Assignment- Baby

by Lynne Marshall

  "Any history of kidney stones?"

  Another head shake.

  "Let's have a look." There was no evidence of bruising.

  "What does the pain feel like?"

  "Like burning and aching. It's nonstop."

  "Just on the one side?"

  He nodded.

  She put on gloves and checked the skin closely for any signs of early outbreak. "Did you have chicken pox as a child?"

  He nodded again.

  "Ever hear of shingles?"

  His eyes widened. "Yes."

  Sophie popped into Amanda's mind. Had she had all of her immunizations? Especially the varicella zoster shot? Just in case, she'd be sure to change her clothes and wash her hands before going near Sophie tonight, if she was still awake. Focus. She chided herself for letting her mind wander to Hunter and his niece. Again.

  "I see the beginning of a couple of blisters toward your spine. It looks like classic shingles, Mr. Salcedo. I'm going to have the doctor prescribe an antiviral medicine and something for the pain. Start taking both right away. Do not scratch the blisters as they appear or you'll spread them around. And wash your hands anytime you come in contact with them." She flipped the call light for a medical assistant before sitting at the computer to type her assessment and findings. "I'll have the nurse explain how to apply damp dressings for comfort, and a special lotion to help dry up the breakout. And avoid anyone who hasn't had chicken pox yet as long as you're breaking out. You could infect them."

  The man nodded after each instruction, his anxious expression already smoothing out from knowing help was on its way.

  "The breakout could last for several weeks, and sometimes the pain lingers. Come back and see us immediately if you develop facial or eye pain, or blisters around the ears or eyes."

  His brows drew together again.

  "Just make sure you wash your hands if you touch the blisters," she reiterated. "I'll go have the doctor write a prescription for you." She finished her computer entry just as the MA arrived. As she left the room, she said, "Mr. Salcedo needs shingles education. Thanks."

  Once back at the shared desk, having hand-delivered the prescription to Mr. Salcedo, Amanda found Marian—who was ready with her next batch of questions.

  "So what could be the worst that could happen if you let Hunter stay at your house for as long as he has his niece?"

  "A month? Are you nuts?"

  Marian scratched her chin before adding, "You said yourself that you are so over him. Remember?"

  Maybe I lied. Amanda tossed her gaze across the room rather than make eye contact with her friend.

  "You're civilized adults, right?" Marian said. "And this is the twenty-first century." She fiddled with her stethoscope while waiting for an answer.

  "What's the worst that could happen?" Amanda tapped her foot and thought for a moment before she went to her next patient. Then she mumbled, "I'd get used to having him around again."

  * * *

  Amanda tried to be as quiet as possible when she returned home at 11:30 p.m., but she found Hunter in the dark living room, watching the news. He sat on the couch with his bare feet resting on the coffee table. The silhouette of his broad shoulders knocked her off-kilter. His hair looked mussed and spiky, and he had one muscular arm propped behind his head.

  He must have dozed off, because he didn't respond to her arrival. She walked quietly to the dining table and put her purse on a chair.

  At this angle, she had to smile. Jinx, her cat, was curled up on his lap.

  Hunter's head shot up.

  "Hey," she said softly.

  "Hey. Must have fallen asleep."

  "How's Sophie doing?"

  "Great. After I fed and bathed her she went right to sleep."

  He gently lifted Jinx and plopped him on the floor.

  "Maybe that new tooth has broken through," she said.

  "Last time I tried to check, she practically bit off my finger."

  Despite being on her guard, Amanda caught herself chuck ling. She stretched to avoid his gaze. Jinx rubbed against her leg and she bent to scratch his ears, grateful for the distraction.

  "Anything exciting happen tonight?" he asked.

  "I had to remove a cockroach from an old guy's ear."

  "No kidding? Can't say I've ever done that."

  He stood, and Amanda's heart dropped to her stomach at the sight. He was wearing only black boxers. "You look tired," he said, using the remote to mute the TV.

  She diverted her gaze before he could notice, but she'd already taken inventory of his flat stomach and muscled chest. "I'm fine." She backed away.

  He glanced at himself and gave her a knowing look. "It's not like you've never seen me like this before."

  Her accusing stare didn't seem to bother him in the least.

  "I've been thinking," he said, scratching his head and walking closer.

  Aware of a warm blush, she backed away more at the old and familiar phrase. "Really?" She noticed the scent of lingering cologne and fought off any further reaction.

  "I was planning on renting a room at the local extended-stay hotel for the duration of the class, but if I stayed here instead I could pay you. Then it would seem more like a home for Sophie during the week, and you wouldn't have to work those extra shifts…"

  "I like keeping my hand in patient care." And no way could she live with him.

  "Sure. But at what expense to you physically? You're not an iron woman. You've gotten so thin a good breeze could blow you over." He walked closer, the TV light dappling his face in shadows.

  Taking offense, she swallowed around a dry knot. "Let me handle things, Hunter. I had everything planned before you ever stepped in. If you need to rent a room at a hotel, do it."

  "I'm just trying to help, Mandy."

  Right. Help drive me crazy.

  "Thanks, but Sophie should be your only concern." She started to walk down the hall. "Good night."

  Hunter hurtled over the back of the couch and caught up with her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. "I don't understand why you won't let me help you. We can help each other, Mandy."

  Before she could ask, he let go of her arm, but their gazes remained locked in place. She knew he wouldn't back down. Her arm tingled where he'd touched her, and those dark eyes delved into hers, making it hard to focus on any particular thought.

  He felt too close. She needed to get away.

  "You don't honestly think we could live together as if nothing had ever happened, do you?" she asked.

  "No. But we could take it one day at a time and see how things go. And we could help each other out of a tough situation." He looked so damn earnest she had to look away. "Truth is, I could use your help with Sophie, too."

  "I don't want your money, and, sorry, but Sophie is your responsibility. Not mine."

  "You're refusing a perfectly sane offer to make both our lives less complicated."

  "It would only make things more complicated, and you know it."

  "I'll stay out of your hair, Mandy. I promise. And Sophie will be my responsibility. I'm just trying to help you out a little. It seems to me you could use a break."

  She glared at him, but quickly softened when she saw how sincere he looked.

  "I'll think about it," she said, and slipped down the hall to her room.

  Just as she reached for the doorknob, he said, "So, how'd you do it?"

  "Do what?"

  "Get that cockroach out?"

  "I took the patient into a dark closet and shone a flashlight in his ear. The sucker practically jumped into my gloves."

  She closed the bedroom door on Hunter's warm rumble of laughter, and a tiny voice in the dark recesses of her mind suddenly wondered what would be so bad about having him around.

  * * *

  A rude, blaring buzz shocked Amanda out of a deep sleep. It gathered her up from a peaceful dream and threw her smack into the middle of reality, sunlight and morning. She'd stayed up until after one, entering p
atient data into her computer.

  She groped and felt around like a child in the dark. Once she'd turned off the damn buzzer, she stretched and sat up, tested her feet on the floor, and slid them into her favorite fuzzy slippers. A monumentally huge yawn occupied the next several seconds.

  Three, two, one—blastoff. On autopilot, she launched herself toward the bedroom door and down the hall, heading for the kitchen. Her mission: to plug in the coffeepot of decaffeinated coffee before she showered.

  Slap-slide, slap-slide. Eyes half-closed, she shuffled across the living room and toward the kitchen…into a completely dressed Hunter.

  "Aaaah! What are you doing here?" Her eyes stretched wide open.

  "Having a cup of decaf, since that's all you've got. Good morning." He nodded, lifting the cup. "Say hi, Sophie."

  The baby hung in her jump seat from the pantry door frame, and bounced excitedly up and down.

  Amanda couldn't help noticing an amused look on Hunter's freshly shaven face as his eyes lazily glided over her body and came to rest below her chin. Turnabout was fair play. She'd seen him in his underwear; now he was seeing her in hers.

  "Uh…hi. Need to put some clothes on…"

  She spun around and zipped back to her room as fast as her fuzzy slippers allowed, "Jeez," being her only outburst.

  "I take it back," he called out. "You're not as skinny as I'd thought."

  During the night, she'd tossed and turned about whether or not to take Hunter up on his offer. Sure, the extra money would help her out, but that wasn't a good enough reason to subject herself to the torment of having Hunter and a baby around all the time. The constant reminder of the very thing she'd wanted but would never have had with Hunter would be more than she could bear.

  In the end, after more tossing and turning, it had been Jade and her circumstances that had turned the tide of Amanda's thoughts. What if things had been reversed and Amanda had been the one with a baby? The one who needed to be hospitalized? If she were a mother and for some awful reason couldn't take care of her baby, wouldn't she appreciate someone stepping up to help out? Yes, being around Sophie and Hunter would be torture, but Jade had been a good friend throughout Amanda's marriage, and sometimes doing the right thing was more important than avoiding personal conflict.

  So she'd decided to let Hunter and Sophie stay with her throughout the Mending Hearts Club class, at least for as long as Jade was hospitalized, and had planned to tell him this morning. Suddenly her biggest concern was not how to break the news, but how to face him for the rest of the day without cringing or blushing.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE next morning, after the group had checked in, Amanda lectured on the day's topic of "Blood Pressure and General Well-Being" and handed out several heart-health-related articles for the participants to read. Then she counseled everyone individually, before sending them along for their treadmill stress tests.

  She glanced at the diet journal of her first student.

  "Mr. Mancuso, it says here you ate dinner out at a steak house last night?"

  The portly man nodded, his arms crossed. "I'm not giving up meat."

  She measured his reply and thought how best to broach the topic. "You don't have to give up red meat entirely. Though I do advocate that, I understand how many people love their steak." She remembered the last time a giant hamburger had absconded with her good sense. "Portion size is the key."

  She glanced into flat, unwavering eyes.

  "If you immediately cut the restaurant steak serving in half, you'll have the other half to take home and enjoy another day. And to help satisfy your appetite, be sure to order a salad with your meal. Pick a low-fat dressing and ask for it on the side."

  Spotting a glimmer of interest, she fanned the flame. "Mr. Mancuso, you and I both know you're here because your doctor is worried about you. And I bet if I asked your wife she'd admit to being worried about you, too."

  He uncrossed his arms.

  "Our goal is to give you a long life, and it only takes a few adjustments to help your health along. Can you work with me here?"

  Almost imperceptibly, his face softened. She smiled to coax him along. "It's all about eating slowly, savoring the taste, and having smaller portions."

  He scratched his head. "So, what's my daily protein serving size again?"

  She beamed. "Four to six ounces—the size of the palm of your hand. If you have a salad for lunch, then you can splurge with an eight-ounce steak."

  Now he smiled.

  "But you can only do that once a week. The rest of the time you've got to eat chicken or fish."

  He scratched his balding head. "I guess I can live with that."

  "And live a lot longer, too!" She shook his hand.

  The moment he left the office, her mind went back to Hunter and Sophie. Amanda had done an amazing job of avoiding Hunter all morning by lecturing on blood pressure, and saturated and trans fats, and their role in heart disease. Hunter had been relegated to running the stress tests in the clinic cardiology department.

  Thankfully, since that morning at home, she hadn't had to look into his eyes and see what could only be interpreted as desire when he'd seen her in her undergarments. She had to be nuts, deciding to let him stay with her for the duration of the class, but she'd made up her mind to do it for both Jade and Sophie's sakes. And in light of her decision, one thing was for sure: from now on she'd only wear old gray sweats around the house, regardless of the temperature.

  Too bad her conscience wouldn't allow her to send them to the extended-stay hotel—life would be so much easier. But she couldn't bring herself to do that.

  Amanda worried about Jade that the darkness that had overtaken her life would consume her without a daily dose of her little ball of sunlight. And what better way to remind Jade of unconditional love than Sophie's smile? But Jade was in the hospital and would be treated for her illness, and the reward for dealing with her depression would be coming home to her daughter.

  She wondered if Hunter was able to be in touch with Jade yet, and how she was doing. The baby needed stability while her mother got treated for depression, and she didn't deserve to keep being shuffled from one place to another. Not to mention a long commute. Which was all the more reason to invite them to stay with her.

  The fact that Hunter had offered to help out financially was an unexpected and not totally unwelcome bonus—and so like him. All things considered, it seemed like a win-win situation. And accepting money from him would help keep their relationship on a strictly business level.

  Who said she couldn't change?

  But since Hunter had appeared in her life again, each moment spent too close to him threatened to reopen the old wound. She'd often likened her emotional healing process from the divorce to the surgical method of healing by granulation. Slowly the wound filled in with soft, sensitive tissue but bled easily. Over time the same tissue toughened up and made a cicatrix. But her protective scar wasn't quite complete, and she feared living with Hunter would be like running with scissors toward a runaway train.

  She sighed. Never in her life did she want to experience that kind of pain again. But for Sophie and Jade she'd take the chance….

  Amanda glanced up in time to see Hunter and Sophie enter the office. Her throat tensed and went dry at the sight of them.

  She and Hunter nodded a greeting, then both quickly looked away—though not before he seemed to sense that she'd been thinking about them. Her warm cheeks must have given her away.

  Sophie looked on the verge of falling asleep. Making great strides on the parenting learning curve, Hunter quickly took his cue to throw a bottle together for the baby and put her down for a nap.

  In the past, Amanda would have lectured him on the bad effect of formula and milk on baby teeth. Or made sure he knew about the importance of holding the baby when feeding her. Today she didn't have the heart. Instead, she kept busy and avoided him by dividing the class into two exercise groups for tomorrow's first physical
training event.

  "Jack Howling took the stress test all the way to the top," Hunter said from his desk, booting up his laptop. "I can only hope to be as fit at fifty."

  "That's great." Amanda gave an uninspired reply and a nod of the head.

  Hunter shuffled through his drawer for a moment, produced what he was looking for—an iPod with headphones—then sidled up to her desk and sat on the edge.

  "Here. You should listen to this before I burn off copies for everyone."

  He was too close. Again. And wearing the same tie he'd worn yesterday. The poor guy needed to make a trip home for more supplies and a wardrobe for both he and Sophie.

  She almost jerked when he gently touched each of her ears by inserting first one earpiece and then the other. Only separated by the length of the cords from the device he held, she could barely stand it. She watched him swallow. Being near enough to notice a small nick on his throat where he'd had to use her pink disposable razor to shave almost made her dizzy.

  Focusing back in, she heard the music that was at first soothing. But as it went along, it built and grew livelier, until finally a booming bass made her heartbeat speed up.

  Amanda quickly pulled the plugs from her ears. "Techno?"

  "That's to pump them up and energize them for the day."

  She placed the earphones in his palms and said, "I thought we were going for meditation and relaxation?"

  "And the first portion does that. But we don't want to put them to sleep, either. We need to rev them up and get them started. Especially since the Diet Journal Queen says they can only have decaf."

  She rolled her eyes and pushed her chair back. "We're not going to get into role-playing here, are we? Where you're the nice parent and I'm the mean parent? I'm doing the no-caffeine thing for their own good."

  "A little java jolt once in a while isn't going to hurt anyone."

  It could hurt me.

  Thankfully, Hunter had touched on her inner witch, and turned her previously sympathetic thoughts into angry ones. They'd always been great sparring partners when they didn't see eye to eye.

  Fighting the flare of temper, she refused to make the mistake of glancing into his dark and fathomless eyes. That had always gotten her into trouble. She swallowed…and backed down from his challenge. She wouldn't let Hunter entice her into old routines, when they'd used to end their notorious fighting with passion in the bedroom.