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Up until that moment, she hadn’t even known Rea was aware of her crush on Katie. She’d tried so hard to keep it quiet.
“Doctor Smith?” someone called from behind them, pulling Katie away from the counter and the conversation.
When she was out of earshot, Maggie rounded on Rea. “What on earth have I done to hurt you?” she practically hissed.
Rea laughed. “Nothing. I’m trying to help you.”
“You’re not helping anything,” Maggie insisted.
Rea rolled her eyes. “Come on, Maggie. You and I both know that woman is a genius in many ways, but she is somehow, inexplicably, ignorant of the relationship between you two. I’m just pointing her in the right direction. Consider it a Christmas gift.”
“We’re just friends,” Maggie insisted emphatically. “She doesn’t need pointing anywhere.”
“Sure you are. Do you think the rest of us can’t see the way you look at her? Or the way she looks at you?” She shook her head. “How she hasn’t figured it out yet is beyond me. Is her head just so full of medical facts she can’t see what’s right in front of her?”
“Oh my god. Rea. Please. I’m begging you, stop.”
Rea laughed again and raised her hands in surrender. “Fine. I’m not saying anything. But this is your year, Maggie. Whatever it is that’s going on between you, it’s been long enough. Give yourself the gift you really want this year.”
“You to stop trying to betray me to my best friend?”
“Nah. Katie. In your bed.”
“Oh my god.” Maggie felt the color drain from her face right as Katie came back towards them. She supposed it was better than bright red, at least.
It didn’t matter that she did want that. It mattered that she spent all of her time pretending she didn’t so the two could be friends. It mattered that Katie didn’t know. And it mattered that, if she ever did find out, she didn’t do so because Rea was offering her up in Maggie’s bed, wrapped in a Christmas bow.
Chapter Three
Two hours after her supposed clocking-off time, Katie was finally done with births and rounds for the day. She didn’t mind working overtime. She did it more often than she didn’t. Perhaps Malik had a point about her being a bit of a workaholic… Two hours barely even felt like overtime.
She made her way to the staff room, more than ready to relax on her couch with a pizza and some trashy TV until she fell asleep. Though she probably should have been, she wasn’t expecting to find Maggie there waiting for her. It had been a long shift and Maggie’s birth had been done hours ago. She’d have been well within her rights—and sense—to have left long ago.
But, when Katie pushed the door open and stepped out of the ward and into the little piece of privacy, she found it empty besides the blonde-haired woman tucked up into the corner of the room.
The waiting-room-style seating Maggie was pretzeled up into wasn’t the comfiest, but Maggie could sleep anywhere. Katie had learned that very quickly about her. She claimed it came with the territory of being a photographer and not always being in the most luxurious quarters in search of the perfect shot—but Katie just thought it was a Maggie thing.
She’d obviously been working when she fell asleep. Her laptop and camera were laid out on the table next to her. Maggie also always said she could make an office anywhere, and she wasn’t wrong about that.Photographer’s duty, she said. As if she hadn’t known more than one photographer who was slightly more selective about where they worked on images. But, for Maggie, give her a laptop and a corner to tuck herself into, and she was good to go. Or to fall asleep.
Katie smiled to herself. Pizza and falling asleep on the couch were always better with Maggie.
She moved quietly to her locker, collected her belongings, and pulled on her hat and coat against the chill outside the hospital. Just because she was going to wake Maggie in a moment didn’t mean she wanted to startle her or wake her prematurely. It was the least she could do for her best friend who’d waited over half a day for her.
Once she was ready to head out the door, Katie moved softly over to Maggie, noticing how very peaceful she looked, despite the awkward sleeping position. She reached a hand out and ran it over Maggie’s scalp. Maggie had the softest hair. It shimmered in the light as Katie’s fingers brushed through it.
Maggie shifted. Her eyes blinking open, she looked up at Katie sleepily.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Katie whispered, moving to perch on the edge of the seat, close to her.
Maggie breathed a laugh, stretching around Katie. “I hope I haven’t been out too long.”
“No idea. I just got back. But it wouldn’t matter either way. You know we all get it.”
Maggie laughed a little louder. “That’s what makes it worse. I’m here to photograph one birth and then I’m falling asleep in the break room? Bad form in front of hospital staff I know have been on duty for hours, doing who knows what.”
“Hey, you might not have been delivering medical care, but you’ve been here longer than I have, and you’ve been working. You’re allowed to be sleepy.”
“I guess…”
