Grandma Sadie had been in Scarlet’s first volunteer cuddler orientation class, back when she’d implemented the program four years ago. Research showed preemies benefited from human touch and interaction. And cuddlers filled the gap when exhausted parents needed a break, or when babies, like Joey, had no family to love them.
She glanced at her watch. “Perfect timing.” Since she had to get over to the family lounge before Lewis arrived.
Scarlet busied herself by re-shelving books and putting away toys. Then she spoke with a few moms sitting at a table in the back of the room, enjoying a rest and some coffee while Jessie held ‘story time’ to occupy their five little girls who ranged in age from two to five. They sat in a circle on the floor, each taking a turn in Jessie’s lap while she read their selection.
When Lewis entered the room, Scarlet motioned for him to be quiet and come to stand beside her.
So engrossed in her task, Jessie didn’t notice his arrival as she made an exaggerated honking noise that sent the little girls into a pile of gigglers.
Lewis watched his daughter, his face a mix of awe and disbelief.
“Jessie holds ‘story time’ around four o’clock every afternoon,” she whispered. “The moms meet up for a few precious minutes of adult conversation, while your daughter gives each of their children some special attention.” Scarlet looked up at him. “She’s really something special.”
Jessie finished one book and, with a big smile on her face, accepted a kiss on the cheek from the girl in her lap. Then the circle shifted, the next little girl climbed in her lap and she began to read again.
“I can’t believe it,” Lewis whispered, his eyes locked on Jessie. “She’s actually smiling.”
“She has a beautiful smile,” Scarlet pointed out.
Lewis turned to her. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen it.”
“Dad,” Jessie walked up beside them. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Lewis said. “I came up to check on the baby born in the ER yesterday, and the secretary at the desk told me I’d find Scarlet in here.”
Good man, very convincing.
Jessie stood defiant, ready to do battle. “If you’re going to yell at me please do it outside. I don’t want to upset the girls.” Who sat watching Jessie, still in a circle, awaiting her return.
Lewis went rigid. “Why do you think I’m going to yell?”
“Because you always yell.”
Lewis looked close to lashing out so Scarlet touched his arm to stop him. “Always is one of those words you need to use carefully,” Scarlet cautioned Jessie. “It’s rare someone always does something.”
“You don’t know my dad,” Jessie replied with an eye roll, and Scarlet couldn’t keep from smiling.
“If I was going to say anything,” Lewis said. “It’d be how nice it was to see you smiling for a change, and how proud I am to know you’re spending your time helping out here.”
Jessie looked stunned.
One of the moms came over. “Is this your dad?” she asked Jessie who nodded hesitantly as if embarrassed.
The woman put her arm around Jessie’s shoulders. “You have a gem of a daughter.” She looked in the direction of Lewis’s name badge and added, “Dr. Jackson. You’ve done a wonderful job with her.”
Lewis answered, “Thank you.” Then he turned to look at Jessie. “I wish I could take the credit, but it was all her mother.”
Jessie ran from the room.
Lewis and Scarlet caught up with her by the elevators and she turned on her father. “Why are you being so nice?” Jessie asked her voice full of accusation. “You hated my mom, and you hate me.”
A couple exited the elevator, avoiding eye contact as they passed by.
“Honey, I have never hated your mother, and I don’t hate you,” Lewis said, impressing Scarlet with his calm. “I let my anger and disappointment at having to pick you up at the police station get the better of me yesterday, and I am deeply sorry for what I said.”
Jessie stood there, her arms crossed tightly over her mid-section, looking down at the ground.
“Now that I know where you’re spending your afternoons, I can stop worrying,” Lewis said quietly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Jessie offered, still not looking up.
It was a start. But with the Memorial Day weekend of doom fast approaching, was it enough to get Lewis and Jessie talking about what they needed to talk about? Probably not. Which meant Scarlet had to figure out a way to intercede without Jessie finding out.
Later that night, after spending more time thinking about Lewis and his daughter than sleeping, Scarlet settled on what she’d do. Of course it’d taken until well after midnight to finally make up her mind—the reason she sat in the far corner of the mostly deserted hospital cafeteria hours before her lunch break, waiting for Lewis.
He walked in and went directly to the coffee dispensers, giving Scarlet time to play voyeur, watching from afar, admiring his long legs, short hair, and good looks. The man made basic green scrubs look like upscale attire. Clean and neatly pressed. And dare she add, pleasingly filled out.
No wonder she’d heard his name bandied about by so many of her single co-workers.
She skimmed up his legs, to his narrow waist and wide chest, to his smiling face, to his eyes staring straight at her.
Busted.
She smiled back and waved.
He paid the cashier and headed toward her. “You like what you see?” he asked with the cocky smile of a man who knew he looked good, pulling out the chair across from her at the small, two-person table along the wall.
“Actually,” she took a sip of coffee, playing it cool. “Just pondering the age old question of boxers or briefs.”
He leaned in close.
She added straight white teeth, clean shaven, and a hint of expensive cologne to his growing list of unsettlingly pleasing attributes.
“Use your imagination,” he whispered.
Oh he did not want her to go there. Too late. She closed her eyes and pretended to imagine his naked form with various undergarments. Okay. So she didn’t totally pretend. When she opened her eyes to find him studying her, she flashed her sweetest smile and said, “Commando it is.”
He laughed out loud.
“Suffice it to say, I no longer owe you a slap across the face.” She blew out a breath and fanned herself. “We are now even.” Come to find out he had a beautiful smile, so much like Jessie’s.
“You make me forget I’m the father of an impressionable teenage girl.”
“You know being a parent does not sentence you to a life of celibacy. Why don’t you pull up your date book and call one of your five star babes to take the edge off. It’ll calm you down. I’m happy to take Jess to dinner and a movie.” She smiled back. “Your treat, of course.”
He rested his elbows on the table and leaned in close. “Why is it we never met before Jessie came into my life?”
Oh that was easy. “Probably because I don’t dress to attract male attention, my boobs don’t enter a room before I do, and I’ve never gone to O’Malley’s after work intent on finding a sexy doctor to go home with.” And she had a brain and self-respect and stayed away from men who didn’t put any effort into getting to know a woman before making a play to get her