Home>>read English Girl in New York free online

English Girl in New York(15)

By:Scarlet Wilson


He lifted the maple syrup and squirted it onto his pancakes. She was  concentrating on spreading butter on her pancakes smoothly and evenly  with one hand while stirring her tea with the other hand.

He'd opened the blinds partly to let a little natural light into the  apartment. And seeing Carrie McKenzie in the cold light of day was more  than just a little shock to his system.

The girl was beautiful. From the little sprinkle of freckles over her  nose to the way she wrinkled her brow when she was concentrating.

He'd felt a pull towards her last night, when he'd seen her in the dim  lights of his apartment. But now he had a chance to look at her-to  really look at her-and all he could think about was why on earth he  hadn't noticed her before.

How on earth could he have stayed in an apartment building with someone  so incredibly pretty and not have noticed? He could just imagine the  cops at the station if they ever got wind of that.

Carrie put a teaspoon into the jam jar and spread some jam onto her  pancakes. ;Are you going to watch me eat them, too?' she asked, a smile  spreading across her face.

He jerked backwards in his seat. ;Sorry. I was just thinking.'

;About Abraham?'

Wow. No, Abraham was the last thing he'd been thinking about, and as if  in indignation there was a squawk from the crib. Dan set down his  cutlery, gave a sigh and waved his hand at her as she went to stand up.  ;Stay where you are-you're still eating. I'm finished. Maybe he's hungry  again. I sterilised the bottles so we should be fine.'

It was amazing how quickly you could learn to make a baby bottle. A few  minutes later he lifted Abraham from the crib and settled him onto his  shoulder for a bit.

;Carrie? Does he look okay to you? What do you think about his colour?'

She set down her mug of tea and walked over. ;It's kind of hard to  tell.' She shrugged her shoulders. ;We don't really know anything about  the ethnicity of his parents, so I'm not entirely sure what normal will  look like for him.'

She walked over to the window and pulled the blinds up completely. ;Bring him over here so I can get a better look at him.'

Dan carried him over and they stood for a few seconds looking at him in  the daylight. ;He looks a tiny bit yellow, don't you think?'

She nodded. ;Jaundice. Isn't it supposed to be quite common in newborns?'

He gave her that smile again. The why-are-you-asking-me-something-I-couldn't-possibly-know smile.

They both glanced at the computer. Carrie took a few seconds to punch in the words and then-nothing.

She turned towards him. ;Looks like your internet has just died.'

;Really? It's usually really reliable. Must be the weather.'

She stared out the window. ;It must be something to do with the snow. I  hope the power supply doesn't get hokey. That sometimes happens in  storms back home.'

He looked at her with an amused expression on his face. ;Hokey?'

She raised her eyebrows. ;What? It's a word.'

;Really? Where?'

She gave him a sarcastic smile. ;I'd look it up for you online but your internet is down.'

;Ha-ha. Seriously-what are we going to do about Abraham? Do you think  it's dangerous? I mean, he's drinking okay and-' he wrinkled his nose  ;-he certainly knows how to poo.'

She raised her eyebrows at him. ;Really? Again? Then maybe you should  phone a friend. It's a bit like the blind leading the blind here. I  guess you'll need to phone Shana. There really isn't anyone else we can  ask.'

He gave her a smile as he walked over to put Abraham on the dark towel  to change him. He could only imagine the chaos going on at Angel's  Children's Hospital right now. Last thing he wanted to do was add to  Shana's headache. But he wanted to make sure that Abraham was safe in  his care. Screamer or not, he wanted to do the best he could for this  baby.         

     



 

;Do you think this is how all new parents feel? As if they don't know anything at all?'

Carrie turned her back and walked over to the countertop, picking up her  mug of tea. Trying to find the words that would counteract the tight  feeling in her chest. She was trying so hard. So hard not to let these  things creep up on her. Then-out of the blue-some random comment would  just cut her in two.

She set her mouth in a straight line. ;Most new parents would have a whole host of textbooks or family to ask-we don't.'

He pulled his mobile from his pocket. ;I guess I'll phone Shana, then.'  He dialled the number and waited for Shana to be paged, pressing the  button to put her on speakerphone as he wrestled with Abraham's nappy.

;What?'

Not good. She sounded snarky. ;Shana, it's Dan.'

;Is the baby okay?' Straight to the point as usual. Did she ever stop-just for a second?

He took a deep breath. ;We're not sure. Abraham looks kinda yellow. Carrie thinks he might be jaundiced.'

;Who is Abraham?'

;The baby. Who did you think I was asking about?'

;Oh, so you've given him a name. Abraham-I like it.'

;I'm glad I've got your approval. What about his colour?'

;More common in breastfed babies-but not unusual. It could be jaundice.'  It was clear she was thinking out loud. ;Could be serious if it's  appeared within twenty-four hours of birth-but then we don't know that,  do we?'

;So what do we do now?'

;Ideally, I'd like to check him over and draw some blood.'

;Well, that's not gonna happen any time soon. What should we do in the meantime?'

;Monitor him-I mean, watch him. Make sure he feeds regularly and he's  not too sleepy. Don't be afraid to wake him up to feed him. Let him get  some natural light onto his skin. Put his crib next to the window and  keep a close eye on his colour. If you think it's getting worse-or he  has any other symptoms-phone me, straight away. Check the whites of his  eyes. If they start to turn yellow you need to call me.'

Dan couldn't help it. He lifted a sleepy eyelid immediately, much to the  disgust of Abraham, who squealed loudly at being disturbed.

Shana let out a laugh at the other end of the phone. ;If he's that  annoyed, he's doing okay. But let me know if you're concerned.' She  ended the call abruptly-probably a thousand other things to do.

Dan stared at the receiver in his hand. ;She never even told me if she contacted social services,' he murmured.

;Probably too busy.' He jumped at the quiet voice in his ear. He should  have realised she'd stepped closer to him. The wave of wild flowers  seemed like her trademark scent.

He held his breath. Did she realise she was standing so close? Was there  something, somewhere that kept pulling them closer together? Because it  sure felt like it.

Her gaze dropped to the floor and he was sorry, because he liked when  she was so close he could see the other little flecks of colour in her  cornflower-blue eyes. Tiny little fragments of green that you could only  see up close. She tugged at the bottom of her sweater, obviously  feeling a little self-conscious.

;I heard a little of that,' she said. ;Shall I move his crib over to the window?'

He nodded and she moved swiftly, pulling all the blinds up completely  and drowning the room in the reflected brilliant white light from  outside. He flinched, his hand on Abraham's back. ;Wow. Well, if that  can't beat a bit of jaundice I don't know what will.'

She turned around and shot him a killer smile.

His reactions were automatic. Abraham was put down in the brightly lit crib and Dan found himself standing right at her side.

He was obviously going stir-crazy. Being trapped in his apartment with a  beautiful lady was playing havoc with his senses. He was going to have  to try and find some other way to distract himself.

All his usual self-control was flying out the window around Carrie McKenzie and he had no idea why.

She was hiding something from him. And who could blame her? They hardly  knew each other. He couldn't expect her to tell him her every dark  secret.

But Dan's instincts were good. Probably due to his experiences as a  child. Experiences that had affected his ability to form real, trusting  relationships with women.

So why was it that the first time he ever really wanted to get to know  someone, he picked the one woman who was clearly hiding something? Was  he crazy?

He had to do something-anything-to distract himself from all this. ;Any plans today, Carrie?'         

     



 

She folded her arms across her chest. ;Apart from strapping on my jet  pack to fly across New York, get to work, put in a ten-hour day, find  some groceries and clothes for a stranded baby, no, nothing at all.' She  was shaking her head, staring out at the five-foot-deep snow. She was  obviously as stir-crazy as he was.

He waved his pink cast at her. ;Well, I'm going to go swimming. Then I'm  going to strap on my skis-can't waste good snow like this-and finally  I'm going to ship Shana over here to check out Abraham and make sure  he's okay.' He gave her a little smile. ;And if she could bring some  beers, sodas and a fresh pizza, that would be great.'

Carrie leaned against the window and sighed. ;What are we going to do all day?'

;If we can't play our imaginary games?'

Carrie counted off on her fingers. ;We could have a soapathon. You know,  watch all the soaps that you haven't for years. Watch them all day.'  Her brow wrinkled. ;I don't really know the names of any of the soaps in  America. Are they any good?'