Think Again

by Isabel Lucero

  “Thanks, Dr. Callahan,” Lily says, sniffling.

  “No problem.” He writes down the prescription and hands it to her. “Aria will go over everything with you. You take care now,” he says, squeezing her shoulder as he walks out.

  I go over the instructions for taking antibiotics, even though the pharmacy will include their own when they fill the script. She thanks me as I walk her out, and Sharon passes me, bringing another patient into another one of Chris’s rooms. It’s gonna be a busy day.

  I only have one other patient with Chris, because I end up working with Scott most of the morning. It seems like everybody is coming down with some sort of sickness, and I can’t use hand sanitizer and Lysol fast enough.

  By the time lunch rolls around, I’m starving and in need of another cup of coffee. Roberta and Sharon leave first since I’m in a room with Scott finishing up with a young mother and her infant son.

  As soon as they leave, I collapse into a chair in the exam room. My ankle is starting to throb a little, and it’s probably because I’ve been on my feet all morning.

  “You okay?” Scott asks.

  “Ankle hurts a bit.”

  “Do you need some medicine? I’m sure we have some around here,” he says with a wink.

  “I’ll take some in a little bit. I need to get some food in my system first.”

  With a grunt, I stand up and walk out to the front desk. Anne is already gone and so is the new girl who I’ve yet to meet.

  “Want me to bring you something back?” Scott asks, coming around the desk. “I was gonna run by my house, but I can get you something.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

  “You know I don’t mind. You shouldn’t drive if you’re ankle is already hurting.”

  “Whatever you come across is fine. I’m not too picky. Thanks, Scott.”

  Chris startles me when he begins talking behind me. “I brought some lunch and stored it in the fridge in the breakroom. There’s enough for two if you want some chicken noodle casserole.”

  “Oh,” I say, turning to look at him and then back at Scott who’s waiting by the front door. “Well, I guess. If you don’t mind. That way Scott doesn’t have to go out of his way.”

  “I don’t mind,” Chris replies.

  “You sure?” Scott asks.

  “Yeah. Thanks, though. See ya when you get back.”

  He smiles before walking outside.

  As I follow Chris to the breakroom, I say, “Hopefully nobody insists on coming in while we eat. I’ve had that happen before.”

  He turns around and grins, but doesn’t say anything. In the breakroom, he pulls a large Tupperware dish from the fridge and two paper plates from a cabinet, and divides the food before putting a plate in the microwave.

  “Thanks for letting me eat your food,” I say, sitting down at the small table in the middle of the room.

  “It’s not a problem,” he says, sounding so unlike himself. He’s stiff and not his typical jokey, funny self.

  He places the plate in front of me and brings me a plastic fork before heating up his own food.

  “Did you enjoy the food at the restaurant?” I ask.

  “I did.”

  I’m a little shocked by how highly bothered I am that he’s barely speaking to me. I already miss our usual conversations. Ones filled with flirty tones, lots of laughing, sexual innuendos, and witty banter.

  He brings his plate over to the table and sits across from me. His knee bumps mine under the table, and he quickly retracts it with a murmur of an apology.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I question.

  He looks up, his fork paused midway between his plate and his mouth. “Nothing.” He brings the food to his mouth and chews.

  “I don’t like this you,” I admit.

  Once he’s done chewing, he looks at me with confusion marring his face. “What me would that be?”

  “The one that’s stiff and boring. You’re barely talking, and when you do, it’s nothing I want to hear.”

  He laughs humorlessly. “I don’t know what it is you want to hear, Aria. When I tell you something that I think you want to hear, it’s like I don’t say anything at all.”

  “What does that mean?” He shakes his head and shovels more food in his mouth. “No, seriously. What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Did you enjoy your date night?” he asks.

  “It wasn’t like that,” I argue.

  “No? You were holding hands.”

  “Chris,” I say on a breath.

  “Look, I know you’re married, but you’ve led me to believe you aren’t happy in that marriage. You’ve told me about the things he’s done, and that you plan on leaving him, but seeing you out with him would prove otherwise. Are you just bullshitting me?”

  “What? No!” I squeal. “Everything is so complicated, and everything I told you was true. That night I thought we were getting to a point where he was gonna confess to everything, but everything turned to hell after you and Scott left the table.”

  “It’s my fault?”

  “No,” I scoff. “He doesn’t get a good vibe from you or something. He said he knows I’m attracted to you and he brought up the night you were over at the house and the fact that we’ve been out to eat. That just led to an argument about more shit, and I blew up at him and left the table. We left the restaurant that night in silence and still haven’t spoken to each other.”

  After a few minutes of us eating our food in peace, he finally responds.

  “What I meant earlier is that when I tell you how I feel about you, and what I want to do to you, you don’t respond. Your body does, but you never vocalize how you feel. It leaves me confused. I don’t know what it is you want. Sometimes I think one thing, but then you do or say something that makes me feel the opposite. When we were together at the hotel, I told you exactly what I wanted, and had you calling out my name from a kiss alone, and then just a few hours later I see you out on a date with your husband. Do you see how that’s confusing?”

  I feel terrible. “I do and I’m sorry, but I think it’s just because I’m confused myself. I’m struggling with what I want to do versus what I should do.”

  “What is it that you want to do?” he asks, his voice dropping to a low rumble.

  “You,” I answer instinctively. My face heats up at the realization of my blunt answer. I’m sure I could have answered that better.

  His smirk tells me he’s pleased with my quick response, and my heart soars at the sight of his beautiful, genuine smile.

  “That’s all I wanted to hear,” he says, getting up to take our plates to the trash. “Water?”

  “Sure.”

  “Aria, I’m gonna be honest with you,” he says as he comes back to the table with two bottles of water.

  “Okay,” I say, feeling a little nervous. I twist the cap on my water bottle, opening and closing it over and over again.

  “I’m not going to ask you about your husband or your marriage again. In all honesty, I don’t give a fuck about him. He’s right to not have a good feeling about me, because while my intentions with you are good, they’re also absolutely fucking raunchy.”

  I gulp, surprised by his own bluntness. “Oh?”

  He nods, giving me a mischievous smile. “He shouldn’t like me, because I fully intend on taking his woman and making her mine.”

  My heart races with excitement. I’ve never wanted to be somebody’s so badly. You’d think the whole you’re mine, alpha male statement would be offensive, but right now I don’t give a shit about being a strong, independent woman. I’ll be my own woman during the day, but at night I have no problem being his.

  “So, if something changes within your relationship, and you don’t want me to be interested in you anymore, you’re going to have tell me. Until that happens, though, I plan to show you how I’d treat you if you were my woman. I want to show you all the ways I can please you. I’m going to make sure
you know that you’re enough for me. Until you tell me otherwise, I’m pursuing you with the assumption that you’ll be available soon.”

  Before I have any time to process his words, he’s up and coming towards me. His lips find mine at the same time that his left hand finds a place at the back of my head. He pulls me to a standing position and his other hand lands firmly on my ass, pulling me into him. His kiss is urgent and possessive. He kisses me like he’s starving and my lips are food. His tongue explores my mouth, and I don’t do anything to stop the expedition.

  He sucks my tongue into his mouth briefly, ripping a groan from the back of my throat. His hand moves from my ass and runs up the side of my neck. When both of his hands are wrapped around the back of my head with his thumbs resting along my jaw, he pulls away and makes sure I look up into his eyes.

  “Spend some time with me this weekend.”

  It’s not a question.

  “Okay,” I reply, breathless.

  His mouth descends onto mine again with a passionate kiss that makes me week in the knees. Once we force ourselves apart, I’m breathing hard and I’m wet between the thighs. My fingers run across my tender lips as I continue to look at him.

  “If you keep looking at me like that, we’re going to have to lock this door.”

  I smile. “I’m not looking at you like anything.”

  “Your eyes tell me everything your mouth doesn’t.”

  “What are my eyes telling you now?” I ask, seductively.

  He lifts a brow. “You sure you want me to tell you?”

  “If it’s something I’m telling you, then yes,” I counter, putting my hand on my hip.

  “You’re telling me you want me to fuck you across this table.” He taps it with his fingers.

  “Wrong.”

  Both eyebrows go up. “Oh yeah?”

  “I was thinking against this wall,” I say, taking a few steps back and leaning against it.

  His eyes widen and lust flashes across them. I hear a deep growl come from his throat as he approaches me, but I sidestep him and move into the hall.

  “It’s a few minutes past lunchtime. Someone’s probably here,” I say with a smile.

  “That wasn’t nice.”

  I shrug, still smiling at him. “Time to get back to work, Dr. Callahan.”

  The next two days fly by. Things at home with Aaron are—for lack of a better word—strange. He seems to be willing to let the fight at the restaurant go. He’s never brought it up, and I haven’t either. What’s the point? He’s either just going to feed me more bullshit, or it’s going to start another fight, and I don’t want to deal with either right now. We are speaking to each other a little more, but not about anything important. He hasn’t been working late either, or had a need to leave in the middle of the night. Strange.

  Something else I’ve noticed about him is that he seems down. Constantly sad or worried. I’ve asked him once what was wrong with him, and he said it was work-related stress. I wonder if he’s just aware of the state of our marriage and the fact that it seems to be crumbling around us.

  I tried looking up some apartments on the internet, but nothing was available in the general area I’d like. I don’t want to live too far from work and have to worry about extremely long commutes, especially during the winter. Everything that was close was either too big for just me or way too small for anyone. I definitely don’t want to live in a shoebox.

  I’m starting to think that maybe I should just tell him what I have on him. If he wants to deny it or come up with some sort of excuse, then so be it. I just don’t think I can do this much longer. As much as I’d hate to stretch out the divorce process because he’ll be holding it up, at least I’ll be able to live on my own.

  Suddenly, I remember that Carm never texted me back after she saw him at the hotel bar. I wonder if she got a picture of him and Stephany with a y. If it’s compromising, then I can show him that I know it was more than just work.

  Me: Hey, did you ever get a picture of Aaron and that girl?

  She doesn’t answer right away, so while I wait, I get ready to go to work. It isn’t until I pull up into the parking lot that she writes back.

  Carm: No. Sorry. They left too soon.

  Me: Was she a redhead?

  Carm: Why?

  Me: I saw him with a redhead once. Just wondering if it was the same chick.

  Carm: You think he’s seeing more than one person?

  Me: Could be. Hey, I gotta get into work. I’ll talk to you later.

  I drop the phone into my purse before heading inside. Anne and the new girl, Raven, are both seated at the front desk.

  “Hey,” they both say as I approach.

  “Hello. You guys ready to get this week over?” I ask.

  “Oh yeah. I have plans for this weekend,” Anne says with a grin.

  “Ooh, what kind of plans?”

  “Just some plans with Nick. We’re heading up to Alyeska. I can’t wait!”

  “That sounds nice. I love it up there. That tram ride to the top of the mountain is my favorite part.”

  “I’ve never stayed in the hotel,” Raven says. “You’re gonna have to tell me how it is.”

  In the past couple days, I’ve tried getting to know Raven a bit more. She’s thirty and a single mother of one. With work being busy, I haven’t been able to talk to her too much, but she does seem really nice.

  “I will,” Anne replies.

  “Do you have plans this weekend, Raven?” I ask.

  “Nothing exciting. I’ll probably take Hunter to Chuck E. Cheese. Don’t get too jealous, ladies,” she says with a laugh.

  “What about you?” Anne asks me.

  “Oh. I’m not so sure.”

  What I do know is that I’ll be hanging out with Chris at some point. He hasn’t mentioned what he wants to do, but when he told me to spend time with him this weekend, I couldn’t resist.

  Just then, Chris walks in.

  “Hey, Dr. C,” Anne greets.

  “Hello, ladies,” he replies with a beautiful smile. All three of us smile back at him. “What’re you talking about?”

  “Oh, just our weekend plans. What are yours?” Anne asks.

  His smile widens as he looks in my direction. “Just hoping to have a good time.”

  “Well, I hope you do too,” she replies.

  “I have no doubt.” He walks around me and towards the door that leads to the patient hall. “I’ll talk to you ladies later.”

  “Bye,” Anne and Raven say simultaneously. I watch him as he goes, but before he walks through the door, he winks at me. I try to hide my smile from the girls.

  The last two days with him have been interesting. We’ve had a few stolen moments with quick bouts of flirting, a few hasty touches, but not much else. I went out to lunch with Anne once, and the other time, Scott stayed behind to eat with both Chris and I.

  “Guess I better get back there as well,” I say, heading to the door.

  “See ya later,” Anne calls out.

  I go put my purse in Scott’s office and realize he isn’t here yet. Luckily, he doesn’t keep it locked, so I put it on a chair in the corner before making my way to the bathroom.

  As I’m washing my hands, I look up into the mirror and study myself. My hair is a little wild thanks to the crazy wind outside. I unclip the barrette and use my fingers as a comb before pulling back half of it and clipping it to the back of my head. My bangs are a little short to be held back, so a few strands come loose to frame my face.

  I’m wearing dark pink scrubs, and matched my lipstick to them perfectly. I have no other makeup on besides mascara, because not wearing mascara is a no-no for me. My blonde lashes are too light, and without that bit of color and length, I look like a weirdo.

  When I open the bathroom door and take a step out, I’m pushed back inside by Chris.

  “What are . . .”

  I don’t get the rest of my question out because his mouth covers mine. Without a sec
ond thought, I kiss him back with vigor. He walks me back into the wall, probing my mouth with his warm and talented tongue the entire time. My arms wrap around his waist, pulling him into me. I moan as his hands move to ass, making me grind onto his growing erection.

  Our mouths break apart, but his moves to my neck, kissing a path to my collarbone.

  “Chris,” I whisper huskily, running my fingers through his hair.

  He kisses up the other side of my neck before planting another kiss on my lips.

  “I just wanted to make sure you got a taste of my weekend plans,” he says with a grin.

  “Oh, that’s what that was?” I ask, a little out of breath.

  He nods. “Yep. I didn’t want you trying to back out.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  “Good. Plus, I just needed to taste you again,” he states, his tone husky.

  I bite my bottom lip, grinning up at him. “Well, that’s okay with me.”

  He smiles. “Guess we better get out of here before more people arrive.”

  “Guess so.”

  I make sure to fix my smudged lipstick before opening the door and peeking out. No one is around, so we both hurry out, and while he goes to his office, I go to Scott’s to reapply some color to my lips.

  The day seems to drag, but that’s probably because we don’t have too many patients today. I end up chatting with Sharon about her family and their plans for this weekend, which consist of taking her kids to the zoo and then her and her husband going to the fourth annual beer and bacon festival.

  After a couple more patients, I stop and chat with Anne and Raven again. Anne is trying to convince Raven to go on a date with one of Nick’s friends.

  “I promise, he’s cute.”

  “I don’t know,” Raven says, sounding hesitant. “I have a kid.”

  “So,” Anne says. “He’s not a child hater.”

  “Let me think about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Is this day almost over yet?” I ask.