holistic approach that had irked him so much was vital now.
Mike had no one, had lost his wife, his career and could possibly now lose his son, and he saw just how necessary it was that someone knew that there was a sister in Texas, that there was someone who knew that yesterday had been out of character for him.
He saw how important it was that when Mike was too emotionally distraught to speak that he had a voice, and in this case it came from Nina. He watched as her eyes skimmed past his face and landed on Alex’s. ‘If I liaise with your secretary, would you be able to attend a case meeting tomorrow?’
‘We won’t know much more by tomorrow,’ Alex said.
‘Sure, but I want to sort out the order and bring everyone up to speed,’ Nina said.
Alex nodded and got back to the scan he was reviewing, but as Nina walked off Jack halted her.
‘I’ll catch up with you later, Nina.’
‘Sorry?’ She turned and frowned. ‘You don’t need to be at the case meeting, it was the locum registrar who ordered the child abuse screen.’
‘I’m aware of that,’ Jack said. ‘But I need to be brought up to speed on a few separate issues that arose last night.’
‘Sure.’
Damn.
She had wondered how he would handle things—a letter from Admin perhaps, an internal email asking her to attend HR, or, and she’d rather hoped for this one, that her outburst would simply be ignored. Nina really couldn’t believe she had spoken to anyone like that, let alone the Head of Paediatrics, Jack Carter himself! She had been completely unprofessional because, Nina knew, her feelings for Jack were completely unprofessional.
Of all the people to have a crush on …
How was it possible to be so attracted to someone that you actually didn’t like?
It was a question that she couldn’t answer and by three p.m., when her intercom buzzed and she was told Jack Carter was there to see her, Nina was actually relieved that soon things would be sorted out.
She just wanted this over with. ‘Send him in.’
Nina took a deep breath, wondering if she should stand to greet him, if she should just apologise outright and explain how tired and emotional she had been yesterday.
She didn’t get a chance to do either. The door knocked and as soon as she called for him to come in, he did so.
‘You wanted to screw me?’
She had never considered that he might make her laugh, that he might have her smiling with his reference to her parting words last night.
‘It’s a figure of speech.’
‘Oh!’ He feigned disappointment. ‘I shaved and everything. I even wore my best tie.’
He certainly had shaved, she’d noticed that this morning.
And, Nina reluctantly noted, he smelt fantastic.
He looked fantastic.
Jack would have had as little sleep last night as she’d had, yet there wasn’t even a hint of weariness about him. Mind you, from what she had heard about him, Jack Carter was more than used to operating on minimal sleep. As well as his phenomenally busy job, his social life was daunting. If you lived in New York, you knew all about the Carters. They were glamorous, rich and had the social life to prove it. Jack was a regular feature in the social pages, a different woman on his arm each time, and more often than not witty little pieces written about the latest woman he had left in tears.
Nina didn’t need to see it in magazines, there were many of his conquests dotted around the hospital, and the last thing she intended to be was another.
‘I’d like to apologise for last night.’ Nina wasn’t as immediate in her apology as she had intended to be, but the fact that he had made her laugh a little made the words more genuine and a little easier to say. ‘It came at the end of a very long day.’
‘I understand that.’ And if she had any hope that things would be left there, that her apology might suffice, then it was a very fleeting hope, because Jack was pulling up a chair. ‘However, it does need to be addressed.’
‘Really, it doesn’t.’
‘Really, it does.’ He mimicked her voice and then he was serious. ‘I’d like to offer an apology of my own—I shouldn’t have told you that Tommy had a brain lesion the way that I did. I thought you would want to know before you went home last night.’
She was somewhat taken aback by his apology. ‘How is he doing this afternoon?’
‘He’s still intubated and his father is with him. Alex is hoping the medication will start to really kick in and that his cerebral irritation will abate over the next forty-eight hours and then he can be extubated. They’ve taken a biopsy of the lesion.’
‘Is it serious?’
‘It’s too early to say, though I would think that it is. Given the prolonged nature of his seizure, it sounds as if he’s been having them for the last couple of weeks—that would explain the bruising and bedwetting. Still, the father has been negligent by not getting the cut and the bruises examined.’
‘He was scared.’
‘I’m aware of that, but his delay in seeking treatment for his son …’ Jack didn’t want to argue the point. ‘But, yes, I accept that he was scared.’
‘Well.’ Nina gave him a brief smile. ‘Thank you for stopping by and, again, I apologise for last night.’ She stood, but Jack didn’t.
‘I haven’t finished yet.’
‘I’ve actually got quite a full workload …’ Nina attempted, but could have kicked herself. He was Head of Paediatrics after all, and his diary would be full to bursting.
‘Don’t we all? But we’re going to make some time to sit down and talk about Baby Tanner.’
‘I’d rather not.’
‘I didn’t offer an option,’ Jack said. ‘And, yes, I’d love a coffee, thank you for offering.’
Reluctantly Nina headed over to her percolator. ‘Cream and one sugar,’ he called, and when she’d made him his drink and sat down, Jack immediately opened the conversation. ‘I’ve had a look through the notes and it would seem I made a recommendation for Baby Tanner to be placed in foster-care.’
‘You did.’
‘But the social work department felt that the mother was doing well and with suitable provisions in place …’ He gave her a wry smile. ‘Does that sound familiar?’
‘You don’t remember him, do you?’
‘A little bit, now that I’ve looked him up. What I don’t understand is why you think that I’m supposed to remember him, why you’re so upset.’
‘I’m not.’
‘I’d suggest you are.’ Jack sat back in the chair, took a sip of his coffee as if he had all the time in the world. ‘Last night it was clear that you’re still furious about it, to the point where you were shouting in the hospital car park at the Head of Paediatrics, “Screw you!”‘
‘I’ve apologised for that.’
‘And I’ve accepted your apology. I’m not here to discipline anyone. I’m simply here to find out why you are so upset with me about Baby Tanner.’
‘It was what you said when he was readmitted …’ Nina shook her head, because that wasn’t quite right. ‘Or rather it was the look you gave.’
‘The look?’
‘The I told you so look.’
‘I