“Better!” Trinity said.
“And how is Daddy?”
“He keeps yawning,” Trinity tattled and giggled.
“Hard to sleep in those chairs, right, Dad?” Jazzy asked.
“Right,” he agreed. “We’re ready to go home and get some real rest.”
“Gotcha. A hospital is a busy place. As soon as Trinity eats some breakfast and keeps it down for a couple of hours, I’ll start processing her discharge papers.”
Good news. Roan wanted out of here. Even though he hired trusted ranch hands, he’d been away from the Slope Ridge Ranch for well over twenty-four hours, and that made him antsy.
Jazzy finished taking Trinity’s vital signs. “Everything’s perfect, Doodlebug. How’s your throat?”
Doodlebug.
Claire’s term of endearment for Trinity that Roan and his family continued to use. Jazzy must have heard him call Trinity that. The pretty nurse’s familiarity both flattered and bothered him. It didn’tseem fair that some other woman was calling his daughter by the nickname his wife had given her.
Trinity put a hand to her throat. “It hurts a little.”
“The night nurse used some medicated spray on her throat during the night,” Roan said. “To numb the pain.”
“Does it hurt too much to eat breakfast?” Jazzy asked. She elevated the head of the bed with the remote control and then whisked the metal dome off the food dish.
Trinity leaned forward to investigate the breakfast offerings: cream of wheat, a carton of plain Greek yogurt, and applesauce. His daughter wrinkled her nose. “No ice cream?”
“I guess the dietary staff didn’t think ice cream was a good breakfast choice.”
Trinity angled her head down and peeked up at Jazzy, giving her a look that was as manipulative as it was adorable. “Canna have some ice cream, please?”
“I sort of promised her ice cream after the tonsillectomy,” Roan said, feeling sheepish. “Could she get some ice cream?”
“You betcha. We keep ice cream on the floor. She’s not the first to ask for ice cream for breakfast. We have three flavors. Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.”
“’Nilla!” Trinity clapped her hands.
“Hang on. I’ll be right back. While I’m gone, try a bite of applesauce or cream of wheat, please.”
“Thanks,” Roan said. “I appreciate you making a special trip.”
“No problem. All part of the job.” Jazzy wavedoff his thanks. She held his gaze for a second too long and then lowered her lashes.
Roan couldn’t help watching the sway of her shapely hips as she strolled off. Heaven help him. Why was he thinking like this? Jazzy was his daughter’s nurse.
Not after Trinity goes home.
He had no time for romance.
You make time for what’s important.
He had more baggage than a jetliner’s cargo hold.
Okay.He had no comeback for that.
Roan got up to shut the door Jazzy had left ajar, heard murmuring voices in the hallway, and he peeked out.
Christmas decorations that the staff put up yesterday, replacing Thanksgiving turkeys and cornucopias with Christmas trees and North Pole villages, festooned the corridor. Soft Christmas music played from the nurses’ station. They’d done their best to make the ward festive for their young charges.