Worth Waiting For by Kelly Jamieson

she realized, hopelessly, that she would never love someone like this again. They’d only spent just over twenty-four hours together, much too short a time to fall in love, but she’d never really gotten over her first love for him. The last day had added another layer, a deeper dimension, knowing the man he’d become, the man who was not only thoughtful and insightful, but also thought provoking and fascinating.
    She blew out a long, slow breath, trying to keep from sobbing aloud. He was leaving tomorrow, and if they never saw each other again, how would she survive?
    She would survive. She’d survived last time and even made a life for herself, a life that gave her a lot of satisfaction and joy. She could do it again. If she’d learned nothing else over the last ten years, she’d learned she was a strong woman who could help others without being sucked into co-dependence, and who could need others without being needy.
    She swallowed hard and felt Griff move behind her.
    “You awake?” he whispered, his hand moving to her breast.
    “Yes.” Her breast swelled instinctively into his palm, her nipples hardening.
    “You okay?”
    “Yes.”
    “We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
    She nodded and let him turn her in his arms, and when he kissed her, her cheeks were wet.
     
    * * *
     
    They awakened in the morning to Ainslie’s pager going off. As Griff struggled back to consciousness, Ainslie muttered, “Shit!” and scrambled out of bed. She grabbed the pager and glanced at it. “It’s the hospital.”
    He frowned as she reached for the phone on the bedside table. She punched in numbers, pushing her hair back off her face.
    “It’s Dr. Patterson. She listened. “When? Who’s there? Okay, I’ll be right there.”
    She paused a second after hanging up the phone.
    “Ains? Honey, what is it?”
    “One of my patients.” She stood and began dragging clothes on. “She was hospitalized last week after an MI. She just arrested. They’re resuscitating her. I need to go.”
    “I’ll drive you.” He threw back the duvet.
    “That’s okay. You can stay here. I don’t know how long I’ll be.” She turned to him. “Will you… I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
    Her unspoken question hung in the air.
    “I’ll drive you.” He pulled on his jeans. “I’m parked in the driveway behind you anyway.”
    She blinked. “Okay.”
    They were out of the house in moments into the early morning, the sun barely above the horizon, the air cool and fresh, the sky a pale blue. He sped to the hospital through quiet streets.
    She hurried into the hospital, and he trailed along behind her, wishing he could do something to help her. He followed her down a hallway, around a corner, to where she stopped at a nursing station.
    “Hi, Dr. Patterson,” one of the nurses said. “Dr. Johnson said he wants to see you as soon as you get here.”
    Ainslie nodded. “He’s in his office? How’s Mrs. Garcia?”
    “Stable.”
    Ainslie started to push through the ICU door, but stopped, appearing to remember Griff. She turned to him. “There’s a cafeteria on the second floor. If you want to grab a coffee, I’ll come find you there as soon as I know what’s going on.”
    “Sure. No problem.” He waved a hand as if scooting her in the door, and she flashed a quick, beautiful smile at him.
    He wandered down the hall, found a stairway and climbed to the second-floor cafeteria. Despite the early hour, it was half-full of various medical personnel eating breakfast and drinking coffee. He bought a cup, dumped in several packets of sugar and little creamers, then found an empty table.
    Jesus, he hated hospitals. Ainslie was so strong to work in this kind of environment. He imagined her during her medical school training. He’d heard the horror stories of thirty-six hour shifts while interning. How the hell could someone so little and soft make it through something like that?
    But while Ainslie might be little, he’d definitely learned