Stretching her toes to the end of the bed and her arms above her head, she revelled in the sheer indulgence of lying in bed. If only it was the weekend and she could stay all snug and warm in here for another hour or so.
‘Got to get up, lazybones. You’ve got a full load of patients today. You’re not supposed to be late, remember?’ And judging by the light filtering in, she was well on the way to being just that. It was as if something was testing her, making her earn this job by throwing obstacles all over the place to check her determination to turn up at work on time every day.
Reaching for her robe lying at the end of the bed, she shoved into it and headed for the kitchen. Stopped in the doorway. ‘Grady? What are you doing here?’
Grady finished filling the kettle and plugged it in. ‘I slept over. In case you had any more problems with baby.’
Warmth stole through her, heating her cheeks, her everywhere bits, and especially her heart. He’d looked out for her. He’d been doing that from the moment she’d rushed into the nurses’ room beside herself with fear for Flipper. She so wasn’t used to this.
‘Where did you sleep?’ The cottage didn’t run to a spare bed. She’d already started preparing the tiny second bedroom for the baby, collecting cute little knick knacks in pink, buying a bassinet and change table. Until Flipper she hadn’t even liked pink. Too girly.
‘Your couch folds out into a bed of sorts.’ He rolled his neck and she heard it click. ‘Not the most comfortable, I admit, but I managed to get some sleep.’
Now she felt indebted to him. ‘You should’ve gone home. I was fine.’ To think she hadn’t known he was here. Her radar had failed. She stared at him, and the man she used to love watched her back. If that kiss was anything to go by, she ran the chance of falling for him all over again. That would be an unfortunate error on her part, because they weren’t going anywhere with this fledgling friendship.
Entrusting her heart to Grady again would have to be right up there with leaping out of her plane without a parachute. Not because he was a bad person. Far from it. His heart was in the right place. Hers had difficulty making good decisions. She seemed to have a flaw that made men leave around the time when she started to relax with them.
Admittedly, it had been slightly different with this particular man watching her from under those thick black eyebrows. She’d been relaxed and involved and in love with him from the first time they’d met. It had been a very intense relationship and she’d believed he was equally as happy until he’d walked. But he had walked, leaving her shattered and shocked.
She was beginning to understand what it had cost him to help his family, though. He’d not only forced her away, he’d put his whole life on hold, including the career he’d worked so hard for with the high grades to get him into medical school. If only she’d stopped to think it through at the time, they might’ve come up with some arrangement to keep their relationship working. The only good thing to come out of Mum’s MS was that she’d started seeing what Grady had had to deal with. It might be too late for her and Grady, but at least she’d be more careful in the future.
With a heavy heart, she told him, ‘Thanks for staying over even when it wasn’t necessary. I’m going to have a shower and head into work. I guess I’ll see you around over the next few days.’
His lips whitened and he shoved his hands deep into those muscle-hugging, butt-defining jeans he wore with such nonchalance. ‘How about I see you in forty-five minutes’ time when I pick you up and drive you to work? Your car’s still at the medical centre, remember?’ Then he headed away.
She stared at her front door as it closed behind that straight back and tight shoulders. ‘Now I’ve gone and upset him.’
But it was probably for the best. She had to put the barriers back in place to keep him at a distance.
*
Sasha tried to relax for the fifteen-minute ride into work. Not easy with Grady less than a stretch away. He was completely focused on driving and avoiding school kids on bikes who veered out into the middle of the road. Totally ignoring her.
Finally they pulled up at the centre. She had to say something or she’d spend the rest of the day feeling terrible. ‘Grady, I’m sorry. You went out of your way to help me and then I pushed you aside.’ She gripped her bag. ‘I made a mistake last night when I kissed you.’ Though it hadn’t felt like a mistake at the time. ‘We need to keep our distance. You’re here for such a short time and I have a lot on my plate at the moment.’
‘It’s all right, Sash. I get it. There’s to be no rerun of the past.’ Did he have to look so disappointed? Nah, couldn’t be. Had to be that he was angry with her for kissing him in the first place and then making it sound like he was the problem here.
She headed inside, turning when she realised Grady was following her. ‘You don’t have to escort me right into my room.’
‘I’m working this morning.’
Keeping that distance just got harder. ‘Are you coming to the staff meeting?’
‘Yep.’
Wonderful. A glance at her watch showed she had time to top up her medical kit beforehand. ‘White and one, thanks.’ She cracked Grady a smile. ‘I’ll be five minutes.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
Jess jumped up from the desk the moment Sasha walked into their room. Engulfing her in a huge hug, she sniffed. ‘Told you Flipper would be all right.’
Sniff back. ‘Guess that was the first of millions of crises my girl’s going to cause. I hope I’m cut out for this.’
Stepping back, Jess grinned. ‘Welcome to my world. Nicholas brings me so much happiness and worry all wrapped up together, it can be scary, but I keep reminding myself there are millions of kids out there with parents who feel the same and they grow up fine.’
‘That’s supposed to make me feel better?’ She grinned back. ‘I’m going to buy you a cellphone that is only to be used to talk to me, because you’re my first line of defence when I can’t cope.’
‘I signed up for friendship so bring it on.’ Jess’s grin wavered. ‘You do have your parents on standby.’
Unlike Jessica. Another hug was called for. ‘You know, if you called her Mum would be on your doorstep before you’d finished saying you needed help. She adores you and Nicholas.’
‘Great, now look what you’ve done.’ Jess rummaged around for the tissues. ‘Sasha, you’re in for the most amazing experience. Having a baby is wonderful beyond description. Yeah, it can be frightening, doing it on your own, but the rewards more than make up for that. Anyway, apparently I’ll be on the end of the phone all the time. That’s if I’m not glued to your hip.’
‘Now, there’s an idea.’ She sucked in her trepidation. ‘Guess we’d better get to that meeting.’
She grinned at the coffee waiting on the table. Everyone asked about her baby before they got down to the business of discussing patients.
Then Sasha told everyone about Campbell McRae and her concerns for his mental state. ‘I’m going to visit him again today, more to check that he’s no
t become any further depressed than anything else. But I did wonder if some counselling sessions might help.’ Rory was Campbell’s doctor.
‘It would, but do you honestly see Campbell turning up for them? Especially as he’ll have to drive over the hill to see anyone.’
Beside him Grady sat, tapping the tabletop with his finger. ‘Want me to go with Sasha to see him? Give him a medical assessment?’
They needed to be fixing the problems she’d already noted. ‘Medically Campbell’s doing fine, apart from ignoring his exercise routine and letting his glucose levels creep up a little with the occasional intake of chocolate. It’s the head stuff that needs dealing with.’
Rory answered before Grady even got his mouth open. ‘I like the idea of Grady visiting him. The guy enjoys being made a fuss of. What bigger fuss than a doctor calling in?’ He glanced at Grady, and something passed between them.
Something that made Sasha sit up. Those men were too smug. ‘Grady can head up that way while I go in the other direction. He’ll be saving me time when I’ve got a long list of patients to see today, starting up the Cobb Valley.’
What was Grady doing here anyway? It’s not like he had a job at the centre. Oh, no. She shivered. He didn’t, did he? He hadn’t told her anything about his current job, where he worked, what he intended doing after he’d got that house ready for the market. Had she missed a vital clue somewhere between the Donovans’ accident and last night’s kiss?
That kiss. She swallowed a groan. What had she been thinking? And there was no way she could blame it on Flipper’s little sleep that had sent her into a mad panic for hours. Her hand brushed her bump. Almost simultaneously felt a kick. Yah, good girl. Love ya.