than using some of his money to be with them for special occasions. Instead, he ignored the pleas to spend the money now when everyone could enjoy the benefits.
Guilt snuck in. It was brought on because his uncle had taken him in when he was six and raised him with his cousins until he left school. Henry had never been generous with money and especially not with his heart, but Nixon had been fed, clothed in hand-me-downs and given shelter. He’d always be grateful, but he’d have been happy to go hungry if instead there’d been open and happy love such as he’d known in his six short years with his parents and brother before they died in a plane crash.
‘Nixon, your mum and dad and Davey are not coming home ever again.’
The terrifying words had cut him off from his family, from love and happiness. From ever giving his heart unconditionally again.
But had Henry giving him a roof over his head been his way of showing love? Fundamental perhaps, but that was his uncle’s approach.
Well, he could do the same. Nixon texted back.
Book flights and hotel. I’ll fix you up tonight.
Henry would go for the most expensive flights and hotel room, but, hey, those were the breaks. If it made his uncle happy then what did it matter? It was only money and he wasn’t short of a few dollars. These people were his only family. They had cared about him as one of their own, looked out for him when he hadn’t been able to grasp what not ever coming home again meant. If only Henry had shown his love with hugs and games and laughter as his own parents had, then he mightn’t have felt quite so lost and alone.
Nixon’s gaze drifted to Emma.
He’d cried off going away with his cousins and their kids, using a bike endurance he’d entered as his reason. While it was true, he’d also been reluctant to be out of town when Emma had her baby. He’d wanted to be around when it happened in case that despair and fear she’d once sobbed out onto his shoulder returned, stronger and harder to move past. He might’ve made sure she was all right when her waters broke and retrieved her bag from her car for her yet he’d waited ’til well after the birth to visit her, suddenly afraid of where his feelings about Emma were taking him. They’d become such great friends that he’d even felt grateful she’d turned him down for a date because when he walked away at the end of it, which he surely would have done, he’d have missed out on so much. While she was pregnant, he’d felt restrained about furthering their friendship. She’d had enough issues to deal with. But now where did they stand? He believed he didn’t want involvement, couldn’t risk his heart only to lose her when she decided she didn’t need him, but...
But ask him why he’d felt he should be here and he couldn’t find a satisfactory answer. Emma didn’t need him at her side. They got along fine, and sometimes she opened up to him, though lately he’d pulled back, afraid of where this was headed.
Be honest. You like that she talks to you about things she can’t tell her best friend.
Yeah, well, all very good, but all the more reason to pull away. That thinking could lead to deeper involvement, a place he wasn’t planning on going. If he ever chanced falling in love with a special woman—Emma?—he’d want to be able to leap in, boots and all, heart and all, be open, have fun, share the highs and lows. He wouldn’t want to be this uptight, afraid version.
His phone received a text. Henry.
Thanks, lad. Appreciate it.
No problem.
Had Henry shut down on his open loving side when his wife died in childbirth? Gone further into the deep when Nixon’s mother died? Did he hold the same fears?
Oh, man.
Occasionally Nixon had wondered about this but had always shaken it off as wrong. He wasn’t Henry’s child, he’d inherited different genes, and his mother, Henry’s sister, had been a happy, always laughing person. From what he knew and remembered. None of this had crossed Nixon’s mind before. He could very possibly be a chip off the old block. Might’ve learned from his uncle how to hold everything in. They both kept their feelings close to their chests. Didn’t rush around hugging friends and family.
You hugged Emma earlier.
Yeah, well, Emma.
Now what? Carry on with no hope of it being anything more? Or try to let go of the restraints and open up, risk his heart and see where that led? Instantly his belly tightened and his heart slowed as though it were withdrawing from this crazy idea, protecting itself. It was far wiser to stick with the current way of doing things. But was that truly what he wanted?
‘You going to sit there staring at the floor all evening?’ Emma muttered from the bed.
‘It’s a damned nice floor.’ Grey vinyl wasn’t really his thing.
She chuckled.
That chuckle crept into places that had remained cold since the day the social worker had picked him up from school and delivered him to Uncle Henry. The warmth Emma engendered made going for a diversion imperative. He wasn’t ready to follow that warmth. ‘Easier than deciding who to employ for the summer rush.’
‘Which started a week ago, in case you hadn’t noticed. The day the spring rush finished.’ Emma shuffled up the bed, wincing. ‘We’ve already had numerous broken bodies in ED from mountain day trippers going off track and getting caught by unseasonal storms.’
‘I’ll never understand why visitors to the region don’t read the weather warnings.’ Nixon stood to arrange the pillows more comfortably behind her back. Doctor mode to the fore. Really? Yes, really. ‘Tell that to the CEO. We’re up to our ears in patients and he’s still saying wait. My problem is the doctor I want to take on won’t hang around for ever. She’s had another offer in Christchurch, a better one I suspect, but with a sister already working here she’d prefer our neck of the woods.’
‘The joys of being the boss. Glad I’m only a nurse.’
‘No such thing as just a nurse.’ Especially Emma, a dedicated carer if ever he’d met one. ‘How’s the body feeling?’
‘Like it fell off Ben Lomond, rolled down the mountain and finished up in a ravine. Just like your earlier patient.’
‘That good? Want to go mountain-bike riding tomorrow?’ he teased.
‘Sit on one of those hard, narrow bike seats after what I’ve been through?’ She shuddered and scrunched up her lovely face. ‘Haven’t you got work to do? Paperwork if nothing else.’
‘I’m done for the day.’ He gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘The weather forecast predicts no wind and warm temperatures. Perfect for hitting the trail out to Jack’s Point Pass.’
Emma shook her head at him. ‘Your calf muscles must hate you sometimes.’
If he were open to more than casual friendships, he’d suggest they pack a picnic and take Rosie up the track out of Arrowtown one day soon. If. A friendship on that scale with Emma and her daughter could eventually expose his need for more and as he was her boss that couldn’t happen. He never dated women he worked with. It got complicated when the three-date rule was enacted. He still didn’t understand why he’d asked her out that time. Except that she was gorgeous. ‘You decided where you’re going to spend tonight?’
