shook his head. “I’m in the middle. I had to come early for surgery because one of my sisters got sick and they didn’t want me to get sick before the operation.”
“Oh,” Jill said. “It can be boring in the hospital.”
“Yeah.”
“Boring?” Tyler repeated indignantly. “Them’s fighting words.”
“Well, you get to do the interesting stuff like surgery,” Jill pointed out.
“And TJ gets to lie around and have people wait on him.”
“The food is gross,” TJ said.
“What do you like to do at home?” Jill asked.
“After I get my operation, I’m gonna run and run and never stop running,” TJ said, his words pulling at Jill’s heart. She could tell that was a dream Tyler would make come true. “I read a lot,” he said. “My mom reads to all of us every night.”
Jill glanced at the stack of books on his bedside stand. “Would you let me read one to you?”
TJ’s eyes lit up. “Sure!”
Jill felt Tyler’s hand on her shoulder. “You—” His pager went off and he glanced at it. “Another doctor. Probably needs a consult.” He looked at her with a mixture of approval and basic male interest that made her heart jump and her brain go uh-oh. “I’ll be back.”
Jill didn’t really want to like Tyler, but she was hard-pressed when she looked at TJ and knew he probably dreamed every night of running, and Tyler would make that dream a reality. Good press, she thought, and tried to compartmentalize as she picked up a book from the table.
Jill read several books to TJ, and much later Tyler appeared and removed the book she was currently reading from her hands. He pressed his finger to his lips and pointed at TJ, who was sleeping.
Taking her hand, he led her from the room. “I didn’t intend to put you to work tonight.”
She let go of his hand and waved hers in a dismissing gesture. “It was a small thing. I didn’t mind at all.”
He paused, studying her. “I think there’s more to you than meets the eye. You look cool, as if you are totally pulled together, as if no one could ruffle your feathers or get to you,” he said. “But TJ did. I thought you didn’t like kids.”
Jill stifled a sigh of frustration. “I never said I didn’t like kids. I just said I’ve been most effective working on projects for adults,” she said, then changed the subject. “How was your consult?”
“Two consults, and I checked in on another patient. That’s what took me so long. There’s one more thing I want you to see,” he said, and touched her back to guide her toward the elevator. “One floor up, then I’ll take you to dinner.”
“Dinner’s not necessary,” Jill said.
“Sure it is.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Sure it is,” he repeated. “Haven’t you ever heard you’re not supposed to argue with the doctor?”
“Is that one of the bits of fiction they teach you in med school?” she asked sweetly.
Tyler chuckled. “No respect. I get no respect.” The doors whisked open. “I can’t let you read to her,” he said as they rounded a corner, “but I thought you might like to see my youngest patient.” They stopped in front of a nursery window, and he pointed to a small baby off to the side. “Meet Annabelle Rogers. She’s three months old.”
Jill saw the nursery full of isolates with babies wrapped in blankets, and she broke into a cold sweat. The image of another hospital and another nursery swam before her eyes. Tyler was talking, but she couldn’t hear him. Instead, she heard another doctor’s voice from another time.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Hershey. We could not save your baby.”
The words echoed in her head, and everything went black.
Two
Tyler caught Jill as her body slumped in a faint. He swore under his breath. The woman was white as a sheet.
“Mr. Logan, do you have to do that in the hall?” an anesthesiologist, Bill Johnson, joked as he passed by. “Can’t you use the laundry closet like everyone else?”
Comedians. He was surrounded by comedians. “She fainted,” he said.
Bill’s eyes widened and he stopped. “Well, I guess she picked the right place. Let’s get her feet elevated. Oxygen.”
“No need,” Tyler said, watching Jill’s eyes flutter.
“She’s pretty. I haven’t seen her around. Who is she?”
“PR consultant,” Tyler said, moving toward an empty room. “She’s helping get the new wing.”
“Smart, too. Hey, you want me to carry her?”
Tyler knew Bill was a player with the women. He felt a wave of protection for Jill as he set her down on the bed. “Keep your paws off her. This isn’t your specialty. You like to put people to sleep, remember.”
“Yes, but I also wake them up,” he said, poking out his chest.
“Hey, candy lady, where’d you go?” Tyler asked, and slid his stethoscope against her chest.
Jill blinked. “I don’t know. I just saw the—” Her slim eyebrows furrowed slightly and she looked away. “Maybe I was more tired than I thought. I never faint. I have never fainted in my life.”
“What did you eat for lunch?”
“A pack of crackers, but—”
Tyler frowned. “You need some food.”
“I’ll get you a burger,” Bill offered, stepping forward. “I’d like a rain check to take you someplace nicer when you’re feeling better, but—”
“Not in this century,” Tyler said, and sighed. “This is Dr. Bill Johnson. He puts people to sleep for a living.”
Bill scowled. “Not women.”
“He’s worse than I am.” He turned to Bill. “She doesn’t like flirts, Bill.”
“I’m not a flirt,” Bill said, his gaze fixed on Jill with the intensity of a hunter. “I am a man. At your service,” he added smoothly. “May I get you a burger?”
Tyler thought he might puke.
“Not unless it’s a veggie burger,” Jill said with a wry smile. “I don’t really eat beef.”
Tyler and Bill stared at each other, then roared with laughter.
“I
