by Vanessa Rose
“I think we'll have you take a seat in one of our fancy wheel chairs and I'll take you back there now,” Andrew said with a nod before turning to the nurse's station to ask for assistance.
When a wheelchair was brought out, Andrew bent down and placed an arm around Lisa. He saw the blush run across her cheeks he helped her into the chair, and it didn't feel like the smile left her face as they exited the waiting room.
“So tell me what happened,” Andrew asked as they breezed past the small lab and staff offices.
Lisa shook her head. Andrew tried not to glance over her shoulder down her shirt, and he succeeded by remembering that there was an associate around every corner and behind every doorway. Even though he was comfortable, he was a newcomer, and he didn't want to get a bad reputation. Respect was one of his moral tenants, and he clung to it. Patiently matching his pace to the wheelchair, he listened to Lisa explain her injuries.
“Well,” she started, “I'm a field scientist for University of Alabama. I'm working towards finishing my thesis, and I'm focusing on ecosystems here near the Coosa River.”
Andrew smiled to himself. It was nice to find another science-minded person in a crew of old country folk.
“So, today I was trying to set up a camera on a tree limb and that shouldn't have been a problem because I've been up there a bunch of times before. But this time,” she said before taking a deep breath and shaking her head, “Well, this time I went to swing down and when I swung backwards to get up some momentum, a sharp piece of bark snagged my hand. My grip slipped and I ended up going backwards.”
Lisa made a swinging motion with her hands to illustrate her point. Andrew smiled and urged her to go on.
“So, my feet went out behind me and they landed in a bramble bush while I swear I crushed my ribs and my shoulder, Doctor. I don't know but I think I may have a concussion. I'm feeling dizzy,” Lisa said, finishing up her sentence a little on the slow side.
Andrew couldn't see the sly smile on her lips, so he took her concerns about a concussion seriously.
“Okay,” he said. “Well, let's get you into a room so I can check you out- I mean, examine you. To help.-to help you feel better. Get better. That's why you're here right? Okay!”
Andrew wasn't accustomed to feeling like a blundering teenager around women. In fact, at over six-feet-tall with dark brown hair and emerald green eyes, Dr. Cassetter almost had to beat them off with a stick. Lisa, however, made him shake like a schoolboy. He cleared his throat, nervous, before he opened an examination room door. He wheeled Lisa into the room and helped her up onto the table. When their eyes locked, Andrew felt his stomach drop out from beneath him, and the expression on her face made him feel like Lisa experienced the same thing.
If Andrew had a medical textbook anywhere near him, he would have used it to hit himself over the head as he tried his best to stay on task. He tried to convince himself that conversation was part of making the patient feel at ease, and it was his job to make sure Lisa felt as much at ease as possible. He watched her facial expressions as he put pressure on different places on her hurt leg. It took his best efforts to not imagine putting pressure on other parts of her body.
Lisa's heart beat just a little bit quicker every time Andrew touched her. He wasn't her normal physician, Dr. Graham was, but she was in so much pain that she would have seen anyone to make it stop. At one point, he touched a spot just below her ankle caused her to cry out. Lisa put her hand out onto Andrew's. She didn't bother removing it when the pain subsided.
Andrew found himself laughing too much. He felt he was staring too much. He almost knocked over everything on the small counter, and cursed the tiny size of the clinic. Lisa was having a dramatic effect on him, and he wanted nothing more than to just wrap her up and take her back to the little riverside cabin that the agency had rented for him. He didn't, though. It took everything he had, but he kept it professional, mostly.
Lisa, on the other hand, would have been much more pleasant had it not been for the excruciating pain she was in. Between the waves, though, Andrew had her feeling much better. He was, by far, the brightest addition to Oak Grove for as long as she could remember. Lisa had lived here since she was a child, and was excited to see this new doctor come to the area.
Chapter 3: Lisa's Life
Lisa's family had lived on the same eight acres of land, her father told her, for generations. Since before the Civil War, even, he used to say. Lisa never cared too much for history, or for human events in general. Her heart and soul were always in the trees, and that's where she spent most of her time.
She was president of her 4H club, graduated with honors and breezed through college. Her work as an adult was be done in the wilderness surrounding her hometown. It was her mother's dream come true, and the family happily helped Lisa get set up in an apartment of her own.
She worked as a consultant on the side and would regularly assist business owners, large ones, with their efforts to set up shop in Alabama. Lisa was fiercely protective of the land, and appreciated the opportunity to have a hand in its future. With money in her bank account and her own roof over her head, Lisa happily steered herself into adulthood.
Her family was one of the many black families in the area, and she never felt threatened. Even when the new developments started coming into the area, everyone remained friendly, kind of sleepy and as quiet as the breeze blowing through the leaves on the trees. It was Lisa's dream home, and she loved it. She got to see everyone she cared about daily and pretty much forget about the rest of the world otherwise. Which is exactly why it was so easy for her to forget things, like her cell phone, when she went out on her adventures.
She had forgotten her phone, as usual, when she set out to work the day she fell from the tree. Until she died, she would swear that she didn't fall, but simply had a malfunction in her dismount. It was all how you reported it, she would say. At least, those were the thoughts that ran through her mind as she laid on the ground in pain and alone.
Her Blazer wasn't parked too far down the trail, but it was far enough to be a daunting trip. Lisa lay on the forest floor and listened to the rushing sound of the river, wondering how kind the environment would be to her. She could never tell, deep down in her heart, whether or not her presence in the forest was welcomed or disdained.
Slowly, Lisa summoned her strength, courage and wrestled with the logic of simply doing nothing until she was found. She crept up and made it all the way back to where her Blazer was parked. It took her the rest of the day, but she got there. Exhausted, Lisa almost fell asleep in the driver's seat. She wanted to make it to the clinic before they closed, so with as much concentration as she could focus, Lisa drove into town.
It took about thirty minutes, and the bumpy parts of the beginning stretch were horrendous enough to make Lisa cry out in pain. She was a wreck by the time she made it to the clinic but didn't care to do anything besides redirect her short, curly hair. Without any hurry, Lisa calmly walked into the clinic, putting as little weight on her injured leg as possible. Her shoulder and chest felt terrible, too, and fatigue was starting to hit pretty hard.
“Hi,” Lisa said when she walked into the lobby, “I fell out of a tree.”
The assistant behind the desk just pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. Lisa could tell that the young lady was stuck between pity and amusement. It actually wasn't the first time that Lisa had fallen out of a tree, and the staff was starting to get used to it.
“Oh, Lisa!” the assistant exclaimed as she came around into the lobby to help set her injured friend up in a chair, “now, why'd you go and do that again, huh? The first couple times weren't enough for you? Are you trying to fly, crazy girl?”
Lisa forced a smile and laughed at herself. She carefully sat down with the assistant's help, grateful for the slice of small town life she was experiencing.
“Is Dr. Graham still seeing patients?” Lisa asked as she laid her head back in pain.
“No
, Darlin,” the assistant answered, “she's gone taken her maternity leave. They'll probably be inducing her by Friday if she doesn't pop before then.”
The smile and excitement on the assistant's face radiated throughout the room. It infected Lisa, and she was grateful for the distraction. She and Dr. Graham had gone to elementary through high school together. Though not close friends, they were happy neighbors and Lisa was glad to have her as a doctor. The thought of not having her today was a little disheartening, but it wasn't like it was Lisa's annual check-up or anything. She just needed a doctor to help mend her leg.
The assistant promised to take care of all of Lisa's paperwork, and soon Lisa found herself drifting off in her seat. There was a swinging door that separated the waiting area from the exam rooms. Lisa always thought they intentionally left it squeaky. Each time it opened, the entrant had everyone's attention. Today, each squeak jolted Lisa from her recuperative rest, and she was mildly irritated when she opened her eyes for the fifth time. All of that irritation faded, however, when she saw the man who was substituting for Dr. Graham.
Lisa felt her blood pressure rise when Dr. Cassetter called her name. He was very tall and muscular, to the point where it was obvious that he worked hard to get it. It was his green eyes, though, that had Lisa feeling dizzy. She was glad that he couldn't see her face as he brought them to an exam room.
He was very charming towards her, but polite and professional the entire time. She loved that she could truly feel his compassion, that it felt like he really cared. By the end of the visit, Lisa was giggling almost every time he laughed, which was probably the only medicine that she really needed. She was there for quite a while, though. It was over an hour before her leg had been completely cleaned up and bandaged. They ruled out any broken bones, and Lisa was given the all clear to go home.
Andrew helped her limp out to her truck. She smiled as she opened the door before she tried to climb in.
“Do you walk every patient out to their vehicle?” she asked with an inviting smile.
“No,” Andrew said simply. “I am concerned that you're going to drive yourself, though. Are you sure you'll be alright?”
Lisa smiled and placed her hand on the tall, handsome doctor's arm.
“Yes,” she said, “I will be alright. Would you like me to check in with you, or something, when I make it home?”
“Oh, you'll do that for me, then?” he responded with a laugh.
“Sure will,” Lisa assured him. “It's nice to know that someone cares.”
She playfully pushed at his elbow, and he beamed down at her. Lisa wasn't short, but she was still only barely taller than his shoulder. Tall enough to make a perfect dance partner, he thought. He stood there smiling at her, wondering if she really wanted his number, or if she was just being friendly, having a joke.
Turns out, it was half a joke, but Lisa was confident that Dr. Cassetter would take her bait. He did, and a few moments later, she had his number. With butterflies in her stomach and a helping hand from her new doctor, Lisa clamored into her truck and floated home. The entire way there, she kept smiling, kept thinking of him and kept pondering the quip for her check-in text to him when she got to her house. The entire day had been long, much too long, and Lisa was happy to have him as a bright spot throughout it all.
Chapter 4: Examination of Love
It had been a week since Andrew met Lisa. He knew before he looked at his schedule that day that she had a time slot for a follow-up appointment. It probably wasn't really necessary, but Andrew justified it by saying that he wanted to make sure there was nothing left in the cuts and scrapes that might have gotten infected. Mostly, though, he just wanted a reason to see her without having to be straightforward about it.
When Andrew finally did study his schedule, he was a little alarmed to see that her appointment was the last one of the morning. On the one hand, it gave him a perfect opportunity to ask her to lunch, but on the other hand, he really needed to spend his lunch hour scribbling out write ups and entering information into their databases. There were prescriptions to send off, too.
The gears in Andrews mind started to turn. When a light bulb went off, he found the office assistant and requested that she change Lisa's appointment to the last of the day. It was a bold move, but the assistant didn't question it. It's not that the assistant was oblivious; it's just that this was simply another schedule request to her. Happy with his efforts, Andrew went about his morning, taking care to get everything squared away, just in case opportunity presented itself later.
Lisa had been up since the early morning, as was her habit. The butterflies were already buzzing their hearts out within her core the moment she opened her eyes. When the call came from the clinic postponing her appointment, Lisa felt a little disappointed. She had been looking forward to seeing Dr. Cassetter, and the delay irritated her.
The day went on, though. Lisa busied herself with work, trying not to glance at a clock every three minutes; logging time in increments of three minutes was enough to make anyone go insane. She definitely didn't want to be insane by the time she went back to see Dr. Cassetter. Her leg had healed, mostly, except for slight bruising. The cuts and scrapes had healed, and she could walk on it without any pain. Not enough for a pair of heels, however, so she decided to spend a few minutes putting together an outfit that looked good, but not like she spent a few minutes putting it together.
When Lisa emerged onto her balcony porch, her curls sparkled in the sunlight and her skin radiated with youth and health. She wore a loose fitting sundress, unlike her normal jeans and field shirt she donned when she worked. The light lavender color set a brilliant contrast against her ebony skin, and she carefully maneuvered her sandal-clad feet down the stairs. Lisa wasn't keen on purses, but she did remember her cell phone this time. When she made it into her Blazer, she applied some lip-gloss and drove off to her appointment. The sun was starting to set over the trees, and Lisa enjoyed the soft Southern air as it blew through her open windows.
By the time she got to the clinic, Lisa felt vibrant and alive. The injuries of the past week were almost a distant memory and were quickly being replaced by thoughts of the gorgeous Dr. Cassetter. Happily, Lisa checked in at the front desk and waited for her name to be called.
She was the last one in the waiting room and chit-chatted with the assistant who was tasked with straightening everything up. They were half way through a joke when a nurse called Lisa's name. After a few minutes of vitals, Lisa was left to sit in the exam room and wait for Dr. Cassetter. As each moment ticked by, she felt more and more like a tightly coiled spring. By the time she heard footsteps in the hallway outside the door, she could also clearly hear her heart beating in her ears.
Andrew knocked twice and took a deep breath. He heard Lisa give him permission to open the door, and he went inside. When his eyes landed on Lisa, every cell in his body stopped. Andrew was struck, as if by lightening, and he couldn't do anything but soak in the sight of her.
Lisa smiled at him as he closed the door. He set his clipboard down on the counter and turned towards her. Lisa twisted and let her legs hang off the side of the table. They both knew the words he should be saying to her. They both tried to have the doctor-patient conversation they should have been, but neither of them could.
The exam room was small. Andrew couldn't fight his arm as it reached out to lock the handle of the door. He knew that the remaining staff at the clinic was scurrying to finish their work for the evening. Hoping he could steal some moments with Lisa, he had wrapped a few things up beforehand and assured the staff that he could finish anything he needed without them. Still, Andrew wasn't sure what he was doing when he turned back to Lisa. He questioned every movement he made as he crossed the space between them. When he finally came to stand before her, he decided to stop second-guessing himself.
Lisa opened herself to him, welcoming him with a kiss when he stepped toward her. She strung her arms up around his neck and pulled the tall
, handsome doctor down towards her. Twice in the last week, she'd actually dreamed of making love to him. Now that he was in her grasp, Lisa had no intention of letting him back down.
Andrew pressed his hands into Lisa's hips as he stood in front of her. He let his lips drift from hers down her neck and across her collarbone. He pressed his mouth down onto her shoulder as Lisa nibbled on his ear. He pulled back just far enough to look into her eyes.
“Shhhh,” he whispered, gently reminding her of their precarious situation.
It was all the permission Lisa needed to tug Andrew's shirt out from his pants and expertly unbuckle his belt. She unbuttoned and unzipped his fly and ran the palm of her hand down his massive, and growing, length.
Andrew pressed into Lisa, wrapped a long arm around her back and grasped her shoulder. Gently, he laid her down onto the exam table and bent over her. Lisa lifted her legs up and around his waist. The skirt of her lavender dress was left to fall around her hips beneath him.
Andrew kissed a line down her neck and started to unbutton the small shiny gemstones that held together the fabric of the top of her dress. He pulled away the fabric and admired her bare breasts. He gently took each breast in turn and held it, squeezed and kissed her flesh. Suddenly, Andrew slid his arms down under her thighs and pressed his face against the warm fabric of Lisa's panties.
