Page 65 of Stolen Kisses
“Me, too.” She pulled her bra from his hand and started hooking it behind her.
“Even though your brother will definitely make me shark food today. If you don’t hear from me by sunset, you’ll know what happened.”
Krista laughed, her nerves dissolving. She slid her feet into her sneakers. “Joey will have to wait because you still have to take me home. Now. I need to shower and get dressed ASAP.”
Noah grabbed his keys. “You could call in. Pretend like you’re sick.”
“I can’t. Adam was admitted again over the weekend.”
Noah’s face went serious. “Is he okay?”
“Just another respiratory infection. Because of his diagnosis, they’re a lot more serious for him, though. I promised him we’d play Legos together at lunch.” Playing with Adam was the reason she’d missed lunch yesterday, too. She’d be sure to at least grab something from the vending machines today.
“I hate to hear that. Tell him I’ll take him fishing again once he’s out.”
“Really?” She narrowed her eyes to look at him.
“Yeah, sure. I enjoyed having him on the boat the other day. It was kind of nice passing on my favorite pastime to someone else. And the kid is great.”
“I thought you didn’t like kids.”
Noah shook his head. “I never said that. I said kids didn’t like me.”
“And that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Adam asked about you yesterday.”
Noah glanced back as he led her off the boat toward the marina’s parking lot. “Yeah?”
“Um-hmm. He’ll be thrilled that you offered to take him on the boat again.” And she was thrilled, too. Noah had a much bigger domestic side than he realized, which fed into her hope. Maybe he wasn’t such a lost cause.
—
An hour later, Krista spilled off the elevator and onto the pediatric floor at 8:01 a.m. One minute late, but that wasn’t the end of the world. She’d traded fixing her hair and putting on makeup for punctuality. She walked straight to the coffeepot that was always brewing in the nurse’s lounge and poured herself a cup before heading back to the computer to check her caseload and patients’ statuses. The coffee here wasn’t anywhere near as good as that at the BB Café’s—andoy!She’d stood Grace up this morning. Grace would understand once she knew the reason was that Krista had spent the night with Noah.
A warm, gooey feeling flowed through her body at the memory. Whatever she and Noah had started at the Sawyer cabin had followed them back to Blushing Bay. And the sparks were even greater here than they’d been there.
Krista sat in front of her computer and reviewed Adam’s file first. She skimmed over the nursing notes from the night shift. Adam had slept well. No complications. Stable stats.Phew. She read the notes from her other patients after that. Overall, it sounded like a pretty calm night. Hopefully that calm would continue through the day because she’d lost several hours of sleep last night—all for a good cause.
Twenty minutes later, Krista peeked her head into Adam’s room. “Hey there, buddy. How’re you feeling?”
He shrugged, but his face said it all. No seven-year-old kid wanted to be caged up in a room, lying in bed and watching TV all day. She’d only had to stay in the hospital for a couple of weeks as a kid and remembered feeling like it was a year.
“Where’s your mom?”
He hung his head to his chest, puckering his bottom lip. “I don’t know. I think she went downstairs to eat.”
Krista forced a smile, hoping it reassured Adam. “Good. She needs to eat. How’s she supposed to take care of you if she’s starving to death?” She plopped down on the edge of the bedside chair.
“I’m tired of being taken care of. I wish I was an adult so I could take care of myself.”
Krista frowned. “Hate to break it to you, buddy, but that’s not always as fun as it sounds. Enjoy being a kid while you can. Speaking of enjoying yourself…” She sat up straighter in her seat. She’d nearly forgotten Noah’s offer. “When you get out of here, Mr. Noah said he’d take you back out on the boat.”
Adam’s whole face brightened. “Really?”
“Yep. He said so last night. Fishing sounds like a good reason to get better, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah. I loved being out on the boat. It’s the best! Do you think I’ll catch the ‘big one’ this time?” Adam asked.
For a second, Adam reminded Krista of the boy that Noah had been, always so excited about going fishing and bringing home the next big tuna or mackerel or whatever he was searching for out there. Whatever he’d caught, it was never enough. Noah was always looking for something more. “You just might,” she said.
