by C. L. Quinn
Yes, the hotel room was exactly as they’d left it, and yet nothing was the same. Nikolai fell onto the bed, clothes and boots still on, and rolled over to bury his face in the pillow. He would sleep but then he wanted to see Naji tonight, to explain to her…
No, that wasn’t necessary. Mies had left her prepared for the possibility that she might not ever see him again. So he would let her know his intentions and see where they might go from there. In his thirty-six years, he’d never been in love. Not really in love, not the “’til death do us part” kind, and he was ready.
“You’ve motivated me,” he thought, and then listened for a reply in his head that would not come. Punching the pillow, he rolled onto his back and slammed his head against it. “I hope you are okay tonight, my friend,” he whispered, and prayed that he was.
Perhaps one of the most difficult things of all with this situation was that he would never know what really happened to Mies and where he was.
Sarah noticed four calls from Naji on her cell phone. She dried her hair and used a silver clip over the length to secure it before she began the minimal make-up application she usually did before she went to the hospital. Twice, she picked up the phone and started to dial, but stopped. Not yet. It was too soon for that kind of normal. She’d call her friend tomorrow morning after she finished the shift.
One step at a time, that’s how you climb up a hill.
Tonight, she’d do what she was best at; medicine. It was truly one of the most satisfying things in her life.
When Sarah walked into the E.R. later that evening, Tracy, waiting at the front desk, looked up at her.
“Stranger! Nice to have you back.”
“Family emergency.”
“Aw. I hope everything is all right.”
“It is now, thank you. So, what have we got?”
“Two ambulances coming in, a bad skateboarding accident, severe head injury, and a heart attack.”
“I’ll take the skateboarder.”
“I hoped you would. You know how I hate the sight of blood,” Tracy responded with a laugh. “Still considering that career driving an ice cream truck. All you do is make kids happy all day, how can anything go wrong?”
Sarah nodded. “Yeah. Need an assistant?”
The doors flew open and Sarah’s skateboarder was reeled in, the EMT giving her his stats. Time to go to work.
Naji finished closing the ledger and tapped the controls for the main lighting in the show room to lower the overnight light level. She was anxious to get out of here tonight. As soon as she had everything secured, she planned to go by Sarah’s apartment, and if she wasn’t there, she would head to Massachusetts General.
Five phone calls and twelve texts had gone unanswered, and she wanted to know why.
Sarah was one of the most responsible people she’d ever known, and Naji knew that something was wrong. Friends were there for each other, and whether Sarah wanted her or not, she got her. The only thing left was to turn the alarm on for the front entrance. She would then exit through the back of the building to her car, safely parked undercover in the private lot.
As she reached for the panel to engage the security system, her eyes moved to the glass double-doors that welcomed artists and patrons when they were open. Right now, a face stared at her, white teeth glowing from behind a wide smile. Nikolai!
So that she did not seem too eager, which was never good, Naji continued to turn out lights and close off exhibits.
Finally, she turned to the man who waited patiently behind the etched glass. Oh, he was a sight for sore eyes! In spite of her desire to remain aloof, she unlocked the door and gave him a welcoming smile.
“I’ve missed you. May I come in?”
Naji lost the smile and tilted her head in an I don’t care gesture, but she stepped back to allow him to enter.
“Nice of you to stop in,” she said, keeping her voice level with little interest.
“We just arrived from out of town and I couldn’t wait to see you tonight.”
Oh. That made a difference. Still, play it cool, she told herself. She was the queen of cool, that’s one of the reasons that men wanted her so badly. They always want the unattainable. Naji was attainable, but only on her terms and only with those she really wanted. God, she had to admit…she really wanted this sweet, sexy Russian friend of Sarah.
“You must be hungry, it is past dinnertime. May I escort you to dinner?” He asked.
Now her smile returned. “I seem to remember the first time we tried to go to dinner.”
His eyes sparkled. “I seem to remember some pretty wild appetites that night.”
“You know, when something is good, it’s a good idea to try that same dish again to see if it really suited you.”
“I wouldn’t even dream of disagreeing with you.”
“Are you in a car?”
“I have no vehicle here in America.”
“Fine. I’ll drive.”
It would be inaccurate to say that butterflies tickled her belly, more like pterodactyls flew from one side to the other in circles. Why this man hit her this way, she didn’t know, but everything about him made her tingle. It might mean that she was capable of love after all, and if it was with this gentle man who was a sexy beast in her bed, she would gladly accept him.
The shop closed and locked, Naji led Nikolai to her car, but before she could use the remote to unlock it, he was in front of her and pressed her back against the cool steel.
“I find that I cannot wait. I demand an appetizer.”
His body felt right, his belly touching hers, her breasts touching his chest.
“Really?” Naji responded. “What did you have in mind, sir?”
She moved closer and fondled his crotch with gentle fingers. “This?”
Then she lifted his right hand to place it on her left breast. “Or this?”
Her voice dropped. “Perhaps this?” Both hands moved to his neck to pull him to her, her breath warm on his cheek. When her tongue slid between his lips, Nikolai was lost in her.
“This,” he whispered minutes later when he could speak.
“Ummm,” Naji moaned. “I could make a full-course meal of you.” She kissed him again, her tongue moving through his mouth almost desperately. “I knew you might not come back. I hoped that you would.”
Nikolai lifted her up onto the hood of the car and pulled her shirt over her head. A lace satin bra showed off her full breasts before he lifted one cup and nipped the tender skin above it. Nipped? He’d never done that with a woman before. Must be left over from Mies. She seemed to like it, she shuddered, and reached for him, so he continued to score a path beneath the bra to each nipple. Suddenly, he glanced around. No one else was in the alley, but there could be.
“I can’t finish here. We must go.” He lowered his voice as he leaned in to speak directly into her ear. “I did not want to leave you, I just didn’t know if fate would let me come back.”
Naji took his face in her hands and captured his eyes.
“Fate? My beautiful Russian lover, I don’t let anything or anyone get in my way when I want something. You, I want.”
She kissed him, then, like no other kiss she’d ever given anyone. This one was filled with promises, and hope, and the chance for a future. And that was all new to her. Moments later, she pushed him back.
“Get in the car. Do you have somewhere you have to be for the next few days?”
Nikolai shook his head.
“Good. You’re mine, love. We’re locking ourselves away for that time. Do you object?”
He smiled. “No.”
She pulled her cell phone from her back pocket and punched a number, her eyes still frozen on his. The call connected and Naji began to speak.
“Isley, I have something urgent to tend to until Monday. The studio is yours. If you need something, text me, and I’ll get back to you.”
Ending the call, Naji nodded to Nikolai. “Get in the car.”
Eleven
The E.R. was extremely busy for the next three weeks, giving Sarah exactly what she needed: no time for sadness or regret or to miss Mies. She’d volunteered for any open shift, and because they were short-handed, she worked every night and slept every day. It might not have been cathartic, but it was exhausting, which felt good, both mentally and physically.
The one bright spot had been a text from Naji and then a second one from Nikolai.
Nikolai and I connected. Boy, did we! Falling in love.
Will see you soon and dish. Love U.
I hope you are well, Sarah. I am VERY well. Naji likes
to dominate her men and it turns out I like to be
dominated. Apparently. It is a match made in heaven.
Ugh, you know what I mean. Please be well, my dear
friend.
They were happy. Out of all of this, something really beautiful had happened: two people had found each other who really needed each other. After she’d received the texts, Sarah had spoken to the absent Mies for the first time since the week they’d said goodbye.
“Look what we did, Mies. You would be so proud.”
Startled at herself, she found that she had waited, very, very briefly, for an answer.
The sadness had leveled out and she was doing okay again. Her work was more satisfying than ever, and, little by little, she felt better each day. Other than a persistent gastrointestinal bug, Sarah had gotten back to her routine.
There were moments alone at night when memory of him welled up and brought sorrow laced with tears, and then, the night was awful. But morning came, as it always did, work had to be done, a life had to be lived, and the pain managed.
Sarah had often been told that she was such a strong woman. It was true, she was, she had always believed that she could overcome or endure just about anything. This emptiness, the lost possibilities, Mie’s second chance to have his life, to see this new world, just the knowledge that she would never see him again, had more a chance to be overwhelming than any other event in her life.
These days would likely be the saddest of her life, but she knew that time would soften the pain of his memory, if not the regret, and she would remember him without the chest crushing pain. The day would come when life would simply overtake the loss.
Today, rising with the sun, she’d picked up a bag of blueberry muffins and coffee, and headed out to watch the boats on the waterfront. Warm sunlight brought a pink flush to her pale skin.
When Sarah had first come to Boston, one of the things she’d loved the most was getting out into the sun. These past few weeks, she’d hibernated like a pissed-off bear. Now, the brightness and warmth would do exactly what it had then…it would help her begin to heal.
She had a date with Naji and Nikolai the following Saturday for lunch since she hadn’t seen either of them in quite some time. She’d missed them both.
And tonight, she was going to ask Leo for a date. It was time to get back on track with her original goal for coming to Boston. The past few weeks, working together often, she and Leo had returned to the rapport they’d had from the beginning. When she went to work tonight, she planned to let him know that she was ready once again to try a romantic relationship with him.
Selecting a nice place to watch the boats on top of a hill, she bit into the fresh muffin. Sighing, she wished that she was more excited about the prospect of dating Leo.
“I told you that you’d spoil me for ordinary men,” she whispered to Mies.
Two businessmen taking a walk on this pleasant morning gave Sarah long looks and warm smiles.
She glanced down as they passed, aware that if she smiled back, it might be an invitation to come over and begin a conversation. For some reason she didn’t understand, for the past two weeks, men had been noticing her. Really noticing her. Naji would have been able to help her figure out why, but she was still in the “honeymoon” stage of her relationship with Nikolai and they were functionally absent. Naji went to work, briefly, then disappeared.
Sighing again, Sarah cleaned up her mess and headed back out of the park. She had a few tasks to accomplish today, wanted to send a text to Tamesine to assure her that everything here in Boston was okay, send another to Park to let her know why Nikolai hadn’t stopped in her lab in southern France yet, and get her hair cut so that she could style it easier. She wanted to look more put together than she felt when she asked Leo to give her another chance.
Separating her recyclables from the rubbish, Sarah headed for the street when a wave of nausea overcame her. Even the blueberry muffins upset her stomach? Ugh.
As usual, it calmed down within twenty minutes and she headed home to prepare for her day. She’d taken some meds that should help her symptoms, but perhaps she should order some tests. Could she have picked up something from the mountains? They’d lain in grass that could have had any number of insects that could have made her ill. If this didn’t settle down, she’d have Tracy run some diagnostics.
Even though he was outrageously expensive, Naji’s hairdresser was the only one Sarah knew, and since he’d done such a wonderful job for her on the color, she decided to have him give her a new haircut. Seated in his big cushy chair, she tried to keep up with his ceaseless chatter, but her mind wandered half way into a story about a celebrity who had wanted a color similar to Sarah’s.
“It was just too stark for her. Your skin is pale, but hers was absolutely ghastly ghostly. Blonde turned her into a gaudy zombie, oh, my God!”
He finally paused, suddenly looking Sarah over closely. “You know that you just glow, don’t you?”
That comment got Sarah’s attention. “No, I don’t. At least, no more than anyone else. Although lately I keep getting strange comments like that.”
“Well, it’s true, darling. Naji tells me that you are one of prettiest girls she’s ever seen and I agree, but there’s just something…I don’t know. Glowy, is all I can come up with. I’m somewhat intuitive about things like this. It’s what makes me so good at my job. For instance, I know that this cut will highlight your well-defined cheekbones, and although others won’t know what it is that transforms your face, they’ll respond to the result. You’ll see.”
Sarah smiled. Maybe. He’d transformed her pale one-dimensional hair color into something that did, indeed, glow, and perhaps that was what he saw, the product of his own work.
Once he was finished, the cut complete and the hair styled, Sarah approved immediately when he handed her a mirror so that she could see her hair from the front and back. He’d left it longer, but sliced varying lengths of layers that created a charming lift and brought attention straight to her eyes. Did she want people fascinated by her eyes? In this case, yes, one particular person, she did.
“Like Naji said, you are a miracle worker. Thanks, BenG.” The unique single name he went by, created by merging his first and last name, replaced his given name, otherwise too common for his effervescent personality.
“You are an artist.”
BenG beamed. He loved making women, or men, beautiful and particularly loved to be told when he had.
“Return soon, glowy lady,” he said with an air kiss on each cheek.
On her way back to her apartment, she caught a glimpse of herself in a storefront that featured full length mirrors and a sign with a question to passersby:
Are you the best that you can be?
“Honestly, I look pretty hot,” she answered out loud. Her hair was full, blowing in the breeze, and it did make her amber eyes pop. She planned to wear a low-cut top tonight under her lab coat so that at an appropriate moment, she would unbutton the coat, and ask Leo if he was still interested in getting together.
“I intend to knock your socks off, Dr. P.”
Home now, to find the perfect top.
The E.R. was a zoo that night. The roster included everything from pain to sliced fingers to car accidents. Two GSW’s brought law enforcement. Sarah saw three cases of lower abdominal pain, one
that turned out to be a badly enflamed appendix and two that seemed to be a recent virus that targeted the gastrointestinal tract.
It wasn’t until well after 3 a.m. that Sarah had a break to intercept Leo.
“Hi, treat you to some bad coffee in the cafeteria?” she offered with a smile she hoped was charming.
“Deal. As long as it’s highly caffeinated.”
“Haven’t you gotten coffee there before? It always is.”
“I have a coffee maker in my office. It’s easier and certainly better coffee.”
“Ah.”
“Would you, uh, like to join me in there to try it? I have a vanilla bean coffee from France that is really good.”
“I would love to, Leo.”
He nodded and smiled cautiously. They’d been careful to keep their relationship friendly but professional since the aborted attempt to meet for an official date. She knew that she had been vague about rescheduling and he must have decided that she’d changed her mind. It was up to her to repair this if it were to be repaired.
His office was pristine, everything in what looked like its exact assigned space. The coffee-maker he’d mentioned was high-tech, a high-end stainless steel unit that looked more like a piece of contemporary art. Leo pointed to a nice loveseat-sized sofa along the back wall near the coffee maker.
“Please, have a seat. This thing fires up pretty quickly. I just hope that things stay calm out in the bays enough to let us get a cup when it’s ready.”
“So do I.” Sarah paused as she slid off her lab coat before she sat.
Leo finished setting the automatic feature on the coffee maker and turned to her.
“Wow. You look so pretty sitting here in my office. I like seeing you here. That, uh, blouse is quite attractive on you.”
Nodding, Sarah patted the place beside her. “Thanks. Listen, we need to talk. I need to clarify something.”
