“So, you hungry?” he asked. “You want to go to dinner?”
“Are you sure you’re not tired of spending all this time with me?” I asked.
He smiled. “Not in the slightest. Are you tired of spending all this time with me?”
“I could never get tired of spending time with you,” I told him. “On one condition.”
“What?” he asked.
“You pick the restaurant,” I said. “Let’s go!”
FIFTEEN
TWO WEEKS LATER
Trevor
“Mrs. Elliot,it’s so good to hear from you. You didn’t come in for your appointment this week, and I was worried something happened,” Dr. Hall said.
“Oh, I know. It’s just that it’s such a pain to get all dressed up to come out there and spend all that time waiting around to talk to you, only to hear that things are going along as they always do,” she said. “If you started doing home visits, well, we might be able to talk.”
I laughed.
I normally would have a nurse call and check on a patient who didn’t come into their appointment, but with Mrs. Elliot, I felt that it was only right I call her myself. She was my oldest patient, and I worried about her. When she didn’t come in for her appointment, I worried even more.
“We need you to come in so we can take a look at how things are going with you. I would love to be able to go through with your next surgery before the holidays get here. You don’t want to be stuck in bed over the holidays now, do you?” I asked.
“It doesn’t really matter,” she said. I heard the loneliness in her voice. “There’s so much going on around the old folks home these days, and when you get to be as old as me, all your friends are already dead, too. Holidays really are about the people you spend them with. Otherwise, they’re just another day.”
“Oh, I’m sure you don’t mean that. A holiday is a good day no matter what you’re doing with yourself, as long as you feel well enough to enjoy it. And I don’t want you to be in pain, so if you come in and let me take a look at you, we can talk about when we’re going to do the next surgery,” I said.
“You’ve talked me into it. I’m sure you don’t hear that very often, do you?” she asked.
“What?”
“A man with your looks doesn’t have to talk many women into many things, I’m sure,” she said with another laugh. “But since you only want to poke at me and tell me I’m old, I guess I need a bit more convincing before I come into your office.”
Now, it was my turn to laugh. It certainly was like Mrs. Elliot to tease me about my dating life. She was a widow herself, and though she and her husband had three kids, she wasn’t close to any. I felt bad for her for that, but she didn’t seem to care in the slightest. Then again, Mrs. Elliot was such a unique person, it was hard at times to read her emotions.
She had such a way of putting on a smile when she wanted, I had a feeling she was able to cover a lot of the pain she’d felt in her life.
“How about I tell you that you are the only woman in the whole world I want to see in my office the beginning of next week?” I asked.
“I would die happy.”
I laughed. “I’m going to hand this off to my secretary when I’m done talking to you then, and I want you to make an appointment to come in here either Monday or Tuesday, you hear? If you need someone to give you a ride, we do have peer support here in the hospital. I can arrange for someone to come get you.”
“They’ve got those boys here, too,” she said. “If I got off my lazy ass and decided to go to the doctor, I could make it happen. It’s just a matter of me wanting to get all dolled up to go out. You know how much time it takes me to look decent these days? I’m not even wearing my bottom teeth right now!”
“I’m not asking you to come in looking red carpet ready. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to see you dressed down,” I told her. “Why don’t you just take the day to cut loose and do something wild? Come in and don’t bother getting all done up first.”
“Now that has got to be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said. “Are you really implying that I should leave the home without looking ready for my fans?”
“Um, I would never do anything that crazy,” I said. “Forgive me, I wasn’t thinking.”
“Clearly,” she said, but her tone told me she was still teasing. I knew it had to be difficult for her to get up and go about her day with the pain she was in, but that was the thing I hated most about cancer. It took away from the person who had it, and left them as a shell of the person they used to be.
Her age didn’t help, either.