The Single Dad’s New-Year Bride

by Amy Andrews

  ‘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.

  There was a true carnival atmosphere. A Ferris wheel dominated the end of the park and, along with a massive merry-go-round, was bound to keep the kids happy all day. Children’s music blared from the loudspeakers. Clown doctors were set to wander around, entertaining the kids with jokes and balloon animals.

  Stalls with various carnival games were dotted around and she could see the petting zoo was already popular. It felt good looking out on it all, knowing that she had been part of it.

  Hailey spent most of the day helping out at one stall or another. On her travels she bumped into a lot of old patients and she stopped to chat with the kids and their families. It was great to see them again and catch up on what had happened after discharge.

  A lot of them didn’t recognise her thanks to the brilliant face-painting artists they’d employed for the day. Hailey had been done up to look like a cat, a stripy marmalade one, and even Beth had walked straight past her.

  At two o’clock, with three hours to go, her father sought her out. ‘There you are, darling. Beth said to look for the cat that looks like she’s swallowed the cream. You’ve done a fabulous job,’ John Winters commented, kissing his daughter carefully on her blackened nose.

  Hailey laughed. ‘Well, I didn’t do it all by myself, Dad.’

  ‘C’mon, its time for the dunking booth to open. Your mother thought you wouldn’t want to miss it.’

  ‘Miss my father and two brothers-in-law getting wet for a good cause? It’s going to be the highlight of my day.’

  The old adage that it wasn’t what you knew but who you knew certainly played out when it came to charity. There was nothing like having the Brisbane General’s medical director, a world-renowned surgeon who had separated three sets of conjoined twins, and the emergency department director all lining up for a good dunking. Hailey had known people would pay a high price to see all or any of them dunked and luckily they’d all been good-natured enough to agree.

  A crowd had gathered and there was much excitement as John, resplendent in polka-dot boardies and a bright yellow sun shirt, took the first turn. He looked like a canary or, at the very least, a sitting duck.

  ‘There she is, Daddy.’

  Hailey knew it was Tom’s high little voice even before she homed in on his location. ‘Tom,’ she said, as the little boy, orchie in tow, launched his body at her legs rugby-tackle style. She absorbed the impact and looked down at him, ruffling his hair.

  ‘I told Daddy you’d be here.’

  She smiled down at him and ruffled his hair again. How on earth he could tell it was her when her own sister hadn’t recognised her, she didn’t know.

  ‘What’s new, pussycat?’

  The sun was behind Callum as she squinted up at him, making him appear even more dazzling than usual. He was in baggy denim shorts and a T-shirt that had a tropical sunset decorating his chest. She’d never seen him looking this devastatingly casual. She’d seen him in jeans a few times but never in shorts that revealed the tanned muscularity of his legs covered in light brown hair.

  ‘I haven’t heard that one yet today,’ she said derisively.

  Callum laughed. ‘Meow!’

  ‘Is that your dad?’ Tom interrupted, pointing at John, who had so far managed to stay on the tiny seat perched over the tank of water, despite several attempts to dethrone him.

  ‘It sure is.’ Hailey nodded. ‘You want a go?’

  Tom nodded his head excitedly and Hailey took his hand.

  ‘OK, folks,’ she announced to the crowd, who were booing and taunting John good-naturedly, threatening him with an imminent dunking. ‘Tom’s turn.�
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  She handed Tom a ball but it was clear that to be given any chance of success he needed some height.

  ‘Here, Tommy,’ Callum said, striding forward and lifting his son onto his hip. ‘How’s that?’

  ‘I think we could probably make allowances for the boy and have him come a little closer to the target, too,’ John said. ‘He’s only six.’

  ‘Ah, but he’s got a good eye, John,’ Callum warned with a smile on his face. Hadn’t he managed to spot Hailey underneath all that face paint? ‘Are you sure you want to risk it?’

  John gave a hoot. ‘I think I’m pretty safe.’

  ‘Three turns, Tom.’ Hailey grinned and nodded at him to go.

  The first one fell shy of the target by a good metre.

  ‘Bad luck, Tom,’ John called.

  Tom looked disappointed but the crowd clapped and cheered and urged him to try again. His second shot sailed too far to the right.

  ‘Come on, Tom,’ John shouted over the top of the crowd. ‘You can do better than that.’

  Hailey watched as his little chin jutted out determinedly, so like his father, and he squinted at the target. He swung back and threw the ball hard, hitting the mark dead on.

  The crowd went wild as the seat gave way and plunged the Brisbane General medical director straight into the water. Callum jumped up and down with Tom as Hailey clapped wildly. She hugged Tom and joined them in their father-son jumping.

  ‘You did it, Tom. You did it.’ She laughed.

  Callum was aware of every movement of Hailey’s body against his. The slide of her breasts against his chest. The bounce of her hair around her shoulders, a stray tendril gliding against the skin of his arm. The feel of her hand in the middle of his back strangely intimate.

  He stopped jumping, looking down into her painted face, her freckles obliterated by brown and ginger stripes. She smiled up at him, her soft eyes suiting the elaborate feline mask. Her mouth was painted black too and he couldn’t believe that something such a ghastly colour looked so tempting.

  They hadn’t been this close since that night. The night they’d almost made love on the lounge. He’d made a real effort to keep his distance this last two months. To treat her with the utmost of professional courtesy and respect. And nothing else.

  It had been hard. Treating her as one of the team at work wasn’t easy when she all too readily invaded his dreams at night. And there was nothing collegial about them. Going to work each day and having to edit his thoughts and actions all the time was a strain when in his dreams he was much more daring, took much greater liberties. And, worse, she welcomed them.

  Hailey saw the heat warm his grey gaze and pulled away. She faltered slightly before getting her brain back on track. ‘Well done, Tom,’ she said, ruffling his hair one more time.

  They stayed and watched as John got dunked several more times, followed by Gabe, who got away relatively unscathed, and then Luca, who seemed to spend more time in the water than out. She was conscious of Callum’s gaze the entire time.

  ‘Oh, no, poor Luca,’ Hailey teased as she handed her brother-in-law a towel. ‘What a pity Rilla had to work. She would have loved to have seen this.’

  ‘I’m heading back to the General now.’ He grinned. ‘I suspect she’ll get the idea.’

  ‘I think Mum videoed it anyway.’

  Luca turned and waved at Penny Winters, who was looking through the viewfinder of her handy cam. He groaned and muttered, ‘Dio.’

  Tom tugged on Hailey’s hand and she looked down at him.

  ‘Can you come on the Fewwis wheel with me and my dad?’

  Hailey smiled, charmed by his mispronunciation. Just about everything to do with Tom charmed her. And, yes, agreeing to join them was hardly keeping a distance from Callum, but it had been two months, and apart from the erotic dreams and the exchange of one very steamy look earlier, they had been very good. Surely they could ease up a little and share one ride on a big wheel?

  ‘I love the Ferris wheel.’ She grinned.

  They stopped on the way and bought Tom some blue fairy floss. ‘He’s tried all the other colours.’ Callum grimaced.

  Hailey cocked an eyebrow at him. ‘That’s a lot of sugar.’

  ‘I wouldn’t ordinarily but he does love it and, well…it’s a picnic.’ He shrugged sheepishly.

  Hailey rolled her eyes at him. ‘Soft touch,’ she teased quietly.

  Thankfully there wasn’t a queue and they were ushered straight into one of the open gondolas. Tom sat next to Hailey on one side and Callum took the seat opposite, his legs stretched out in front of him, perilously close to hers. She’d been nervous about what they were going to say to each other but she needn’t have been. Tom took centre stage and she was happy to let him chat away, too conscious of Callum in her peripheral vision.

  Tom shared his fairy floss with her and chatted about the picnic and what his favourite parts of the day had been. Food seemed to feature a lot.

  ‘Three snow cones?’ She looked at Callum.

  ‘There were a couple of years when he rarely ate enough to keep a sparrow alive. It’s good to see his appetite back. I don’t mind indulging him on special days.’

  Hailey nodded slowly. Fair enough. She hadn’t thought about it from that perspective before. She knew anorexia was a major problem with chronically ill children and caused a great deal of stress and anxiety for their parents. She guessed that in situations like that you didn’t care what your child ate as long as they ate something.

  The Ferris wheel went round at a lazy pace, giving its riders many more revolutions than they would have had at a normal carnival. The breeze ruffled her hair, lifting it off the back of her neck, and she helped it further by piling it up on top of her head and holding it there, allowing the breeze to cool her neck.

  The sunny day was quite warm and it felt heavenly to be sitting in the shade of the gondola’s umbrella, complete with Mother Nature’s air-conditioning. She’d been up late all week with last-minute preparations and up at the crack of dawn today, and having a few minutes’ respite had alerted her to how weary she felt. She shut her eyes and let Tom’s chatter wash over her.

  Callum took the opportunity to observe her. The face paint should have looked ridiculous on a grown woman but it didn’t. It made her look…exotic. Feline and female in the way cats often were, slinking around, twitching their tails, weaving in and out of your legs, rubbing against you, purring contentedly, urging you to stroke them.

  With her hair out of the way he admired the line of her neck, bare of jewellery, her olive skin tantalising. He remembered how good it had felt to kiss her there. Her T-shirt fitted her chest snugly, stretching across her bust, emphasising its fullness, the V-neckline revealing a hint of cleavage.

  She was wearing cargo pants that stopped just below her knees. They fit her hips and legs but he could see the bunching at her waist where the pants were obviously too big. He imagined she had that problem a lot with her small waist flowing out to fuller hips.

  Tom started to chat about his grandparents taking him to the ‘Gold Coat’ and Hailey opened her eyes. They came slowly into focus, Callum’s features becoming sharp and distinct, his grey gaze steady. She stared unblinkingly, mesmerised by what she saw there. No doubt the most fascinating eyes she’d ever known. How easy would it be to get lost in those eyes? How easy would it be to throw caution to the winds and cross the line they’d drawn in the sand?

  ‘Isn’t that exciting, Hailey?’

  She held Callum’s gaze for a moment longer before dragging it away and turning her attention to Tom. ‘Yes, darling.’ She used the endearment without even thinking about it, giving his skinny arm a squeeze.

  ‘How long is he going for?’ she asked Callum conversationally.

  He sighed. ‘A few days.’

  Hailey frowned at the heavy sigh. ‘You don’t sound too thrilled about it.’

  He shook his head. ‘No, it’s fine.’

  Hailey narrowed her eyes, se
nsing Callum’s hesitation. ‘But?’ She looked down at Tom, who had twisted around in his seat, his attention fully taken by the gondolas behind. ‘Don’t you get on?’ she mouthed quietly as she took the precariously dangling torch from a compliant Tom lest it drop and land on someone’s head in a gondola below.

  She’d met Margo, Annie’s mother, and had been thoroughly impressed. But who knew what boiled beneath the surface? Maybe they blamed him for Annie’s death? For Tom’s illness? Maybe they’d never approved of him?

  ‘We get on fine. They’re great. I don’t know what I’d do without them.’

  Hailey nodded slowly. ‘So why do I still sense a “but”?’

  Callum stared out to the side. They’d stopped at the top as the gondolas below were emptied one by one. He could see the Brisbane General from here. ‘They try to protect him too much. They panic over the merest sniffle. I understand why but I don’t need that. I can imagine the worst perfectly well on my own without both of them worrying over a paper cut or a sore throat. I’m afraid that going to the beach might not be as fun as Tom is hoping if they don’t let him do anything.’

  Ah. ‘I guess that’s their job—to worry.’

  ‘I know that. And I understand. Tom is their one remaining connection to Annie and I would never deny them that, but they need to give him room to be a kid.’

  The carriage descended a level and then stopped again, swinging slightly. Callum took a deep breath of warm air, dropping his head back, allowing the sun to warm his face. He was enjoying this. They hadn’t spoken in anything other than a professional capacity for two months. It was nice to not talk shop with her.

  ‘I can’t believe what a glorious day it is. Don’t get too many of these in Melbourne.’

  ‘Is that why you moved’ she asked, observing the tanned column of his throat.

  Callum shook his head. ‘Partly. Annie’s parents had always been going to retire to Queensland and I knew they wouldn’t if we stayed.’ He shrugged, opening his eyes and looking directly at her. ‘It was time we made a move. Tom had finished his treatments and his condition had stabilised and…we needed to get away…from the memories and the…bad things. We needed a fresh start.’