watched him as he walked to the rack on the wall, took out a magazine, flipped through the pages and slid it back into its place without really looking at it. Then he crossed to the window, stared out into the dusky twilight and jammed his hands into his trouser pockets.
She went to him, watching her reflection take form next to his, not knowing how he’d feel about her being here. “Jared?”
When he turned, he looked surprised. Then he scolded her. “You should be at home having dinner.”
Maybe she should be—for more than one reason. She didn’t belong here with him. Her heart would be safer at home. She wouldn’t feel as if she should reveal anything about her life to him.
But after her last patient of the day, she’d thought about Jared sitting by himself, waiting for his mother to come out of surgery. No one should have to go through that kind of crisis alone.
“I wanted to stop in and visit Leanne and her baby.” Jared had delivered their patient’s little girl last night. “How’s your mother?”
“She’s in Recovery. I won’t be able to see her for about an hour.”
“You don’t like waiting, do you?”
His mouth curved up a bit. “I suppose that’s obvious. No, I don’t. I’m used to taking action, not sitting and waiting for another doctor to do his work.”
She glanced at the cup of coffee sitting on the table. “How many cups have you had?”
“I lost count. Maybe four. I shouldn’t have had any. I’m ready to pace the room until I wear out the soles of my shoes.”
“Do you want to take a walk? The air might help the caffeine buzz.”
Two nurses passed by the doorway as he thought about it. “Are you sure you have the time?”
“My time’s my own. Francesca’s tied up with the Neonatal Unit.”
“And you don’t like going home to an empty house.”
Was she that easy to read? “No, I don’t. The truth is—it seems empty since Tessa moved out. I mean, we all work erratic schedules, but with three of us, someone was always there. I miss her.” Emily shrugged and smiled. “But she and Vince are happy and they’re in the process of adopting two wonderful kids.”
“Didn’t you say they just married recently?”
So Jared was one of those rare men who listened. “Yes, they did. But the adoptions were sort of in the works before they married. Vince had unexpectedly become legal guardian of his best friend’s little boy, and Tessa had been on an adoption list. She got the call right before they married.”
“That’s a lot to take on.”
“Their story’s a complicated one, but they’re exactly where they want to be.”
Jared seemed pensive for a few moments. After he glanced out the window again, he decided, “I think I would like to go for that walk.”
A few minutes later, they passed through sliding glass doors outside into the August evening. A breeze tossed the edges of Emily’s collar. She and Jared turned simultaneously toward the sidewalk that led past a row of live oaks. Lampposts illuminated their way.
Suddenly Jared stopped and took her arm. “Thank you for coming by. I was getting really wound up and this is helping.”
His fingers were hot on her skin. His touch sent a deliciously warm thrill through her. She felt breathless, her pulse quickening as she looked up at him and their gazes held.
The green of his eyes darkened and he blew out a breath. “I keep telling myself we’re going to have a professional relationship and then you look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re thinking about whatever happens whenever we get too close.”
Jared meant physically, but she knew the chemistry happened when they got close emotionally, too. She and Richard hadn’t really connected emotionally. But she and Jared…
A bond was growing between them that she couldn’t deny. He released her arm. Emily missed the physical contact but she could think more clearly. They started walking again.
“I had a talk with Chloie,” she offered.
Jared sent her a sharp glance. “About?”
“Amy told her I was there when Courtney had her night terror. Chloie just said she knew how frightening they could be and that she learned from you how to handle them.”
His tone was strained as he asked, “Was she questioning why you were there?”
“Oh, no. Why would you think that?”
He walked in silence for a few steps. “I got the impression when Valerie and I divorced that Chloie thought we hadn’t tried hard enough.”
“What did you think?”
He grew pensive. “I think we hit a stone wall. I couldn’t change my practice or my dedication to my patients. Valerie was a new mom with twins and I couldn’t be there as much as she wanted me to be there to help her. I wanted her to hire someone to help, but she didn’t want to do that. She made up her mind about the divorce without much discussion. Once Valerie decided something, there was no convincing her to change her mind.”
He sounded bitter about that. Just because of the divorce? She couldn’t ask more questions without prying, and she didn’t want to do that. “Richard asked for our divorce and he’d made up his mind, too. But by that time, I knew we didn’t have much left.”
“Marriage is an ideal most couples can’t live up to.”
Darkness was gathering around them, creating intimacy even though they walked on the public sidewalk. Emily found herself adding in a lower voice, “If two people have the same values and goals and outlook, I think it can work. My parents were happily married. I thought I would be. But I think I wanted somebody to love more than I wanted to look at who I was and who Richard was and how we could fit together.”
“You’ve given this a lot of thought,” he observed.
“I didn’t like failing. I had to figure out what went wrong, why we couldn’t stick it out through…” She stopped, then finished with “the hard times.”
He looked as if he might want to question her about what those times were, but he didn’t and she was glad. This wasn’t the time or place to go into what she was hiding from him.
“Chloie told me you used to play together when you were kids, but then you were out of touch for a long time.”
“Yes, we were. We reconnected at my stepfather’s funeral. She was his brother’s daughter. We aren’t blood cousins.”
As they walked farther away from the hospital, the quiet night surrounded them. The wind picked up, whipping by them. That morning Emily had fastened her recalcitrant curls into a bun.
