Midwives On-Call At Christmas. Tina Beckett
station, pulling a pen from her pocket.
She was trying to appear as calm and professional as possible. As if nothing at all had been going on between them. Because that was true. Nothing had been going on between them.
So why was her heart thudding against her chest and why did her cheeks feel as if they were on fire? And why was Ellis looking at her as if she would be the next topic of conversation on the hospital grapevine?
Ellis took the paperwork and disappeared back down the corridor. Bonnie sucked in a deep breath. What on earth was wrong with her? She’d almost wanted him to kiss her in the sluice at work. Even the thought of that sent a shiver down her spine—it was hardly the most romantic place in the world.
But it hadn’t been about the place. It had been about the moment. The feel of Jacob’s hand at the small of her back and the way she could see all the tiny lines around his perfect green eyes.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Even her thoughts were getting ridiculous. She had to speak to him. She had to try and understand what was going on. She had to draw a line here. She wasn’t looking for any kind of romance. And definitely not with her new boss—no matter how much he just made her tingle. She spun around towards the sluice again.
But Jacob was gone.
SOMETHING WAS DIFFERENT. Something had changed. And Jacob couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.
All he knew was he was currently sitting on his sofa watching an animated movie with a five-year-old. If someone had told him two weeks ago this was what he’d be doing he’d never have believed it.
‘Who’s your favourite dwarf?’ whispered Freya. She’d insisted on the main light being turned off and eating ice cream as if they were at the movies. He’d never really developed a taste for ice cream but rocky road was hitting the spot.
‘I like that one,’ he said, pointing at the screen.
‘He’s my favourite too.’ She jumped up and a big dollop of ice cream landed on his lap. ‘Oops,’ she said.
He shrugged and scooped the ice cream off his jeans with his fingers and dumped it in his mouth. Freya went into uncontrollable kinks of laughter.
All he knew for sure was that the big black cloud that felt as if it were permanently circling above his head had moved a little higher for the past two weeks. Maybe it was the fact that he was now in the waiting cycle. His treatment was over. He didn’t feel quite so snappy. He certainly didn’t feel so tired. And he was free to work with patients again the way he had before.
Something had definitely improved his mood. Even the junior doctors, who constantly got everything wrong and couldn’t do the most basic of procedures, weren’t annoying him as much as usual. He’d only thrown one out of Theatre the other day, instead of the usual four. People would think he was getting soft. He just wasn’t quite sure if it was the treatment that had improved his mood or the home circumstances.
Living with Bonnie and Freya was certainly out of his normal experience. Freya had a way of winding him around her little finger. He wasn’t quite sure if it was a five-year-old’s mastermind plot, or if she did it purely unintentionally.
She jumped up from the sofa and over to her school bag, which was lying on the floor. ‘Look at this!’ she said as she pulled out a crumpled drawing. ‘I made this for you at school today.’ It was a painting of a man—with very big ears. He couldn’t help it—he started to laugh.
She bounced back up on the sofa next to him. ‘It’s you. Do you like it?’ Her little face was so expectant, just waiting for his approval.
He touched his ears. ‘Are they really this big?’
‘Yes,’ she said without a moment’s hesitation. ‘Can we put it up on the fridge? That’s where my mummy used to put my pictures.’ She tugged at his hand and he let her pull him up and lead him through to the kitchen.
Bonnie was wiping a glass bowl clean as they walked through. ‘Look what I made for Jacob,’ Freya shouted as she waved the picture. ‘We’re going to put it up.’
Bonnie glanced at the picture and tried to stifle a laugh. ‘I think that’s lovely, honey,’ she said. She raised her eyebrows at Jacob. ‘Wait and I’ll find you something to put that up with.’ She opened a nearby drawer and pulled out a fridge magnet he didn’t even know he owned. It seemed impolite not to put it up so he stuck it on the fridge.
Freya’s little face was beaming. ‘Come on,’ she said, tugging at his arm again. ‘My favourite song’s about to start.’
He’d always loved his home. His sanctuary. His way of getting away from the outside world. But although his peace had been shattered, it was nowhere near as invasive as he might have thought.
He almost looked forward to coming home to them at night. And he couldn’t work out why. Maybe it was the distraction. He didn’t have time to think about the stuff hanging over his head. He didn’t have time to consider what he would do if the test results weren’t good—if the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma hadn’t been halted in its tracks.
He didn’t have time to remember how his mum had died of the horrible disease and how he could have the same future ahead of him. These were the things that used to spin around his head every night when he went to bed.
‘Jacob, come on.’ The little voice was impatient. He hadn’t even realised that he’d been staring at Bonnie’s backside in her snug jeans again. She spun around and gave a little smile as she put some cutlery back in a kitchen drawer.
She looked relaxed. She looked happy. She looked comfortable in his home. Something flipped over inside. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about all this.
She tilted her head to the side. ‘Should I get us some wine to see us through the rest of the movie?’ She was smiling again.
He gave a nod as he let Freya lead him back through to the front room and he heard the clink of glasses being pulled from the cupboard.
Their almost kiss in the sluice would no doubt haunt his dreams tonight.
What had happened?
He knew it was something. It was definitely something.
There had been a tiny moment when...just something could have happened. He’d felt it. And he was pretty sure she’d felt it too. He’d seen it in her all too expressive eyes.
They’d spent the last week tiptoeing around each other. But that hadn’t stopped the buzz in the air between them. It hadn’t stopped the way their gazes kept connecting with each other.
He’d spent so long concentrating on his disease and trying to get well again that he was out of practice with all this. But even though it was winter, the temperature here was definitely rising.
It was official. Bonnie Reid was keeping him awake at night.
But why did that seem like a good thing and not a bad?
* * *
It was her day off and she was prowling around the house. She couldn’t help it. This weekend she would be working on Saturday as part of her rota for the hospital. It was fine. Lynn was happy to have Freya for the day and planned to take her and her boys to London Zoo.
But Bonnie wasn’t used to having time to herself. She’d cleaned what she could without offending the housekeeper. She’d learned very quickly what was unacceptable for her to do in the house. All her and Freya’s laundry was washed and ironed and sitting in neat piles. The beds were made, the shopping done.
She gave a little shudder. The house was getting cold. There had been a dip in the temperature in the last few days and she wasn’t quite sure how the heating worked in this house. She wasn’t quite sure how Jacob would feel if he found out she was