Dinner—or any other interaction that wasn’t strictly business—was out of the question. She put the car in gear and edged toward the street, relieved to have sorted that out. She had Hollis and her own irrational response to her in perspective now. She gripped the wheel harder, willing her hands to stop shaking.

Chapter Sixteen

After signing over her last two patients to the night shift—a teen rule-out-appendicitis who needed a white blood cell count and surgical consult, and an octogenarian with right-sided weakness waiting for a bed on the medical floor, Honor slipped into Linda’s cubicle. The lights had been turned down low and Linda appeared to be sleeping. Robin still sat on the stool beside the stretcher, holding Linda’s hand and reading on her iPhone. She glanced up and smiled wanly. She looked tired, unusual for her. She was always on the go, always organizing some event or rallying a team, always full of energy. Honor reflexively scanned the monitors. No change from the last time she’d checked. Everything was stable. The tangle of uneasiness in her chest relaxed a fraction.

“She’s doing great,” Honor whispered. “Need anything?”

“No,” Robin said softly. “I’m fine.”

Linda’s eyes flickered open. “What time is it?”

“A little after four,” Honor said.

Linda frowned at her. “Why are you still here?”

“Because you are.” Honor moved up beside the bed and rested her fingertips on Linda’s shoulder. “How are you feeling?”

“Thirsty. Otherwise good.”

“Here.” Honor held the big Styrofoam container with the straw extending through the plastic cover close to Linda’s face. “Drink.”

“Thanks.” Linda took a few sips and gestured toward Robin. “You could at least make her go home.”

“Not likely. I think she might be waiting for a courtesy dinner tray. You know how good the food is here.”

Linda made a face. “Please. Send her home before we have another patient.”

Laughing, Honor squeezed Linda’s arm. “Don’t worry. I expect Hollis will be by anytime now to give you the green light.”

“You think this is just a little bump in the road, then, nothing serious?”

“We’ll have to leave that to the experts, but you know these things aren’t all that uncommon.” She glanced at Robin, then at Linda. “You know your flying days are done until this little item makes an appearance for good.”

Linda nodded. “I know. I knew that was coming anyhow. It’s fine. I was starting to get a little nervous going up, and that’s no way to start out a flight.” She sat up slowly. “But what about my spot down here?”

“You know you have one.” Honor caught the flash of alarm, quickly hidden, on Robin’s face. She remembered Quinn’s worry when she went back to work soon after Jack’s birth. Sometimes being the one to wait and watch was the hardest role. “But that’s going to have to be Hollis’s call too.”

“And Annie’s,” Linda added.

“What are your plans there?” Honor asked, keeping her tone light. Now wasn’t the time to pressure Linda, and she really didn’t want to. Taking care of friends was tricky—she risked unconsciously using her position to influence Linda into thinking her way, and that wasn’t fair. If she’d been in Hollis’s shoes and had to make the OB call, she’d have had to step aside.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you still planning on the home birth?”

Linda glanced at Robin.

“Up to you, babe,” Robin said. “Whatever you want, as long as it’s safe.”

“I still want to go through with it as planned, but I guess we’ll have to see what the next few months are like.” Linda traced her thumb over the top of Robin’s hand. “Is that okay with you, baby?”

“It’s a plan I can live with.” Robin lifted Linda’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “I’m sure Annie will keep a close watch on things.”

“Knock, knock,” Annie said and parted the curtain. “I think I heard my name.”

Linda smiled widely. “Hi. It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you looking better.” Annie glanced at Honor. “Things have been quiet, I take it?”

“Yes. No further contractions. She’s only had the one dose of mag sulfate and everything looks good.”

Annie patted Linda’s knee beneath the sheet. “That’s terrific news. Hollis will probably let you go home after she sees you.”

“Praise Jesus,” Robin muttered and everyone laughed.

“Bed rest tonight and tomorrow,” Annie said. “No exceptions, okay?”

“Can you handle everything, sweetie?” Linda looked at Robin. “You’ve got work and the kids, and if I’m in bed…”

“Not if you’re in bed,” Annie said, pointing a finger at Linda. “We can have an aide come by for a few days to give you a hand.”

“We should be okay,” Robin said. “I can rearrange some phone conferences I had scheduled so I can look after the kids. As long as they’re squared away, everything else is flexible.”

“We can get you some help with that too, Robin,” Annie said.

“I appreciate it. If I get jammed, I’ll call.”

Annie nodded. “Okay, then. I’ll be by tomorrow morning to see how you’re doing. If anything changes during the night you should call me.”

Honor leaned over and kissed Linda’s cheek. “You’re in good hands. I’ll be at home—I can be over in five minutes. If you need anything at all, you call me.”

“I will, don’t worry,” Linda said.

Just as Honor rolled the curtain back to step into the hall, Hollis came in, a chart tucked under her arm. A storm of butterflies took up camp in Annie’s midsection again. Hollis looked great. She’d changed out of scrubs into black trousers and a soft brushed-cotton dove-gray shirt. Her dark hair framed her face in careless waves that highlighted her angular jaw and arched cheekbones. Annie’s throat went dry. “Hi.”

Hollis grinned, her gaze fixed on Annie’s for a long moment, before she turned to Linda and Robin. “How’s everyone doing?”

“A whole lot better,” Linda said.

“Good. Let me take a look at you and we’ll decide what’s next.” Hollis did a quick exam and a bedside ultrasound. “All nice and normal.” She glanced at Annie. “Talk to you outside?”

“Of course.”

Annie followed Hollis out into the hall.

“What do you think?” Hollis asked.

“There’s been nothing abnormal since she’s been here. She ought to be all right to go home on bed rest.”

“I agree.” Hollis took Annie’s arm and drew her to one side of the hall as a tech pushed a portable X-ray machine down the hall. She continued to hold Annie’s arm lightly as she leaned casually against the wall. “She’s in a high-risk pool now. She’s not a great candidate for a home birth.”

Annie wasn’t surprised that this had come up already. She’d expected Hollis or Honor to question the safety of home birth, and she had given her answer some thought. “I agree she’s high-risk, or at least at risk for something further to develop. But until it does, there’s no reason not to continue with the care plan we’ve outlined. I’ll be monitoring her, and if she has another round of significant premature contractions, she’ll be more likely to deliver prematurely. In that case, I’d recommend in-hospital delivery too.”

“So you’re suggesting a wait-and-watch approach right now?”

“I don’t see why not. She’ll have closer monitoring with us than she’d get with standard OB visits.”

“I see all my high-risk patients as often as needed,” Hollis said abruptly.

“Sorry, I’m sure you do. I just meant—”

Hollis rubbed her face. “No, I know what you meant. It’s no problem. Where will you see her?”

“At least initially, home visits.”

“Whoa.” Hollis shook her head. “Okay, maybe that is a little more attention than we’d give her. Is that standard?”

Annie smiled. “What’s the matter, Doctor? Not in the habit of making house calls?”

Hollis grinned and the tightness around her eyes relaxed. “Sorry. Before my time.”

Annie laughed. “Mine too, at least in the old-fashioned way. But we see more than half of our prenatal patients at home. It’s actually quite efficient and helps prepare everyone involved, not just the mother, for the birth.”

Hollis ran a hand through her hair, ruffling it even more. She looked tired. “Right. Okay. I guess we’ve got a plan, then.”

“I guess we do.” Annie covered Hollis’s hand with hers. “Listen, if you want to take a rain check on dinner—”

Hollis straightened. “No way. Why?”

“You were up late last night. You must be exhausted.”

“I’m okay. And I’ve been looking forward to this all afternoon. Don’t back out on me.”

Ridiculously pleased that Hollis had thought about her earlier, Annie nodded. “All right. I can pick up Callie and meet you—”

Hollis grasped her hand. Her fingers were cool and strong. “That’s not how this works. I’ll pick you both up at home. Let me finish here and I’ll be over. Say thirty minutes?”

“Yes, fine,” Annie said, just the tiniest bit flustered. She was still holding Hollis’s hand and she’d somehow agreed to a dinner date. No, no. Not a date. She was not going out on a date with Hollis Monroe. Annie kept that thought firmly in her mind all the way home.

*

Annie assessed her appearance in the walnut-framed mirror hanging just inside her front door. Realizing that was the third time she’d checked, she turned away, grateful Callie was the only witness to her foolishness. She couldn’t believe she was this anxious about a simple dinner, one to which she was bringing along her four-year-old. Hardly a romantic outing. Obviously Hollis wasn’t thinking of the evening as anything more than a friendly gesture, a collegial outing to break the ice. After all, they would be working together frequently, and getting to know each other was smart. Hollis was smart. Hollis should be there any minute. Annie plucked at the collar of her emerald-green silk shirt and smoothed the front down over her breasts, turning sideways to make sure it didn’t balloon out above the waistband of her sable-brown pants. Her heels were just high enough not to be work shoes, but not so high as to be too dressy. Hollis had looked great in the tailored shirt and pants she’d been wearing at the hospital. The cut of the shirt showed off her shoulders nicely, and the drape of the pants over her butt—