Loving the Nurse by Piper Sullivan
Antonio
“Daddy, you love Gus?” Rosie’s big brown eyes looked up at me expectantly, her pale skin more so against the bright pink of her smiling lips.
I looked at my daughter with a shocked expression, the question was too grown up for my little girl. “Uh, I don’t know.”
Rosie was not deterred. He smile brightened, adding a hint of pink to her cheeks. “’Cause I love her too!”
Great.That made things a little more complicated and the snickering laugh that came from the doorway didn’t help. “Cal,” I groaned. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard my favorite princess was here and I came to check in.” He winked at Rosie who held her little arms out for a hug from her favorite uncle.
“I’m okay now, Uncle Cal. Grandpa Ollie helped.”
Cal looked up, a question in his eyes. “Uncle Ollie?” He mouthed the question over Rosie’s head and I only shrugged. “What happened?”
“Trishelle happened,” I answered with a growl. “Showed up with her cameras to make a scene. To cause trouble.”
“As usual,” he added knowingly. “So?”
“So,” Rosie sang. “Daddy said he loves Augusta.”
I held back a groan and took in Cal’s all too amused expression. “Did he?”
Rosie gave an exaggerated nod. “I love her too,” she whispered to Cal and turned to me. “Does this mean she’s your girlfriend now? Is she gonna be my new mommy?”
That question was the exact reason I’d kept my dating life out of Jackson’s Ridge and far from my desperate-for-a-mother, daughter. Augusta and I weren’t ready to be stepparents. Yet. “I don’t know what it means, Rosie. When I find out, I promise to let you know.”
She absorbed my words thoughtfully and nodded. “Just ask her to be your girlfriend, she’ll say yes.” Rosie spoke with the certainty of my sister, her Aunt Teddy.
“I agree,” Cal added with a laugh.
I stared at the two smiling faced huddled together on the too small hospital bed and let out a low groan. Girlfriend felt like such a tame word for Augusta. I wasn’t sure what exact label would fit, it was too soon for wife but girlfriend felt too lightweight. Too casual for what I wanted. “Shut up, Cal.”
He shrugged. “It’s time to man up, before its too late. Women like that don’t stay single forever.”
My best friend knew the exact words to say to piss me off. “You don’t think I know that?” Augusta was the only damn person who didn’t know how wonderful she was, and I needed to let her know, to show her, before she moved on for good. I just didn’t know what telling her, showing her, looked like.
But I knew exactly who would. “Call Teddy and tell her to bring Hannah over to my place for a powwow. With food. Two and a half hours from now.”
Cal folded his arms and stared at me. “Would a please kill you?”
“No, but I might kill you if you don’t hop to it. I don’t have a lot of time, Cal.”
His grin was bright and wide, a knowing smirk in his eyes. “Yeah, this was as amusing as I thought it would be.”
“What?”
Cal shrugged. “Going crazy over a woman.”
“I’ve been here before,” I growled angrily as I thought of how foolish I’d been to rush into marriage with Trishelle. “Remember?”
“Yeah, I do,” he said easily and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “But you weren’t like this. You were bowled over by her beauty and her grind, not her.”
He was right, dammit. I thought I loved Trishelle but the truth was just that I cared about her. We were both young and ambitious, and that’s more than enough when you’re young. It was never love, not like this. “Okay, fine. Have your fun at my expense, just get them to my house. Please.”
Cal pulled out his phone and dropped a kiss on Rosie’s head. “Wish your dad good luck, Princess, he’s gonna need it.”
She giggled at the feel of his scruff on her face. “Good luck, Daddy.”
Cal snickered as he placed the call, ignoring the glare I sent him as a smile lit his face when Teddy answered. “Hey babe. Good news.”
I smiled at Rosie and ruffled her hair. “Thank you, honey.”
She put her little hand on my arm, stroking gently. “Don’t worry, Daddy, Nurse Gus loves you too.”
I wanted to believe that, however the news came to me. “How do you know that?”
“She loves everybody and you’re the best so she must love you best of all.”
Let’s just hope that Augusta agreed.
