He was released from feeling he had to protect her when there were already so many people on her side. Men like these two, her family, they’d been there at the worst. He was new on the patch. But damned if he could deny this gnawing need to guard her back—and that was even with the ex being deceased.
Just another person to do his best for. Like his patients. And colleagues.
Believe that and he’d believe a newborn baby could climb Ben Lomond.
CHAPTER SEVEN
EMMA DRAGGED HERSELF out to the car, pinged the locks and opened a window to let the heat abate a bit before she drove home. Thank goodness for Fridays. This particular one had taken forever to get here, three four hour shifts, but at last she’d knocked off work with the weekend ahead to do very little.
Everything had caught up with her, big time. Knowing she’d have to work through her feelings was one thing. She’d expected them to be all about having a baby for Abbie, and the emptiness she’d feel.
But she was being held back by other, alien feelings. Wants. Needs. Hopes. Call them what she liked, they involved her future and how different it could be. Bringing up Rosie on her own, without someone special to share the everyday dross and fun, was plain hard work at times. More and more she wanted to reach out and grab the fulfilment of those wants, needs and hopes. Those were the aspirations she’d grown up with and they were revisiting, teasing, tormenting her. She’d sworn she did not want to settle down with a man again, then along came Grace and she was losing touch with that idea. Knew she’d been wrong. Slowly, slowly, pinch by pinch, the idea of love and more children with someone special was making itself felt. Uncomfortable. Disconcerting. Worrying.
No wonder she wasn’t sleeping at night. Nor during the day, which had to be a plus for her patients at least. She slid onto the driver’s seat and tipped her head back on the headrest.
‘Emma, wait. You okay?’
Emma jerked upright at the sound of Nixon’s question. He looked harried, breathing fast, concern locking onto her. ‘I’m fine.’
He shook his head. ‘This is me you’re trying to fool. It’s not working.’
No surprise there. Dredging up a smile, she acknowledged, ‘I came back too early, but what else was I supposed to do? Staying at home all day every day would’ve done my head in. Thank goodness for weekends.’
‘Which is why I’m here, though maybe I should leave you to get some rest over the coming days.’
He had plans that involved her? She sat up straighter. ‘Doing something interesting can be as beneficial as resting. In fact, resting doesn’t work—too much climbs into my skull to annoy the hell out of me. I need a diversion.’
‘So what are you doing tomorrow morning? You and Rosie.’
‘Rosie’s at a sleepover at her friend’s tonight and staying all day for a birthday party. Me? Washing, vacuuming, getting in the groceries. Exciting stuff.’ She added a smile to show he wasn’t meant to feel sorry for her. This was how her weekends unfolded; nothing new there.
‘Do you like flying?’
What was this? An opportunity to go somewhere out of town on a hot date? Hardly. This was Nixon. ‘I don’t mind it. Jumbos leave me cold but they get me where I want to go in a hurry.’
‘Small planes, as in a four-seater.’ He was relaxing now, his airways back to normal speed. ‘As in a scenic flight around Milford Sound.’
‘You’re kidding, right?’ She’d grown up here and not once had she flown around the area just to look down on her home town. Her blood began to hum with anticipation. This could be fun. Especially if Nixon was part of the package. Hey, Nixon was a package—a sexy one. Stop it.
‘Why would I be joking?’
‘The smallest flying machine I’ve been in was a Robinson helicopter for my twentieth birthday and that was in the Abel Tasman National Park. I’ve never flown in a small, fixed-wing plane.’ Judging by the determination in his stance, he was definitely serious. ‘I’d love to go.’
‘I’ll swing by to pick you up at eight tomorrow. I’ve checked the weather and it looks superb.’
‘No bumps.’ The hum was raising its tempo, her blood no longer sluggish, her limbs tightening back to normal. Nixon had asked her to go flying with him. As if they were used to doing things together out of work hours. She could get used to this. ‘Do I need to bring anything other than my phone for photos?’
‘A light jacket. It will be cooler around the mountains. Those bumps? You’re not a nervous flyer, are you?’
‘Nope.’
Nixon stepped back. ‘I’ll see you then. Shame Rosie can’t join us.’
‘Yes, she’d have loved it.’ But Emma would be happy having Nixon to herself for a few hours.
‘Emma? What are you doing later since you’re not picking up Rosie?’
‘Going for a power walk along the lake.’ Instant decision. Didn’t want to sound completely pathetic with nothing to do this afternoon as well as tomorrow. Anyway, it was time to start getting a little bit fit again. ‘Less emphasis on the power and more on the walk,’ she added for clarity. Couldn’t have him thinking she’d be doing something close to a run.
‘Want some company?’
‘Yes.’ It came out before she could change her mind.
His gorgeous mouth twitched. ‘Meet you about three-thirty at Steamer Wharf?’
‘Sounds good.’ She turned the ignition, keen to get away before he realised what he’d suggested. What just happened? Taking her flying tomorrow was amazing, and now he was joining her for a walk. After their disagreement at the park, she’d never expected he’d want to spend time alone with her again. Did that mean she was forgiven her deep and personal questions? Or he’d come to realise he’d overreacted and was trying to apologise without saying the sorry word? Guys did struggle with that.
Funny, but she didn’t quite trust this alien sense of anticipation for some fun, was almost waiting for it to crash and burn. A shiver rattled through her. Dumb thing to think when she was going flying tomorrow.
‘Let go the past,’ commented Abbie when Emma barrelled through her open door minutes later to tell her her news.
‘I thought I had.’ Not completely, as it happened. ‘But I know I want to.’
‘Thoughts from then are bound to pop up when you start dating again. But shove them away, forget it all. Seriously, that’s the way forward. Chin up, game face on, and go have a blast.’ One look and Abbie had understood her confusion.
‘Who said anything about a date?’
‘Didn’t we have this conversation a while back? Only it was you saying it about me and Callum.’
Emma felt her mouth drop. ‘True, but—’
Abbie grinned. ‘But it’s different because it’s you and Nixon and neither of you wants a relationship. I get that. So go have time with your boss and enjoy yourself.’ She held her arms out for a hug. ‘It really is that simple, Bestie. I know cos it worked for me.’
‘Only after heartache,’ Emma added as she succumbed to the hug.
‘Good things are worth waiting for, and you, my friend, have been waiting a darned long time.’ Abbie dropped her arms as Grace’s cry reached them from down the hall. ‘Someone’s extra hungry today. You had lunch yet?’
‘No. What’ve you got?’
‘Bread and cheese. Creating delectable meals seems to have gone out the window. But it is fresh bread from the bakery.’
‘I’ll put sandwiches together while you satisfy Grace.’ And by the time she’d slapped some bread and cheese together, hopefully her boobs would have returned to quiet, not this aching throb going on from the moment she heard the first cry. At least they’d had a morning off from the aches that still blasted her intermittently. Not a huge change in that since the birth, but it had to be coming soon. Fingers crossed.
*