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- Herausgeber: Ryer Publishing
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
New Year's Eve. The perfect time for new beginnings. And maybe even new love.
Janie loves her job as a travel nurse, but it means she's been away from home too long. Now that her cousin Sarah has had her first baby, it's the perfect time for Janie to take a temporary job nearby and enjoy family life again.
She'll only be here three months. Then she's off to the next job. It's how she likes to live.
Unless a musician she meets at the New Year's Eve party can somehow change her mind.
[A standalone short story in the world of LOVE PROOF. Includes a preview of the novel HEART OF ICE by Robin Brande.]
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RIGHT ON TIME
ROBIN BRANDE
RYER PUBLISHING
RIGHT ON TIME
By Robin Brande
Published by Ryer Publishing
www.ryerpublishing.com
Copyright 2018 by Robin Brande
www.robinbrande.com
All rights reserved.
HEART OF ICE
By Robin Brande
Published by Ryer Publishing
www.ryerpublishing.com
Copyright 2012 by Robin Brande
www.robinbrande.com
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
RIGHT ON TIME
RIGHT ON TIME
Janie wove her way through the New Year’s Eve party guests, her eyes on the red hair she could see in the corner of the living room. Two redheads: her cousin Sarah and the new baby. The chubby-cheeked, ginger-haired three-month-old she had only seen in the slews of pictures she kept begging Sarah to send more often.
Sarah hadn’t noticed her yet. She was laughing with a few of her guests, jiggling the baby on her hip.
At last Janie was in range.
She reached out her arms and said the most loving thing she could:
“Oh my gosh, that is the ugliest baby! She’s a monster!”
Sarah’s face lit up. “Janie!” She angled the baby safely to her side and hugged her cousin hard. Then she cheerfully handed the baby over.
“Look at you, you little troll,” Janie cooed, stroking a finger down little Ella’s plump rosy cheek. “You’re so skinny, no one would ever want you.” She closed her eyes and breathed in the clean powdery baby scent. “And you smell disgusting.”
Sarah let out a laugh. Janie opened her eyes again, prepared to laugh along with her cousin. They had both grown up with the same family superstition, so they both knew exactly why Janie said the things she did.
But instead of meeting Sarah’s gaze, Janie looked straight into the disapproving face of the handsome man standing at Sarah’s side. He looked vaguely familiar.
Sarah must have caught the man’s expression, too. “Nate, this is my cousin Janie. Janie, Joe’s brother Nate. And Ella’s very protective uncle.”
Of course, Janie thought. Now she saw the resemblance: Joe’s musician brother. She still hadn’t met Sarah’s husband, Joe, in person, but she had seen him in plenty of pictures. Nate looked a year or two older, with a few strands of gray in his thick brown hair. Both he and his brother had the same warm brown eyes and solid, athletic look.
In fact, Janie thought, she liked his particular look overall: the simple jeans, a plain white T-shirt under a plain gray sweater, sturdy light-hikers on his feet. Wire-rimmed glasses that made him look bookish. And no longer frowning, but now gazing at her with amused curiosity. And the hint of what looked like a nice smile…
Nope, Janie reminded herself. Just thirteen weeks. Family time is precious.
“You weren’t at the wedding,” Nate said. He definitely would have remembered: Janie’s long brown hair, caught up in a ponytail right now, the minimal makeup, her lively face so ready with a smile. She was darker than her cousin, with an outdoorsy-looking tan. She looked hardy. Healthy. He wondered if she was a runner.
“I couldn’t get away,” Janie said. “This was my first chance.”
“She would have been my maid of honor,” said Sarah.
It had been exactly two years since Sarah and Joe’s wedding. Just a small, low-key gathering of mostly family at Sarah’s parents’ house on New Year’s Eve. The invitation had been a surprise to all of them, including Janie. Last she heard, Sarah still hated Joe for breaking her heart in law school.
Once Sarah told her the whole story of how they found each other again, Janie would have given anything to share in the celebration. But with just one week’s notice before the impromptu wedding, she simply couldn’t reschedule her shifts.
“I still wish I could have been there,” Janie said.
“It’s all right,” her cousin answered. “Now I have a much better job for you. Joe and I would like you to be Ella’s godmother.”
“Really?” Janie said. “I would love that! What do you think, Ella?”
Janie leaned over and touched her nose against the baby’s. Ella looked back at her with wide blue eyes and seemed to gurgle with approval.
New life, Janie thought. It never got old for her. Particularly after a hard shift when she couldn’t save all the patients in her care. She often went to the hospital nursery afterward just to remind herself of the other side of the cycle.
Sarah watched the two of them fondly. Then she clasped her brother-in-law’s arm. “Nate’s the godfather. So it’s good you’re finally meeting. The two of you can work out all the details of how you’re going to spoil my child.”
“Oh, believe me,” said Janie, kissing Ella’s soft ginger hair, “I’m already way ahead of you on that.”
She had made up her mind months ago that she wasn’t going to miss this time with Sarah and her baby. As soon as Sarah told her she was pregnant, Janie began looking for hospital postings in Los Angeles.
Travel nurses were always in high demand. Janie usually had her choice of placements. Each job lasted a minimum of thirteen weeks. She and the hospital could extend that time if she wanted, but by the end Janie was always excited to move on.
It was a lifestyle she loved. Growing up, her family could rarely afford a vacation. Now her whole life revolved around travel and fresh experiences. She’d show up in a new place, meet new people, spend her shifts doing challenging, interesting work, then use her days off to explore the area and try whatever sports the place inspired. She learned kayaking and hockey, stand-up paddleboarding, single-track mountain biking, snowboarding and kite skating.
Her days off felt like a perpetual vacation. She tried as many new things as she could. Then at the end of thirteen weeks she’d accept a new posting somewhere else she wanted to explore and she’d start all over again. Now thirty-two, the same age as Sarah, she had already lived in twenty-six different states.
She was finishing up a job in North Carolina when she finally saw two postings for Los Angeles on the same day. She called the hospital nearest Sarah and accepted right away. She also agreed to work mostly night shifts so she could have more days off to help Sarah with the baby. The ER was always busy, whether it was night or day. Staff nurses appreciated any travel nurse who was willing to take over some of their nights.
Sarah peered over Janie’s arm. “She’s sleeping,” Sarah whispered. “Can I leave her with you for a bit? I need to run to the restroom.”
“Try to take her back,” said Janie, cradling the baby even closer. She loved the feeling of the Ella’s weight in her arms and the warmth of the baby’s head against her chest. And despite what she’d said before, Ella smelled wonderful. Like baby shampoo or baby bath or just plain baby.
“Good,” said Sarah. “And while I’m gone, you might want to explain to Nate why you said all those horrible things about niece.” Sarah’s eyes glinted with mischief. Then she took off at a trot across the room.
Janie turned to Nate and laughed. “Yeah, that…”
Nate liked her laugh. It was a low, throaty sort of chuckle. He liked how unself-conscious she was: about herself, and about how much she obviously loved her cousin and now little Ella. Some women seemed almost embarrassed about enjoying their lives. Janie seemed very comfortable with herself. It made Nate feel comfortable to be around her.
