felt like an outsider the following evening as she walked beside Jared to his mother’s hospital room. Courtney clutched Stardust under one arm as she held her father’s hand. Amy had a grip on Emily’s. She was sure his daughters wanted her here, but she wasn’t sure at all that he did. She took a firmer grasp on the two bouquets of flowers she carried for the twins.
Outside the door, Jared leaned close, his breath warm on her ear as he assured her, “We don’t have to stay long. In fact it would probably be better for my mother if we don’t. I don’t want the girls to tire her out.”
The solemn expression on Jared’s face, as well as his rigid bearing, told Emily the girls might not be the only reason he didn’t want to stay long.
Emily handed a bouquet to Courtney and one to Amy.
Courtney held Emily’s hand a little tighter as they neared the bed.
Gloria Madison pressed the control that raised her head so she was in a sitting position. She was a beautiful older woman with thick steel-gray hair that lay in soft curls around her face. Her eyes were green like Jared’s and she was smiling at her granddaughters. “Come here, darlings. I’ve missed you.”
“We brought these for you,” Courtney said, giving her grandmother the flowers in her hand. Amy did the same.
Gloria bent and smelled them—carnations, daisies and roses. “How pretty! Thank you so much for bringing them. They’ll brighten up my room.” Her gaze went to her son. “I see you brought a reinforcement. Are you going to introduce us?”
“This is Emily Diaz. She works at the practice with me and has been helping with the twins. They wanted her to come along. Emily, my mother, Gloria Madison.”
Emily went over to the bed and extended her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you. The twins have been worried about you. They needed to see you were recovering.”
“Did you convince my son to let them come?”
“It was his decision.” Emily spotted an empty vase sitting on the windowsill. “Why don’t I put some water in this and arrange the flowers for you?”
Jared removed folded pieces of paper from his shirt pocket. He gave them to Courtney and Amy. “They drew pictures for you, too.”
Both Amy and Courtney opened up the folded pieces of paper, explaining to their grandmother what they had drawn. Their childish chatter filling the room brought a huge smile to Gloria’s face.
While she chatted with her granddaughters, Emily slipped into the bathroom and filled the vase with water. She was arranging the flowers when Jared stepped inside.
Instead of turning around, she sought his gaze in the mirror. He was standing behind her, tall and broad-shouldered, in a striped oxford shirt and casual slacks. She remembered his last kiss and being held in his arms. She wanted him to touch her and he looked as if he’d like to. But he kept a foot between them.
When she turned around to face him, that foot of separation disappeared. She just waited, their attraction for each other thrumming between them.
“Will you be all right here for a few minutes?” he asked. “I’d like to check on a patient.”
“Sure. I’ll be fine.”
Cocking his head, he asked, “Are you always fine?”
“I try to be. I believe if I act as if I’ve got a handle on everything, then maybe I will.”
“You’re an optimist.”
“You’re just learning that?” she joked.
“Yes, I am.” His silence said he was learning other things, too.
There was a glint in his eye, a spark of desire, the recognition that their attraction wasn’t going to go away because they wanted it to. She found herself responding to it. Her heart was pounding and a butterfly did a flip in her stomach.
Finally Jared said huskily, “I won’t be long.” Then he left the bathroom, explained to his mother where he was going and strode down the hall.
Although she didn’t know why, Emily felt shaken by their exchange. They were coming closer and closer to something inevitable. What? Confronting their attraction? Doing more with it? Yet Jared didn’t want involvement.
She shouldn’t get involved with a man who had walls around his heart. She was asking for heartache if she did.
Running the cold water, she took a paper towel and held it to her cheeks. Then she picked up the vase with the flowers and returned to Gloria. The older woman eyed her thoughtfully as Emily set the flowers on the windowsill.
Amy and Courtney had settled into a chair together with a magazine on their laps. It was one of those country magazines with pictures of farms and children and animals. They chatted to each other about them and then showed them to their grandmother. Once they were intrigued again by a picture of a huge dog in the magazine, Gloria laid her head against the pillow. “Jared doesn’t trust many people with his daughters. He must think highly of you.”
“I work with Jared as an obstetrical nurse practitioner. I hope he respects the work I do and knows what kind of person I am.”
“Oh, I think he knows.”
Emily’s attention went from the girls, who were studying a wagon filled with pumpkins, to Jared’s mother.
Emily didn’t say anything, though. If Jared’s mom had something she wanted to tell her, Emily would give her the opportunity.
“I think he’s interested in you, and you like him,” Gloria suggested.
What should she say? What could she say? After all, Jared’s daughters were right there. Children had great hearing and long memories.
Something about his mother’s intent green gaze made honesty essential between them. “We don’t really know each other very well. In fact—” She stopped, realizing she was about to say too much.
“In fact?” Gloria urged her on. “There’s a lot about me that Jared doesn’t know, just as I’m sure there’s a lot I don’t know about him.”
“Time could take care of that,” his mother assured her.
“Possibly.”
Gloria appraised her for a few more moments. “My son has walled himself off to everyone but his daughters until now. When he looks at you, I see a change in him that wasn’t there before.”
Emily couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of change?”
“Curiosity, appreciation, possibility. A small crack where a little bit of light is glimmering through. He needs a personal life. He hasn’t had one since his marriage.”
“I don’t think he wants one,” Emily admitted.
“You could be right. On the other hand, the crackle I see between the two of you might be bigger than both of you.”
Crackle. Sizzle. Sexual chemistry. Even if they had
