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Like: ‘It would be nice to have a steady, stable, more youthful female influence in Jamie’s life’, or, worse, that it was good to see him starting to ‘come around’ after everything that had happened on that operational tour, and then with Sophia.
But more than their comments, it was his own errant mind that annoyed him the most, throwing up images of Kat whenever he was least prepared for them.
Making him take a detour past the ER department while he was making one of his visits to check on King Roberto, just in the hope of catching a glimpse of her. Like some besotted adolescent.
Which was why he was here now, talking to Jamie about all the decorations the four-year-old could imagine for their first real Christmas together, without work taking him away from him. And baking cookies that looked like cardboard and tasted even worse.
‘How about your advent calendar?’ Logan tried to distract his son. ‘We need to go and buy one. I was thinking of a train one. You can open a carriage each day.’
‘And we can get one for Kat.’
Logan gave up—he wasn’t going to talk about Kat any more. It was only indulging Jamie. And with each of his son’s attempts to wear him down it was getting harder and harder to refuse. Especially because a part of him wanted to agree for his own selfish reasons.
But this was his last day of R&R. His last chance to spend quality time with Jamie for a while. He was not going to think about the fact that tomorrow was his first day at work at Seattle General.
Nor was he going to think about how it was his first medical role back after losing his buddies in that last tour of duty.
And he was certainly not going to think about how good it would be to work alongside Kat.
* * *
The walk through the atrium to Seattle General was as arduous as Kat imagined it would be to trek across the Sahara.
It had been a difficult enough couple of days as it was, with that last evening at Logan’s apartment replaying in her head on a never-ending loop. Reliving every last, glorious moment of that kiss—right up to the humiliating end.
She’d even gone running through the park—ostensibly training for her Santa run—every day, just in the foolish hope that she might bump into him and adorable Jamie again.
And it was perhaps that part that frightened her the most. Without the complication of Jamie, maybe she would have been tempted to do something more about the undeniable chemistry that arced between her and Logan every time they were together. Perhaps some of that no-strings, no-hassle fun that she and Gemma were always laughing about.
But not with Jamie around. Not when her presence could impact on a four-year-old boy. She knew that only too well from her fostering.
Who are you trying to protect? a voice whispered in her head. Just Jamie? Or yourself as well?
She tried to silence the voice, but failed. Her location probably wasn’t helping.
It was the first of December and already a massive Christmas tree towered in the hospital’s modern glass atrium. Stunningly decorated—and sweeping up into the glass roof of the atrium—it looked completely and utterly stunning.
And every last inch of it reminded Kat of last Christmas without Carrie.
All she wanted to do was get past the evergreen of memories, shrug off this shroud of grief—at least Carrie was happy, and well, and with her parents who hopefully were giving her all the love she deserved—and throw herself into her shift.
But as she stepped through the door and heard the buzz around the ER department, she just...knew.
Still, Kat found herself holding her breath as Gemma came hurrying over.
‘Guess what?’
She didn’t want to know. So why was her chest pulling so tight, as if it yearned to even hear Logan’s name.
Insanity.
‘What?’ she managed instead, even forcing her mouth up into a friendly smile.
‘You know the VIPs who came in? Especially the one on that gurney...?’
‘Yes.’ Kat nodded, pushing the image of Logan’s poker face out of her mind.
‘Well, rumour has it that Logan Connors—the guy who saved his life—was actually the man’s bodyguard. And if that isn’t enough, Comic Book God is starting today!’
