The Nurse's Newborn Gift. Wendy S. Marcus

herself, too. “You hate me.”

      “I don’t hate you.”

      Even though he towered over her, Krissy stared him down. “Liar.”

      “I don’t. I know you’re not responsible for Jarrod’s death. He was an adult. He made his own decisions, however misguided they may have been. I’m sorry for what I said and how I acted when you came to my apartment. I was mean. You didn’t deserve it. Seems I had some unresolved issues where Jarrod’s death was concerned. But I’m over them now.” He motioned to a chair. “Please, sit down. You look ready to collapse.”

      Now that he mentioned it, she kind of felt ready to collapse, too. Probably because this was the most energy she’d exerted since she’d left the hospital three days ago. So she sat.

      Spencer sat, too.

      “Glad I was available to help you resolve your issues,” Krissy said, even if, as a result, she now felt even more weighted down by guilt. “Happy to be of service.” In truth she wasn’t happy at all. Rather than look at him, Krissy reached to take a packet of artificial sweetener from the basket in the center of the table and started flipping it between her fingers.

      “Hey.” Spencer reached over, slid a knuckle under her chin, and tilted her face up so she had to look at him. “I’m sorry, truly sorry, from the bottom of my cold, unfeeling heart,” he said, with such sincerity she believed him. But the damage was done, the truth had come out—about Jarrod and about what Spencer really thought of her—and there’d be no unhearing it.

      Only moving her eyes, Krissy glanced at the clock on the microwave. “You’ve exceeded your two minutes.” She didn’t like this nice, self-deprecating version of Spencer, didn’t like the way it made her feel, didn’t know how to respond to it.

      Spencer released her chin and held out his hand. “Can we have a truce? Maybe start fresh?”

      “Why?”

      He reached down to her lap and took her hand into his. “We were friends once, good friends for a long time.”

      But they weren’t friends anymore.

      “And that’s my best friend’s baby in there.” He pointed to her belly. “Can’t we put our differences aside and do what’s best for Jarrod’s baby?”

      Rather than remind him that little J.J. was part her baby too, Krissy thought about his proposal. She’d spent most of the last five and a half years traveling from place to place and had no local friends, as in good friends she’d feel comfortable calling for help in the middle of the night, in White Plains, where she now lived to be close to her sister. It’d be nice to know, in case of emergency, she had someone she could call aside from Kira and Derrick.

      “Come on,” Spencer said with a handsome smile. He let go of her hand and held his out. “Friends?”

      After a brief hesitation, more to make him wait than anything else, Krissy shook it. “Friends.”

      “Good.” Spencer unfolded the paper he’d set down on the table and turned it so she could read what he’d written.

      “On top,” he pointed, “is the hospital information. Down here,” he moved his finger lower, “is the rental agent for my building.”

      “Whoa.” Krissy sat back. “No.”

      “It’s not my intent to overstep, but you mentioned you needed an apartment.”

      “I am not moving into your building.”

      He looked offended. “Why not? It’s nice. It has security. It has ample parking and is close to shopping, Derrick’s office, and White Plains Hospital. Also, I checked, they have two one bedroom units and three two bedroom units available for immediate occupancy. With a recommendation from me, you could probably be in by the end of this week, early next, assuming your credit’s okay.”

      While Krissy liked the sound of ‘immediate occupancy’, “I can’t afford it.”

      “I happen to know you were the sole beneficiary of a huge life insurance policy. You couldn’t possibly have...” He hesitated, his eyes studying her face as he seemed to be trying to figure out the safest way to finish his statement.

      Krissy stared back, at a crossroad. She could pounce on him for even thinking she’d blow through all the money Jarrod had left her. Or she could avoid confrontation and take the high road, so to speak, which is what she decided to do. After all, Spencer was trying to be nice. She could try too. “I have every cent Jarrod left me, and it’s been accruing interest for the past five years.”

      Spencer let out a relieved breath. “Good. Then you can afford—”

      “No I can’t. I need someplace cheap. What if my baby is a genius and wants to go to an Ivy League college? I want to be able to send him. Then there’s graduate school or medical school.”

      Spencer smiled. “Getting a little ahead of yourself there, aren’t you? The baby’s not even born yet and you’re planning his college education?”

      “No. I’m being a responsible parent and trying to ensure the best future I can give my and Jarrod’s son.”

      Spencer simply stared at her with an odd look on his face.

      “What?”

      “Nothing,” he answered, glancing away. “I just...didn’t...”

      Krissy finished for him, “Expect I’d want to be a good, responsible parent?” She could have gotten offended. Instead she looked down at her belly and rubbed each side. “Jarrod entrusted me with a part of him. He believed in me, believed I’d make a good mother for his child. I’m honored to have his baby, to give his parents a grandson. I loved him, maybe not the same way he loved me,” she wiped at a tear threatening to spill out of her right eye, “but I did love him. And I love our baby and will do everything in my power to see he grows up happy and healthy and is afforded every opportunity I can give him.”

      She lifted her eyes to Spencer. “I’m not the same person I was in high school. I may not do things according to everyone else’s schedule, but I do what needs to be done by the time it needs to be done.”

      She pushed back from the table and stood. “Thank you for this information.” She picked the paper up from the table, folded it, and slid it into the pocket of her scrub top.

      Spencer stood, too. “I picked my apartment building, because I’m there. Well, not all the time. It’s soccer season now, so I’m busier than during off season. I rotate traveling to away games with another assistant athletic trainer.” He slid his hands into the front pockets in his slacks, the move relaxed and confident and oh, so sexy. “What I’m trying to say is, I thought it would be nice for you to have a friend close by just in case. Middle of the night? I can hop on the elevator, be there in minutes, rather than getting into the car and driving to wherever you are. Unless there’s some other guy you’d rather call, then by all means, call him. Either way, I don’t plan on bothering you.”