Page 35 of The Single Dad's New-Year Bride

‘Oh.’ Hailey hadn’t thought of that contingency. Of course. It made perfect sense. What else would a father dedicated to his son do?

Callum watched her digest the information and couldn’t work out what she was thinking. But he’d hoped they’d get the opportunity to talk again and now was as good a time as any.

‘So, we’re OK? You and me? You think we can do this? Just be colleagues? It’s not going to be weird between us?’

‘Of course not.’ Even if it killed her, she’d make sure of it. ‘Even if the whole time you were away, the whole time I was speaking to an impressionable infant, all I could think about was you in the shower?’

Hailey swallowed as the blast of heat from his bold statement mixed with the heat in her face and she momentarily lost her train of thought. He’d been thinking about her? In the shower? Naked?

And her? What had she been thinking about? Him. OK, maybe not naked but she doubted it would have taken her imagination long to get him that way.

This was clearly insane. They had to put the brakes on. She moved her head closer to him, directing her mouth closer to his ear. ‘We’ve been through this, Callum. Do me a favour, don’t think about me in the shower. Don’t think about me naked at all. Friends are all we can be.’

Callum sighed. She was right. ‘Of course. Friends.’

She nodded and pulled back from his closeness, snatching a big lungful of Callum-infused air as she went. She stood on shaky legs and walked away to arrange Timothy’s pre-op care.

Good. They were both on the same page.

CHAPTER SEVEN

LIFE went on. Working together got easier. They were professional around each other but both studiously avoided anything of a personal nature. Two months passed. Due to an unexpected illness, Hailey was offered a seat on the organising committee for the Brisbane General’s annual children’s picnic. She grabbed it with both hands, investing every spare moment into it, grateful to became absorbed in something other than Callum.

Unfortunately her attraction for Callum hadn’t ended. She’d just learnt to file it under ‘Some things in life you can’t have’ and moved on. The younger, more impulsive Hailey would have thrown caution to the winds, but the older, wiser Hailey knew the fall was treacherous. So, he was as sexy as hell and she wanted him. It would pass.

Tom, however, had insinuated himself into her life well and truly. She wasn’t sure how it had happened but he seemed to spend quite a few afternoons a week watching cable TV at her place. It had become a sort of routine, one Hailey was enjoying immensely.

Tom would finish his homework and if she wasn’t working, his grandmother, who picked him up from school and stayed until Callum got home, would send him to her for an hour or so, always bearing some home-baked goody for them to share.

It was a bitter-sweet time. But not as bad as when she witnessed Callum and Tom together. She often spotted them around the apartment complex, in the lifts or by the pool, and occasionally even at work, when Callum brought Tom into 2B on weekends for his rounds. It tugged at Hailey’s heart to observe their easy interaction. Their relationship was everything a father and son’s should be. It reminded her of Eric and Paul, and as painful as that was to relive, it helped to keep her focused on not repeating past mistakes.

Hailey was relieved when mid-March finally arrived and the Saturday of the picnic dawned bright and clear. She was nervous and excited in equal measure. The culmination of two months’ work was about to unfold and she couldn’t wait to see the looks on the children’s faces today. But the number of things that could go wrong also weighed on her mind. At least the weather had behaved.

She was out early at the local park with a band of eager volunteers, helping to set up. The annual picnic was part fundraiser and part community service. A way of throwing a little sunshine into the lives of kids—and their families—who were either currently inpatients or had been patients in the past. A way of giving back to the community while raising awareness of the important role the Brisbane General played.

It was a free event. The hospital was able to subsidise the rides, the food and the entertainment largely because most of the attractions had been donated. All money raised from raffles, silent auctions and charitable offerings on the day, both big and small, were channelled directly back into 2B. Many pieces of ward equipment had been bought over the years because of the yearly picnic. Unfortunately, as government budgets grew tighter, only covering the bare necessities, events such as the picnic were vital fundraisers.

By the time eleven o’clock came round and the gates opened, Hailey already felt exhausted. But the excited chatter of children as they streamed past her and the looks on the faces of parents who had left their worries at the gate made the hours of toil, of phone calls, of checking every minute detail, all worthwhile.

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