‘Why not?’ she echoed with a soft laugh. She would have done the same for Carrie. ‘You didn’t mention he’d be going to the hospital crèche.’
‘Yeah, just some days to start to get him used to being around other kids, and for us to get a bit of a routine together. My parents are close by, though, so they’ll be around for any night shifts, or if Jamie just wants them.’
‘He really loves them, doesn’t he?’ A laugh slipped out as she thought about those few precious minutes with the little boy the other night.
That feeling of uncomplicated freedom that she’d experienced every time she’d spent time with Carrie. She knew it was pointless to torture herself with memories, but she couldn’t help herself.
‘Like I said, they’ve practically raised him for me,’ he said fondly. ‘But Seattle is a fresh start, and Jamie and I will get to be a proper family.’
‘I think that’s lovely.’ Her throat felt thick, aching as it did with emotion.
And still she wondered what had happened to Jamie’s mother. Logan had said she wasn’t around any more, but what she found she really wanted to know was how Logan felt about that.
Was he relieved? Or did he want his wife back?
But before she could ask him—or even think about working up the guts to ask him—the loudspeaker sounded, another trauma code was announced, and Logan stepped past her, all business.
‘We’ll finish this conversation later,’ he ground out over his shoulder, and she couldn’t be sure if it had been a promise or a threat.
It didn’t matter either way, because a second later he was gone.
CHAPTER SIX
MAYBE IT WOULDN’T be so difficult working with Logan after all, Kat decided as she strode back across the atrium after her shift was finally over. They’d worked together on another case after that encounter in the hallway and that time it had been as though nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened between them.
She wasn’t sure she liked it. It unsettled her. And it wasn’t helped by the fact that she was still trying to ignore the too-big, too-bright pull of the tree, only now she had the added complication of trying to avoid Logan.
Her body still threatened to melt when she saw him, of course. But if her head could just keep that bit ahead, they should be fine. No one appeared to have noticed the tension between them during that first shout, they certainly hadn’t mentioned it. And Kat told herself that she felt intensely relieved and not at all piqued.
Eyeing the weather outside as she approached the glass doors, Kat pulled her coat more tightly around herself and had her hand on the metal framework when she heard her name being called.
The high-pitched, excited voice was unmistakable.
‘Hello, Jamie.’ She smiled, turning around and just about dropping to her knees as a little blur hurled itself into her arms.
‘Jamie,’ Logan censured him, ‘you can’t just jump on people, champ.’
But Kat simply shook her head to stop him, her arms going around the boy as she inhaled his little-kid scent and held on for as long as he let her, only making herself release him when he pushed himself back to talk to her.
‘We’re going to get new Christmas dorations.’
‘Decorations,’ Logan corrected.
‘Dec-rations,’ he repeated dutifully.
His little body practically shook with excitement, like an over-excited puppy, and his enthusiasm was so infectious it left Kat powerless to resist.
‘Wow.’ She laughed. ‘That sounds super exciting.’
He nodded gleefully.
‘It is. Daddy says I can choose one bubble all by myself.’
‘Bubble?’ she echoed cautiously, her mind whirring.
‘He means—’
‘Bauble!’ she exclaimed, her brain ticking over after a moment.