Chapter 267 Cat and Mouse 23

Chapter 267 Cat and Mouse 23
Cat

“Oh.” Next to me Lottie gushed, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glittering. “He’s beautiful. Isn’t he beautiful,” she side eyed me. Almost like she expected me to agree. “Yeah.” I said with a tight smile on my face.

“Do you want to hold him?” Daisy asked from her hospital bed. I had only met her a few times but we were friendly enough. I’d never seen her look so tired but so happy though. Her face was almost glowing.

“Smell his hair,” she gushed. “It has the most amazing scent. I’d be a millionaire if I bottled it.”

Lottie ducked her head over the tiny little bundle wrapped in blue and her sigh was as happy as the new mothers in the bed. “He’s perfect, just perfect. Don’t you think so.”

Dana glanced at me, forced herself to smile and agree. But like me she didn’t seem overly keen on holding the wiggling bundle.

And he was perfect. I couldn’t deny that. He was the perfect baby of someone else. I could be happy for Daisy and Raven but honestly I didn’t want to hold him. He could be perfect from a distance.

“I’ll hold him.” Psych said from the other side of the bed. My head snapped up in surprise. He looked absolutely smitten.  “If that’s ok?” He asked Daisy and Raven who was too busy stroking back his woman’s hair to pay anyone any notice at all.

He cradled the infant tenderly in his hands. “Jesus he’s small.”

Daisy cackled out a laugh. “He didn’t feel small coming out.” She joked. “In fact he felt like a beach ball.”

“I bet.” Pysch glanced at me and then down at the red faced baby, who had reached out and grabbed his thumb in a vice like grip. “I think one day I would like one of these.”

“Really?” The word blurted from my mouth. 

“Yeah.” He met my eyes steadily. “When I’ve met the right woman.”

My eyebrows slammed down. What did he mean by that? Surely he couldn’t be insinuating that I was that woman? 

I bristled, shifting my weight from foot to foot and clutching my bag to my chest. The way he was looking at me was making me uncomfortable. And what was worse was the others looking at me as well.

There was so much tension between us that it was impossible to ignore.

“Excuse me.” I muttered, delving into my bag like I was reaching for my phone. “I have to take this.” My cell phone wasn’t ringing but I needed an excuse to get out of there.

I hit the corridor and took off at a jog but not before I heard Lottie speak. “What the hell was that about?” She asked.

I didn’t hear the rest as I took off down the corridor towards the stairs which would take me outside and to my car so I could escape.

I shouldn’t have come here. It wasn’t like I was super close to any of them now. Sure, it had felt nice to be included again. It made me a little less lonely but-

“Catarina?” A male voice called out and I turned , half expecting to see one of the Reapers. Even though none of them called me by my given name.

“Doctor Smith.” I let out a sigh of relief and plastered a smile on my face as he strode toward me. “It’s been a while.” Awkwardly we met in the middle of the sterile hallway. 

“It has.” Reaching out, he touched my arm but just for a second. “I never expected to see you here.” 

Almost like he couldn’t help it, he glanced down at my stomach. “Are you?”

For a second I was confused and then I threw back my head and laughed. “Oh god no. A friend just gave birth so I am just here to visit.”

“Oh.” His smile faded a little. “So you haven’t changed your mind then.”

“No.” I said a little too quickly. “Not about the baby thing anyway.”

The skin around his eyes tightened a little. “Does that mean you are moving on?” He asked cocking his head to the side. “You know he would never have wanted you to be alone Catarina.”

I cuffed his arm playfully. “And you know I hate that name. I’m Cat to my friends.”

“Are we friends?” He asked completely serious.

“I hope so after all of these years.”

“Then you should call me Matthew.” He said softly. “You’re not my patient anymore , so need for the doctor.”

“I’ll try and remember that ,” I paused. “Matthew.”

His name felt weird in my mouth. It felt wrong. I would never get used to him being anything but doctor Smith.

“So you’re with someone now?” He probed.

“No, well not really.” I really didn’t want to get into this with my old shrink. “It’s complicated.” I finished lamely.

Wise eyes narrowed. “So you are dating?” He beamed at me. “That’s a massive step in the right direction. Humans need company and-“

“The saying is misery likes company but yeah I guess you could say I am dating. In a way.”

“You’re in a intimate relationship with-“

“You’re starting to sound like I’m a patient Dr Smith.” I snapped. “And it’s not a relationship. It’s just-“

The sound of his beeper going off cut me off. He glanced down at it. A frown marring his handsome face. “I’ve got to take this sorry Cat. But can we catch up soon? Come over for dinner tomorrow.”

I opened my mouth to decline and he cut me off.

“Wasn’t a request. We miss you. You can -“

“Bring the crab?” I finished for him with a laugh. The first time I had gone to dinner, that's what I had brought. And it had become a thing. Even though it had been over a year since I had been.

“You know it.” The beeping started again. “I’ll call you with a time ok. Don’t let us down.” He moved forward, pulling me into a hug. “We’ve missed you.” He muttered.

“I’ve missed you too.” I murmured, and froze. My back went stiff because over his shoulder I watched as Psych saw us and froze.

When he lifted his eyes to me, there was nothing but cold hard fury in them.