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Her whole life, she’d heard she was a workaholic. It hadn’t gone anywhere. She liked to think she had a good balance in her life, but she didn’t mind picking up extra shifts or working when others preferred not to. It wasn’t like she often had stuff going on outside of work that she couldn’t rearrange. If her working meant someone else got to see their kid at Christmas, she couldn’t feel bad about that.
“We’ll see,” Malik said, shooting her a loaded look.
She narrowed her eyes, watching him as she sipped her coffee. It wasn’t good, but it was exactly what she needed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know, when you finally pull yourself together and start dating and stuff.”
She snorted. Not him too. “I have to date to have it all together?”
“No. But you’re soft. You might hide it well under working too much, but you want it. The whole thing. Hearts, flowers,love. We all know it.”
Her heart picked up slightly, embarrassment coursing through her. She did a good job of not engaging in that. Partly because she didn’t have time for dating, partly because her schedule wasn’t fair to potential partners, and partly because it was something her mom wanted so much for her that Katie felt like she couldn’t even think about it for fear of losing who she was to who her family thought she should be.
She rolled her eyes at Malik. “No idea what you’re talking about, dude.”
“Sure you don’t. Like we don’t see the way you melt when you see a supportive, loving birthing partner.”
Katie held her free hand up in indignation. “Uh, we all do that, thank you very much.”
“Nah. We don’t. We love to see it, but not the way you do.”
She scowled at him. “Well, either way, it’s irrelevant. As you and my mother keep pointing out, I work a lot. I don’t have time for a relationship.”
“Everyone who wants one has time for a relationship. You just have to care enough to make timeforit.”
She rolled her eyes, downing the rest of her coffee. “No such luck. Plus, unless I’m looking to pick up a pregnant patient—which I’m definitely not—I don’t think that’s going to be a problem anytime soon.”
Malik hummed into his mug in a way Katie didn’t like. It was like he knew something she didn’t. And there wasn’t anythingtoknow.
He finished his drink and headed for the door. “Relatedly, you might be interested to know Maggie’s here.”
Katie looked up, a smile taking over her face. “She is?”
Malik smirked. “Birth in three.”
Maggie was Katie’s best friend. She was a photographer who did a lot of births. They’d met years ago on a birth, hit it off, and been friends ever since.
She was around a lot, but rarely on births Katie was on. Most of it was a deeply unlucky coincidence, but, in fairness, Katie was more likely to be called in on a birth requiring intervention and, in those situations, people were less likely to want a photographer documenting every second of the experience. But, Katie still loved the days they got to work together, and was secretly hoping to be on a birth together soon. It had been too long.
She was a little jealous of all the nurses who got to work with Maggie more frequently. She was an incredible presence in the room. Unintrusive—almost invisible—when required, and supportive, encouraging, and comforting when that was required instead.
There was just something warm and friendly about her that made her so beautifully suited to documenting births, to being witness to those vulnerable, life-changing moments.
Plus, she had an incredible eye for detail. Katie would often look through her social media posts in awe at the magic in those photos. Katie’s job was to make every birth as smooth as possible, going through standard protocols to prevent anything unusual from happening, and falling back on familiar routines if it did. Maggie’s job was to capture just how different every single birth was. It didn’t matter if two people had the exact same birth plans because, the truth was, no two people were the same. No two babies or families were the same. So no two births were really the same. Through Maggie’s lens, Katie, and the world, got to witness every birth like a completely new experience, like it was the only birth to ever exist.
It was a good day when she was around the ward, even if she liked to avoid mentioning it to Katie in hopes of sneaking up on her and surprising her. This time, though, Malik had given Katie the upper hand. Maggie had enjoyed more than enough moments of seeing the gleeful surprise on Katie’s face. It was Katie’s turn to watch that million-dollar smile appear on Maggie’s face.
Chapter Two
Maggie moved very slightly to the side, focusing on the tangle of fingers. One hand in absolute agony, grasping on for dear life, strong and brave. The other, white with force, panicked and startled.
Maggie had seen this time and time again. That moment when it dawned on the support partner just how much the person giving birth was going through, just how much they were tearing themself apart to bring this new life into the world. It looked slightly different for every person, but, unless it was a couple who’d both given birth before, it was always there. Even those who were old hands at the process now still had that moment where the reality of the memory came flooding back alongside their new reality.
Maggie loved every part of it.
She snapped the hands, the expressions, the moment of eye contact between the two, the aching, tense muscles, and the patch on the back of a maternity bra where the color deepened from the exertion of birth.
“You’re doing so well,” the labor nurse, Cara, murmured to Angelica, Maggie’s client.
