Sam arrived with an intern in tow. ‘Patient’s being brought down from the helipad. Rob will take over here for you.’
Mitch filled Rob in on the few details he had about Jocelyn then headed for the chainsaw patient, rolling his tight shoulders. He really needed to go for a run sometime soon. He’d been missing a few of those since Jodi had turned up.
A nurse called from the desk. ‘Mitch, Radiology on the phone. You’re late for your appointment.’
His chest X-ray. Damn it. ‘Can you get me another time, Sheryl? I can’t get away right now. But not tomorrow morning.’ He was having an arteriogram done on his kidneys then. And he used to think he had a busy life before.
*
‘Is it really Friday already?’ Jodi stirred sugar into her coffee. Round and round and round.
Until Mitch reached for her hand, effectively stopping the movement. Removing the teaspoon from her grip and putting it on Jamie’s bedside table, he said, ‘All day.’
‘One day looks exactly the same as the next, or the last one. Except Jamie sometimes looks a little bit better, then he looks terrible and so sick. And then…’ Her voice faded away and her teeth nibbled her lip. The continuous rounds of dialysis were distressing for Jamie, even though they did make him feel less sluggish and took away that horrible bloating.
‘Lucas said Jamie’s got an infection around the catheter site.’ Worry deepened Mitch’s voice.
‘A small one. At this stage.’ Any infection was too much. Another problem to be dealt with, more drugs to be pumped into Jamie’s body.
And suddenly the tears started. She tried to stop them but how did anyone stop a torrential flood? It was one that had been building up for days, beating at her eyelids to be freed, only held in place by all the willpower she could muster through her fading strength. She’d been determined not to show Mitch any weakness, and afraid that she would never get back up if she gave in to this gripping worry and fear.
Falling forward, she rested her head on the edge of Jamie’s bed and gave in, no longer able to fight her grief, her anger, her sense of failure for not being able to do more for Jamie. Throw in the guilt for not telling Mitch about Jamie sooner. What a bloody mess.
Mitch lifted her into his arms, holding her as though she was made of spun sugar. Taking her place on the chair, he sat her on his lap. ‘Let it go, Jodi,’ he whispered. One hand stroked her back, the other cupped her head to tuck her under his chin. ‘You’ve got to let it all out, sweetheart. It’s eating you up.’
If only he knew the half of it. How bad she felt about the way she’d treated him. ‘I—I’m sorry,’ she tried around the lump clogging her throat. ‘For everything.’
‘Hey, come on. Two can play that game. I could’ve come home more regularly, been more attentive, come begging you for another chance. So I’m sorry, too. Okay?’
‘But—’
‘But nothing.’ His chin rested on the top of her head. ‘You’re here now. We’re in this together, no matter what. That’s our boy lying there and we’ll do all we can for him. And we’ll talk over everything, any time.’
‘That feels good, really good.’ To have someone with a vested interest to share all the horrible medical facts with, to watch over Jamie with, would make a huge difference to her coping mechanism. ‘A new beginning.’
Under her cheek Mitch’s chest rose high, dropped back. Did Mitch realise his shirt and suit jacket were getting soaked?
‘Something like that. New, but different.’
Pulling her head from under his chin, she twisted round to look him in the eye. ‘I like that.’ She especially liked what they’d done together in the on-call room yesterday. Maybe she could take a shower every couple of hours.
‘I passed Max on the way to the canteen earlier. He asked how Jamie was doing. Said he’s getting everything in place in case a kidney becomes available.’
They knew he would. The man wasn’t going to play games with something this serious. The stream of tears slowed to a trickle as she shook her head. ‘Can’t do better than Max.’
‘You’re right.’ Not even a hint of the old angst lined Mitch’s words. Blimey.
She settled back against that wide expanse of chest. A great place to be—warm and comforting. And the hand still soothing her back brought other memories back. The day she’d had to have her very old cat put down, Mitch had come home early to be with her. He’d held her just like this until the tears had dried up and then taken her to bed and made exquisite love to her to blot out the sadness for a while. And afterwards he’d gone into town to get a miniature rose bush to plant on her cat’s grave.
The rose bush she had pruned every year and remembered the cat, deliberately shoving aside all thoughts of Mitch. How could she have been so single-minded about him? Why hadn’t she wanted to recall all the wonderful times they’d had together? Ashamed, she craned her neck and placed her mouth on Mitch’s. ‘Thank you for being you.’
He shifted his mouth to cover hers fully. His arms wound around her, like a safety net, only this time there was an exciting kind of danger in their hold as well. As though there might yet be something for her, for them, if they could only step cautiously and carefully through the minefield they found themselves in.
‘A very salty kiss,’ Mitch murmured against her mouth. When she made to pull back he added, ‘I like salt. Don’t you remember?’
‘On your fish and chips, yes, but—’
‘Shh, you talk too much.’ And his lips covered hers again, shutting off anything she might say.
She’d missed this. Lots. Slipping her tongue cautiously into his mouth to find his, to taste him, she felt the mistake she’d made when she’d kicked him out of her life. How could she have given this up? Must have been on something toxic. Because no one in their right mind would deliberately banish from their life a man who could kiss so superbly.
Mitch’s hands had somehow worked under her top onto her waist, holding her against his body. Each fingertip scorched her skin, sending out lines of hot desire, filling her body with a longing so strong she shook. Pressing her breasts hard against him, she revelled in the feel of his rapidly rising and falling chest. Her fingers slid through that thick, dark hair, walked over his scalp. And still she wanted more.
Under her backside Mitch’s growing need was becoming more apparent. She wriggled and he gasped. Pulling his mouth away, he stared at her from lust-filled eyes. ‘Wrong place, I think.’
Heat seared her cheeks as she abruptly returned to reality. Hurriedly standing up, she turned round and smoothed her top down over her bony hips. ‘You’re right. I don’t know what came over me.’
‘That’s a shame.’
Snapping her head round, she was confronted with Mitch’s wide grin as he stood up. Sighing out a laugh, she told him, ‘Thank goodness no one caught us.’
His grin disappeared. ‘Would that bother you?’
How the heck did she know? It was too soon. There were too many problems facing them. ‘If I think about it, it probably does.’
He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. ‘Then don’t overthink it.’ Then he was gone, striding out of the room as fast as those long legs could take him.
Picking up the coffee from where she’d put it earlier, she took a sip and shuddered. Cold. She’d get another one. Jamie was still asleep. He wouldn’t notice her absence if she was quick.
But she stayed by the bed, staring down at her son, not seeing him. Instead seeing the older version of those blue eyes and dark hair, smelling the pine and spice aftershave that his dad wore, feeling the ripple of well-developed chest muscles under her cheek.
What had she started when she’d called Mitch into the shower yesterday? A rerun of an old, not-so-good relationship? Or a new version of that, with more honesty and understanding to help it along? They’d talked more in these few days about real things concerning both of them t
han they had in six months when they’d been together.
Did she want to get back with Mitch? There’d been as many good times as bad, she realised now that she’d let all the memories in and not just selective ones. But if they had any hope of making a success of being together again, they had a lot of things to clear up first.
And before any of that Jamie had to have his transplant and get well.
And she still didn’t know how Mitch felt about donating a kidney. Did she have the right to even ask?
How would I have felt in the situation? Truthfully? I’d hate for someone to tell me that.
But Jamie’s nephrologist in Dunedin had done exactly that and she hadn’t taken offence. It had been a professional move, not an involved, emotional one. Unfortunately the nephrotic syndrome she’d suffered from as a youngster had precluded her being able to give a kidney to Jamie.
No, whatever was going on between her and Mitch did not give her permission to back him into a corner over a very personal decision. She had to wait. Best to hold off on any more of those kisses, then. No more sex in the shower, or anywhere else. Because of the way her body melted when his lips devoured hers, the chances of her brain remaining in good working order were next to none. And then she’d surely spill the words he and she wouldn’t want hanging between them.
*
‘Guess we’d better get back to the hospital and relieve Alison,’ Mitch murmured against Jodi’s throat. It would be so much better to curl his body around Jodi’s and hold her throughout the night while she got some sleep. Okay, not only sleep. He wouldn’t be able to refrain from making out with her again. His body was warm and languid right now after making love but it wouldn’t be long before everything was up and about, wanting more action.
‘Mum did say to take as long as we wanted.’ Jodi laughed.
He loved it when she laughed. ‘But even she knows dinner only involves a couple of hours. Coming back to the house has stretched those into half the night.’