“We were,” she said quietly.
He stared at her. “We could have had something really great while it lasted.”
“You think that’s fair to Carrie? To bring someone into her life, let her get close to them, and then when you get bored and say adios, then what? You think Carrie isn’t going to suffer?” She stood, leaned toward him. “I assure you, Carrie will be hurt by the women you have come and go in your life.”
“What women I have come and go? There’s only been you for months, Natalie. There are no other women.”
She looked taken aback at his admission. What had she thought? That he’d been dating woman after woman since Miami, before moving to Memphis?
“But you’re probably right. That’s just one more in a long line of things I’ll do wrong where Carrie is concerned.”
He’d always thought of himself as a great uncle. Being Carrie’s uncle had been fun. He could sweep in, have a good time with her without any responsibilities. But he had never been meant to be her father. That had been Robert’s place.
Only Robert wasn’t here, and Matthew was doing a crappy job of trying to fill his friend’s shoes.
He’d liked his life. He had liked being a bachelor, being devoted to his career, being a best friend, being an uncle. He wasn’t sure he liked anything about his current situation—especially his failing relationship with the woman across from him.
“Our ending whatever this is between us now, before anyone gets hurt, is for the best.”
Matthew narrowed his gaze. “The best for whom?”
“Everyone.”
Ending things with Natalie didn’t feel like the best thing. But maybe she was right and he needed to think of Carrie, of doing what was best for her.
Which didn’t include being raised by someone who had no clue what he was doing.
Two weeks had passed since Carrie’s accident. Two weeks in which Natalie had avoided Matthew as much as possible, as she was doing now by hiding out in her office working on charts.
She’d assisted during two surgeries with him, but had otherwise not spent more than a few awkward minutes with him here and there when their paths crossed in the neonatal unit or in the cardiac lab.
Her heart ached with missing him, but it was better things had ended sooner rather than later. The longer their dalliance had gone on the more difficult their demise would have been. The harder on Carrie.
The harder on Natalie.
She didn’t think she could handle much more than her current devastation. She missed him so much. Missed Carrie so much, too. Not that she was admitting it to anyone. Not to Monica, Suzie or Dr. Luiz, who’d stopped by to question her about what had happened between her and Matthew.
Nothing. Nothing had happened.
Nothing ever would happen.
The University of Florida had contacted her about a research opportunity for a new surgical device they hoped to bring to the market and needed someone to head up the project. They’d requested she come for an interview.
An interview she was considering.
She wouldn’t have to see Matthew anymore. Wouldn’t have to think of him anymore. Would be able to forget he’d ever existed.
Nor would she have to wonder about Carrie. Wonder how the little girl was healing, how she was coping with having her arm in a sling.
She didn’t want to think about Matthew, or Carrie.
She’d go to the interview. What would it hurt to find out more?
“Have you seen Carrie?”
At Matthew’s barging into her office, Natalie jumped, startled at his interruption and frantic appearance. “What? No, why would I have seen her?”
The hopeful expression on his face fell, replaced by one of pure wreckage. “She’s gone. She was in the yard at preschool, there one minute and gone the next. Video surveillance shows her on a computer, then sneaking out. They’ve already got the police out looking for her.”