in ICU.”
Only somewhat reassured, their mom settled back into the chair, though Meagan thought she looked prepared to leap to her feet at a moment’s notice.
Madison looked at Meagan with raised eyebrows. Guessing her sister was asking silently if Meagan had talked to her mother about their grandmother’s prognosis, Meagan shook her head. She figured they could wait to have that talk after the most recent lab results came back, and after they’d talked to their grandmother’s physician.
Getting the message, Madison nodded and spoke brightly to lighten the heavy mood among them. “How’s it going with you and Seth?” she asked Meagan.
Meagan answered vaguely, “I haven’t seen him this week. I’ve been busy back at work, and I’m sure he and Alice have been busy, as well.”
“You’ve talked to him, though, haven’t you?”
“Not in the last few days. Like I said, I’ve been busy.”
And Seth had made no effort to contact her, she thought, biting the inside of her lip.
Madison was the one wearing a frown now. “Surely you can make time for a phone call. Or to have dinner with the guy. You’re not going to run this one off with inattentiveness like you did Gary, are you?”
Gary was a man Meagan had dated a few times more than two years ago, back when she was still a busy resident. She had liked him, but not enough to completely rearrange her schedules for him. And because he was a man who needed someone to be available pretty much all the time for him, he’d rather quickly acknowledged that perhaps a surgeon wasn’t the best choice of companion for him. Meagan had hardly given him a thought since, proving that her feelings for him had been fleeting and rather shallow. Madison, on the other hand, had been disappointed by the breakup—probably because she was the one who’d introduced them. Gary had been the instructor in a yoga class Madison had briefly taken for stress relief during med school.
“I didn’t run Gary off,” she muttered, looking around to make sure there were no eavesdroppers on this personal conversation. “He was looking for someone who was ready for a permanent commitment, and I wasn’t interested in that then.”
Nor would Gary have been the right one if she had been looking, she added silently.
“Then,” Madison repeated quickly. “What about now? You’re not getting any younger you know, sis.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“You should call Seth. Let him know you’re interested, even if you’re busy. And you really should see about cutting back on your work schedule a little. You’re not a resident anymore, you know. You’ve got a good start in your career. You can make time for a life outside the hospital, and you should. Am I right, Mom?”
Still looking distracted, their mother nodded. “I hope all my children find loving partners eventually, who’ll make you as happy as I was with your father. And I would like to have grandchildren eventually,” she added with a faint smile. “Maybe I shouldn’t have raised you girls to be quite so independent and career minded.”
Meagan reached out to gently squeeze her mother’s arm. “You raised us just fine, Mom.”
“Thank you, sweetie. Let’s go check on your grandmother now.”
Knowing there would be no delaying her further, Meagan agreed. At least her mom had some color in her face again. The coffee break had served its purpose.
Walking with them, Madison met Meagan’s eyes behind their mother’s back. “Call Seth,” she mouthed.
With a sigh, Meagan looked away, lamely pretending she hadn’t received the message.
It was past eight when Meagan got home Sunday evening. As she’d expected, her mother had insisted on staying at the hospital. Meagan knew her mom would be comfortable enough in the foldout bed the hospital provided in each private room for family members. Not that anyone slept particularly well in a hospital room, but it would have been a waste of breath to try to send her mom home that night. Maybe tomorrow night she’d agree to go home for awhile, if Meemaw was doing better.
As was her habit, Meagan laid out her clothes for the next day and then brewed a mug of hot tea to help her relax for the remainder of the evening until bedtime. There wasn’t much on TV to interest her and she couldn’t concentrate on reading, so she caught up on some busywork on her computer for an hour or so. At just before ten she found herself at a front window in her living room, gazing at the house just down the street. Lights burned in windows both upstairs and downstairs, so it looked as though the occupants hadn’t yet turned in.
Call Seth. She could still clearly picture her sister’s face as she had mouthed the command.
Should she? Was she being rude by not calling? Maybe he’d been waiting for her to make the next move, since he’d done all the calling before. Maybe it had been so long since she’d been active in the dating scene that she had forgotten some of the “rules.”
She glanced at her watch. Still ten minutes before ten. That wasn’t too late for a quick call, was it?
Her hand was actually a little unsteady when she picked up her phone. How silly of her. She was a skilled surgeon whose hands could slice neatly through skin and muscle and reattach tiny blood vessels and nerve endings. Why on earth would a simple phone call unnerve her?
Seth had checked his caller ID when he answered. “Hi, Meagan.”
“Hi. I hope it’s not too late to call.”
“Not at all. Everything’s okay with you, I hope.”
“I’ve spent most of the day today at the hospital with my mom and grandmother. My grandmother has been admitted for an infection, but I’m pretty confident she’ll be able to go home again in a few days.”
“I’m sorry to hear she’s ill again. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No, thanks, everything’s under control. I was just, um, wondering how you and Alice are.”
“We’re fine, thanks for asking. Busy. You know.”
“Yes. I know.�
�� She moistened her lips. “And Jacqui? Still working out for you?”
“Yeah. We’re settling into a routine with her. No complaints. By the way, she was startled to find out she’d been initially interviewed for this job by a surgeon. For some reason, it bothered her that she didn’t call you Dr. Baker during the interview.”
Meagan laughed. “That was hardly necessary.”
“That’s what I told her, but she seems to have a very high regard for doctors. I think she’d have been more intimidated by you if she’d known at the time what you do.”
“Odd. Next time I see her, I’ll try to put her at ease.”
A brief silence followed her light remark. She wondered if Seth, like herself, was wondering if there would be any occasion for her to see Jacqui again.
“I haven’t seen any evidence that Alice has used the pool during the past week,” she said a bit too quickly. “You did tell her she’s welcome, didn’t you?”
“I did. But she’s been in the pool almost every afternoon with her swim team, so I guess she’s getting enough swim time in. She said it wouldn’t be as much fun at your house without you there, anyway.”
Meagan doubted that he’d intended to make her feel guilty that she hadn’t been available for the girl—but she did, anyway. “I’m home some weekends, but I was on call yesterday and busy with my grandmother today.”
“You have a very busy life.”
“Yes. You met me at a time when I just happened to be temporarily sidelined.”
“I’m figuring that out.”
There were so many undercurrents beneath the seemingly casual conversation that she couldn’t begin to interpret them all. “Normally it’s not quite as bad as this past week has been. Trying to catch up from my time off.”
“I can imagine how far behind I’d be after a month away from the office. Must be hectic.”
“Exactly.” Maybe he did understand. Maybe she was only imagining disapproval in his voice. “When does Alice leave for her big trip?”
“Friday after next.”
She knew she wasn’t imagining the dread she heard in him. He would miss Alice terribly. “I’d love to see her before she leaves.”
“I’m sure she’d like to see you, too. Not sure when you’re going to get together, though, with both your busy schedules. Next weekend is booked solid for her. Her swim team has a meet Saturday, the last one she’ll get to participate in for a month. They’re having a big family cookout afterward. Her grandparents want to see her before she leaves, too, so I promised we’d drive up for a visit Sunday afternoon.”
“I see.” She had hoped there would be a little time next weekend for her to spend with Alice, but it sounded as though that wasn’t going to happen. “What about some evening this week? I could probably arrange to be home by seven on whichever evening she’s free. I know you and she will have already eaten dinner by then, but maybe she—and you, too, if you like—could come over for dessert?”
“She’d probably like to have you all to herself. How does Thursday sound? As far as I know, there’s nothing on her schedule Thursday evening.”
“Oh.” She kept her voice deliberately breezy. “That would be lovely. I’ll keep Thursday evening open. Will you extend the invitation or should I call her and ask if she wants to come over?”
“I’ll tell her, and I’m sure she’ll want to come. She’s asked about you several times.”
“Thursday, then. Either of you can call me if anything comes up in the meantime. And if you change your mind about joining us, the invitation stands.”
“Thanks, Meagan.”
It didn’t sound as if he intended to change his mind. For some reason, Seth was pulling back, and he wasn’t being particularly subtle about it. “All right. Good night, Seth.”
“Good night. Thanks for calling.”
“Good night, Seth.” But he’d already hung up.
So much for Madison’s determined matchmaking, Meagan thought as she tossed the phone aside and rose to prepare for bed. There would be no future for her and Seth. It had taken only one week of her back at work for Seth to reach the same conclusion as Gary, apparently. She worked too much, was too involved in her career, wasn’t available enough for him—or maybe Seth was more worried that she wasn’t available enough for Alice. A very legitimate concern, she had to admit, and the reason she’d said all along that she shouldn’t get involved with a single dad.
At least she could say she’d given it a shot. She’d been open to the idea of a relationship for the first time in quite a while. She’d been prepared to make some changes, to work out some compromises that would allow her more free time without sacrificing her commitment to her patients. So Seth had just been the wrong man at the right time. All she needed now was to find the right one, as her mother had said.
Unfortunately, it had felt so very right when she’d been in Seth’s arms. She couldn’t imagine finding that feeling again anytime soon with anyone else.
Chapter Nine
Because he didn’t want Alice to catch him peering out the window, Seth was deliberately immersed in work in his home office when she returned from Meagan’s house at the agreed-upon time Thursday evening. He’d heard the front door open, heard Alice calling out goodbyes to Meagan, who had either watched to make sure she had arrived safely or walked her home. He’d heard the door slam and the locks click and Alice’s quick steps in the hallway, though he tried to look as though he hadn’t been craning his ears toward all those sounds when she popped up in the doorway.
He glanced away from his computer, pushing aside a thick folder of reports. “Oh. You’re home. Did you have a good time?”
“Yes. And you would have had a good time, too, if you hadn’t been such a stick in the mud and refused to go.”
So she was still pouting about that. He’d thought she’d appreciate having a couple of hours alone with her friend, but she’d tried her best to talk him into joining her and Meagan for dessert.
“I told you, I had work to do.”
“It could have waited.”
He couldn’t honestly dispute that. The work could have waited. And he hadn’t been all that noble in allowing Alice one-on-one time with Meagan. Truth was, his resistance had been more self-serving. He had suspected it would be too difficult for him to spend even a couple of hours that close to Meagan without wanting to touch her. To kiss her again. Knowing the odds were slim he would ever do either again.
It would have been almost as hard to watch Alice chatting so happily with her friend, gazing at Meagan with her usual adoring admiration. He worried still that Alice would be hurt by this unconventional friendship. Meagan herself had admitted that it had begun under unusual circumstances, that her true life bore little resemblance to the weeks in which Alice and Seth had gotten to know her.
But Alice had Jacqui to befriend now, he reminded himself. The two had gotten along great during Alice’s first week off from school, with Jacqui starting the knitting lessons and chauffeuring Alice to swim classes and taking her shopping for a few things for the upcoming trip. The trip itself should be another way of distancing Alice from Meagan. Alice would love spending that time with her mother, whom she had missed so much during the past six months. She wouldn’t need a substitute then.
As for himself…well, he’d stay very busy while Alice was gone. Maybe he’d even take advantage of being a single adult again and go out some. He could always call Susan.
He tried not to remember Alice sticking a finger down her throat at the mention of Susan’s name.
“What did Meagan serve you for dessert?”
“The yummiest chocolate meringue cake. Oh my gosh, it was so good! It was filled with something she called ganache, and it was the best stuff ever. We had hot tea with it, decaf with milk and sugar in mine.”
He could almost feel his mouth watering for a slice of the cake his daughter had just described. He had a particular weakness for chocolate cake. “Sounds great.”
; “It was. Meagan didn’t make it herself, she picked it up at a bakery on the way home because she said she didn’t really have time to make anything, but that didn’t matter. I know she’s busy. We both loved it and we had a great time talking and laughing.”
Alice had probably enjoyed the bakery dessert as much as she would have liked something home cooked, Seth conceded. The conversation and attention from Meagan had meant much more to her.
Seth stood and stretched, speaking in what he hoped was a casual tone. “So what did you girls talk about?”
“I asked her a lot of questions about being a surgeon. She said she didn’t mind me asking. She told me a lot of funny stories about things that happen in the O.R.—that’s what they call the operating rooms—and some of her funny patients, though she said she couldn’t use any names because of HIPAA laws. Do you know what that means?”
“Yes, I’m familiar with patient privacy laws.” He resisted the impulse to remind her that he was an attorney, after all.
“Oh, well, anyway, she taught me a lot. Do you know what ERCP stands for?”
“Uh, no, I can’t say I do.”
“Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.” She recited the words carefully and a bit smugly, that she had known something he hadn’t. “Meagan told me about it. It’s a diagnostic procedure that uses a scope and X-rays to find problems in the liver, gallbladder, pancreas and…um, something else. Oh, yeah, the bile ducts.”
“How on earth did that come up in your conversation?”
“I was asking some of the ways surgeons find out what’s wrong with people so they’ll know what to operate on and that was one of the tests she said they use a lot. She said I could impress my friends by knowing what the letters stand for.”
He smiled wryly. “I’m sure you will.”
“If I can remember it.” She repeated the words beneath her breath, committing them more firmly to her memory.
“Changing your mind about becoming a surgeon?”
“I still think I want to be an orthodontist. But I’m not ruling anything out,” Alice quipped.