Page 80 of Doc Rock
“Calm down overthere, stop giving me a moving target.”
“Sorry,” Clara replied.
“Are you rejoining Midnight Thunder?”Sadie whispered so only the four of themcouldhear.
Well, not Taylor, as he didn’t spend all his time in operating theatres where babies were a frequent occurrence, so he wasn’t paying attention to anything but his baby.
Clara bent her head and kissed her baby’s black hair, which was so like his dad’s, before she murmured,“That would be cool!”
“No, I’m not rejoining Midnight Thunder,”Mai said.
“Oh, did you say Midnight Thunder?”Lily’s voice piped up from the other side of the drapes.“I love their music. Can we put some on?”
The scout nurse quickly replied that she had a speaker, and before theyknewit, Ford’s voice filled the theatre.
“Rumours have started that I’ve, well, Sie, well, youknowwhat I mean, has been found. So we’re getting ahead of things. I’ve done a photoshoot with them. Dressed in my oldget-up, I even got a black wig. We’re announcing that they alwaysknewwhere I was and wanted me to be able to live a private life. We figured if I looked like Sie,it wouldtake the heat off my real life.”
“Good call.”Sadie nodded.“It’s just a shock toseeyou in heavy makeup.”She leaned back and studied Mai’s face, which made her shift uncomfortably.“But it looks great on you.”
Mai smirked.“The eyeliner is a lot more wonky than it used to be, but it has been sixteen years since I did my makeup like this, so I was pretty proud of myself. Although I’d rather talk about more important things, like what’s your baby’s name?”
Clara gazed at Taylor.“We’ve got a couple of names.”
“Clara, you did the hard work. It’s your pick.”Taylor ran his finger softly down his baby’s cheek.
“Are you sure?”Clara questioned.
“Yeah.”He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips.“It’s entirely up to you.”
“Okay. Then this little guy is Hayes Anderson.”A broad smile crossed Clara’s face as she named her son.
“I love it.”Taylor kissed her again, then kissed their baby’s head.
“I really like it,”Mai said.
“Yeah. We’ve been going back and forth between that and Hugo. But seeing him, his name’s Hayes. No question.”Clara tried to gaze at her baby, but he was so close to her, as she lay flat on her back, that her expression was more cross-eyed than anything.“I always warned patients that these first cuddles were awkward,”Clara laughed.“But I’m only now seeing how awkward they really are!”
“He’s right up your nose.”Sadie giggled. Then pulled her phone out of her pocket.“Any chance of a group photo?”
“Absolutely.”Clara used the hand that wasn’t holding Hayes to wipe at her eyes.“I don’t want our photo to be me crying.”
Mai looked at the happy group of friends and stepped back so theycouldtake their photo.
Sadie grabbed her arm and tugged her forward.“Where are you going, Mai? We want your best rockstar face in this picture!”
“Oh no, you guys have been friends forever. You don’t want me in the picture.”She tried to step away again.
“Nope, you’re stuck with us now,”Clara declared.“And you literally just saved my baby's life, you’re getting in the photo.”
“Alright!”Mai laughed, leaning down.
“Here, Taylor, your arm’s longer. You take it.”Sadie handed her phone to Taylor.
He checked they were all in shot and took a photo, saying,“Smile!”
He showed it to Clara, who frowned.“No, take it again. I look rough.”
“You never look rough,”Taylor replied.
