Doctor, Mommy...Wife?

by Dianne Drake

  Admittedly, though, he’d liked being important for her in that time. Liked the way she’d held on to him, the feel of her hands grasping him, the way she wouldn’t let go. It was nice being needed. Maybe even a little wanted. Especially by Del. But who was he kidding? It was a one-time event, born out of her need for comfort. That was all it had been, all it could be. After all, she had a child and he refused to put himself through that again. Once was too much. Probably for her, too, once she’d had time to think about it.

  Simon sighed as he went to Exam Four to check out a youngster with type one diabetes. Both parents were there, both were equally concerned, even though they were newly divorced. That was the way a child should be raised, he thought as he knocked on the door then entered the room. Yes, that was definitely the way a child should be raised. Only he’d missed his chance and Del didn’t want hers.

  Weren’t they the perfectly mismatched couple? he thought as he flipped on the computer screen in the room and took a look at the child’s blood work. “Good job,” he said to the little girl, who was about Amy’s age. “Everything’s in perfect order and it’s all looking the way it should.”

  Everything but his life. And maybe a little bit of Del’s life, as well.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  IT WAS A week from the day of Charlie’s successful procedure to the day when Del showed up at work. “Only a week off?” Simon asked her on his way in to examine a bug bite in Exam Three.

  “My parents want some quality time with their grandson and that doesn’t include me, I’m afraid. Besides, they’re both retired doctors so who better to watch him for a few hours?”

  “I talked to your dad on the phone the other night, when I was thinking about bringing dinner by. He’s awfully protective of you. And of his grandson, too.”

  “So that’s why you never came over?”

  “They’d already eaten by the time I called. He seemed like a nice man, though. Reminded me a lot of you...straightforward, honest, overprotective of his child.”

  Del laughed out loud. “That’s what a protective parent does. He watches after his kid even when his kid is thirty-five years old.”

  “And that will be you and Charlie in another few years. You won’t exactly warn off the girls he’ll want to date but you won’t be overly friendly, either.”

  “Like father, like daughter, I suppose.”

  “Anyway, I’m glad you came back early. We’re short staffed, as you already know. Dr. Kent went into early labor and Dr. Morgan is off with the flu. So we’re really down on our numbers and we could use the help.”

  “Which is why I came in today. I’d intended to stay home with Charlie and my parents another week, but the clinic needs me even more than Charlie does since he adores his grandparents, so I was feeling a bit useless.” She shrugged. “Meaning I’m back.”

  “How’s Charlie?”

  “Doing nicely. No flare-ups, no real disruption to his routine unless you could call grandparents a disruption. He had his incident and it was cured, and, even though the doctor wants to follow him for a couple of months, there don’t seem to be any bad consequences.”

  “Good to hear that. Look, the board’s full, and, even though you’re one of the bosses and owners of the clinic, all I can do is tell you to take your pick of patients. We’re busy today.”

  “And I was so looking forward to Ming’s egg rolls,” she teased as she took the first chart off the top of the stack then logged it into the computer. “At least now I know why you didn’t bring them. My daddy scared you off.” She almost strangled herself she laughed so hard.

  “He didn’t scare me. He just made it abundantly clear that my attention wasn’t wanted or needed.”

  She reached up and ran her hand over his cheek. “I needed your attention.”

  “Well, just name the time and place and you’ve got it.”

  “Ming’s tonight, after work. My parents won’t mind. In fact, I think they’ll be glad to have extra time alone with Charlie. They don’t get much time with him and it will be good for all of them.”

  “Allows them their time,” he said. “Makes for good luck all the way around. That’s what your fortune cookie will tell you.”

  * * *

  It was sometime midafternoon, after Charlie’s lunch, when Simon caught up to Del. “You look like you could use a cup of coffee or tea,” he told her.

  “I lost a patient today,” Del said. “Not as in dying but as in yanking her kid out of the clinic, and it drained me. And I got pretty indignant with the girl’s mother. Child’s anorexic and the mom was pretty disgusted with the girl and I, in turn, got pretty disgusted with the girl’s mom. And of course I couldn’t say anything.”

  “For what it’s worth, I think your indignation toward that girl’s mother was righteous in every way. I know what it’s like to deal with a parent who thinks it’s all about them.”

  “Amy’s mother,” she murmured.

  He nodded. “Trust me, there were plenty of times when I had a whole string of things I wanted to say to Yvette, but didn’t because it wasn’t in Amy’s best interest.”

  “Is there a day that goes by when you don’t think about her?”

  “Not a day. Some days it’s worse than others, though.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Me, too. And thanks.”

  * * *

  As the rest of the day pressed on, things settled down into a normal routine. Del saw a few regular patients, helped with the overflow, and nothing was out of the ordinary. Not the ailments, not even the minor emergencies. It was the kind of day everyone wanted and drove you crazy when you got it. But as the day progressed, she found herself looking forward to her dinner date at Ming’s, and it wasn’t the egg rolls that were stirring her. Del was actually excited about her date with Simon. Just the two of them in a quaint little hole in the wall. It had all the earmarks of being romantic, even though romance wasn’t what she wanted from him. But she did like his company, loved his conversation, enjoyed their alone time together. It was amazing how in just a few weeks he’d become so important to her. And dinner at Ming’s was just the icing on the cake as far as she was concerned.

  Was there potential in their relationship? Possibly? Maybe even probably. Except he’d made it pretty darned clear he wasn’t interested in getting involved with a woman who had a child. Who could blame him for that? Certainly, she couldn’t, after the way his last relationship had turned out. Couldn’t they have a casual fling though? One without commitments? One that could even be platonic if that was what he wanted in order to keep himself safe. Certainly, she wanted that safety net, too, and she’d made up her mind not to get so deeply involved that intense emotions came into play.

  * * *

  They took a seat by the front window, where they could look out over the lake, and if there ever was something that called for romance, this was it. The restaurant itself was tiny and intimate and the decor was like stepping back into old-world China, where a jade Buddha sat on a shelf, and beaded curtains separated the front from the back room. The room was bathed in reds and black and the smells coming from the kitchen were enough to make her mouth water the instant Simon opened the front door and she heard the quaint, old-fashioned doorbell jingle on entry.

  And the lake... Del loved the vastness of it. Ming’s sat on the other side of the busy Lakeshore Drive, opposite the lake, but because the lake itself there was so beautiful she didn’t even notice the traffic up and down that stretch of road in front of it. All she could see was the sun setting over the water, casting it in the glow of golds and navy blues. And all she could hear was the faint strain of Chinese music playing in the background.

  “I haven’t actually been in here since, well, it was a long time before Charlie was born. This place always seemed like it was for couples and being
a single in an establishment for two just didn’t feel right. So I ordered takeout, or had it delivered. Made it less pathetic that way, I think.”

  “You think of being single as pathetic?” he asked her as he took the menus from the server’s hand.

  “In a restaurant that caters to romance, yes. In my normal day-to-day life, no.”

  “I’ve come in here alone before and eaten.”

  “Then you’re braver than I am, Simon, or at least less self-conscious.”

  “But you’ve got nothing to feel self-conscious about. You made your choice and you don’t regret it, so that should include dining out even if it is a romantic restaurant. Especially if you like the food.”

  “I love the food here. It’s the best Chinese I’ve ever had. Everything prepared to order.’

  “Like your life, where everything’s prepared to order.”

  “And what’s so different about your life?” she asked.

  “I venture out of my comfort zone for one thing. I don’t think you do.”

  “Maybe not so much, but I have Charlie to consider.”

  “And you couldn’t bring him here with you?”

  “Maybe when he’s older.” She looked up at the server, who was patiently awaiting drink orders. “I’ll have unsweet iced tea,” she said. “With a lot of lemon.”

  “And I’ll have a beer. Whatever you have on tap is fine. And could you bring us a couple of egg rolls as appetizers, one pork and one vegetarian?”

  The girl scrambled away to fetch the orders while Del and Simon continued talking. “I think the ambiance here would be lost on Charlie, anyway.”

  “But not on you, and you do count in the mother-son relationship. You can build your life around him to the point that you’re suffocating him and I don’t think that’s your intent, is it?”

  “Charlie goes out with me.”

  “Where?”

  “To the park, and the grocery store. Sometimes we just go for a walk. He likes that.”

  “But where do you go for yourself?”

  “Same places Charlie goes,” she said, reaching across the table for a packet of sweetener. He laid his hand atop hers for a moment. “How long has it been since you’ve been on a real date?”

  She thought a minute. “It’s been about eight years. I got tangled up with Eric for five, then I was recovering from that, then I got pregnant and next thing you know I had Charlie.”

  “Eight years? How could you deprive yourself for so long?”

  “You were married, Simon. How long has it been for you?”

  He winced. “About the same.”

  “So we’re alike in that.” She took the tea the server brought to the table and dumped the packet of sweetener in it while Simon took a swig of his beer, then sighed.

  “We are alike in some ways, aren’t we?”

  “More than I like to think about,” she said, pushing out her plate to take her oversized egg roll.

  “So this is both our first dates in years.”

  “Except we’re not dating,” Del reminded him.

  “Just having dinner for two in a romantic little hideaway. Sounds like a date to me.”

  Del shook her head as she cut off a bite of her egg roll and dipped it in sweet-and-sour sauce. “I accepted dinner, pure and simple. I wouldn’t have accepted if you’d asked me out on a date. In fact, I’m fully prepared to pay for my own dinner, which makes this even more of a non-date.”

  “So I’m on a date and you’re not. I suppose we could leave it at that.”

  “But I thought you didn’t want to get involved with a woman with children.”

  “A date doesn’t always mean an involvement. Sometimes a date’s just a date and nothing more. Or less.” He ate a large bite of his egg roll then picked up his menu. “So, do you want to order separately, or do you want to do the dinner for two, which starts with egg drop soup and goes from there?”

  “They do have awfully good egg drop soup,” she commented. “So if you want to go with the dinner for two...” She shrugged. “Why not? That could be my concession to our non-date date.”

  Simon chuckled. “You’re stubborn. Did anybody ever tell you that before?”

  “I wasn’t for a lot of years. But when I broke clear of Eric that was one of the first things I worked on. I was in counseling and the doctor told me I had a lot of work to do on me and finding myself again. Which I did.”

  “You still in counseling, or is that too personal to ask?”

  “Nope, not in counseling. I graduated from that when I decided I wanted a baby.”

  “How did that come up?”

  “It didn’t just come up. I’ve always wanted a baby and I thought—stupidly—Eric was the one. By the time I knew he wasn’t I was in too deep. But that desire in me never changed. I still wanted a baby, just not his. So I jumped at the chance after we broke up. Actually, not jumped so much as gave it some long, hard thinking before I knew I could do it. And what about you and Amy?”

  “I didn’t know she was part of the picture when I married Yvette. Amy was never mentioned and at the time her father had custody. But he didn’t want her so after we were married about six months there she was on the doorstep one day. A man with a toddler with a little suitcase of clothes, telling Yvette he was finished with the father things. Honest to God, that was the first time I knew of her existence and we’d been married for nearly six months. I suppose that’s why I could never pin her down on having a family—she already had one she didn’t want.”

  “That’s rough.”

  “It was. But I think I grew into being a pretty good dad. Problem was, Yvette wanted someone more exciting than a dad, but Amy needed a parent.” He sighed. “And life goes on.”

  “But you got hurt in the deal.”

  “Not as much as Amy did. That last day when I finally had to say goodbye she clung to me, crying, begging not to be taken from me.” He sniffed. “I’ve never felt so helpless in all my life.”

  Their soup arrived before anything else could be said, followed by their chow mein, followed by deep-fried bananas and by the time they reached their fortune cookies, Del was almost too full to have the strength to open hers up. But she did.

  You will have a lucky night.

  Simon’s said: This will be a night to remember.

  “I think they have two different boxes of cookies—one with regular fortunes, and ones they give to the couple they believe will find romance.” Del wadded up her fortune and tossed it on the table. “So much for that,” she said, taking a bite of the cookie, then leaving the rest on her plate. “The only luck I’m going to have tonight is if I didn’t gain five pounds eating so much good food.”

  “Well, mine’s coming true as we speak because this is definitely a night to remember.”

  “But for how long? And for what reason?”

  “Probably until I get senile, and the reason...I’m enjoying the company of my first date in all these years.”

  “Married years don’t count?”

  “Says who?”

  “Says me,” Del replied, looking at her crumpled fortune. “And that’s all that counts.”

  “Whoa. You’re the only one who’s entitled to an opinion?”

  She nodded. “In my life I am.”

  “But this is my life, too.”

  “And you’re entitled to your opinion, however wrong it may be.”

  “Spoken like someone who was in a marriage-like situation for five years.”

  “Close to marriage, but not marriage. So it doesn’t count. And for what it’s worth, after we became a couple he never dated me again.” She took out her credit card to pay her portion of the bill and Simon rejected it. “You can pick up the whole tab next time.”

  “It’s a
deal,” she said, realizing suddenly that he’d taken the advantage here by getting her to commit to a second date. “If there is another time.”

  He arched wickedly provocative eyebrows. “There’ll be a second time, if for no other reason than you owe me a dinner out.”

  “Aren’t you the tricky one?” she said as they walked to her front door. It was a high-rise, its walkway lined with fall flowers and pumpkins. At the top of the five steps, she turned around and looked down at him. “Care to come in and meet my parents?”

  “Um, no. They might think that we’re...well, you know what I mean. And I don’t want to give them any false hopes about their daughter.”

  “Coward!” She laughed. “They already know how I am, so there’s no jeopardy involved.”

  “I’ve got an early morning,” he finally conceded. “I promised to take early-morning duty at the clinic and work straight through to close.”

  “That’s being quite the martyr, isn’t it?”

  “It gives a couple people the opportunity to be off and have the day with their families, including you, if you want it.”

  “But the clinic can be a madhouse on Saturdays because, outside the ER, we’re the only practice that’s open on the weekends.”

  Simon shrugged. “Weekday, weekend, it’s all the same to me. Otherwise, I’d be spending my day at home, alone, which gets boring after the first hour.”

  “I might drop in, depending on my parents’ plans,” she said, then, standing on the top step while he was two below her, she gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. Nothing demanding, nothing deep and delving at first. Just a kiss between friends was the way she looked at it. Although the second kiss was more. It probed, and was a real kiss, not just a friendly one. And it went on forever, grew in intensity until she was nearly breathless. Her face blushed and her hands trembled as she tried to bid him a nonchalant good-night, which was nearly impossible to do given her rising feelings for him. So, he didn’t want a woman with a child but she couldn’t help the way she felt when she was around him, either, so what was she going to do?

  “See you t-tomorrow,” she stammered as her knees trembled on her way in the door. But before she could get inside he gave her a long, hard kiss.