Free Spirits

by Linda Wisdom

  “My love life is full enough, thank you.” She held up her forefinger, requesting silence. “Please, Beth, you’re my best friend and I love you dearly, but I’ve been given so much unwanted advice lately regarding men that I honestly can’t take any more.” She turned away to walk back to the tables.

  Beth grasped her wrist to halt her escape. “Do me one favor. Think long and hard about what marriage to Jason would be like. How are you going to feel about living with him for the next forty or so years? And more importantly, what if he insists after you’re married that you give up drawing your strip? Would you honestly be willing to do that?”

  She turned her head. That was something she hadn’t considered. Or, a tiny voice in her brain prompted, was it that she hadn’t dared consider it because she feared Jason would do just that? Funny, she never had doubts about him before. What had happened to cause them now? “He would never ask that of me. He knows how important my work is to me,” she declared with false bravado.

  “Really? You don’t sound all that convinced. You forget I’ve been around when others have brought up Fritzi in front of him. He may have smiled, but it never reached his eyes. He always acted uncomfortable when the subject came up. He considers cartoons to be beneath him, Alex. And that means he’ll feel they’re beneath his wife. I can see it happening. He’ll start out with little biting remarks, but soon enough you’ll decide it would just be easier if you give up the strip. If you do that you’ve given up the last part of yourself, Alex. Don’t let that cold-blooded vampire suck away every drop of your life.” This time her vibrant eyes glittered with purpose. The purpose of protecting her closest friend from hurt.

  Alex looked around furtively, ensuring no one could overhear their conversation. “Everything you’re saying is hypothetical, Beth,” she hissed. “Not to mention I don’t care to discuss this now.”

  “It’s the first time I’ve been able to. Whenever I’ve tried to bring it up, you’ve put me off. I wasn’t about to let you do it again. Michael Duffy might be a doctor, but he’s nothing like Craig. Whether you like it or not, he does something to your hormones. I’m not going to apologize if you don’t like what I’m saying. I’m your friend and I care about you. I don’t want to see you hurt again, and if it takes some plain speaking to help you, then that’s just what I’ll do.” She lowered her voice. “Admit it, Alex. The man has given you something to think about.” Having said her bit, Beth released Alex’s wrist and walked away.

  Alex stood frozen for a moment, stunned by her friend’s verbal attack. She had always been fairly laid-back and not the type to butt into another’s business unless she felt she had a good reason. Alex didn’t want to dwell on that reason. She squared her shoulders, pasted a broad smile on her face and headed in the same direction as Beth.

  Michael looked up at Alex’s approach. He hadn’t missed the tension in Beth’s face when she drew Alex to one side for a low-voiced conversation. He didn’t have to guess that the main object of that conversation was him. Several others slyly asked what took them so long to get to the restaurant. Sounds of disbelief met his explanation that he wanted to take the time to clean her wounds to prevent any chance of infection.

  “Maybe this doctor knows the way to soften our hardhearted Alex toward the medical profession.” Dennis grinned. “Why didn’t I think about patching up her skinned knees and … other parts of her anatomy when she scraped herself up?”

  “If my first introduction to the male side of the medical field had been Craig Sommers, I wouldn’t even walk on the same side of the street as any of you,” said Jennifer, Dennis’s latest girlfriend.

  “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a man liking his ladies,” one of the other doctors spoke up, leering at the woman seated beside him. He yelped when she pinched his waist.

  “There’s a lot wrong with it, if there’s a wife involved,” Jennifer argued. “I worked with that sleaze for six months before I could transfer to another floor. He thinks he’s God’s gift to women and that we were all eager to jump into bed with him. There may be stupid bimbos around who fall for his line, but I’m proud to say I wasn’t one of them.” As tense silence descended, she looked up, her face turning a bright red as she realized Alex stood nearby. “Oh, Alex, I’m sorry,” she whispered, stricken.

  She offered a reassuring smile. “Don’t be, Jen. I’m just glad to know you weren’t one of those stupid bimbos. Personally, I always felt Craig would have been happier if he could work as a stud in Las Vegas. At least then he would be paid for doing what he thinks he does best.”

  “That sounds a little bitchy, Alex,” Lisa, a sloe-eyed brunette, purred. It was a well-known fact that she had been one of Craig’s many late-night diversions during his marriage to Alex. “Perhaps you’re not over him as much as you think.”

  “Trust me, I’m over the man. As for what you thought was a bitchy remark it wasn’t. I was merely stating the facts.” She seated herself at the other table next to Michael.

  “Friendly enemy?” he murmured, handing her a glass of wine.

  “Far from it. I think she wouldn’t mind having my heart on a silver platter. She’s still convinced I forced her breakup with Craig instead of the new nurse in Orthopedics. None of them ever lasted more than a few months.” Ignoring her first inclination to down the wine like a glass of water, she merely sipped the rich burgundy and set the glass down in front of her. “So where’s the menu?”

  Michael shook his head. “Don’t worry, I already ordered your dinner. A large pizza with plenty of anchovies. Just the way you like it.”

  Alex’s dazzling smile gave no indication that she hated anchovies with a passion.

  “Didn’t I hear once that anchovies give you hives?” Jay asked with devilish glee.

  “No, Jay, you give me hives,” she playfully shot back.

  Michael settled back in his chair, one arm draped over the lattice back. He was fully prepared to sit there and enjoy the show Alex was putting on. This was clearly her element—the center of things. Not that she deliberately sought the spotlight. Just that people naturally gravitated to her outgoing personality. He remembered once reading an article about the right-brained creative personality and how most of them were introverts, happiest with their own company. Alex’s work clearly defined her as a creative personality, but there was nothing introverted about her. He also noticed she answered questions about her cartoon strip but didn’t elaborate, preferring to switch the conversation around to the others. Talk among the group wasn’t so much about medicine as it was about anything that struck their fancy, from the new puppy one of the doctors had just adopted to the number of new restaurants that had sprung up in the past six months.

  Even after their energetic afternoon he could swear he smelled a faint whiff of cologne coming from Alex’s skin. Just as he thought he noticed it during that charged moment at the field when he almost kissed her. Now he wished he’d given in to his first inclination. And was it his imagination, or was that her bare leg resting so close to his calf that he could feel her body heat? He cradled his glass of wine with his hands.

  “Lighten up, Doc, this is our victory celebration,” one of his fellow players teased. “We won hands down.” He ducked his head when several losers pelted him with wadded napkins. “Hey, don’t be sore losers!”

  His smile was fleeting. “Sorry. I guess I sort of drifted off.” Thinking about what it would be like to have Alex Cassidy all to himself.

  “Look, old buddy, it’s time for us to party. Waiter, could we have another couple bottles of wine over here?” Dennis called out. When they arrived, he filled everyone’s glasses except Michael’s whose hand covered the top.

  “I’ll wait until I have some food in me.”

  “They’ll keep it up until they have a good buzz on,” Alex said in a low voice, picking up the basket of soft, warmed bread sticks drenched in garlic butter. She offered the basket to Michael and took one out, sinking her teeth into it. ‘ ‘Mm, I can live on the
se alone. Well, not really, but they hit the spot as an appetizer.”

  For one brief second, he envisioned those teeth sinking into his skin. He blinked several times, dispelling the image before it started taking over. As he watched her, he couldn’t help grinning at her restless energy. “Don’t worry, your anchovy-drenched pizza should be arriving soon.”

  Alex studied him carefully. “You should do it more often.”

  “What?”

  “Smile.”

  “I do smile,” he pointed out, a bit put out she might see him as unfriendly. Especially considering the thoughts he’d been having about her.

  She shifted in her chair so that her back was to the others as she faced him. “Not as much as you could.” With her cap off, her ponytail dragging and makeup worn off by her exertions she looked more like a cheeky sixteen-year-old than a woman just hitting thirty. “My mother’s favorite phrase was ‘don’t frown, dear, they only cause wrinkles”,” she chuckled. “But then she also used to tell me not to lie because my nose would grow, so I was never sure what to believe.”

  “I won’t tell you the old wives’ tales my parents used to tell me.”

  She lifted her eyebrows comically. “If you were a precocious boy, I can well imagine what they warned you against,” she teased.

  “There was one thing they didn’t warn me against.”

  “What was that?”

  “You.”

  Not by a blink of the eye did Alex show any reaction to Michael’s blunt statement, but it did throw her off. She felt it in the pit of her stomach as she stared at his face, looking for a sign, any sign that this was light flirtation. The trouble was, it wasn’t there. He was very serious and she found it thrilling along with a bit scary.

  This one is different, her brain insisted. He isn’t more concerned with himself than others. Just remember, all his attention has been directed toward you. And you have to admit you love it. Hey, who wouldn’t? The man is good-looking, has excellent manners and there’s something about him that appeals to all your hormones.

  Of course it does, the doubting side argued. He’s trying to impress you. Just as Craig did. Remember how he acted as if you were the only woman alive? How he’d look deep into your eyes, telling you you were the only woman for him?

  Then he’d leave you to meet some nurse at her apartment for a few hours of anatomy lessons. She felt saddened that there could be even the slimmest of chances Michael was like Craig.

  Michael recognized Alex’s retreat immediately, by the way her eyes showed a faint touch of pain in their pale blue depths. The warm, teasing woman with the sly come-hither smiles of just a few moments ago was gone. The only reason for her withdrawal had to be what he said, an impulsive statement he’d never made to any other woman. He cursed himself for speaking without thinking. He turned his head when he heard his name called.

  Alex was pleasantly surprised when a plate of Tortellini Alfredo, one of her favorites, was set in front of her. She looked up at Michael.

  “Something told me anchovies aren’t your favorite any more than they’re mine,” he admitted. “And I won’t even bring up that hated cholesterol word, either.”

  “Cholesterol never looked so palatable,” she replied, picking up her fork and digging into the pasta with the ferocity of a hungry woman who clearly didn’t bother to watch her calorie intake.

  “Alex, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you a few minutes ago,” he said in a low voice, concentrating on his own meal. “I usually have a stricter rein on my tongue. Maybe it was the wine I had.”

  Her fork paused in midair. It was clear from the expression on her face that an apology from him was unexpected. Deep down, she knew it wasn’t the wine that caused him to say what he did. He hadn’t drunk enough. No, what he spoke was the truth, and all she did was retreat when a part of her wouldn’t have minded advancing. She slowly turned her head. “You aren’t the impetuous type, are you?”

  He shook his head. “It took me five months to settle on which couch to buy. Does that tell you how impulsive I am?”

  She grinned. “How about deciding on a color scheme for your home?”

  His lips twitched. “There’s supposed to be a color scheme?”

  Alex leaned over, confiding under her breath, “It helps you tell the difference between the kitchen and the bathroom.”

  “You’d find apartments in the east that have the bathtub in the kitchen. Think that confuses people?”

  “It would sure confuse me.”

  “You two having a private discussion or can anyone horn in?” Dennis asked, leering at them.

  “Not if you’re going to talk about autopsies, lab serums or something equally gruesome,” she retorted. “I almost lost my dinner the last time, listening to three of you talk about your cadavers in medical school.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

  “Herbert was very special to me,” he said, affronted.

  “Herbert? Mine was named Ralph,” Michael chimed in. “I especially remember my excitement to learn he had webs between his toes. I thought I’d made a great medical discovery until my instructor caustically pointed out that this wasn’t the first time he’d seen it. I was crushed for days.”

  “Please.” Alex held up her hand in surrender. “I have a strong stomach for gory horror films, but not for listening to you people talk about the real thing. I’ll stick to special effects, thank you very much.”

  “Maybe you should put Fritzi in the hospital for a while,” Jennifer suggested.

  Alex’s eyes became unfocused as she thought about it. She gradually returned to the present. “I don’t think it would work. There are no viable tours in hospitals. I once thought of a tour of Watergate, but I figured it was more Garry Trudeau’s style than mine.”

  “I would think after all this time you’d run out of tour ideas,” Michael commented, fascinated at the way she so easily slipped into her creative mode. As a logical, left-brain individual, he envied the right-brain part of die human race because they always seemed to enjoy the world more.

  “There’s times when I wonder if I might have run dry, but then something seems to come up. And if I ever do feel it’s time to move on, I’ll just go through my folder of ideas and see if there’s anything I want to work with.” She forked up the last of her tortellini.

  “What you do fascinates me,” Jay admitted. “I mean, you take a vague idea and breathe life into it. Not just words but pictures, too.”

  “Yes, but I couldn’t find a person’s lungs without a road map.”

  Dennis snapped his fingers. “A map! That’s our problem, guys. We just get in there and root around when we should be consulting a map!”

  The others hooted with good-natured laughter.

  “You are all so very sick.” Alex stood up. “Now I know it’s time for me to leave.”

  Beth looked dismayed. “Actually, Alex, I’ve got to work tonight.”

  She looked at her friend suspiciously. “I thought you had the weekend off.”

  “The hospital called just before I left to ask me to come in tonight.”

  Alex didn’t believe one word. Not when Beth hadn’t breathed a word about working earlier.

  “No problem, I’ll run you home,” Michael offered.

  She didn’t take her accusing eyes off Beth. “No, that isn’t fair to you.”

  He stood up. “As I said, no problem. I’m ready to leave, too.” As far as he was concerned, there was nothing more to say on the subject.

  If Alex hadn’t turned her head just that moment she would have missed the tiny smile of triumph gracing her friend’s lips. She and Michael had walked right into her trap.

  I’ll get you for this, she mouthed to her friend.

  Beth merely smiled back. “I’ll see you later, Alex.”

  “Oh, yes, you will.” It was more a threat than a promise.

  Alex held her tongue until she and Michael were in the parking lot.

  “I hate to tell you this, but Beth isn’t
working tonight,” she sighed, waiting for him to unlock the passenger door.

  “I know. She agreed to go out with Greg for a drink after everyone split up.” He looked up. “Does it bother you that I’m driving you home?”

  “It bothers me that you were tricked into it,” she said quietly.

  Michael turned to rest his hip against the cool metal of the door. “Let me set you straight, Alex. If I felt used or tricked into this, I wouldn’t have offered to drive you home. If it makes you feel any better, you don’t live out of my way— and I’m not the party type, so you’re not taking me away from anything I don’t want to be taken from. All right?” His eyes bored into hers.

  Those all-seeing eyes were the first thing she’d seen when she came to in the hospital. She wondered what he saw now.

  She knew what she saw. And what she saw she very much liked.

  Skin used to sterile hospital lighting now in the beginning stages of a fairly nasty sunburn. Creases along the eyes and mouth indicating he wasn’t always as serious as he looked now. She wouldn’t mind seeing that mind-blowing smile of his again. Hair still tousled from the afternoon breeze on the playing field. When they arrived at the restaurant he’d pulled a sweatshirt on and pushed the sleeves up to his elbows.

  “Very all right,” she said huskily. Whether she was talking about what he just said or what she was looking at, even she wasn’t sure. At that moment, Jason Palmer was very much out of her mind.

  His face creased in a smile. “Good.” He moved away and opened her door, closing it after her as she settled herself in the seat.

  The ride to Alex’s apartment building was made in comfortable silence.

  “Does Dr. Duffy know enough to take a cool shower tonight to ease that sunburn?” Alex asked as Michael parked the car in the guest parking lot. She dared to reach out and run her fingers across his cheek, finding it pleasantly rough and warm to the touch. Jason’s face was always baby-butt smooth from his constant shaving. She found this faint hint of stubble very sexy and couldn’t find the strength to order her fingers to stop touching him. “And use some lotion?”