Read More from Calle J. Brookes

I’m just stopping by to give a quick update. I caught a nasty respiratory infection that sent the asthma going totally out of control for a few weeks. It set me back a bit on schedule. But…Murdoch and Zoey are rocking along at an awesome pace. I’ve been staying up at night with Libby the Wonder Dog (she can’t get up and down on her own now, but once she’s on her feet there is no stopping her!)

This book is turning out way differently than I’d originally imagined. When I’d first gotten the idea for the book it was back in 2017 or so. The technology it was based on became obsolete last year, lol. So it required some pivots. Now, I’m loving the story even more!

I don’t know the release date (it depends on when I get it to the editor and what her schedule looks like), but I do suspect it will be late April/early May when Zoey releases.

In the meantime, I found this little one-shot slice-of-life that I’d played with when I was stuck on something else. I thought you might enjoy it!

Izzie’s Secret Valentine…

(ONE MONTH BEFORE THE EVENTS OF STAND NEXT TO ME)

Dr. Allen Jacobson was a man on a mission.

Finding his wife and getting that woman to spill the beans was the heart of that mission.

Izadora MacNamara Jacobson was hiding something. He wasn’t stupid. The woman could be the most obstinate creature on the planet, especially when something was bothering her. She had been quiet for the last week. While she wasn’t exactly a loud woman to begin with…she was rarely quiet with him at all.

Especially when he did something to get under her skin. He’d tried that two days ago, just trying to get her to release whatever she was bottling inside.

He strongly suspected it had something to do with the man walking just ahead of him now.

Dr. Jeoffrey Stockton got beneath Allen’s skin faster than he would ever admit to anyone who didn’t know the truth about the older man. Things would always be tense between Allen and Izzie and that man.

Only a handful of people in the largest hospital in Finley Creek knew who Stockton was to Izzie. Allen tolerated the man—mostly because of how the man had helped him save Izzie the night he could have lost her right here in this very building.

But when Stockton looked over his shoulder at him, Allen knew he was about to get stopped before he could succeed in his mission. “Has she been feeling well lately?”

Allen hesitated. He knew the she in question, of course. “I…am not certain. Something has been bothering her for at least a week. What makes you ask?”

“I keep an eye on my daughter, Allen. You can count on that. I could tell she was tired the last time I saw her. And she looked pale.”

Intense worry shot through Allen. He’d thought he was possibly imagining it. He was a damned emergency trauma surgeon and until the hospital had hired four more physicians to work the emergency department recently, he’d spent a good deal of time in the ED. He knew when someone was ill.

That it was his own wife—Izzie was his world. His heart.

Something happening to her was his biggest nightmare, followed by something happening to his baby sister. “I’m going to find out tonight.”

“Good. Take care of her. I know she’ll probably never forgive me, never let me in. Hell, I don’t know what her mother filled her head with years ago. I know that I just wasn’t there when she needed me. But…I’ll always love my children. All of them.”

Allen just nodded. He’d seen Stockton’s younger children. Two girls—one a teenager and one barely school-age—and three boys in between. All of them looked like Izzie in some way or another.

Izzie was open to meeting the kids eventually. She was just afraid of getting hurt. He completely understood that. And it was entirely up to her what she did with her father next.

Stockton veered to the left. Allen went right. Toward the ED.

Where his world waited.

***

Izzie was beyond exhausted.

She had two hours to go on her shift. Allen was probably finished for the day. He normally spent the time difference between their shifts on paperwork or wandering around the hospital like a far too gorgeous ghost, getting all the newer nurses in a tizzy.

They’d get all excited—her husband was gorgeous, after all—but the man was going home with her.

Izzie was going to get through the next two hours, and then she was going to curl herself around her husband and not move. For the rest of the night.

Never had she been so tired in her life.

No one had warned her about this part.

Someone nudged her arm. “You look a little green, Izzers. You ok?”

Izzie nodded. Nikkie Jean had taken a full twelve weeks maternity leave after giving birth to her twin baby girls. But she was back now. “I’m good. Just tired.”

“And a bit…wheezy.” Nikkie Jean peered at her like Izzie was a bug. “Taking the meds?”

“Of course.” Though she would definitely have to speak to her physician—not her husband, nor her best friend—about what meds would be safe to take. Nikkie Jean and Allen together…they would hover. They would drive her insane, practically watching every breath she took.

And once she added her uncle Jake to the mix…

He could hover with the best of them, that man. Of course, he had raised her, but still…

“Just having a bit of an off few days with the asthma,” Izzie said as the elevator binged. Two tall men walked out, confident in every step they took.

“My, what a pretty, pretty man right there,” Nikkie Jean said, snarky as always. “I think one of us should grab him and hold on tight.”

“I would, but I am still on for two more hours.” He looked good. It had been a good shift for him, then. Sometimes he’d come for her when the shadows of what he did became too much.

He was intense. A gifted trauma surgeon, rocketing to the top of his field. Pride in her husband’s accomplishments was a real thing.

He came right to her. She checked the clock. She was about to take her break. He had perfect timing. She’d spend the next fifteen minutes with her husband, and think about various ways she could tell him exactly what the man had done to her.

He was seriously going to be proud of himself now.

They’d only been trying for a little while, after all.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” His hand went to her back, his fingers spreading. Scorching her through her scrubs top. She loved it when the man touched her. They touched occasionally at the hospital, but they were both professionals. No pawing at each other here.

That could wait until she got him home and got him out of that suit…

“I’m a little wheezy tonight. I was just about to go upstairs, get some air.” They had a spot on the roof she’d always think of their spot. He’d kissed her there so many times before.

Izzie smiled. Maybe that would be the best spot. She had kept the secret long enough. She’d wanted to get it confirmed with Dr. Kaur—her friend Layla—first. “Come with?”

She hadn’t even had to ask.

They took the elevator to the top floor and quietly opened the door to the roof.

Then she was in his arms, and he was holding her. He didn’t kiss her. They didn’t do that here, not while one of them was on the clock. But after they were both off the clock…she’d shared a kiss or one hundred with him here before. Right here, in this spot, looking out over the city.

“I’m getting concerned about the wheezing, Iz,” he said, brushing his fingers over her cheek. She loved it when the man touched her.

Hard to believe this was the man she’d considered her worst nightmare not all that long ago. The world had certainly changed for her since then. All it had taken was an F4 tornado to do it.

“I suspect I know what’s causing it.” She pressed close for a moment. He was a foot taller than she was, and his chest was hard and broad and just perfect. She could stay curled up there forever.

“What?”

“Hormones. I’ve heard that can happen—“ She shot him a wicked look. “When a woman gets pregnant…”

Just like that, a shell-shocked expression hit his eyes. “Pregnant. You’re pregnant.”

Well. She’d rattled Mr. Confident.

She always loved when that happened. “We’re pregnant. You’re the one who got me in this interesting condition.” Izzie wrapped her fingers around the perfect Windsor knot of his tie and pulled him down to her level. She couldn’t help herself. Izzie pressed a kiss to those perfect lips of his. When she pulled back, she laughed. “We’re due on Valentine’s Day.”

Which she thought was absolutely perfect. They probably wouldn’t have the baby on the actual due date, but…her hand dropped to her stomach. She liked the idea of a little Valentine. “Congratulations, Dr. Jacobson. You’re going to be a daddy.”

His hands went around her waist, and he was lifting her, spinning. Laughing. “You, Izadora MacNamara Jacobson, have just made me the happiest man in the world.”

This time, they did kiss. Right there under the Texas moon, the lights of the city surrounding them…