Indelible Love - Emily's Story (50 page)

There was something about the way she
looked—Innocent? Angelic? Scared? She intrigued me. I decided to
stand next to her pretending to buy cereal as well. She had no clue
anyone was watching her even though I stood two feet away. Closer
up, she was even more stunning.

What was wrong with me? I was staring
at a stranger in the market at midnight. As drawn as I was to her I
decided to go get my protein shake and come back later. It would
give me some time to muster up the courage to ask for her number.
It had been a few months since I’d been on a date. It’d be nice to
meet someone new.

Walking past her, I noticed she had
precariously stepped on the bottom shelf to reach for the Captain
Crunch box located on the top shelf. I thought about getting it for
her when she suddenly fell and knocked us down to the ground. She
was embarrassed. I was grateful for the opportunity.

“I’m so sorry!” Her voice sounded
almost as sweet as her face. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Are you OK?” Hopefully, she
had broken something so I could take her to the
hospital.

“I think I’m OK. My ankle feels a
little weird but I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Yes! Here was my chance. I would force
her to go with me to the hospital regardless of how minor the
injury might be.

“Do you want to try to get up?” I
asked while holding her hand and helping her to her feet. Giddy, I
felt like a boy holding a girl’s hand for the first time. Her
fingers were soft.

“Ouch!” She almost fell back to the
floor and I couldn’t believe my luck tonight. “I guess it hurts a
bit more than I thought it might. It’s OK. I’ll be all right.” She
pulled her fingers away while finishing her sentence and tried to
walk down the aisle. I didn’t know where she thought she was going
without me.

“Wait. Let me help you.” In two steps
I reached her five hobbling steps. “Let me take you to my hospital
just down the street and let’s x-ray your ankle.”

“No, that’s so not necessary. I’ll
just go home and rest it. I knew I shouldn’t have been out here
this late.” It was cute the way she was scolding herself. She was
right, though. What was she thinking coming out here at this
hour?

“Please, let me help you. By the way,
my name is Jake, Jake Reid.”

“Hi, I’m Emily Logan.” Her lips curled
up into the most beguiling smile, sucking me into her world. Where
had this girl been all my life? Being a cardiac surgeon I knew a
thing or two about hearts but I couldn’t explain what was going on
in my own. My pulse beat faster, my blood rushed, and my excitement
level shot through the roof. We’d barely spoken and I felt like
this was the girl of my dreams—the one I would love the rest of my
life. Perhaps I’d lost my mind.

Ignoring her scared look, I forced her
to General Hospital and wheeled her into ER.

“Will you be OK waiting for me here
while I get some paperwork filled out?”

She nodded yes like a young
schoolgirl. Oddly, I sensed through her wide brown eyes that she
trusted me to take care of her. My entire being felt this wonderful
burden—a loving responsibility—to make sure that this Emily Logan
would be OK. I had never felt such a strong desire to take care of
someone like I did right now for his girl.

Practically waltzing into the front
office, I had to figure out a plan to ask this girl to go out with
me.

“Dr. Reid, what are you doing back?
Aren’t you done for the night?” Linda, the head nurse,
asked.

“Yeah. I came back in with a patient.
She might have sprained her ankle.”

I saw all the residents heading my
way.

“Who’s that hottie you just walked in
with?” asked one of the residents.

“Who she is does not concern you. If
any of you as much as talk to her, I will make sure you’re doing
midnight shifts in ER the rest of your stay here at our
hospital.”

“Oooh! You’re so scary, Dr. Reid.”
Jeffery, our youngest intern, at age twenty, attempted a joke. I
gave him a be scared of me look and he backed off.

“I’m going to go back out and stay
with her. Take your time calling her in. Treat her like any other
patient who comes into this ER. I don’t want to be out of here any
time soon.” I gave them all my most serious doctor look. I didn’t
think any of them bought it. Laughter erupted behind me, and I
followed suit.

“What’s so funny?” she asked with
curious enthusiasm.

“Um…those residents were harassing
me.” I smiled at my inside joke. Placing myself as close to Emily
as possible, I gingerly elevated her legs and hoped for hours of
uninterrupted conversation.

“Do you work here?” Her trusting eyes
made me want to tell her my whole life story. “Are you a doctor or
a nurse?”

I guess I had forgotten to explain to
her who I was. “I’m a doctor here. I work up in the cardiac
department.”

“Are you working right now? If you’re
busy, I can stay here by myself. Please don’t let me keep you from
your job.”

I thought to myself, are you kidding
me? You would need a crowbar to pry me away from you right
now.

“No, I just got off at midnight and I
was at the market hoping to pick up a bite to eat when you
fell.”

“I’m so embarrassed. I can’t believe I
did that. I’m very sorry.” I took a snapshot of her beautiful smile
and saved it in my memory. “I feel bad you haven’t had dinner yet.
You must be starving. Please go and get something to
eat.”

“I’m all right. I’m sure we won’t be
here long. I told the ER doctors to take good care of
you.”

“That was really kind of you. I would
feel much better if you went and ate something, though.”

“Would you like to grab a bite to eat
with me, later?”

“Um…” I heard the hesitation I feared.
Before she could answer, those pesky residents called Emily’s name
already. We had been there less than ten minutes. This had to have
been an ER record.

I wheeled Emily into ER and saw a
guffaw in each one of their eyes. There were two residents, one
intern and one nurse waiting to attend to Emily and waiting to see
my reaction. The staff was having a good time at my
expense.

“Ms. Logan? How does this feel?”
Michael began feeling her ankle.

“It doesn’t really hurt
there…ow!…that’s where it hurts.” Tears dotted her eyes as Michael
poked into a tender spot. She looked childlike when she hurt.
Instinctively my arms went around her shoulders and gave her a
light squeeze.

She looked up at me surprised, and I
retracted my arms. I could see the staff wanting to howl at my faux
pas.

“So, Ms. Logan? How old are you?”
Jeffery the intern asked.

“Twenty-four.”

“I’m twenty!” I don’t know why he
sounded so excited revealing his age to Emily.

“Aren’t you a bit young to be a
doctor?” Emily asked in amazement. Her interest spurred him to
continue.

“I’m what you call a genius. I
graduated from medical school last year and this is my first year
in residency.” He had a smug look on his face. I tried to give
Jeffery a back-off look but he purposely avoided my eyes. “Ms.
Logan, do you want to go out on a date with me?”

Emily and I both looked at him
shocked! I vowed to make Jeffery’s life miserable when he got to my
department. The other two residents had made a wise choice not to
say anything.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us
to go out.” Thank God she was turning him down.

“Why not?” he persisted.

“You’re really cute but I don’t think
it will be possible with our age difference and all.”

“We’re only four years
apart.”

“Well you’re too young to even go and
have a glass of wine with me. Plus, my ego couldn’t take people
carding me all the time while you got a pass for the next
decade.”

We all roared in laughter. She had a
good sense of humor. I liked that.

“What about me, Ms. Logan? Would you
be willing to go on a date with me? I’m off in thirty minutes and
we can go grab a burger and a beer.”

“Wow…tempting but I don’t drink beer.
Sorry!” She gave him an apologetic puppy dog look. Enamored with
her, I couldn’t even get mad at Al for trying.

All of us stared at Michael to see if
he would try.

“I guess I have to throw my name in
the hat as well even though I have a girlfriend,” Michael
decided.

“Ms. Logan, I’d be honored if you’d
like to go out on a date with me.” That two-timing jerk!

“Sorry, I definitely don’t date
two-timers.”

“Yes!” I thought. That’s exactly what
I was thinking.

“Thank you all for your kind offers. I
haven’t had a date in almost a year and a half. Go figure, I should
have hung out in ER more often.” She shrugged her shoulders and her
eyebrows arched up. “But, if you don’t mind, I think I need my
ankle examined more than I need a date right now.”

Fed up and shaking her head, Linda
came over and offered to put her in a private room while waiting
for the attending doctor to come and take care of her ankle. I was
grateful for her help.

“My apologies for those silly doctors.
They’re here late all the time and they try to find humor in every
situation,” she explained.

“No apologies necessary. It was all in
fun. I’m flattered more than anything.” She was as gracious as she
was beautiful. Emily Logan…truly, where have you been all my
life?

Linda put us in a nice room and her
eyes signaled a good luck sign. I mouthed a thank you. Emily
comfortably rested in the hospital bed and I sat in the recliner
next to her.

“So sorry about all those
guys…”

She cracked up. “I hope I didn’t sound
too mean to any of them. You have a bunch of cute young doctors
here in ER. Are all the other departments this fun and
lively?”

“No, the rest of us are old and
boring.”

We laughed together this
time.

“So…” I asked nonchalantly, “you
really haven’t had a date in a year and a half?”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s hard for me to believe no man
has asked you out. Have you been hiding under a rock all this
time?”

She stared at me, probably wondering
why I cared. “Well, I’ve been asked out but I haven’t gone out with
anyone.”

“May I ask why?” I asked cautiously
again. I didn’t want to appear too nosy.

“Um…I’m a one-man kind of girl, and I
haven’t found the guy I want to date. Dating around is not my
thing.” She hesitated then explained a lot more about herself than
I expected to hear. “I was in a serious relationship for four
years—all throughout undergrad, and my boyfriend dumped me on the
day of our graduation.”

I felt bad for her and angry toward
this guy as tears flickered in her eyes again. Whoever he was, she
must have loved him deeply if she was still hurting.

“Is he why you haven’t dated in so
long?”

“Um…I don’t know if I’d say it was
because of Max. It’s really more because I haven’t met anyone that
I’d like get to know. Sorry. You look so tired. Details of my life
must be boring you to death.” Her eyes perked up again and tried to
make humor out of her sadness.

She hadn’t responded to my dinner
request and I was just about to repeat myself when Linda came back
in the room.

“Ms. Logan, I’m sorry but the
attending doctor got called away. You’ll be in here a bit
longer.”

“OK, thank you.”

“Jake?” Her voice sounded like it was
dipped in sugar.

“Yes?”

“Do I really need to stay here? I feel
horrible you’ve been here so long with me and I’m really
tired.”

“You should be examined by a doctor.”
I wasn’t ready to let go of her.

“Aren’t you a doctor? Do you not know
about ankles? Is it too minor of a body part for you?” With almost
a coquettish grin she was coaxing me and teasing me at the same
time.

Chuckling at her humor, I saw the
exhaustion in her eyes and had to give in.

“Why didn’t I think of helping you
earlier? Let me take you to x-ray, then bandage you up if nothing
is wrong.”

“Would you? Thank you.” Her weary eyes
filled with relief.

Silently kicking and screaming I got
someone to x-ray her ankle and confirming my initial theory that
nothing was wrong, I wrapped her ankle with a bandage. I hope she
didn’t wonder why I hadn’t done this the moment we walked into ER.
All the residents came by one last time as I wheeled her to my
car.

“Bye, Ms. Logan! Let us know if you
change your mind.” They all chorused in unison.

Emily turned to me as I helped her
into the car and shuddered. “That was creepy. Please don’t bring me
back here ever again.”

I couldn’t help but laugh one more
time. I hadn’t had this much fun in a long while.

“Do you want me to drive you
home?”