Even in my misery it was hard to bite down on the smile which always appeared at the mention of his name, my prefrontal cortex flooded with girlish excitement from the butterflies waking up in my belly.
“He’s good. He’s travelling for an away stretch right now.”
We pushed the doors open together, walking out of the surgical unit towards the main floor.
“He’s on the away games already? That must be hard. How’s his knee doing?”
It was hard, and I missed him, more than I expected to. The only plus side about his travelling was the eased guilt that had begun creeping in when my days ran longer than expected and I didn’t see him as much as I should or wanted to.
“Really good actually. He’s been having acupuncture on top of his PT, and it’s made a massive difference.”
“Hmmm, interesting.” He put the surgical files down on the counter when we reached the nurses’ station. “Have you spoken to Hunt?”
I turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “Stop fishing for him.”
“I’m not, I swear.” He held his hands up.
Hunter and I hadn’t seen each other since Felix’s knee surgery ten days ago. Either he’d been avoiding me or I’d been avoiding him, I wasn’t sure. But until I figured out for myself how to strike the balance I needed, I wasn’t going to subject myself to his superior, snarky attitude, especially as I’d been feeling guilty enough and he only made it worse.
I shook my head. “No, I haven’t. Not since he accused me of slacking.”
“Mol, you know that’s not what he meant.”
“Well, that’s what he said. So for now, I’m keeping out of his firing range.”
“He was worried about you, that’s all.”
My eyes narrowed. “There’s nothing to be worried about. He needs to get over himself and concentrate on his own life. He’s so fucking patronizing.”
Jameson looked at me, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he silently conveyed his thoughts, which basically said we were as bad as each other.
“Okay, I need to go.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks for today, James. Not the best surgery to have first thing, but I’m glad you were with me.”
“No problem. I’ll see you later, Mol.”
I could hear loud chatter coming from my office the closer I got, and pushed the door open to find unexpected visitors. Although I don’t know why I was surprised, because I hadn’t seen them since New Year and it was only going to be a matter of time before they pinned me down to get the gossip first hand. And after the morning I’d had, it was exactly what I needed, especially the two guests I could currently see fast asleep in their strollers.
“Hello.”
Wolf, Freddie and Emerson all turned to me, replying in unison. “Hiiiiiii.”
“Finally.” Wolfie was first up to hug me, before the other two managed to get in.
“How long have you been here?”
“About an hour.”
“God, really?” I perched on the edge of my desk, letting out a deep sigh.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded, not wanting to bring the mood down before I’d barely seen them.
“Yes, just had an early surgery.” I pulled my hair out of the band it was tied up in, trying to ease some of the tension creeping into my temples. “Sorry you were waiting.”
Freddie sat back down on the couch. “It’s fine, we’ve been spying on the hot doctors that keep walking past.”
My brows knotted together. “There aren’t any.”
