Midwife's Mistletoe Temptation - Chapter 2
Matt was surprised to see her there. And he could have sworn she’d been crying. But there was no sign of the tears now. Just blue eyes and the steady demeanour that she always carried with her. Her quiet voice in the labour room had helped calm many an expectant mother. So why did it never seem to do the same for him? If anything, it fired up his nervous system and made him hyperaware of everything she said or did. She never appeared bothered—by anything—and it left him wondering what it would take to get under her skin.
Even when he’d disagreed with her—and ultimately he or the obstetrician on duty had the final say, since she’d been a volunteer at the time—she would tilt her head and calmly state her case. She cared deeply about her patients and it showed.
‘Do you start today?’ He wanted to be prepared for that first time they worked together in an official capacity. Would she lift that chin and stare down her nose at him like his ex had? The last thing he wanted was to engage in a sparring match in front of a patient. Now, in private? Would he like it then? He shook that thought from his head. It might be a good idea to talk about their expectations and see what kind of working relationship she had in mind. Adversarial? Or as part of the overall team of Sinclair’s ob-gyn department?
‘No, not until Thursday.’
So he had three more days to mentally prepare. ‘Any chance we can meet up either Thursday morning or some time before that? I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but maybe we can put those aside and start afresh.’
Was that even possible? Their interactions were invariably awkward. And now, he’d be seeing her almost every day rather than just a time or two a week. They could make each other’s lives a living hell if they couldn’t make peace. And he wasn’t even sure what had touched off her animosity towards him.
She smiled. ‘Start afresh? In what way? I just want what’s best for my patients. I don’t see that changing.’
He bristled, even though there’d been nothing challenging in her tone. At least nothing he could put a finger on. ‘And you think I don’t?’
Holly took a step closer and touched his hand. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. Seriously.’
The contact between them burned like fire, but he couldn’t make himself jerk away from her. ‘Probably not, but that’s part of the reason I’d like to meet. Neither of us ever means to offend the other, but we always manage to. I’d like to know where it’s coming from.’
She blinked before shaking her head and dropping her hand back by her side. ‘I don’t think I have the answer to that. But I agree. We do seem to ascribe questionable motives to the other person.’
Matt could attest to that. Holly was proud and, if he wasn’t mistaken, she was competitive in a way that he hadn’t seen in most birth coaches. It was as if she was afraid to be seen making the wrong decision. Had that happened to her at some point?
‘So can we meet?’
She took her phone out and scrolled through a screen before finally turning her attention back to him. ‘How does tomorrow morning work?’