Chapter Ten
“Hey, um, Evelyn,” Ross stood outside her room clutching the bag that the strange woman had thrust into his hands before running off in the other direction as if he’d bite. He paused to contemplate her—the brewer chick Fitzgerald had just hired and who had thought quickly enough to save Rose’s life the day before.
“What?” Evelyn’s voice jolted him back to reality.
“I brought you some fresh clothes.”
He stuck his hand inside the door, since he’d not been invited in and wasn’t sure he wanted to be anyway since he could hear the whirr and clunk of the medieval-looking machine that had been milking Evelyn like a Guernsey cow every three hours for the last twenty-four. She snatched it from him without a word.
“How in the world did you know to pack this stuff? There’s a nursing bra in here and my comfiest pair of jeans.”
Ross pressed his forehead against the door wishing he could kiss her, wishing he could hold the baby. Wishing he could leave and never come back.
“I didn’t do it,” he admitted on the other side of the curtain as if reading her mind. “That chick, that, um woman, Elisa, I drove her to your house and she packed everything.”
“Okay.” After a few muffled shuffling noises, she opened the door. She seemed rung out, pummeled by fear, worry, exhaustion. And she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She tugged her hair back and into a ponytail with the band she kept on her wrist as he watched, hands clenched at his sides. Finally, she fell into him, forcing him to put his arms around her. “Rose. She’s…still all right?” she said into his chest.
“Yeah.” He disentangled from her, and ran a hand down his face then around his bearded jaw. “Austin won’t let go of her. They tried to give her a bottle but she wouldn’t take it. Her fever spiked again then came back down. I don’t know. Shit.”
She smiled at him. “You’re…different somehow,” she said.
“I guess. I lost some weight. I run a lot now.”
“Come on. Let’s go see her.”
He hesitated. “Oh, I don’t know. They won’t let me.”
“They will,” she said, tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow. He flinched. “Relax.”
He sighed. “I can’t. This is…too much.”
“This is parenthood. Or so I’m told. Let’s go.” She tugged at him and they headed down the hall back toward the isolation unit.
* * * *
Evelyn sighed and stretched her arms over her head. The action lifted her blouse, exposing a sliver of the soft flesh of her stomach above the waist of her jeans. Ross averted his gaze, focusing instead on his baby’s face.
He had a flight out later that afternoon. Claimed that he needed to leave, to get back to work, but kept putting off the trip to the airport. Surprisingly content to be here, in Austin and Evelyn’s house, holding the kid and watching them putter around doing married couple things. Rose made a funny bleating noise and bopped him on the nose with her tiny fist before turning her face toward his chest.
“Give me the baby back,” Evelyn demanded as she unbuttoned her shirt. “Time for dinner.”
Ross placed the cooing, gurgling infant in her arms. As soon as she sensed her food source near, she turned her head toward Evelyn’s breast, opening and closing her mouth. “Greedy little thing, isn’t she?” Ross sat on the edge of the bed, watching with wide eyes as Evelyn opened her nursing bra. She didn’t have to brush her nipple against Rose’s cheek anymore. The girl knew exactly what to do. She latched on hard, making Evelyn wince and motion for something on the bedside table.
Ross couldn’t tear his eyes from his nursing child. Austin cleared his throat. Ross looked up. “Oh, uh, what?”
“Hand her the water. Nursing makes her instantly thirsty.”
“Oh yeah, sorry.” He handed over the water bottle and she drained half of it in one gulp.
“Thanks,” she said, closing her eyes.
“So,” Austin said in a firm tone. “We need to get you to the airport, I guess.”
“Yes, we do,” Ross admitted. Evelyn stared at him as he got up from the side of the bed. He opened his mouth to say something crazy like “okay, let’s make this work because I miss all of you, especially that baby, and I want to hold her, and I want to make love to Evelyn and I don’t care if I am a third wheel.”
But Austin cleared his throat, making Ross turn and meet his friend’s eyes. The harsh reality rushed back in, reminding him that he didn’t want this. He wanted Evelyn to himself but he’d been the one to push her back to Austin. This was how it was meant to be.
“Time to go,” he said, his voice rough as he pushed past his friend and headed downstairs.
Their ride to the airport was made in the same tense silence as their ride to the hospital a few days prior. Ross tapped his fingers on his knees, nerves snapping with stress. When Austin’s Bluetooth phone rang through the interior of the SUV, he jumped and cursed. “It’s just Evelyn,” Austin said. “Hang on a sec.”
“Yeah, honey, what’s up?”
“Oh hell, Austin, is he dropped off yet?”
“No, I’m still here. But don’t worry. We’re only about five minutes from the airport,” Ross cut in.
“Don’t be an ass, Hoffman. There’s an emergency. At the brewery.”
Ross sensed Austin stiffen. He leaned forward and spoke first. “What’s wrong, Evelyn? Do I need to stay?”
Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say…
“No, I’ll manage it,” Austin insisted. “Fill me in.”
“It’s Bryan. He fell off a ladder. Hit his damn head. Knocked himself out. Elle got him into an ambulance. She’s on the other line.”
“Elle…” Ross said, staring out of the windshield and recalling his two weird encounters with her.
“Yes, so…I guess you should check in on him, on your way back.”
“Okay, but…”
“Elle says she’s got a handle on the week’s schedule. But we may need to bring back some of those temps we hired last fall, to help manage storage and bottling.”
“Fine,” Austin said, pulling up the departures gate and putting the car in park. “Hang on a second, honey. Ross is getting out of the car.”
“Oh, okay. Bye,” she said, sounding about as far away as he felt right then.
He got out, grabbed his backpack from the seat behind him and slammed the door without saying a word to either of them.