Capturing The Single Dad's Heart. Kate Hardy

made his heart flip.

      Which wasn’t good.

      If he’d met Erin at a different time in his life—before Caitlin had come to live with him, perhaps, or maybe after he and Caitlin had established a workable relationship—then he would’ve been interested in dating her. Very interested.

      But right now, all he could offer her was friendship. And it was a relationship where Nate was horribly aware that he was doing most of the taking.

      That evening, he said casually to Caitlin, ‘We’re going out on Saturday.’

      She looked at him. ‘Why?’

      ‘I’d like you to meet a friend of mine.’

      She rolled her eyes at him. ‘I don’t need to meet the women you date.’

      ‘She’s not a date,’ he corrected. ‘She’s a friend. And I think you’ll like her.’

      Caitlin’s expression suggested that she didn’t think she would. At all.

      ‘Have a think about where you might like to go,’ he said.

      ‘I already know that. Home,’ she said.

      The word cut him to the quick—the more so because he knew she hadn’t said it to hurt him. She really did want to go back to the place where she grew up, where she knew everyone around her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly. ‘That’s not an option. And I know it’s hard for you to settle in to a place you don’t know, living with someone you don’t really know that well, and to leave all your friends behind and start all over again in a new school—but I’m trying my best to make it as easy as I can for you, Caitlin.’

      Tears shimmered in her eyes. ‘It isn’t fair.’

      ‘I know. Sometimes life’s like that. The only thing you can do is try to make the best of it.’ Awkwardly, he tried to hug her, but she wriggled free.

      ‘I have to do my homework.’

      ‘OK. But if you want me for anything, I’m here. I’m your dad, Caitlin. I know I haven’t been there enough for you in the past, and I regret that more than I can ever explain, but I’m here for you now. And you come first.’

      She made a noncommittal noise and fled.

      Had he started to make some progress? Or was this how it was going to be for ever? he wondered.

      He just hoped that his fairy godmother would be able to work the same magic on his daughter as she’d worked on him, and could persuade Caitlin to open up a little. To let him be there for her.

      * * *

      ‘Erin, it’s the Emergency Department for you,’ Ella, the receptionist, told her.

      ‘Thanks, Ella.’ Erin took the phone. ‘Erin Leyton speaking. How can I help?’

      ‘It’s Joe Norton from the Emergency Department. I’ve got a patient who came in for an X-ray—but the department sent her through to us because when they’d finished she couldn’t stand up, and she can’t feel anything from the middle of her chest downwards. I think it might be a prolapsed disc or a spinal cord problem, but we really need a specialist opinion. Would you be able to come down and see her?’

      ‘Sure. I’m on my way now,’ Erin said. She put the phone down, grabbed the pen to write on the whiteboard and smiled at the receptionist. ‘I’m stating the obvious here—I’m going down to the Emergency Department.’ She wrote her whereabouts next to her name on the whiteboard, and was just about to leave the unit when Nate came round the corner.

      ‘Just the man I wanted to see. Are you up to your eyes, or can I borrow you?’ she asked.

      ‘What’s the problem?’

      ‘The Emergency Department needs our specialist opinion. Our patient might have a spinal cord problem, which would be me; or she might have a prolapsed disc in her neck, which would be you.’

      ‘I’ll come with you,’ he said.

      ‘Thanks.’ She smiled at him and scribbled ‘ED with Erin’ next to his name on the board.

      Downstairs in the Emergency Department, she found Joe Norton and introduced Nate to him. ‘Depending on the problem, it could be either one of us, so we’re saving a bit of time,’ she said.

      ‘Thank you both for coming,’ Joe said, looking relieved, and took them through to the patient. ‘This is Mrs Watson,’ he said. ‘Mrs Watson, this is Dr Leyton and Mr Townsend from the spinal unit.’

      Erin noticed that Mrs Watson’s face was ashen and she was trembling slightly. Clearly her sudden inability to walk had terrified her and she was fearing the worst.

      ‘Dr Norton called us down as we’re specialists in the area where he thinks the problem lies—so please don’t be scared, because we’re here to help,’ Erin said gently. ‘Mrs Watson, we know some of your medical history already from Dr Norton, but would you like to tell us in your own words about how you’ve been feeling?’

      ‘Call me Judy,’ Mrs Watson said in a shaky voice.

      ‘Judy. I’m Erin and this is Nate. He’s a surgeon and I’m a neurologist,’ Erin explained, ‘so hopefully between us we can sort everything out for you.’

      ‘I’m so scared,’ Judy burst out. ‘It must be really serious for them to have called you. Does this mean I’m never going to walk again?’

      ‘Not necessarily, so try not to worry,’ Erin said.

      ‘I know that’s easier said than done,’ Nate added, ‘but tell us what’s been happening, and that will help us to work out what the problem might be and how we can help you.’

      ‘It started a few months ago,’ Judy said. ‘I kept waking up with my right hand all numb and tingling. I thought I was just lying on my arm in my sleep, so I didn’t want to bother the doctor with it. But then I woke up last week feeling a bit fluey—and after that I started getting real pain in my neck and shoulders. I took painkillers, but they didn’t do a lot.’