The Baby of Their Dreams (Contemporary Medical Romance) Read Free Page A

time. ‘Ooh, I might make it home in time to give them their bath before bed. Nigel’s cooking a romantic dinner for the two of us tonight...’
    ‘Lovely.’
    ‘Enjoy Spain,’ Gemma called. ‘You might find yourself some sexy Spanish flamenco dancer or matador...’
    ‘At an emergency medicine conference?’ Cat laughed. ‘I don’t think there’s much chance of that.’
    ‘Well, a gorgeous waiter, with come-to-bed eyes and—’
    ‘Oh, please!’
    ‘Why not?’ Gemma winked. ‘If you can’t manage a love life, then pencil a few flings into that overcrowded diary of yours.’
    ‘There’s another conference in Spain the following week that
you
might want to consider attending,’ Cat said in a dry voice. ‘Sexual health. You, as an obstetrician, better than anyone must know the perils of casual sex.’
    ‘Of course I do, but sex
is
healthy.’ Gemma grinned and then she looked at Cat. She wanted to pick up an imaginary sledgehammer of her own and knock down the wall that had gone up around her friend since her baby’s death.
    ‘Do you know what’s brilliant about a one-night stand, Cat?’
    ‘Gemma...’ Cat shook her head. She really didn’t have time to stand and chat but her friend persisted.
    Gemma loved to talk about sex! ‘He doesn’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to worry how you might slot into each other’s lives and whether he leaves the toilet seat up or is going to support you in your career and all that stuff, because you’re not looking for a potential Mr Right. He can be Mr Wrong, Mr Bad, Mr Whatever-It-Is-You-Fancy. God, but I miss one-night stands.’
    ‘Does Nigel know your theory?’
    ‘Of course he doesn’t.’ Gemma grinned. ‘Nigel still thinks he was my second...’ They both laughed for a moment but then Gemma stood firm. ‘It’s time for you to have some fun, Cat. Doctor’s orders—you’re to buy some condoms at the airport.’
    Cat laughed and waved and got into her car and headed for the hairdresser’s.
    She adored Gemma.
    And Nigel.
    But...
    What she hadn’t said to her very good friend was that, as much as it might work for Gemma, she really didn’t want a Nigel of her own. She didn’t want someone asking what was for dinner every night, but nor did she want to be the one coming in after work and doing the ‘Hi, honey, I’m home’ thing.
    Still, there wasn’t time to dwell on it all.
    She parked her car in her usual spot behind the church and grabbed her bag and walked quickly to the hairdresser’s. She pushed on the door but it didn’t open and she frowned and then she saw the ‘Closed’ sign.
    ‘Don’t do this to me, Glynn...’
    He never forgot her appointments and Cat had been very specific about the time for today when she had seen him on Monday. Glynn knew that she had a plane to catch and that she would be pushed for time.
    ‘Breathe,’ Cat mumbled as she accepted that no amount of rattling the door was going to make Glynn suddenly appear.
    It’s a hair appointment, that’s all,
she told herself. There would be a hairdresser at the hotel. Only, her presentation was at nine in the morning and she’d wanted to have a leisurely breakfast in her room and calm herself down before that.
    And it was Thomas’s birthday tomorrow.
    She was not going to cry over a missed hair appointment.
    Cat wasn’t crying over that as she drove to the airport. Instead, she was wishing the boot was full of presents and wrapping paper and that she was dashing to pick up a birthday cake...
    Why was it still so hard?
    So, as she could not get her thick curly hair smoothed into long, glossy and straight, she bought some hair serum at the airport, then checked in her luggage and headed through with ages to spare.
    She went to the loos and sorted her hair as best she could, deciding she would straighten it tonight and again in the morning, but for now she tied it back and headed out.
    She took a seat and read through her talk on her tablet. It was about