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planning to keep things light, but she’d been hurt more than she’d realized when he’d left. Maybe he’d left for a family crisis but, still, he hadn’t called to let her know he was coming back. Clearly he hadn’t anticipated renewing their relationship. Because they hadn’t had a relationship.
    She didn’t want to be hurt again. Jadon had already proved himself to be too much like her father. She’d be better off to stay away from him.
    Except he was the father of her babies.
    Avoiding him would be impossible. Somehow she had to find a way to work with Jadon, to meet the needs of her children, without becoming emotionally dependent on him.
    Could she do it? Live with him as a business arrangement, to help share the trials of providing feedings for two infants every two to three hours, without getting emotionally involved?
    The four walls of her apartment were closing in on her, especially the way she couldn’t do anything. She longed to leave. Yet the idea of moving in with Jadon seemed too much like simply exchanging one type of prison for another.
     
    Jadon figured he’d botched things with Alyssa for good. He hadn’t intended to bring up them moving in together, yet suddenly it had seemed like such a great idea. Obviously, by her horrified expression, she hadn’t shared his enthusiasm.
    And her wishy-washy, gee-let-me-think-about-it response hadn’t been promising.
    Seeing Alyssa in her cramped apartment, with her crooked Christmas tree, had bothered him. He couldn’t imagine how she’d possibly take care of two babies in the single-bedroom apartment. Especially as she didn’t have anyone to lean on for support. Her mother had passed away a few years ago and she was an only child.
    The rest of Alyssa’s past was sketchy. He knew she was estranged from her father, but that was about it. They hadn’t made an attempt to know each other on a deeply personal level.
    Their relationship had been physically intimate. He’d realized how much he was starting to care for her at the same time his family crisis had torn him away. He’d thought the distance would help.
    But he’d missed her. Had thought about her a lot. Had missed their physical closeness.
    A closeness he’d considered resuming once he’d returned, since he’d learned a lot about his brother’s illness while he’d been gone. He’d spent time with Jack’s doctor, who’d put some of his old fears to rest.
    And, truthfully, he’d liked their hot, steamy nights together.
    Alyssa’s pregnancy changed everything. He didn’t know anything about being a father. The idea of raisingchildren, twins on top of it, secretly scared him. He knew, only too well, how things could go wrong.
    With a sigh, he rubbed his aching temple and then decided to head for the shower. He was on for another night shift tonight, then had only one day off before working again on Wednesday night. At least he had Thursday and Friday off before being back on for the weekend. He’d been assigned the less-desirable graveyard shifts and weekends, but since the physician team had covered for him while he’d been gone for the past four and a half months, he couldn’t exactly complain.
    Even though he personally would have rather stayed here, he understood there were feelings of resentment among the others.
    Simon Carter had been pretty decent toward him. And there was a new guy, Quinn Torres, scheduled to start soon, to replace Ed Cagney, who’d just retired. But Seth Taylor had been another story. Seth couldn’t have made his feelings any clearer.
     
    Monday night started out fairly quiet. He had to admit he was glad of the chance to ease back into the work he’d loved and hadn’t been able to do for so long.
    At midnight, a woman carrying a small infant rushed in.
    “He aspirated and started turning blue.” The woman was talking fast, but with the way she used medical terminology, he thought she was probably a doctor or a nurse. “I didn’t do any CPR, but used