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Another awkward silence settled over them and they both shifted uncomfortably. The room was stifling. He wanted to get th
em both out of there, into a less claustrophobic environment, but he didn’t want to strong-arm Evie.
He didn’t need to worry, she must have felt the same way as she was pushing herself up and slowly swinging her legs over the side of her bed, wincing as the incision site came under pressure. He was at her side in an instant.
‘Here, take my hand.’
For a moment she hesitated but then reluctantly stretched out her arm and allowed Max to help her off the bed. There they stood, toe to toe, neither of them daring to move, even daring to breathe. Could it be that she did still want him, after all?
‘How do you really feel?’ he asked huskily, fire practically crackling along his veins.
‘It feels good to be free of the burden of dialysis, free of feeling as though my body was letting me down, free of feeling like I’m too ill to really be...attractive.’
And Max had certainly made her feel desirable with that kiss only a week ago, in that side room.
The gap between them was tiny and yet it felt like a veritable chasm. He was tempted to reach down and press his lips to hers, the way he had done a week ago, but he had no idea how she would react.
Time ticked by and still neither of them moved.
Finally, almost jerkily, Max stepped away, turning his back on her so that she couldn’t read his expression. Not that he knew what it would tell her. When he spoke he heard the tell-tale hoarseness in his voice.
‘Shall we go for a coffee?’
‘Sure, why not?’ She tried for an easy smile but it looked tight and uncomfortable on her lips and she gave up before turning away.
‘Lead on, Speedy,’ he tried to tease, sounding as awkward as she had.
At least that might make her feel a smidgen better.
Making her way out of the room, her body loosening up and appearing less alien with every step, she set the pace down the hallway and to the patient area. The loaded silence slowly gave way to a more companionable peace, as he’d hoped, as they left the confinement of her room behind them.
The unit had its own coffee-shop area for patients. Larger, well-ventilated and more voluminous than anywhere in the main hospital, and off limits to anyone not in the transplant suite, the coffee shop was somewhere post-op patients could go without being exposed to any number of coughs, colds or other bugs.
Settling into a comfy chair without argument, she let him get the drinks and bring them over. Then he selected a sturdy-looking round tub chair opposite her and folded one ankle over his opposite knee before taking a casual sip of the hot drink.
She dragged her eyes up from his thighs and eyed his coffee enviously before casting a reproachful gaze at the glass of cool, filtered water he had handed her.
‘Drink it,’ he commanded, not unkindly. ‘Your fluid input will be noted on your chart later.’
‘Thanks for that.’
But at least it raised a weak smile. Max relaxed. They would get there. Together they would find a harmonious balance and, by the time Evie was cleared for discharge, they would know what they were going to do for their daughter’s future.
* * *
‘I can’t believe she crashed like that.’ Evie sighed as he headed back down the stairs, having put Imogen into her cot for the first night home since the transplant.
‘I can.’ Max chuckled from the hallway. ‘The excitement at seeing you home again wiped her out. Snatching a couple of hours with you morning and evening hasn’t been the same as finally having her mummy home.’
Evie swelled with pride, and Max marvelled at how far the two of them had come since that first day post-op in the hospital. It was hard to believe that was a week ago already. He had visited religiously, bringing Imogen to the window so that Evie could see her daughter and talk to her through the opening. And then Imogen had been able to come in to visit her, and he’d done everything he could to ensure he didn’t take his daughter anywhere she could pick up any bugs to pass on to Evie.
Evie. She looked beautiful, and vivacious, and exhausted. He should pack her off to bed.
Alone.
Whilst he did something to distract himself from the fact that as their friendship had burgeoned over the last week, so too had his reviving feelings for Evie. Which was going to be the last thing she wanted to hear from him.
Hence his need for a distraction. Like watching some mindless film on TV.
