“Uh, sure,” Sandy said. She told him her address, her voice a mixture of curious and amused. “Please don’t sign me up for any mailing lists or anything.”
He chuckled, writing down her address on the slip of paper his receptionist had given him. “Do snail mail mailing lists even exist anymore? No, I have something not entirely work-related to send you.”
“Okay,” she said, a smile in her voice. “Thank you in advance.”
“My pleasure,” Craig replied. “Take care.”
He wrote the address on the envelope as soon as he was off the phone and he gave it to his receptionist before seeing his first patient of the day. “Please mail this out when you go on your next coffee run,” he said to her with a cheerful smile.
He didn’t expect to hear back from Sandy for a while, since she was going to be on the mend for a good two weeks, but sending her the card wasn’t just about seeing her. He wanted her to know he was thinking of her. He hoped the card would cheer her up at least a little.
The week slowly went by and Craig worked diligently to help all of his patients with the surgeries they requested. He kept his cell phone set on silent while he was working, so as not to be rude to his clients and so he could focus on the tasks at hand. On Thursday evening, as soon as he was done with work for the day, he took his phone out of his pocket and turned the sound back on. He noticed he had a missed call and was delighted when he saw it was from Sandy!
Rather than calling her back right then and there, he decided it was a better idea to wait until he was at home and could speak more freely. Craig took a car to his penthouse and sat on his couch, getting nice and comfortable for this conversation. He thought it was a good sign she’d called him. If she didn’t return his interest, she might’ve declined to follow-up with him.
He called her back and listened to the ringing for a few moments, hoping she’d be pleased to hear from him again. “Hello?” she said, not quite sounding surprised. “Hi Craig.” She laughed softly and it was like music to his ears.
“Hi Sandy,” he said back to her, smiling delightedly as he spoke. “How have you been? Did you get my card?”
“I’ve been doing okay,” she replied. “And I did. Thank you so much for thinking of me and sending it…”
There was a bit of caution in her voice. He wondered if she was simply feeling shy because they both knew what the card contained. Craig didn’t want to draw an answer out of her, but he also didn’t want to play dumb and act as though he didn’t care about going out with her. He still very much did. “What do you say to going and getting a coffee with me sometime?” he asked her as casually as he could. “I know it will take some time for your nose to heal and feel comfortable again, so I don’t want to rush you. I of course know what to expect regarding the healing process, though.”
This was his way of telling her she didn’t have to try and hide from him. He wasn’t going to tease her for her appearance.
“I would love to go get coffee with you,” she said to him after a few moments of contemplation. “You’re probably the only person I feel comfortable seeing right now. Even Trish kind of made me feel embarrassed just because I’m all battered-looking.” She laughed again, a light, nervous laugh.
“Aww, I’m sure you don’t look battered,” Craig said, quick to try and assuage her fears. “You’ve been through a lot. You look like a survivor. I’m so grateful the accident wasn’t worse for you – or for anyone else.”
He couldn’t quite believe himself for bringing up the accident. It still cast an awkward shadow over everything, because he didn’t just help her recover from it – he’d been part of the reason she needed to recover in the first place.
“See, this is why I feel comfortable meeting up with you,” she said to him brightly. “You’re also probably the only person I know who isn’t being impatient about my recovery. My castmates keep asking when I’m going to be back to work, even though they complained last time about my bruises and questioned how I was possibly supposed to fit in any of the sketches they’d written.”
“It won’t be long before you’ll be able to be back on your show,” he told her confidently. She works in sketch comedy, he thought. I really should ask her which show so I can tell everyone who’s asked. “Would you like to get coffee this Saturday afternoon?”
“Sounds perfect,” Sandy said to him. “It will distract me from feeling like I should be working. Normally Saturday is the day we shoot the show.”
Craig wondered now if she worked for the popular late night show called The Banana Peel. If so, it would explain why she looked so familiar to him! He didn’t watch it all the time, but he’d liked what he’d seen of it. He hoped to talk to her more about it when they were together, without coming across like a crazy fan all of a sudden. He was really neither a fan nor just her doctor… He liked her for who she was as a person and he hoped to get to know her a whole lot more.
Chapter Eight
Getting off the phone with Craig, Sandy couldn’t believe what he said. Sure, he’d said he wanted to go out with her in writing as well and she could read it whenever she wanted, but she still couldn’t believe it was true. It seemed so bizarre to her; he found her attractive even though he’d only seen her with an injured face. It was impossible for her to believe it could be a real attraction. He probably just feels sorry for me and wants to be friendly since he feels bad about what happened. She’d long since stopped blaming him for the accident. She wasn’t completely thrilled with his brother, of course, but as far as she was concerned it was just a bad mistake and she wished to move on. Was it possible to move on from it if she kept seeing Craig?
Sandy agreed to go out with him in large part because she was curious. He was the only person she felt comfortable seeing while her face was all messed up from the rhinoplasty, and not only because he was the plastic surgeon who worked to help fix her nose but also – and perhaps more importantly – because he was kind to her even when she hadn’t been kind to herself. He’d never treated her like she was just a pretty face, because in all the time he’d known her, her face hadn’t exactly been pretty.
I’m glad he doesn’t seem to recognize me from the show, she thought. If he knew what I really looked like, he’d probably treat me differently. Even though Sandy worked in comedy, she was still a theatre person after all and she had a flair for the dramatic a lot of the time. She imagined herself as the young woman in Eyes Without A Face, an old French film about a doctor who horribly disfigured his daughter’s face. Sandy knew she wasn’t horribly disfigured though, not really… But she supposed it was the actor in her. She needed to not only be pretty but to feel pretty in the eyes of the public! And this was why she couldn’t take Craig entirely seriously. He wanted to get to know her because he felt bad for her. It was the only thing that made sense to her.
Still, lying on her futon in the middle of her tiny apartment, Sandy looked forward to going out with him. She looked forward to having a reason to leave her place and walk amongst ‘the living’ again. As much as she wanted to hide herself away from people’s judging gazes, she also longed to go back to living like normal. She wanted to be treated the way she used to be treated by her castmates and the writers of the show. Maybe this whole experience could even help shape her into the sort of actress she always wanted to be. She didn’t have to always portray the dumb blonde in sketches. She wanted to prove she had range now… She always got these urges to be more ambitious when she couldn’t make use of them. It was much like how she always got the best writing ideas when she was in the shower or out at the store and nowhere near a pad of paper.
“I’m going out for coffee w/ the doctor,” Sandy texted her friends on Saturday morning, hoping she could catch them before they were completely swamped with work for the newest episode. “It’s fitting he should be the first person who gets to see me out and about post-op.”
“Rude,” Trish texted back. “What am I, chopped liver? :P”
Sandy chuckled as she read this. �
�No offense to you. You’ve been an angel, helping me when I was less than my best. But if all goes according to plan, I look different than I did. I feel less oozy, for one thing.”
“LOL gross,” Annie texted. “Definitely don’t be oozy for your hot doctor.”
“OMG is he actually hot?” Desmond asked. “You didn’t mention that detail before!”
Sandy blushed. She’d never put it into words before; Annie was largely just assuming. But yes, she thought Craig was handsome. And she thought he was also better than a lot of other wealthy, successful surgeons were. He had a heart of gold, and it made him all the more appealing to her. “It didn’t used to matter,” she wrote to her friends. “But I do think he’s handsome. It definitely helps that he treats me well, too. There’s nothing more attractive to me than a handsome man who treats people with kindness. He’s not the filthy rich, spoiled hot-shot I worried he’d be.”
Sandy supposed his brother fit the stereotype more than he did. But she wasn’t going out with his brother now was she?
“I hope you have the best time,” Annie texted. “You’ll have to tell us all about it when you COME BACK NEXT WEEK.”
The all-caps took Sandy by surprise and she cracked up when she read it. Her friends missed her. The feeling was palpable. And mutual. “Ooh, maybe we can annoy Brent with our gossip around the writers table,” she texted.
“This is the best plan!” Trish texted. “Have fun and be safe, doll. Text me when you’re home safe so I know you’re okay. Also text me if anything bad happens, obvi.”
Sandy appreciated her friend was looking out for her. Trish was the one she had in her ‘speed-dial’ contacts in case of emergencies, since her dad was out of state and couldn’t be there to help her so quickly.
“Will do,” she wrote back. “But you don’t need to wait up all night for me. Good luck with the show! :)”
Sandy went through her closet, realizing she’d worn all of her button-up shirts already. She hadn’t catered her wardrobe for ease. She’d never thought that putting clothes on over her face would be a problem. She had a dress that buttoned up in the front – a blue dress with little white polka-dots that made her look a bit like a secretary from the 1950s – and it was going to have to do. Maybe Craig would think of it as her dressing up for their coffee outing?
Sandy put some mascara on her eyelashes and did her best to make her bandaged nose look as presentable as possible. She was looking forward to when the packing and splint could be removed. That’s something we can talk about, I guess. She didn’t think it would be a good conversation for a date, though…
She got into a taxi and told the driver the name of the café where Craig wanted to meet her. She’d never been there before and she was grateful it wasn’t a Starbucks or Panera. The best cafés, much like the best restaurants, were New York originals instead of chains one could find anywhere. She was relieved to find Craig seemed to agree with her on this. Then again, she knew that wealthy people didn’t often go for the cheapest or most accessible things. She wondered if the coffee she was going to have today would be in a golden mug and then she laughed to herself.
She stopped laughing as soon as she went into the coffee shop and saw the fancy, European-style wallpaper and the chandelier suspended over the tables. The mugs may not have been gold, but this café was undeniably fancy.
Wow, she thought. What have I gotten myself into?
Just then, she noticed Craig waving to her from a table near the far wall. Sandy walked swiftly past the counter and to the table. He stood up and offered a hand to her. She took his hand and they shook. She hoped he wouldn’t notice her slightly-loud breathing or her face looking like a wreck, but he smiled at her so sweetly. She wondered how he could even stand to look at her.
“Please have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the seat across from his – meaning he’d be looking at her face the entirety of their time together. He was volunteering for this. Sandy sat in the chair, not wishing to be awkward about it. “What would you like to drink? Are you in the mood for a sandwich? They’ve got great sandwiches here.”
She found it incredible someone as rich and successful and handsome as Craig would be waiting on her. “Oh, I can go look at the menu and order. I don’t mind.”
“Don’t be silly,” he said to her, giving her another charming smile. “You’re my guest and I mean to pamper you a little after all the ordeals I’ve put you through.”
Sandy blushed. She wasn’t going to turn him down. “Okay, well… I’d like a vanilla cappuccino, if they have one. And a chicken salad sandwich? I’m not picky about the bread it’s on.” She smiled. “Thank you.”
“I like your style,” he said to her, pointing a ‘finger gun’ at her and winking. Craig left her there at the table and joined the line at the counter. Fortunately, it moved along pretty quickly, so she didn’t have too long to worry about what he thought of her or how she was coming across so far. When Craig returned to the table, he was carrying a cardboard tray of to-go cups in one hand and a tray of sandwiches in the other hand. Sandy felt bad, again, for making him deal with their orders.
She stood up and took the tray of sandwiches from him so he could sit down more easily. “Aw, thanks,” he said to her, removing her drink from the tray and placing the cup in front of her seat before sitting down.
Sandy sat down and passed him his sandwich, smiling at him. “I know you probably think you’re Superman, but I really don’t mind helping you sometimes, especially if your hands are full…”
He chuckled and shrugged. “It’s fine. Anyway, let me know what you think. I’ve never had their chicken salad before.” He took a bite of his spinach wrap and she wondered what was in it. It smelled fishy so her guess was salmon.
She took a sip of her coffee first, letting a little “mmm” unconsciously escape her. “So how have you been? Did you give anyone else a free nose job lately?”
Craig was midway through a bite of his wrap and he cracked up at her question. He shook his head, using a napkin to catch any of the stray food on the corners of his mouth. “No. I don’t do that very often. I still want to make money, after all. I’ve been doing well. Life has gotten sort of mundane with my brother gone. He brought a lot of excitement, even if it wasn’t always the good kind.”
Sandy felt awkward talking about his brother, considering what he’d done to her – even though it was accidental. The picture she’d painted of him in her mind was one of a careless, spoiled man who was all ego and gave no thought toward others. She imagined him as being the opposite of Craig, and she still felt a bit on uneven footing with Craig even though he’d helped to save her face from permanent bumps and scars. “How often do you see him?” she asked, attempting to stay interested even though she had very little interest in meeting the infamous Donnie Lucas.
“Oh, I don’t see him that frequently,” Craig said. “He lives in New Jersey and makes the hop over to visit a few times a year. He doesn’t usually stick around for long, though. What about you and your dad? Do you see him often?”
Sandy blushed slightly. “I don’t see him as often as I’d like. Things have gotten harder, too, because my mother passed away a few years ago.” She didn’t like to bring this sort of thing up, especially not on a first date, but she didn’t feel like she had much to hide from Craig, considering he’d seen her in such vulnerable states already.
His face fell. “I’m so sorry,” he said, growing quiet now as if he was afraid of adding to the hurt she must feel.
She did feel hurt, but she didn’t think it was something he could add to at this point. It was going to linger within her for the rest of her life, even if it grew smaller over time. “It hasn’t strained our relationship or anything, but it probably doesn’t help… I think I’m a reminder to him sometimes.”
“I’m sure he wishes he could see you more often,” Craig said in a gentle voice. “He’s got to be proud of you, and he probably wants to tear me apart for being part of what happened t
o you.”
Sandy laughed softly at that, shaking her head from side to side. “Oh no! He wouldn’t dislike you, especially not after learning how kind you’ve been to me. Do you think it’s every day a girl like me, with a nose all busted up, would get asked on a nice date? I’m a mouth-breather and you’re still here.”
Craig laughed, shaking his head. “I think you’re beautiful,” he said, and then he got quiet again, focusing on his wrap and his coffee. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought he was embarrassed now because he’d gotten so quiet and big-eyed.
Sandy didn’t know what to make of his comment. She didn’t think it was at all possible he really believed that. He hadn’t even seen what she looked like before the accident. She highly doubted he had a thing for blood and bruises… though there was a chance he was especially adept at looking past them…
“You can’t really mean it,” she said to him with a small, coy smile. “You’re buttering me up, and I kind of want to know why but I’m also enjoying it too much for you to stop.” She bit her lip slightly and then went back to eating her sandwich. It wasn’t anything special, but she happened to love chicken salad sandwiches, so it was delicious by her fairly low standards.
“I mean it,” Craig said to her, in a voice betraying he didn’t think she’d believe him. There was sincere earnest within his tone, but she was still feeling too down on herself to think it was anything other than him just trying to be nice. Maybe he didn’t blame himself anymore – and she didn’t think he should – but he still felt sorry for her. Sandy didn’t want him to pity her, but she also appreciated the way he treated her because of his concern for her feelings.
“Uh huh,” Sandy said, licking some bits of chicken and mayo off her thumb and fingertips. “If you actually mean it, you’ll want to see me again after this sympathy date.”
She felt like challenging him now, to prove she was correct. She didn’t want to go on allowing herself to think he might actually like her. It was much better if she could rip the Band-Aid off right away, before she was emotionally invested and in too deep.
Billionaire Hearts Club- The Complete Series Collection Page 19
