The Partnership (Callaghan Green Series Book 10) Read online

  I took the bag from Mary-Lou’s hand, and the older woman gave me a warm smile. “There’s a note in Rose’s bag about what happened and what treatment she’s had which you can show to the doctor. She is saying she feels dizzy and sick, and it was a bad bang. There’s a cut, which might need stitches.” She glanced at Georgia. “Maybe let the doctor examine it and suggest what needs to be done though.”

  Georgia was talking to Rose, reassuring her and not really listening to what Mary-Lou was saying. I figured it was relief that Rose was okay and awake, and that Georgia had hold of her now that was making it seem better.

  I thanked Mary-Lou and slung the pink bag with unicorns on over my shoulder, fully aware of what my brothers would say if they saw it, and totally aware of what Killian – who now had two daughters – would respond with.

  “You ready to go?” I touched Georgia’s back gently, Rose’s eyes landing on me curiously. “I’m Seph. I work with your mum.”

  She gave me a kind-of smile then buried her head in her mum’s neck.

  “She’s shy sometimes with men.” Georgia looked at me through some of Rose’s hair. “Thank you for doing this. If you just drop us off we’ll be fine.”

  “Okay.” I had no intention of just dropping them off, but she could find that out when I sat down with them in the waiting room.

  Georgia got into the back seat, Rose clinging to her, looking sleepy. I hadn’t processed yet about the whole daughter thing, not sure whether I should be surprised or not, and knowing it didn’t matter what I thought about the whole thing. What mattered was getting the littlest four-year-old I’d ever seen checked out and her mum’s worries eased.

  I swallowed hard as I started the car, catching sight of them in the rear view, Rose snuggling into Georgia, Georgia’s lips pressed to Rose’s head.

  My sisters had always taken the piss out of how I drove; I was the opposite of the boy racer, sticking to the speed limit, keeping a safe distance, never losing my temper with other drivers. I never let it bother me, and right now, I was glad it was how I drove. Rose should’ve been on a booster seat, but I didn’t have one and I hadn’t thought to ask. If Payton could see how I was driving now, she’d have various comments dropping off her tongue.

  I didn’t care. As much as I wanted my family to see me as being responsible and able, there were opinions of theirs that went in one ear and out the other. I pulled up outside accident and emergency, turning off the child locks and getting out.

  “Thank you for the lift,” Georgia said, shuffling to the door with Rose still clinging to her. “I’ll let you know what I have to do tomorrow. I know it’s not ideal if I can’t get into the office but I’m not sure if…”

  “Let’s talk about it later. It isn’t top of the list right now. You want me to take her while you get out?” It was a low car and getting out of it while holding a child was going to be some feat.

  Georgia nodded. “Rose, can you go to Seph?”

  The little girl looked at me with those big eyes. I reached my arms out to take her and felt a tug in my chest. She reached out for me and I clutched her to my chest, standing up and moving back so Georgia could get out.

  “My cousin works here,” I said to Rose. “He’s a doctor who works with children. Maybe you’ll see him today.” It was unlikely, as Shay was a surgeon, but he could be around and there was no chance I wasn’t going to text him and see if he could make an appearance.

  Her small hand grabbed onto my suit jacket, pulling at the material and her head rested against her chest.

  “I can carry her in, if you want?” I looked at Georgia. “The car will be okay here for a couple of minutes.”

  She looked from me to her daughter. “Are you sure?”

  “Wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t. Shall I carry her in?”

  There was a nod and she started walking with me to the entrance, her hand on Rose’s arm. “I can register her with reception.”

  “There’s a note in her bag with what happened and what first aid they did.” The bag was on my shoulder. I paused to let Georgia rummage through it.

  I sat down as close to reception as possible so Rose could see her mum, still holding her to me on my lap. She hadn’t let go yet, which had surprised me. Georgia had warned me that she wasn’t confident with men she didn’t know, but she seemed okay right now.

  “How’s your head?”

  Big eyes looked up at me. “It hurts.”

  “It will get better.”

  “Have you ever hurt your head?”

  I nodded solemnly. “Three times.”

  “How?”

  “I fell, my brother hit me and I banged my head on a shelf and once I pretended I could fly and jumped out of a tree.”

  “That was silly.”

  Nothing like a four year old to put you right in your place.

  “I know. I flew for about two seconds though.”

  I got a smile.

  “What’s Mummy doing?”

  “She’s giving them your name so the doctor knows what to call you.” I saw her eye lids starting to close. “She’ll be here in a minute.”

  It was less than a minute. Georgia came back over looking exhausted and sat down next to us. I handed Rose over and stood up. “I’m going to park the car up and then I’ll come back.”

  “You don’t need to do that, Seph. We’ll be fine. I can call a taxi to get home and I don’t know how long it’ll be.” Rose buried into her and I wondered for how long it’d been just the two of them.

  I wondered how any man could leave Georgia and his daughter and not do anything to stay with them.

  Her red hair hung straight and messy, framing her and her daughter, and I itched to brush it out of the way, sit back next to her and pull her into my chest like she’d done with Rose.

  “I’m going to park the car.” My tone dared her to argue.

  She didn’t. She smiled instead, her eyes softening. “You’re bossy. Did anyone ever tell you that?”

  I laughed, because they hadn’t really.

  “I’ll bring you back some tea or water. And water for Rose.”

  “Thank you.”

  I took her thanks as a victory.

  I messaged Shay on the way back into the waiting room, letting him know I was there and if he was free to come see us. When I got back in, Georgia had a book out and was reading to Rose. For a moment, I stood and watched, trying to peel my eyes away from Georgia and failing miserably.

  “Put your tongue back in your mouth.” Shay’s voice came from nowhere. “And if that’s your new colleague, I’m calling dibs.”

  “Fuck. You.” I knew exactly what that was going to tell him.

  There was a laugh and a rough hand slapped me on the back. “You can explain why you’ve just called dibs later, although I can see it. She’s hot.”

  I was practiced in resisting the urge to punch family members, which was a good job, else Shay would’ve been being treated here instead of working.

  “She also has a daughter who’s just seriously banged her head. Stop objectifying and go help.” I elbowed him in the ribs.

  Shay gave his blinding smile and walked over to Georgia. He’d finished surgery for the day and was actually down to help out triaging patients for a couple of hours where they were short staffed.

  I followed, wanting to hear what patter came out of his mouth. He bent down, crouching in front of Georgia and Rose, his eyes on the little girl who nestled in further to her mum.

  “Is your name Rose?”

  She nodded, her thumb in her mouth

  “I’m Doctor Shay. My cousin is Seph – I think he drove you here.”

  She nodded again.

  “He’s told me you’ve banged your head. I’m going to check it and help make it feel better. Is that okay?”

  Her thumb came out of her mouth and she nodded again, looking slightly less shy.

  “Have we jumped the queue?” Georgia said the words quietly enough so that just Shay and I co
uld hear.

  “No. It’s a head injury. I just need to let Erica on reception know which room we’re going in. I’ll let Seph take care of you for a minute.” He shot me a grin that was all charm and knowing.

  “Thank you.” Her gaze fell on me and the rest of the room morphed into nothingness.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets and tried to look modest or something. I really hadn’t done anything except message Shay, but I was taking her thanks and her attention.

  And Rose’s.

  “Shay has to be useful for something.” I sat back down next her, aware that Rose was also watching me. “He’ll look after you.”

  Rose tried to hide closer into her mum, her eyes starting to spill with tears.

  I’d seen my niece, Eliza, cry. I’d felt pretty helpless then – she’d fallen over and hurt her knee, but it’d been the shock more than anything that had caused the tears.

  I looked at Georgia who was trying to soothe her, her own face worried and her expression tense.

  “Here’s your tea.” I held up one of the paper cups I’d brought back and placed down next to me. “And there’s water for Rose.”

  “You want a drink, sweetheart?” She murmured the words close to her. “Seph’s brought you some water.”

  There was a nod and she turned around to me.

  “You want to sit with me while your mum has her tea?”

  I didn’t expect the nod she gave.

  “That okay?”

  Georgia nodded, passing Rose over to me and then reaching down for the drink. I’d brought us both one, but she didn’t need to ask which was hers: we both took tea the same.

  Rose settled back in my lap, her head on my chest, watching her mother. I ignored my drink and held the bottle of water for Rose, encouraging her to take small sips.

  Right then, I felt something shift. Some haze evaporated and everything seemed a little clearer. I watched Georgia along with Rose; some colour had returned to her cheeks; she didn’t look like she was on the brink of tears anymore and her shoulders had relaxed.

  That long dark red hair hung thick and silky framing her face, dropping over her breasts. I traced the hair back up to her eyes, lingering for what I knew was too long on the curves that I’d ignored in the office, or tried to ignore.

  When I met her eyes, she was watching me. But it wasn’t annoyance I saw in them. It was heat. Lust.

  “Mummy, my head hurts.”

  And it evaporated with those four words. Poof. Gone.

  “It will, sweetie. You’ve really managed to bang it. But at least we know there’s some sense there.”

  I grinned as I saw Rose frown.

  “Where there’s no sense there’s no feeling.” Her smile was golden. “So you must be very clever because your head hurts.”

  Rose seemed to settle more at that, even though I was pretty sure she didn’t fully get what her mother was saying.

  Shay wandered over wearing what looked like a clean white coat instead of the blue scrubs he’d been in before. His grin almost split his face when he saw me with Rose on my knee.

  “I have a room waiting. Let’s get you checked over and then Prince Seph can take you home.” His grin looked a little more toned down when he talked to Rose, which was good. I didn’t want him to be responsible for her having nightmares about cannibals.

  She tipped her head to look at me. “Are you a prince?”

  “Absolutely. I even have a horse.” Technically my brother had horses, but he could lend me one if I needed to provide proof.

  Georgia’s eyes widened.

  “Do you really have a horse?”

  I shrugged, standing up with Rose still in my arms. “Of course.”

  Shay shook his head.

  “Do you want your mum to carry you into Shay’s room?” Rose had wrapped herself around me. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do; I’d only learned of her existence about an hour ago, and known her mother just over a week. What was the protocol around carrying your colleague’s child to be triaged at accident and emergency?

  Her response was to tighten her hold on me and bury her head into my chest. I looked at Georgia for guidance. What did I do? Say no? Did Georgia want to be the one carrying her? Was I overstepping?

  She gave me a nod, but her expression was different. She smiled, and there was no tightness about it, but there was something I couldn’t read.

  “Let’s go then.”

  We followed Shay, Rose clinging on like a baby sloth, my colleague and work partner by my side.

  “At some point, would you tell me why I didn’t know about your daughter?” I kept the words low, not wanting Shay to hear.

  “Yes.”

  It was one word but I believed her. We went into the room, me sitting down with Rose.

  “Do you want me to wait outside?” I asked Georgia, while Shay logged into the computer that looked like it had been around in the last century.

  She shook her head. “I’m not good at remembering everything accurately when, you know, it’s things like this.”

  “Okay.” I got it. She was anxious. When I was anxious, I second guessed what I remembered being said and questioned it.

  I could listen for her.

  “Thank you.” Her words were quiet again. “I owe you for this.”

  “Buy me a drink one evening this week when Rose is better.” I didn’t want the drink. I wanted to reassure her that Rose would be better, and I wanted more time with her.

  “Okay.” Her smile was soft, more relaxed. “Are you okay with her there?”

  I nodded, my cousin ready to start to check her over.

  “Well, Miss Rose, are you ready?”

  Twenty minutes later, Shay had given Georgia the all-clear. A bump on the head with a possible very mild concussion for which she just needed Calpol and rest, plus a couple of stitches to take of the small but nasty cut. I carried her out, Georgia walking next to me, her relief palpable.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind taking us home?”

  I clicked the doors open. “Get yourselves in the car, Georgie. What’s your address?”

  She gave it to me, and for the second time that day, the air was sucked from my lungs as it came home to roost that Georgia was the new employee that Ava had rented the house to.

  Ava, my younger sister, managed the couple of properties I’d bought – under her advice – as investments. She sorted fixing them up and then did the interiors. One of the two was a house, bought from Ava herself, already renovated. I’d lived there very briefly, finding myself drowning in a space that was too big for someone on their own and it had craved a family living there.

  That house, the one that Ava had found a tenant for – a single mother, so she’d told me – was where I was parking outside now. A house I was familiar with.

  A house Georgia called home.

  “Do you want me to wait with you a bit while she settles?” I turned around to look at them both in the back seat, Rose fast asleep on her mother. Shay had said sleep was fine, but I’d noticed Georgia being hyper aware of her as I drove.

  “You must have tons to do, Seph. Honestly, we’ll be fine.”

  “Then can I grab a coffee before I head off?” I wasn’t actually bothered about a drink, but I didn’t want to leave her yet.

  There was a smile. “Sure. Can you carry her in for me? She’s such a weight now.”

  “She’s tiny for four.”

  There was a shrug. “She was a preemie. Three weeks early and she was the tiniest thing I’ve ever seen, but so strong. She met all her milestones and started talking early and skipped the crawling part, but she’s the smallest in her age group at nursery.”

  “Tiny but fierce.”

  That got me a smile and I felt like I’d won every stuffed toy at the fair.

  “She is fierce. She also loves books and for the next couple of days she’s going to have to rest and not read or watch anything. That’s going to be painful for all involved.” She started to shuffle
along the car seat, Rose in her arms.

  “Let me take her. It’ll be easier.”

  I expected some sort of argument with her telling me she was perfectly capable of managing on her own, but it didn’t come.

  “Thank you.”

  That was it; a straight-forward thanks. She trusted me with her child, which meant more than she could know.

  I knew Claire and Jackson had no problem with me looking after their children. I was the babysitter of choice, mainly because I was available at short notice and was practiced at surviving on little sleep, but I also knew it was because kids liked me. There had been countless jokes made about how that was because I was still a kid myself, and I’d laughed along, used to it and knowing it wasn’t meant to be hurtful. It wasn’t because I was still a kid; it was because I was good with them. I smiled, I was relaxed, when I looked after my nieces and nephews I didn’t think about work or what else I could be doing, I wanted my time to be about them. When Eliza or Teddy smiled at me, or laughed, everything in the world was right. I didn’t count Niamh; her smiles meant she had wind at the moment, something I knew Shay would identify with.

  I carried Rose to the front door, wondering whether I should tell Georgia that hey – I was her landlord, and decided against it right now. She’d be exhausted; I’d seen and heard Claire after Eliza had taken a bad tumble off the sofa and banged her head, and this wasn’t about me. None of it was.

  I was just the help right now.

  “I can never find my keys in this bag.” She rummaged round for them in a bag that was bigger than some small countries. It was Mulberry, a designer that my sisters loved and at some point, I’d treated Payton to one for her birthday, mainly because I’d ran out of time to think of anything else. The world’s best present giver, I wasn’t.

  She eventually found them and opened the door into a house where I’d already slept. It looked the same as I peered down the hallway. Ava had lived there before me – it was the same place where she’d snuck Eli in when they were pretending not to see each other – and she’d decorated it pretty spectacularly, or so I thought. Now there was just different furniture in there and a few pictures resting against the wall, waiting to be hung.