“I don’t know. We don’t always spend the night together, and I want to make sure you feel like you have your own space.”
“Um, I like it when you’re in my space. I can giveyouspace if you need it.”
I quickly shake my head. “No, I don’t need any space from you.”
Not even a little bit.
Shut up.
“Perfect. As long as you don’t have a living room full of dead bird taxidermy, I am there.”
I crack up and pull her in for another kiss. “I don’t take this lightly, just so you know.”
Mac bites her bottom lip. “I’m not taking it lightly either. And I want to hang out with you.”
Grinning, I give her my keys and another kiss, pulling away as Mason and them walk in.
“Oh, a free show,” Freddy crows, high-fiving Joey.
“That’s in exchange for your moving services,” I say, jutting my chin over at my beautifulwhatever she is.
Joey growls under her breath and pulls out a five-dollar bill, handing it to Mason.
“Told you that you shouldn’t bet against me.”
* * *
It was indeeda cluster fuck of a day. Dana’s baby, while a good six weeks premature, is doing well. She’ll be in the NICU for a couple of extra weeks, but she’s healthy, and her lungs are good.
Joan’s baby, however, was born with the umbilical cord around her neck. Dr. Zamora, always on top of things, noticed the lowered heart rate and performed an emergency C-section.
Due to Dr. Zamora’s quick thinking, Joan’s baby was treated immediately. In the last evening checkup, the baby was breathing fine on her own and her Apgar score was perfect.
Meanwhile, Joey was on top of things at the office, but shit still managed to go sideways, starting with Shelby. Despite being a high-risk pregnancy, today’s appointment was a routine ultrasound. Or it was supposed to be routine, but our eagle-eyed tech spied a limb difference. That set off a series of protocols to identify the source and scope of the difference, along with looking for any other developmental issues.
Fuck, not again.
My panic was unwarranted, however. Besides missing a foot, the baby seems fine and is otherwise doing well developmentally. Shelby was shocked and very sad, of course, but her husband, the local ski coach, started talking about the Special Olympics and getting their kid set up with the right equipment.
Shelby started laughing and smacked his arm. “What if he’s a space engineer who hates the outdoors and prefers to wind down with a first-person shooter game?”
Coach pretended like he’d been shot in the chest and stumbled around the room for dramatic effect. “I…oh, Jesus. I guess I’ll just hafta love the human being that gets placed in our care then, huh?”
While their attitude is amazing, considering everything they’ve already been through, having that unexpected diagnosis put everything else behind. It was nobody’s fault, of course, but some of our patients were understandably cranky. Joey brilliantly had some pizzas delivered, and that smoothed over most of the angst.
Still, a rough day full of what-ifs.
Not wanting to think about that any longer, I make my way home in my old Ford Ranger, grinning when I see my house all lit up.
Walking in the door, I toss my jacket and scarf on the hall tree and drop my purse.
“What’s going on in here?” I ask, making my way into the kitchen, joined by Mac, Freddy, and Mason.
“Valentine’s shots!”
“Valentine’s shots?”
“Yeah,” Mac says, cantering over to me, clearly already a few drinks deep.
