Marrying the Playboy Doctor - By Laura Iding Page 0,53
to wake Ben. “Do you think you could find a babysitter for some night this week?”
Her heart betrayed her by racing erratically in her chest. “I don’t know, but I can try.”
“I’m working days all week,” Seth said. “So any night is open.”
“Sure.” She glanced over her shoulder at Ben, making sure he was still sleeping. “We should probably talk.”
“Talking is fine.” He gently squeezed her hand. “But I was thinking about doing more than just talking.”
She bit her lip and tried to smile as he pulled into the driveway. Somehow she wasn’t sure there would be any more togetherness once they talked.
Because once Seth realized she was looking for something permanent, like a future, she suspected he might choose to walk away.
Seth mulled over his weekend with Kylie and Ben as he worked on Monday. All in all, despite the fact that Kylie hadn’t come knocking on his door like he’d hoped, he thought the outing had been a huge success.
Kylie had seemed a little distant, but he thought maybe the reason was because she hadn’t wanted to be overly affectionate in front of her son. He wasn’t a parent, but he could somewhat understand. Hugging and kissing a guy would be difficult for her to explain to a six-year-old.
His gut had tightened, though, when she’d told him she wanted to talk. He generally avoided women who wanted to talk. Women usually only wanted to talk when things weren’t going well.
He turned his attention to the job at hand, which consisted of a young soccer player who’d been brought in with a twisted ankle. “Doug, you’ll need to stay off your ankle for at least a week,” he instructed. “The nurse is going to fit you with a pair of crutches to use.”
“Crutches? For a whole week?” Doug’s horrified expression indicated he thought this was a fate worse than death. “But that means I’ll miss the next game!”
He understood. The Cedar Bluff High School soccer team was headed for the championship. They’d won it last year. “I’m sorry, but you’ll only hurt yourself worse if you don’t do as I say. Don’t risk your entire future for one game,” he advised, before leaving the room to find a nurse.
Alyssa usually worked in the trauma room, but today she’d been assigned to the ED area. But where was she now? Alyssa had been quieter than usual lately, and, while they were close, Alyssa was one of the few women he hadn’t dated. He thought there was definitely something bothering her.
He found another nurse to do Doug’s patient discharge teaching, then checked on the progress of an elderly patient who was waiting to be admitted for a severe kidney infection, satisfied to overhear the nurse was giving a report to the floor.
Fifteen minutes later, he still hadn’t found Alyssa. Odd, because she was one of the best trauma nurses in the entire ED, and it wasn’t like her to simply disappear, leaving her work to others. Not that they were terribly busy, but still…
He headed back toward the staff lounge. The muffled sounds of crying reached him before he saw her, curled up in the corner, her face buried against the sofa cushion.
Had someone died? He remembered all too well the feeling of overwhelming helplessness after his mother had passed away so unexpectedly. One minute she’d been healthy as could be, planning for the upcoming arrival of Caleb’s new baby, and the next she was gone.
Alarmed, he crossed over to her. “Alyssa, what is it? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
She lifted her face, looking embarrassed as she swiped the tears from her cheeks. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
Yeah, and he was the King of Siam. “You’re not fine. You’re upset.” Sobbing women made him uncomfortable, and he sensed she wanted privacy but he couldn’t just leave her like this.
“Don’t mind me. I’m just being stupid.” She sniffled loudly and swiped her face again.
He stood, uncertainly. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” Her pathetic attempt to smile tugged at his heart. “I—uh—don’t suppose you know where Jadon is, do you? He left town, and his cell phone is no longer in service.”
Jadon? Now Alyssa’s crying made sense. Jadon Reichert had been one of his colleagues—not exactly a close friend, since Jadon had been out of town a lot, but a good doctor. Jadon had left rather unexpectedly for good two months ago, wreaking havoc on their schedule. Alyssa had been close to Jadon during the time he was here. Obviously Seth