The Nurse's Newborn Gift by Wendy S. Marcus Read Free Book Online

she kind of felt ready to collapse, too. Probably because this was the most energy she’d exerted since she’d left the hospital three days ago. So she sat.
    Spencer sat, too.
    â€œGlad I was available to help you resolve your issues,” Krissy said, even if, as a result, she now felt even more weighted down by guilt. “Happy to be of service.” In truth she wasn’t happy at all. Rather than look at him, Krissy reached to take a packet of artificial sweetener from the basket in the center of the table and started flipping it between her fingers.
    â€œHey.” Spencer reached over, slid a knuckle under her chin, and tilted her face up so she had to look at him. “I’m sorry, truly sorry, from the bottom of my cold, unfeeling heart,” he said, with such sincerity she believed him. But the damage was done, the truth had come out—about Jarrod and about what Spencer really thought of her—and there’d be no unhearing it.
    Only moving her eyes, Krissy glanced at the clock on the microwave. “You’ve exceeded your two minutes.” She didn’t like this nice, self-deprecating version of Spencer, didn’t like the way it made her feel, didn’t know how to respond to it.
    Spencer released her chin and held out his hand. “Can we have a truce? Maybe start fresh?”
    â€œWhy?”
    He reached down to her lap and took her hand into his. “We were friends once, good friends for a long time.”
    But they weren’t friends anymore.
    â€œAnd that’s my best friend’s baby in there.” He pointed to her belly. “Can’t we put our differences aside and do what’s best for Jarrod’s baby?”
    Rather than remind him that little J.J. was part her baby too, Krissy thought about his proposal. She’d spent most of the last five and a half years traveling from place to place and had no local friends, as in good friends she’d feel comfortable calling for help in the middle of the night, in White Plains, where she now lived to be close to her sister. It’d be nice to know, in case of emergency, she had someone she could call aside from Kira and Derrick.
    â€œCome on,” Spencer said with a handsome smile. He let go of her hand and held his out. “Friends?”
    After a brief hesitation, more to make him wait than anything else, Krissy shook it. “Friends.”
    â€œGood.” Spencer unfolded the paper he’d set down on the table and turned it so she could read what he’d written.
    â€œOn top,” he pointed, “is the hospital information. Down here,” he moved his finger lower, “is the rental agent for my building.”
    â€œWhoa.” Krissy sat back. “No.”
    â€œIt’s not my intent to overstep, but you mentioned you needed an apartment.”
    â€œI am not moving into your building.”
    He looked offended. “Why not? It’s nice. It has security. It has ample parking and is close to shopping, Derrick’s office, and White Plains Hospital. Also, I checked, they have two one bedroom units and three two bedroom units available for immediate occupancy. With a recommendation from me, you could probably be in by the end of this week, early next, assuming your credit’s okay.”
    While Krissy liked the sound of ‘immediate occupancy’, “I can’t afford it.”
    â€œI happen to know you were the sole beneficiary of a huge life insurance policy. You couldn’t possibly have...” He hesitated, his eyes studying her face as he seemed to be trying to figure out the safest way to finish his statement.
    Krissy stared back, at a crossroad. She could pounce on him for even thinking she’d blow through all the money Jarrod had left her. Or she could avoid confrontation and take the high road, so to speak, which is what she decided to do. After all, Spencer was trying to be nice. She could try too. “I have every