by Alisa Easton
After two aspirin, a quick shower, and clean teeth, I was starting to feel human again. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and followed the smell of scrambled eggs and bacon to the kitchen where I found the other three laughing. Sylvia and Ben looked natural together the way they worked to prepare breakfast and set the plates out on the table. I couldn’t help but to smile as I watched them. Nick and I may have been a total bust but cupid had certainly made an appearance for those two. Sylvia gave me a little nudge as we sat down at the table to eat and I realized that she still thought that Nick and I had surrendered to our own night of passion. I wondered if it was worth mentioning that we hadn’t. The truth would come out eventually but it didn’t feel like the sort of thing that qualified as appropriate breakfast conversation. Luckily, I didn’t have to say anything. Sylvia and Ben chatted away about everything from current events to their favorite colors leaving Nick and I to enjoy our breakfast without the pressure of making conversation.
Once we finished eating and I busied myself by helping to clean up the dishes, I was grateful that Sylvia offered me a ride home. Ben took Nick. This also meant, however, that I would be forced to confess all to Sylvia and I was pretty sure she wouldn’t be too happy with the truth.
“So?” she said before I even managed to buckle my seatbelt.
“What?” I feigned innocence to prolong the inevitable.
“How was he? Was it amazing? Come on, girl, I need details.”
“Look, Sylvia, I’m kind of tired and my head is pounding. Do you think we could do this another time? I just want to go home and take a nap.”
She scowled at me and then focused on the road. Rain beat down on the windshield making visibility less than perfect. I shivered with a damp chill but no matter how much I tried to change my thoughts, all I could remember was the night I saw him standing along the road watching the couple on display in the window. I still couldn’t get the stranger out of my head and it was starting to make me crazy. Sylvia didn’t say anything until she pulled into my driveway. Much to my dismay, she cut the engine and followed me to the front door despite the rain. We hurried trying to shield ourselves from becoming drenched as I fumbled to unlock the door.
Once inside, I felt obligated to take her jacket and offer her a cup of hot tea to help her dry off before sending her back out into the pouring rain, putting me right where she wanted me. She followed me into the kitchen while I set the kettle on the stove and searched the cupboard for tea bags.
“You and Ben seemed to be getting along rather well,” I said trying to fill the silence between us.
“We get along okay.” She leaned casually against the counter and stared down at her feet at the mention of his name. I looked over my shoulder at her and wondered why she wouldn’t just admit that she really liked the guy.
“You’re going to see him again, right?”
“It’s just sex, Alex. That’s all.”
I laughed. “Okay, if you say so. But you’re going to have sex with him again, right?”
“Yeah, probably. At least until he starts getting all clingy again.”
“Is that why you guys broke up the last time? Because he got clingy?”
She shrugged and I knew that meant yes. “He seems like a nice guy,” I pushed, “a really nice guy. He has a good job. He obviously cares about you.”
“Stop it, Alex.”
“Well, it’s true. I guess I don’t understand why you don’t want a relationship.”
“Relationships are for idiots,” she said, “Fall in love with a guy and that’s the end of the fun. It just becomes a dull life of paying bills and watching the plants grow. Not going to happen. I like sex too much.”
“Just because you’re in a relationship, that doesn’t mean you have to stop having sex,” I laughed again but I thought about Ed. Ed and I didn’t have a lot of sparks at the start of our relationship but by the last six months, I could probably count on one hand how often we actually got naked together. I added the hot water to the mug with the tea bag and handed it to her. She went to the fridge to find the milk.
“Was Nick everything I promised you?”
I took a deep breath and filled up my own mug, accepting the milk cartoon from her as she finished and stirring slowly while I came up with a way to phrase everything that didn’t happen the night before.
“I’m sure he’s a nice guy and all,” I said, “but nothing happened.”
There, I’d said it. She stared at me for a moment while the words sunk in.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Are you mad?”
“Disappointed, I guess, not really mad. The night was all about you, you know. Nick was only there to get laid.”
“Gee thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”
“I’m sure he was dazzled by your sparkling personality too, of course,” she said smiling for the first time, “but the whole point was that you were going to take out some of those frustrations on him. I guess we’ll have to find you someone a bit more irresistible.”
“No, thanks. I think I’ll manage my own love life from now on.”
“I’m not talking love, honey bunches. Just sex. Lots of sex.”
“Yeah, well, I guess that’s the problem for me,” I said considering this, “I don’t really want just sex. I don’t really like the idea of sleeping with a complete stranger and feeling all awkward while we stumble around looking for our clothes the next morning, exchange pleasantries, and never see each other again.”
“Oh really? So that is why you’re dragging strange men home that you meet on the street?”
“That was different and it’s not going to happen again, believe me.”
“Sure.”
“I swear, Sylvia. I don’t want just sex. I want the whole package deal.”
“It’s better my way, trust me.”
“No, what I really want is someone that looks at me the way that Ben looks at you.”
“He doesn’t look at me any differently. It’s just sex, Alex. Just sex, and it will never be anything more.”
“If you say so,” I said laughing again. We made ourselves comfortable on the couch in the living room and I caught a whiff of her vanilla scented shampoo as we sipped our tea, lost in our own thoughts. It reminded me of the way we’d danced together the night before. I wondered if she thought of it. Probably not, I realized. Luckily, the dream of the encounter with the stranger and the waitress was already starting to fade from the forefront of my mind and I hoped it would stay that way. I suppressed the feelings and tried to continue a casual conversation. She was still my best friend and I didn’t plan to jeopardize that no matter what my hormones might suggest.
“I still say that you two make a very cute couple and you should give him half a chance. What do you have to lose?”
“Only everything.”
“I think you’re being a little melodramatic.”
“You were involved in a serious relationship and look how that turned out,” she said giving me a sideways glance. I involuntarily flinched. I didn’t want to think about Ed right now.
“It turned out he wasn’t the right person for me,” I said brushing it off, “and besides, I only suggested that you give him a chance, not that you marry the guy.”
“Thanks for the tea,” she said getting up and taking her mug to the kitchen sink to rinse it out, “but I better get going.” She looked at her watch as if she’d only just noticed the time and realized there was somewhere else that she needed to be.
“Why the hurry?”
“Oh, just the late night activities and all. It’s Sunday. I have a lot of catching up to do before getting back to the daily grind tomorrow. You know how it is.”
She leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, an ordinary gesture between us but I felt my cheeks flush.
“Yeah, I know.” I yawned proving her point.
“And don’t you go thinking you’ve gotten yourself off the hook on this one, young
lady,” she added turning back to me before opening the front door.
“Sylvia, I didn’t mean…”
“We are still going to find you a man.”
I sighed. I was grateful she cut me off from saying anything that I would later regret. She didn’t seem to notice my sudden strange behavior around her and that was just as well. As for the man thing, I could only exhale slowly and nod my head to go along with it.
“Nick didn’t quite make the cut,” she continued, “but I think I have a pretty good idea who might.”
“I’m not looking for a one night stand,” I said trying to steer her away from any future possibilities.
“Well, the next one might just be willing to stick around if you treat him right.”
She opened the door and we both groaned. She groaned for the rain that still beat down against the ground and I groaned for the idea of being forced to entertain another awkward evening with a man that didn’t truly have any interest in me other than sex.
Sylvia dashed to her car and didn’t waste much time pulling out of the driveway and getting on her way. I had a sneaky suspicion that she had plans to continue what she started the night before with Ben. She would never admit that to me, especially after the way I kept insisting that they could be so much more, but I could tell by the way they kept stealing glances at each other and whispering in each other’s ears before we left the house. There was more than met the eye going on with that pair. I chuckled to myself. I might even entertain the notion of putting up with another blind date just to witness her slow decent into love with Ben. I smiled as I continued to watch the rain. I wanted to see my friend happy. She didn’t think that she would find that happiness in the arms of a steady boyfriend but I suspected there was a lot more to Sylvia than she let on and Ben might just be the guy to uncover it.
I finished cleaning up and fed my fish. As a vet, it was a bit unusual that the only pets I kept in the house were three tropical fish named Edgar, Allen, and Poe but I shrugged. I didn’t have a lot of time to take in a more time consuming animal at the moment and the fish didn’t mind spending so many hours a day on their own like a dog or cat would. I didn’t mind the emptiness of the house even as I walked into the bedroom and looked at the King sized bed that I had all to myself but maybe once in a while it would be nice to have someone to share it with.
Chapter 6
I spent the night tossing and turning, lost in my big bed. A couple of times I got up and looked out the window into the darkness. I told myself that it was only because I enjoy the smell of rain and the feel of cool night air but I knew that really I was hoping to see the stranger standing somewhere in the shadows below my window looking up watching and waiting for me. At one point, I even convinced myself that I saw movement between the trees. I wanted to run out into the night and investigate. I wanted to find myself in his arms again but I held back, closing the curtains, and returning to the bed where I tossed and turned some more as I tried to erase the images of him from my mind. I wasn’t going to see him again. He’d made that very clear when he walked out my front door and the sooner I accepted that, the better off I would be. I was crazy to keep thinking about him like this.
I was up and in the shower before my alarm went off that morning, eager to embrace Monday morning and all the distractions that the work week would afford me. By the time I’d pulled into the parking lot at my small veterinary office, I’d convinced myself that I could go on without thinking about the stranger at all.
My administrative assistant, Mary, was busy at the computer when I walked in the door and greeted me with a smile as I asked who was on the schedule for the day. I was hoping for back-to-back appointments but much to my disappointment, there would be a lot of lulls in between with space to fill. I picked up the book I’d started reading last week and sighed. A romance would not make me forget the way the stranger had touched me. Just looking at the cover made me feel the lingering of his touch.
“Adam is bringing in Tiger at 10:00 today,” Mary told me with a mischievous look in her eyes. I rolled my eyes in response.
“Again? What is the problem this time?”
“Adam says Tiger hasn’t been eating like he should and wants you to take a look at him.” Mary could barely contain the giggle in her voice. I sighed heavily. Dealing with the likes of Adam wasn’t what I had in mind for a Monday distraction.
“I don’t know what he thinks I can do for him. We’ve been over this already,” I said.
“Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea what you can do for Adam,” Mary mumbled under her breath.
“Mary, behave.”
“There is only one reason that man comes into this office, Alex, and it’s not because of that cute little beagle pup of his.”
“I’m not listening.” I put my hands over my ears to emphasize the point as I made my way to the small office I kept in the back. It was barely more than a closet but big enough that I could squeeze in a small desk, a bookshelf containing a host of animal care books and a filing cabinet. More than anything, it was my retreat while I wasn’t seeing a patient. I turned on the computer to begin filling my time until my first appointment. My email proved a useless distraction, filled with spam advertisements that only made my lonely condition appear even more desperate than it really was.
I made it through my first two morning appointments and braced myself for Adam and Tiger’s arrival. Just as I expected, Adam walked in the door exactly five minutes before his allotted time. I listened as he exchanged greetings with Mary and I peered around the corner from my partially open office door just enough to get a glimpse of him with Tiger jumping happily at his feet. That was not a sick dog.
“Hello, Adam,” I said once Mary got a weight and temperature reading and allowed them to settle in the exam room. I pushed my hands into the pockets of my coat hoping to hide the fact that for some reason today, I was actually shaking.
“Dr. Jamison,” he said reaching to shake my hand, firm and confident.
“Please, Adam, I told you last time that you could call me Alex. No need to be so formal.”
“Sure, Alex,” he said smiling as he released my hand. I couldn’t help but to notice the glint in his green eyes as he looked at me. There was something warm and inviting about his smile that I hadn’t really noticed before, despite his frequent appearances in my office. Mary was not shy about making her opinion about Adam known. He was hot and he had his eye on me. I had to admit that his frequent visits were starting to feel less coincidental. Mary went as far as to suggest that the only reason that Adam even got a puppy was so that he’d have an excuse to come see me. I found that a bit ludicrous. But Adam was becoming less shy about hiding his interest in me. He had asked me out the last three times he came into my office and I’d quickly turned him down each time. I was counting on the fact that he’d make a fourth attempt today and I had already prepared my rejection.
I pulled away from his green eyes and set to examine Tiger from top to bottom, certain that I wouldn’t actually find anything wrong with him. I asked a few questions about his habits and Adam gave me quick responses. Once I’d finished, I leaned back against the counter and decided to get straight to the point.
“Tiger is one of the healthiest little puppies, I’ve seen,” I said to him trying to ease whatever concerns kept landing him back in my office. “I really think you just need to give him a little time to settle into his new home.”
Adam petted Tiger’s head affectionately avoiding my direct eye contact. I braced myself for the real reason he was here and decided to cut him off before he’d managed to say the words.
“I’m not going to charge you for this visit,” I said as I tried to search for the right words to put an end to this once and for all, “but I don’t expect to see you back here until Tiger is due for his next round of vaccinations.”
Adam attached the leash to Tiger’s collar and set him back on the floor. He didn’t need to say anything. My tone made it clear that I didn�
��t plan on budging from this decision and I was certain the man could only handle being rejected so many times before he finally moved on. As I watched him mess with Tiger, a new stirring started in the pit of my stomach. From the back, he looked remarkably like the stranger I’d encountered the other night.
Adam stood up to face me and offer his hand to shake again and I struggled to catch my breath. It hadn’t been him that night, I was certain. I’d seen the stranger’s face very clearly, tired or not. I’d have remembered. I’d have put two and two together. The warmness and strength in Adam’s hand traveled through my arm and when he thanked me for my time and went to pull away, I couldn’t let go.
“Dr. Jamison… Um… I mean, Alex, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Yes,” I said clearing my throat and regaining my composure. I wasn’t sure what had just come over me. Was I going through some sort of early mid-life crisis? Is this what being alone for too long brought on? I didn’t know and I shook my head to try to clear it of all the jumbled thoughts that raced through my mind at the moment. And then I stared into those beautiful green eyes and I knew that if he said the words, I wouldn’t be able to tell him no again.
Adam seemed to sense the strange shift in the air around us and he smiled. I let go of his hand and he started to move toward the door of the examination room. My heart stopped racing until he paused with one hand on the door knob and looked back at me.
“It’s a beautiful day out there,” he said.
“Yes, it appears that it is.”
“Tiger and I were planning a little romp at the park this afternoon. Would you be interested in joining us? I mean, I know you’re busy here at work and you aren’t really interested in seeing me but I thought maybe you look like a bit of fresh air might do you some good.”
I took a deep breath. I could do with a lot more than just a bit of fresh air.
“That sounds nice,” I heard myself say.
“Can you break free around say noon or one o’clock?”
