“Maybe. Let me see.” He shaded his eyes as if to focus on me.
I laughed, knowing he was heavily under the influence of his painkillers.
“Dad, just rest,” I said, waiting for the nurses to come in and fill me in on whatever the doctor was planning for him.
“Well,” my dad laughed softly, “you sure are one grumpy angel. That vanishes any doubt I could have of this being heaven.”
I covered my laugh with a hand to curtail the sound. “Dad! Good Lord, go back to sleep—you’re stoned.”
“Oh, he shouldn't be awake yet,” a nurse said as she walked into the room. I turned and smiled at her. Her name tag said, Debbie.
“Thank you, nurse Debbie.”
She nodded. “Dr. Pierce requested that you go see him as soon as you got back. He came in earlier to check on your dad.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Dad’s meds soon made him go back to sleep I was a bit surprised that Dr. Pierce had asked for me. Would he soon discharge my father and allow him to continue his recovery from home? I was drained physically and mentally, and I’d welcome some good news. I'd welcome seeing him too. I had missed looking at his handsome face and having the little thrill being near him gave me. Maybe I could take the chance to tell him I was sorry for the way I handled things when I first found out he was my father’s doctor. I was a tad bit too harsh with him.
I reached the hospital’s staff facilities where the nurse told me I’d find the doctor. It would be the first time I’d be seeing him again, alone hopefully, since the day I first rushed into the hospital. Would this be just another formal doctor-patient exchange? I had no idea how he would greet me or how we’d interact with one another at that moment.
Come what may. He had proven himself to be a fantastic as a doctor. I was glad Dad had interceded and prevented that he be treated by a different cardiologist. Despite the gossiping of his private life, as a professional, I’d only heard good things about him, inside the hospital's walls and outside, in town. The Garners had him in high esteem and they said he was well known. He was apparently some sort of world-renowned cardiologist who was revered by many in Coldport. What was such an important practitioner doing in this dingy town? Why would a genius like him not choose to work in the city? In light of that, I could understand why people considered the town to be lucky to have him.
The more I came to know about him, the more I realized that my dad was in the hands of some medical legend. Crazy how I'd somehow casually met the guy in such different circumstance not a few days ago.
I rubbed my palms together as I approached his office. I was getting more nervous as I moved closer. I imagined him sitting in his luxurious office staring at me like he was not the same guy that I'd almost screwed on a crazy New York night and I'd thought I’d never see again.
If I was being honest, not for a second did I regret what we did that night. In fact, a tiny part of me wished I’d meet him in some crazy way again. I didn’t think it would take me coming to old Coldport to find the man I couldn’t get off my mind since leaving that terrace in New York.
“Thanks. Now you can leave, and I'll find a way to deal with this and finally settle things by Thursday.” I could hear his muffled voice, quite loud, behind the door, before I had even knocked on the door to his office.
“You’re not getting off the hook that easily, Armand. Jay is your responsibility, and you have no choice but to help him through this. I forbid you to transfer him,” a female’s voice said firmly.
I glanced over at the round white wood knocker of the door that I covered with my hand as I prepared to knock. I immediately stepped back, but I could still hear his voice.
“Who are you to approve or forbid me? I’m his doctor. I know what’s best for him.”
“Armand–”
“I told you I have an appointment with a patient. We can talk about this later?”
“I just wanted you to be warned.”
“Thank you,” Armand replied curtly.
The woman's voice sounded so familiarly bitchy that I recognized her even before she pushed the door open. It was the lady who'd stopped us at the party. When she saw me at the door, she stopped and frowned for a bit. I said nothing, raising my chin to meet with her eyes and show her that I would not be intimidated again, after a few seconds, she hissed and walked off.
I wondered if she’d remembered who I was. It didn’t matter much because Armand stepped out after her.
“Oh, good evening, Ms. Smith,” his tone suddenly shifted to a gentler expression as he eyed me with those dreamy blue eyes. He stopped in his tracks and instead leaned up against the door post, shifting to a more casual demeanor. My heart raced in response to his serious expression. “Thank you for coming. Please, come inside. I'm happy to tell you that your father is doing so well. He should be discharged in a few days.”
I sighed. “That's so great to hear.”
I watched his handsome face smirk at me. He just had the irrepressible attractive aura. He had on a dark gray shirt and midnight black tie. His shirt tucked into his sharply pressed slacks while his white doctor's overcoat completed the garb. The coat was revealing his name on the breast pocket, and I could not help but recall the hard chest that lay just beneath his clothes. The way my hand had run across them wildly, how it had pressed against my breasts and my nipples had puckered.
Fuck! I need to get rid of thoughts of our wild night together. I need to get it far from my mind and focus on the present like he seemed to be doing.
He was definitely not the unnamed man from the party in this environment. Not even the blue eyes I'd seen in my dreams before I met him… and nearly every night since in my memories, and my dreams. This Armand was my father's caregiver, and it would do me good to stop fantasizing about him every day. But then, why was he looking at me like that?