Page 45 of The Christmas Competition

“I really am so grateful to you for bringing me here, and for staying. Especially after you’ve gone above and beyond for me the last few days.” I swallowed. “When I didn’t even deserve it.”

He shook his head, opening his mouth and clearly about to disagree, but I stopped him with a squeeze of his hand.

“No, I didn’t. After I accused you of hurting Izzy back then and created this new feud out of the lights competition, I really wouldn’t have blamed you if you had wanted to just let my house burn down with me in it.”

The look of horror on his face would’ve been comical if it weren’t so genuine. “Nisa, don’t say stuff like that. Of course I wouldn’t have wanted that.” He leaned forward, keeping hold of my hand. To be honest I would have been happy to hold his hand all day. “It’s true that I could have done without the repeated accusations that I hurt Izzy.”

I winced at that. And again wondered—​how had Drew been so mistaken?

“But,” he continued, “even though the lights thing becoming a competition hadn’t been my intention”—​he raised his eyebrows—“because I was telling the truth when I said I had already bought the stuff to decorate before I knew you had entered . . .”

Another wince from me.

“I have to say I actually am enjoying our little lights feud. I think it’s been a welcome distraction from various things.”

What things? I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to interrupt him.

“And then, since the fire . . .” Pain rippled across his face, as if he hated remembering it. I squeezed his hand again and he brushed his thumb across the back of my hand in reassurance, my skin coming alive with tingles under his touch. “Since the fire I’ve found myself wanting to spend more time with you.” He ran his other hand through his hair, eyes darting to mine and away again. “I like being around you.”

A warm glow surfaced on my cheeks, mirrored in my heart. “Me too.” And I realized that I no longer felt guilty about it.

His cheeks streaked with pink as I said that, and I realized I liked making him blush.

Just then Seb appeared in the doorway, blond hair ruffled and blue eyes tired. “Hey, Nisa. Thanks for coming,” he said in his plummy accent.

I jumped up and crossed the room to give him a hug.

“It’s rather a relief to have a medical person here,” he said before releasing me with a sheepish expression. “I have no idea what all this medical speak is about, and Aisha just keeps waving her hand and saying Baji will sort it when she arrives.”

I gave an extra-​loud laugh at that, because it was typical Aisha and it was also a relief to know she didn’t feel so ill as to not be typical Aisha. The familiar old voice at the back of my mind (which I was now realizing sounded more like Drew’s voice than my own inner voice), telling me to not be so loud, tried to surface. But I shoved it back.

“Come through,” Seb said. “The nurse said we could bring you in early for visiting time and he would have a chat with you about what the doctor said.” He smiled bashfully. “We told him that you work at Inverglen Hospital and he said he’d trained under you and that you were the most formidable and most hilarious mentor he’d ever had.”

I blushed but hid it under a big grin. “Ah, well. You know me.” We followed Seb out of the room and I caught Kerr eyeing my hot cheeks. “By the way,” I told Seb, “this is my neighbor, Kerr.”

“Hi,” Kerr said, reaching out a hand to shake Seb’s as we walked the short distance to the ward’s main doors.

“Oh yah, sorry,” Seb said, smacking himself on the forehead. “I’m Seb. I know who you are because Aisha said Nisa was bringing you and we’ve heard a lot about you. Feel like I know you already, which is why I forgot to introduce myself.” He gave us a wink and Kerr shot me a questioning look, which had my cheeks burning anew.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to come too?” Kerr asked as we followed Seb down the ward to the first bay on the left.

“Oh yeah. Aisha is dying to meet you.”

Oh God. I flashed Kerr a too-​bright smile as we headed to the second bed, where a very healthy-​looking Aisha was sitting up in bed in her satin black pj’s, leafing through the latest issue of Vogue.

“Baji!” she said, her face brightening. I leaned in for a hug. “Thank you for coming up.” She peered behind me. “And this must be the infamous Kerr hot-​stu—​I mean, Kerr Murdoch.” She reached out a dainty hand, which Kerr took, a bemused expression on his face.

“Lovely to meet you, Aisha. Apologies for barging in. Nisa needed a ride.”

Aisha raised her perfectly shaped brows. “Oh, I’ll bet she did.”

I clapped my hands together forcefully, the sound reverberating through the room. “So! What’s the update? We’ve been worried about you.”

Aisha waved her hand dismissively. “Ach, I’m fine. Nothing to worry about. They don’t think there’s anything sinister at play. Apparently, it’s an iron deficiency problem or some such thing. Oh, there he is. Toby!” She waved at a nurse walking past the opening of the bay. “Toby! My sister is here.”

The nurse’s face lit up as he saw me, and I recognized the young Nigerian nurse from his rotation through our little hospital a couple of years ago. He came over to give me a hug. “Nisa! Long time no see. Hope you’re keeping Claire and the gang out of trouble.”

“Oh, you know me,” I told him with a wink. “I am the trouble.”