AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Oz wanted to ask what she meant, but Kanesha stepped around the corner. A pencil-thin black brow arched high when she saw Oz’s hand on Blair’s back.
Not meeting the nursing director’s amused gaze, Oz let his hand fall away in the hope of protecting Blair’s reputation from gossip, and headed into surgery.
Georgia Donelson’s pulmonic valve repair had gone without a hitch. The woman was now in ICU recovering. Oz at her side, Blair went to the pediatric floor and told Lacey the good news.
Although relieved the day had gone so well, Blair was nonetheless grateful when her shift came to an end and she stood in the break room, gathering her things.
“I just don’t see how I can, Reesee,” she said into her cell phone, glancing at her watch as she clocked out. “I’m supposed to sit with Dr Talbot tomorrow night so Oz can go out with friends. This is the first time in weeks that he’s made any plans, so I hate to cancel on him.” She’d been surprised when he’d asked her about sitting with Dr Talbot, had wondered if he’d wanted her to know of his social plans. Was he going on a date? she’d wanted to ask, but had bitten her tongue. She had no right to ask about his personal life. “Plus, I have Addy.”
Reesee wasn’t giving up easily. Her sister never did.
Blair sighed. “I know that it’s not every day you come across second-row concert tickets, but it’s just too short notice. I want to go. You know I want to go. But I can’t.”
“Stephanie is planning to visit with Dr T tomorrow night, too,” Oz said from behind Blair, causing her to turn. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind staying with him until I return.”
What was he doing in the break room? She’d figured he’d already left the hospital.
“I can watch Addy for you,” he added, surprising Blair.
Oz babysit Addy? Her heart skipped a beat. She was so particular about whom she left her daughter with. There was Reesee, the neighbor lady who helped watch Addy prior to her starting school, a lady from church and Stephanie on the rare occasion, and that was it. She’d never left her daughter with anyone else other than schoolteachers.
Addy adored Oz, so that wouldn’t be a problem. But to watch her late into the night? Why did the thought make Blair’s stomach twist into knots?
“That is, if you trust me,” he added, probably thinking of Addy’s cut knee.
“It’s not that.” She put her hand over the phone’s mouthpiece. “You don’t have to watch her.”
“I know, but like you said, it’s not every day your sister gets offered second row tickets to see the concert of the year!” He grinned. “You should go. Addy will be fine.”
Blair was torn. She wanted to say yes, but could she? Oz wouldn’t ever intentionally hurt Addy, but what did he know about taking care of rambunctious five-year-olds? Plus, he’d asked her to sit with Dr T so he could have a rare free evening.
“I can’t impose on your plans like that.”
“My plans are nothing that Addy couldn’t go to with me. Just an evening out with some friends.”
So he wasn’t going on a date. Why did that relieve the dull ache that had settled in her chest when he’d mentioned his plans?
“Blair, I can hear what he’s saying,” Reesee pointed out. “You have to go. Tell him yes right now,” she demanded through the phone. “It’s been forever since we had a night out together, just you and me. You love music. For once, just let loose and have some fun just for you. Say yes because I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Her sister was right. She worked, cared for Dr T, worked on the fund-raiser and rarely did anything for the fun of it. Usually, when she did, that fun centered around Addy. How long had it been since she’d done something just for her? Just because it was what she wanted to do?
Blair eyed Oz, wishing her heart didn’t jump so. “You’re sure you don’t mind watching her?”
A mischievous look twinkled in his eyes. “If you don’t say yes, I’m going to ask your sister if I can go with her. For her personal virtue, you’d best tell her yes.”
Having heard him, Reesee laughed. “I’d take him, too. Addy told me he’s hot.”
Blair’s face heated. Addy had said that? Dear heavens, where had her daughter heard that expression? At school? Or from her aunt Reesee?
“Gee, you’d best count me in. I can’t have Oz sullying your virtue.”
But the way he was looking at her made Blair wonder if she wished he’d sully hers.
The smile on Blair’s face made Oz’s head spin. When she pressed the end button on her phone and slid it back into her scrub top pocket, she glowed.
“You enjoy the music that much?” he asked, unable to stop smiling in return.
Her green gaze widened. “Don’t you?”
