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After the Christmas Party(37)



Karen looked at her as if she was crazy. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I moved here from out of state, remember? I don’t have any family. I’ll be by myself if I’m not working. I should work and you go enjoy your day with your family.”

Karen shook her head. “No way. Pay for Christmas Day is always double time and I need the extra money. I’d put in to work and was glad for the schedule change as I’m helping put my kid sister through school. Besides, I seriously doubt Dr. Williams is going to let you spend Christmas Day alone.”

Okay, so convincing Karen to swap with her wasn’t going to work. Maybe one of the other cardiac nurses would swap with her.

No such luck.

Trinity couldn’t work out why not a single one of the nurses scheduled to work on Christmas Day preferred to have the holiday itself off. Not a single one of them was willing to let her work instead of them. Unbelievable.

What was up with this hospital anyway? Didn’t they have any Christmas spirit? They were supposed to want to be at home, to be with their families, to…not be like her.

Annoyed at herself, she went into a patient room and forced a smile onto her face for Jewel’s benefit.

“Not working.”

“Huh?” she asked, confused by her patient’s immediate comment. “What’s not working?”

“That fake smile.” Jewel pursed her lips. “I take it you still haven’t found that pair of glass slippers?”

“If you recall our conversation, you’ll remember that I don’t want glass slippers. Way too impractical for a practical girl like me.”

Jewel snorted. “You can talk big all you want, but when I look at you I see the truth.”

Scary thought, but somehow she believed Jewel really did see more when she looked than most people did. As if age had given her insight beyond the surface.

“What truth would that be?”

“That you’re a romantic through and through.”

Trinity made a face then put her hand across Jewel’s wrinkled forehead as if taking her skin temperature. “Uh-oh. I think we’d better call your doctor because you’re delirious.”

“And you, my dearie, aren’t fooling this old gal. You crave romance.”

Wondering at why she sounded as out of breath as her patient, Trinity shook her head. “Wrong. Pink hightops were my dream shoes, not glass slippers. I run from romance.”

Riley paused outside Jewel’s door, fascinated by the conversation he was overhearing. Perhaps he should feel guilty for eavesdropping, but he didn’t. He needed an edge with Trinity, something to push him in the right direction where she was concerned, because she confused him.

And frustrated him.

Since the night on the beach she’d gone right back behind her wall, and had also erected a barrier between them. A new barrier because he wasn’t convinced there had ever been a point where she hadn’t had a protective wall between them.

Except perhaps for a few moments there on the beach when she’d been touching his face. When she’d looked at him, touched him, she’d been unguarded.

He’d liked what he’d seen, what he’d felt. A lot.

He wanted that woman, that unguarded Trinity, all the time.

The one he knew was buried within her who claimed to not like Christmas, to not believe in the magic of the season. He wanted to see her laugh as she had in the surf, to let herself loose with him and just embrace life.

Not for her to beg every nurse on the schedule to let her work for them on Christmas Day so she could get out of spending the day with him.

That had almost had him losing his temper. Even now the idea that she’d do that got his hackles up. Then again, perhaps he couldn’t say a thing because he’d already ensured none of them would swap with her, and without bribery.

Just because Trinity claimed not to be a romantic, it didn’t mean the other nurses on the cardiac floor were immune to romance. When he’d told them he’d planned a Christmas surprise for Trinity, they’d all oohed and ahhed. Yeah, the other cardiac nurses were as much suckers for romance as…as he was.

Because he wanted to give Trinity romance and lots of it. He wanted to show her what Christmas was all about.

“Why on earth would you run from romance? Especially in a pair of pink hightops?” Jewel sounded as confused by Trinity’s claim as Riley himself was.

“Because romance is all about building up expectations and making promises that won’t come true, not in the real world, so of course I run.”

That’s exactly how she described Christmas.

“Honey, like I said before—” Riley could just see Jewel’s head bobbing back and forth “—you’ve been hanging out with the wrong Prince Charming.”