Susanne Hampton – Midwife's Baby Bump (страница 2)
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Apart from the obvious, Flick, which is the fact she never has thought about us so nothing has essentially changed and never will in our lifetimes.’ She paused to draw breath after her rant. ‘She took off for Bali yesterday so if the boyfriend is spending money then we won’t hear a peep from her. So follow my amazingly insightful advice and please make tomorrow all about you!’
‘Maybe I will. Thanks, Megan.’
‘You’re welcome, big sis. Make me proud. Live a little, take a risk or two … but just don’t post
Encouraged further by Megan’s advice, Flick decided she had started the right way to make it her day. To take life with both hands for once and actually have fun. The warm breeze was blowing in from the ocean and she felt good about everything. The fact she had not finished the housework and slept in showed she could step out of her comfort zone, if only for one day. She playfully kicked some of the salty water up with her foot. Then she made a mental note. If she was going to live on the wild side for a day then she needed to paint her toenails bright red to match her mood. She smiled as she thought about the nail polish that Megan had given to her for her last birthday and which lay unused in the bathroom cabinet. She would vamp it up, just tonight.
There were joggers and people being walked by their dogs; others reading books or magazines under the shelter of oversized beach umbrellas; small children building sandcastles and squealing as they ran into the shallow waves to collect water for the moats; and a few very tanned older men in swimsuits so brief and inappropriate that it made Flick shudder a little and look away quickly.
She grimaced at the thought her mother had more than likely dated one of them. Then she mentally reprimanded herself for thinking about her mother again. The woman had singlehandedly deterred Flick from dating for fun after watching her many poor choices come and leave their home on a dating conveyer belt. Flick had weighed up men as potential husbands from the get-go. She was looking for the family she had never had and it coloured her choices. Megan was right. She needed to leave the drama behind. The ball was going to be about having fun and not thinking about anything too serious. And that was what she intended to do.
In general everyone on the beach appeared to be doing the same. They were relaxed and a few gave a casual greeting or comment about the weather as she walked past. Her pace had picked up during the stroll and was now brisk. Nothing really distracted her until she had almost reached home again. That’s when a striking figure on the beach demanded her attention. Suddenly she was mesmerised and couldn’t look away.
A very masculine, very toned body stripped bare to the waist was jogging towards her. Flick was tempted to shield her eyes with her hand to get a better view, but she refrained. She controlled her curiosity and continued at her brisk pace along the shallows, pulling her gaze down to the crystal blue water. The midday sun was directly above her in the sky but her body was feeling hotter from something other than that. Her heart picked up speed at the sight from the corner of her eye that she could see approaching. Even averted and with the sun’s glare, she could make out a very tanned, very taut … and suddenly very familiar man.
He was almost upon her when she looked up and realised it was the elusive and ridiculously handsome Dr Tristan Hamilton, a neonatal cardiothoracic surgeon at the Victoria Hospital. She averted her eyes again quickly. He was appealing enough in his scrubs but now, in little more than low-slung board shorts, he was mind-numbingly gorgeous. Her cheeks, she felt certain, would be pink with thoughts he was stirring. She was just grateful he had no idea who she was and he would just jog by her, completely unaware of how his body was arousing her imagination. Immediately she knew Megan was right—she needed to get out more. Her reaction was embarrassing even her.
‘Felicia?’
She froze. Her cheek colour gained momentum. He had not only recognised her, he knew her name. Flick had had no idea he’d even realised they worked at the same hospital let alone knew her by name. She had only been there on clinical placement for a few weeks.
‘Dr Hamilton,’ she said, attempting to sound casually surprised.
He drew to a halt beside her, his sun-kissed skin aglow with the perspiration from his morning run. ‘Please, call me Tristan. There’s not a patient in sight so we can throw hospital formalities out the window. I suspect you’re younger than me by a
Flick tried to laugh but all the while her mind was spinning and her body reacting in a way she had never experienced before. ‘Sure,’ she finally responded a little nervously, still not entirely sure about anything. ‘Tristan,’ she said, emphasising his name. ‘So you like jogging.’
She had no idea why she’d asked such a silly question. It was ridiculous and stupid in equal amounts. Of course he liked jogging and with the sweat that he had built up, he had been running for a while. She clearly liked making a fool of herself. She was grateful that he grinned and nodded and she didn’t have to address the way her body and mind were reacting.
With his rapid breathing settling by the minute, he took a sip from his metal water bottle and looked out across the crystal-clear water. ‘Beautiful part of the world, isn’t it?’
Flick was still a little surprised by his relaxed demeanour and the fact he didn’t look at her strangely after her awkward attempt at conversation. She had thought he would be a little rigid and uptight. It seemed to go with the specialist territory but he was not even close to some of the stiff, pompous specialists she had met during her other placements. Age didn’t seem to discriminate when it came to the formalities that some of them demanded. He was so different from what she’d imagined and it was unexpected. She was not normally social inept but he was upsetting her usual calm by being so unpretentious and friendly.
At the hospital, he had never acknowledged her with more than a nod. She didn’t think he had really noticed her, although she had more than noticed him. She spent a great deal of time out in the community during her placement, but when she was at the hospital she always seemed to catch sight of him as she moved about the maternity unit and the wider hospital. Her heart, for some silly reason, would always skip a beat when their paths crossed but reason told her to stay away. He wouldn’t be the marrying kind. More than likely, although there were no rumours to confirm her suspicions, she reckoned him the bachelor type with a little black book bursting with names. She wasn’t about to be listed with a hundred others under ‘L’.
‘It’s wonderful,’ she managed, still trying to control her racing pulse and not appear as nervous as she had become with him so close. She hadn’t been jogging but her heartbeat was completely out of rhythm. Logic and caring about his address book were suddenly swept away in the summer breeze.
‘I love coming down here when there’s no one around. It’s so quiet some mornings, all you can hear are the waves crashing on the shore and the occasional seagull cry,’ he said, with the appreciation of simple pleasure dressing his face. ‘It’s good for the soul to have time to just be grateful to be alive.’
Flick noticed a far-away look in his eyes. It was as if he was truly thankful. It wasn’t a catch phrase or throwaway line. She didn’t offer a reply as it was a statement more than a question. She imagined, as a surgeon, he would have lost patients and that would give him a deep appreciation of life. Being a student midwife certainly had done that for her.
‘Do you live around here or drive down from another part of town, like me?’
Flick pointed in the direction of a whitewashed apartment building with a blue-tiled roof. It stood out like a sore thumb amongst the stunning modern high-rise glass architecture that claimed most of the prestigious beach road. The building was about forty years old with a Greek island feel to it, which wasn’t surprising as her landlords spent half the year on the island of Mykonos and returned to Australia only for the summer months.
‘I live up there in one of the flats on the second floor. It overlooks the beach and I love waking up and looking out across the ocean.’ She wasn’t sure why she needed to give him that much detail. It had just come tumbling out.
‘Sweet,’ he replied. ‘Prime real estate. Although I wouldn’t have been able to run to it when I was studying… they must pay student midwives well.’
He even knew her profession. She had imagined that if he’d even noticed her he would have no idea that she was a midwife, let alone on placement.