“Crap,” she gasped, smacking her forehead with her palm. “I had no idea it had gotten so late! I did nothing at the store. We just ran out of there with Maeve bleeding all over me. Do you know how much head wounds bleed?”
Mark nodded patiently and pulled out his phone to check for a signal.
“I’m not even sure if we closed the door behind us at the nursery,” Kara added, twisting her hands together.
“Um, I did,” said Scott. “I turned the lock and closed the door behind us, but I didn’t shut the driveway gate. You were pretty upset and insisted that we get Maeve here as quickly as possible, so I didn’t stop.”
Mark nodded again and bit back a smile as he squinted at his phone. “I can’t get a signal here,” he told them. “But I’d better go out and call Jessica and see if she can go over and help Rachel at the store. What time was Rachel scheduled to show up anyway? If the store is closed, then she’s going to be calling Mary, and if Mary gets involved…”
“Mary is already involved,” came from the doorway and everyone turned to watch a tall, attractive, gray-haired woman walk into the room. “And as you were about to say, Mark, Mary is very annoyed that no one thought to call her and tell her what happened. She had to find out instead by a text from a friend who is an ER nurse.”
She placed her hands on her hips and glared at the siblings before reaching for the little girl on the bed, who, when she saw Mary, instantly launched herself up into the woman’s arms.
“Maeve!” cried Kara. “You’re not supposed to be getting out of bed. The doctor hasn’t cleared you from possibly having a concussion yet.”
After hugging the little girl, Mary sighed and carried her back over to the bed and sat down on the edge, cradling the child in her arms.
“There,” she proclaimed. “Maeve is back in bed. Now, tell me, what happened to my baby? She looks okay, except for this bump on her forehead, which is more than I can say for you two,” she added, gesturing toward Scott and Kara.
Kara looked down at herself and then over at Scott.
“Um, Maeve fell off the couch in the garden center office and managed to cut her head,” she answered. “The doctor wants her to stay here for a few hours for observation, but she isn’t dizzy or throwing up or anything, so I think she’s fine.”
Mary nodded and looked pointedly at Kara’s bloodstained shirt.
Kara sighed. “And, as for us, I think I just got the scare of my life when I saw all this.” Tugging on her shirt, she frowned down at it. “It’s Maeve’s blood that we’re both covered in, believe it or not. I’m still amazed at how much a little kid’s head wound can bleed!”
Scott looked down at his blood-splattered pants and shirt and grinned. “Yeah, it looks like we were in a 1940s murder mystery or something,” he said.
Mary chuckled and kissed the little girl on the forehead before looking over at Kara. “I stopped off at the store and opened things up and left Rachel in charge. Fortunately, they weren’t too busy, so I called Jessica, who should be there now to help manage things. Evan is there too, but I’m not sure how much help that boy is going to be.”
“Thank you,” Kara replied, but her eyes didn’t leave her daughter as she watched Maeve squirm away from Mary’s embrace and reach for her crayons and coloring book again.
“Yes, it’s the one time I can honestly say I’m glad the center wasn’t busy. Jessica and Rachel should be fine until one of us gets back there to help,” Mary added.
Kara frowned.
“Thank goodness nothing is seriously wrong with Maeve,” Scott said, smiling at Kara as he got to his feet. “But now that you’ve got your family here, I should be on my way.” Leaning over, he gently touched Maeve on her arm, causing the little girl to look up and shyly smile at him. “Goodbye, little one,” he said. “I’m very glad you’re feeling better.” Straightening up, he addressed the rest of the room. “And it was nice to meet all of you. I just hope the next time I see you, it’s under less dramatic circumstances.”
Kara looked over at Maeve, snuggled once again in Mary’s embrace, and watched as Mark went over to stand protectively beside them.
“Let me walk you at least to the elevator,” Kara said to Scott. “I want to thank you again for everything you’ve done this morning. I was panicking when I saw all the blood, and it was so nice of you to drive me all the way over here.” She twisted her hands together and looked up at him. “I hope you’ll let me pay for any cleaning you need to have done to your car and to your clothes too,” she added, grimacing as she noticed again how badly blood-splattered his shirt was.
Scott waved away her suggestion as they left the hospital room. “It’s fine. I’ve never liked this shirt all that much anyway,” he said with a grin. “And since you had Maeve all wrapped up in her blanket, I don’t think my car was stained at all. I’m just glad I was there to help.”
“Even so, thank you,” Kara said and reaching up squeezed his arm in gratitude.
Yowzah!
She immediately yanked her hand back. Stumbling back in surprise, she gazed up at him, shocked by the spark that had jumped from his arm to hers. Her mouth dropped open as she realized her knees suddenly felt shaky.
What the heck?
Scott looked down at her, and Kara watched his eyes dilate and darken. She opened her mouth and then closed it tightly again.
How could just a simple touch cause such fiery sparks to fly?
Kara and Scott stood at the end of the hall in front of the nurses’ station, gazing at each other speechlessly when a loud, authoritative voice broke the moment.
“Ms. Sullivan?” a man in a long white lab coat, flipping through papers attached to a metal clipboard, called out to Kara as he walked down the hall toward them. “I’m Dr. Bayley. When Maeve came into the emergency room, I was the doctor who first saw her. I’ve just had a quick look at her vitals and the nurse’s notes, and it looks like she’s going to be just fine. I don’t think she has a concussion.”
Kara breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. “That’s wonderful. Thank you so much for all you’ve done.”
The doctor waved a hand at her, and Kara tilted her head to one side and frowned as she saw he was now scowling while looking down at the papers he held. “You’re welcome. But I do have a minor concern with one test we ran, and I need to talk to you about that. If you and your husband could come back to her room with me, I’ll take another quick look at her and give you some information about her stitches. We can then talk about her blood work. When did she last eat?”
Scott raised both hands and took a step back. “I’m not her father, just a family friend who was on hand to help,” he told the doctor. “But I’m happy to hear there’s nothing seriously wrong. Her uncle and grandmother are with her now, so I’ll just clear out so you can give Kara and her family all the information they need.”
With a quick wave and a final long searching look at Kara, Scott quickly walked away down the corridor and disappeared through an open elevator door.
Kara bit her bottom lip. Her heart was still beating uncomfortably fast from the sudden connection she’d felt between them, but she quickly ignored it as she considered the doctor’s ominous tone when he mentioned a potential problem with Maeve’s blood work. After a last quick look at the now-closed elevator doors, she turned unsteadily on her heel and hurried to follow the doctor back to Maeve’s room.
Chapter Three
A quick shower and a change of clothes at his hotel was all Scott needed to get himself ready to go to the office after leaving the hospital. He really didn’t need to go to work at all; it was, after all, Saturday, and the office wasn’t even officially open for business until the following week. But after his unsettling encounter this morning with Kara and Maeve, he needed a distraction, and sitting in a hotel room thinking about a woman he had just met or, worse yet, staring at the parking lot outside his hotel window thinking about his past just didn’t seem all that appealing.
Humming under his breath, Scott pulled into a parking space in front of the newly renovated building that would house his and Courtney’s law practice. Hopping out of his car, he stepped onto the sidewalk and admired the office in front of him. Larkin Bay was a small town, and with its long boardwalk, pretty pier, historic downtown, excellent restaurants, and location close to the city, it was a very desirable place to live. It was the perfect commuter town for families wanting to stay close to the busy life that the big city offered but still raise their children in a community with excellent schools and many upscale small-town comforts.
