‘Talking to yourself now.’ Aaron stood in the doorway.
‘Come in and take a pew.’ Mitch waved at him. ‘You sure this is all right? Me disappearing for a couple of days?’
‘No worries.’ Aaron turned the chair around and straddled it. ‘How’d the meeting go with the boss?’
The big boss. ‘It’s going to work out just fine.’ For who? Him? Jamie? Or Jodi?
‘Good. I like what you’re doing. For purely selfish reasons, of course.’ Aaron talked shop for a bit then stood up. ‘Coming to the farewell bash the TV crew are putting on? It looks impressive. Probably because they overstayed their welcome by a week.’
‘I guess I’m expected to. At least that’s one thing done and dusted.’ Thankfully Carl had seen reason and stopped harassing him about doing a clip on Jamie.
‘Then shift your butt. Kick-off is in thirty minutes. You could do with some spit and polish before then. Can’t have the HOD turning up looking like something the dog chewed. They’d probably film you just for the hell of it.’
Mitch rolled his eyes. ‘Bloody chirpy, aren’t you?’
‘Got what I want, didn’t I?’
Mitch flapped a hand at his colleague, and the guy who’d become a good friend. ‘Get out of here. I’ll see you shortly.’
‘I’ll come looking for you if you’re late.’
‘Getting far too clever for your own good, Dr Simmonds,’ he called at Aaron’s rapidly disappearing back.
Aaron flipped him the bird and continued down the corridor.
Mitch unfolded himself from his chair and stretched his back, easing the kinks in his spine. Jamming his hands into his trouser pockets, he crossed to the window to stare out at the busy street below. End-of-day rush hour traffic queued for lights, going nowhere in a hurry.
Last thing Friday he’d fly to Sydney. A quick trip. If everything went to plan he might even make a flight back late the next day. The thought of being out of the country when Jamie could take a turn for the worse worried him more than anything. But he had to go. No way around it. Not and keep his reputation from being ripped to shreds.
‘What does your rep matter if you don’t have the two most important people back in your life?’
He’d worked too hard to let it go easily, even if it wasn’t the most important aspect of his life anymore.
He muttered to himself, ‘You’re working at keeping Jodi and Jamie around for long? Or just until the operation is over and done with?’
No, that was only the beginning of everything. Jamie would be well, able to do all the things little boys did. The kid would have a future, a long future. He’d be able to grow up and decide what he wanted to be as an adult.
‘There’ll always be the side effects of anti-rejection drugs.’ He continued his monologue.
A small price to pay for Jamie’s life. As long as someone explained it all to him thoroughly and often. Mitch pinched his lips together.
‘That’s my role. Among others.’ From now on, Jamie had a dad. A father who was never going to leave him to grow up with another male figure. A father who’d put his child first, over everything else.
‘And Jodi?’
Yeah, well. Lots of work to do there. Did he even want to try? Risk not being believed, not being listened to and actually heard?
Jodi had cut him right through to his heart with her accusations about not coming home when he’d said he would. It wasn’t that she’d made a mistake that got to him. It was that she hadn’t given him the opportunity to explain first. Neither had she believed he might’ve changed.
Hell, when it came to Jamie he’d got up to speed in a very short time. Accepting that Jamie was his. No questions asked. Okay, not many. After the initial shock he’d had no doubt that the boy was his.
And he’d put his kidney on notice for Jamie. Which was what Jodi had wanted all along. What was a guy supposed to do? Beg forgiveness for an argument that was three years old?
Whether Jodi noticed or not, he had changed. Was still changing. He was making plans for the future that involved all of them. Those plans would continue.
CHAPTER TWELVE
JODI’S CELLPHONE VIBRATED on her hip, waking her from a doze. Tugging it free, she read ‘Mitch calling’ and flicked the phone open.
Exhaling a deep breath, she said, ‘Hello. You got my text?’ In her worried frame of mind she’d feared it mightn’t have reached Mitch in Sydney.
‘How bad is he?’ Blunt and to the point. No change there.
Jodi glanced at Jamie lying with tubes seemingly coming out of every aperture he had, and then some. The white hospital sheets made him look paler than he already was. ‘He’s got a fever, higher temperature than last time we were here. He’s been on dialysis all day and it doesn’t look like Lucas will stop that for a while yet. Basically he’s getting worse and there’s no stopping it.’ She knew the despair in her voice would reach him and that made her feel guilty. But she couldn’t help it.
‘Hang in there, Jodi. Everything will work out. I promise.’
How can he promise that? ‘Sure.’
‘I’ll get home as soon as possible.’
‘Mitch, wait. Do what you have to do. Getting back a day earlier isn’t going to change anything here.’ Except give me the strength and courage to carry on watching over my boy.
‘I want to be with Jamie. And you. I’m missing you both.’
Really? Missing me? Mitch had said that? ‘Um, great. Looking forward to your arrival.’ I’ll be counting the hours, except I haven’t a clue what flight you’re booked on. ‘What time tomorrow do you get in?’
The dial tone answered her. He’d hung up. Right. Okay. Now what? Mitch was heading home to Jamie—and her. Did that mean he’d give her a chance to apologise properly? Would he give her a second chance?
She hoped so because she had news for Mitch. Once Jamie had his transplant and had recovered
, they were moving to Sydney, too. If possible she’d find a flat near Mitch so he could spend lots of time with Jamie. She’d get work at a local medical centre. And they could both take active parts in raising their son.
*
‘Go to the on-call room and get some decent sleep.’
For a moment Jodi thought Mitch had got back early. She lifted her head and blinked in the half-light of a ward full of sleeping patients. ‘Max?’ In her dazed state his deep voice had sounded so like his brother’s. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I heard Jamie had been readmitted.’
‘So you wanted to check up on him?’ Cool. Max couldn’t deny he was an uncle. All the right instincts seemed to have kicked in.
‘Seriously, go and grab something for dinner, then put your head down for a while. I’ll sit with Jamie until Lucas finishes surgery, which should be by eight o’clock.’
‘What has Lucas and surgery got to do with Jamie?’ Had she missed something here?
‘Lucas says you need a break and there’s no one else to sit with Jamie so he’s coming as soon as he can.’
Huh? Mr Lucas Harrington was going to sit with her boy for a few hours? ‘Heck. He doesn’t have to do that.’ She studied Max. ‘Neither do you.’
‘Can’t have people thinking Maitlands are no good at looking out for their own. Jamie’s my family, too.’ He gave her an eloquent shrug. ‘I know that much.’
Cool. But—
‘You look whacked. Don’t want Mitch seeing you like this.’ Max sat on the end of the bed and reached to brush her hair out of her eyes. ‘Do you trust me with Jamie?’
‘Why wouldn’t I?’
‘Then why are you still here?’
*
The pillow was soft and tucked around her neck to keep the cool air out. The sheets were heavy and crisp. Luxury after sleeping huddled in a chair by Jamie’s bed last night. She rolled on her side and tucked her knees up, wrapped her arms across her breasts.
Half an hour more and then she’d relieve Lucas. Or was it Max? Her eyelids dropped shut.
Mitch immediately wandered into her mind. Laughing Mitch with Jamie, holding his boy ever so carefully. Angry Mitch walking away with a bottle in his hand. Mitch with his feet up on his desk snoring as though there was nothing in the world that could disturb him, only to wake up to hell.