Marie ignored the flash of pain that thought brought and returned her attention to Fiona who was watching her intently.
Had Fiona asked her a question?
“Sorry, I flaked out there a little, what did I miss?”
“I just said that I like to plan, so yes, I’m thinking about baby number two before one comes along. But I also know that life doesn’t listen to what my plans might be, so while I do think of having another baby, I really can’t wait to meet this little fella and be his mom.” She rubbed her belly again. “Anyway enough about me and junior here. Tell me all about the handsome man you were with this morning. He does have good taste in jewelry. Those earrings are lovely.”
Reflexively her fingers touched one of the stones again. There was nothing special about the design, but maybe that’s what made them so attractive, there was beauty in simplicity. There was also no way she was going to tell Fiona the real purpose behind the earrings. That they weren’t a gift given from an adoring partner, but were a necessity because it looked as if someone was after her. “Thanks. Isaac has good taste.”
“Ooh Isaac, that’s a good strong name.” Fiona held up her hands. “Don’t worry I’m not thinking of stealing it for my baby, if that’s what you’re worriedabout. This baby is going to be Daniel Jonathon Langdon the third. He’ll be known as DJ. Got to keep the family name alive,” she finished with a laugh.
“There’s nothing like tradition, and if you were thinking of naming your baby Isaac, there’d be nothing wrong with that either.”
“What does Isaac do? The girls at the ER desk said he was tall, brooding, and had an edge about him that made them think of danger.”
Marie was glad she hadn’t taken a sip of her coffee, because she was sure she’d have spat it out. “I’m sorry, what?”
Fiona laughed. “Yeah, one of the girls said he reminded her of the heroes from her favorite author’s romance novels. All protective. Gives off the ‘touch her and die’ vibes—her words not mine.”
“Touch her and die vibes? Not sure I’ve heard that before.” The thing was, she couldn’t deny that sometimes there was that edge to Isaac. He’d certainly displayed it when they’d been down in San Carlion and Alfredo had gotten in her face. Isaac had definitely given the impression that he would’ve hurt Alfredo if the man had done anything to her.
“You’re thinking about that aren’t you?” Fiona smirked as if she’d just been handed a juicy bit of gossip that she could relay.
Marie shrugged and drained the rest of her coffee, grimacing at the coolness of the liquid. “My lips are sealed.” She winked and got up to rinse her cup. Her break was over and it was time to head back to the trenches.
“I’m looking forward to meeting this man of yours. Maybe you and he could come over for dinner one night. Get to know each other better,” Fiona suggested.
While accepting the invitation was on the tip of her tongue, Marie didn’t agree. There was too much happening at the moment, and the last thing she wanted to do was bring danger to Fiona and Danny’s doorstep, especially with her being pregnant. If anything happened to either of them because of her, Marie couldn’t live with herself. But she also didn’t want to be rude, because Fiona was a colleague and she liked her. “I’m sure we can arrange something. Thanks.”
“Great. Time to get back at it.”
“Yeah, and thanks for the chat Fiona, it was good to get to know you better.”
“You too.”
Together they walked back to the ER, both prepping their minds for what they were going to walk into—chaos or calmness. Marie prayed for calmness, she had enough chaos in her life at the moment.
Marie checked her phone,her shift was over, but there wasn’t a message from Isaac. She thought for sure that he would’ve messaged her throughout the day to check in. Maybe he hadn’t stayed like he said he would. Perhaps he’d only been saying that to make her feel safe and secure, when he planned to do the opposite.
No, she may not know the man as well as she wanted to, but she knew that he was a man of his word. Not once had he glossed over anything that had been happening to her. He’d told her about the possibility of a tracker on his car. If he said he was going to be around the whole day, then he would be. But the fact that he hadn’t messaged her seemed strange.
Sighing, she closed her locker and collected her bag. Today she’d had to change her scrubs twice. A smile teased her lips as she recalled one of the reasons why—someone had thrown up. The nurse hadn’t been able to get the sick bag in front of them in time and her pants had borne the brunt of a bad case of food poisoning. Another set of scrubs she had to discard, but that was a hazard of the job.
She walked through the double doors that lead tothe waiting room and the first person she saw was Isaac, he was standing in the same spot where she’d left him that morning. Funny how her gaze had unconsciously been drawn there, as if she was remembering the way they’d parted earlier that day.
He strolled up, a sexy smile on his face. “What’s up Doc?”
Marie rolled her eyes at the silly cartoon quote. “Very original.”
Isaac laughed and pulled her close, kissing her quickly. “I couldn’t resist. How was your day?” he asked as he led her toward the exit.
“Busy. Chaotic, and I think we angered the Gods this morning.”
“Oh yeah? How so?”
“I had someone throw up on me.”
Immediately Isaac’s hand went to his stomach. “Oh no, don’t say that.”
