His American Fling (7 page)

Maggie needed a part time job to give her spending money. Not sure what she could do with an arm in a cast, she stopped into Sainsbury’s in the city center and grabbed the makings for cheese sandwiches along with a six pack of diet coke and her favorite English chocolate,
Maltesers.
  As she was heading back, she caught the glimpse of a man on a bike.  She knew immediately that it was Campbell. He looked like a GQ advertisement with his hair flying back, his body draped in a tailored Bond Street suit and his perfect posture. Maggie could see that he was turning the heads of the females on the street. A few seconds later, he climbed off his bike and locked it up to go into
Marks & Spencer
. 

Maggie had been headed to
Marks & Spencer’s
to pick up an employment application, but wasn’t sure she should go with Campbell inside. It was a large three story department store, complete with an entire floor dedicated to food, in the heart of Cambridge. She doubted they would run into each other so Maggie chanced it and went inside. After asking a few clerks, she eventually discovered that the offices were on the second floor.  Americans would have referred to it as the third floor, but in England the stories in a three story building were referred to as the ground floor, first floor and second floor. She was riding up the escalator when she saw Campbell coming down on the opposite side. He didn’t notice her at first, but just as she was passing, he recognized the cast. His head jerked up and fixed on her face.

“Maggie!” He yelled, turning around, as did half the people on the escalator. 

Maggie pretended not to hear him, but most of the people in front of her were turned around, staring down at her, waiting for her to acknowledge the greeting. She smiled up at them and continued to ignore his cries. 

“Maggie!” he yelled again.

Her heart was pounding as she jumped off the escalator at the top and made a beeline for the office, not sure if he was following her.  Maggie looked behind but saw no one following.  Inside customer service, she spoke to the clerk that did the hiring and produced her temporary work visa when the clerk asked if Maggie could legally work in England.  

The woman, a stringy brunette in her forties, nodded at Maggie’s cast, “You have a cast, can you work with it?  What are you applying for?”

“I’ve got a bachelor’s degree and I can do just about anything in the office. I’m fast on a calculator. I can still run a cash register with my arm in a cast. Would you like to see?”  Maggie looked around and pointed behind the counter, “Hand me the calculator.”

The clerk was somewhat taken back, but complied with the request. She turned around, grabbed the calculator and handed it to Maggie who proceeded to take a list of extension numbers sitting on the counter and start adding them. The clerk was duly impressed with Maggie’s quick handy work.   She had Maggie fill out an application.

“Alrighty.  I have a seasonal position on the cash register upstairs in Men’s’ Furnishings for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. I’m afraid that’s all I have that fits in with your schedule.”

She was elated, “That’s perfect! I’ll take
it!”

“It only pays £6.50 an hour.”

“Great! That’s fine.” Maggie was more than happy. The hours were perfect and the location even better. It was within a five minute walk from the dorm. It would give her almost £59 a week, plenty to buy the things she needed.

“You can start tomorrow. The HR computer is over there.” She handed her a slip of paper. “You can go to this webpage and fill out the paperwork.”

Maggie filled out the papers and then happily made her way down the escalator. As she pushed through the doors, she was sporting a broad grin. Concentrating on what she still needed to do; her eyes were fixed on the pavement.  Her heart sank and the smile vanished when she saw the long familiar legs sticking out from a bench. Following the long line of the trouser legs up to the sports coat and polo shirt, she found Campbell smiling back, his Marks & Spencer’s bag next to him.  His dark brown hair with errant strands of gray was longer than usual, making him look a little rakish. He stood up, grabbed his bag and rushed to catch up to a fleeing Maggie.

“Maggie, you are ignoring me.”

She turned and smiled sarcastically, “Oh hello, I’m human, what are you?”

He chuckled. “Now Maggie, play nice.”

Maggie refused to look into his eyes, preferring to watch the shoppers rush past them. “
Dr
. Adair, I don’t have to do anything. I’ve already told you how grateful I am for allowing me to stay in your guestroom. But, since I don’t think you and I are going to be trading Christmas cards, what exactly do you want?”

He appeared amused, “I have something that belongs to you.”

Turning, she tried to think of what it could be. She thought she had packed everything.  “Really?”

“Yes, you left a pair of pink panties with black bows. They were in the dryer.”

Only the color of a ripe apple could rival the color of her cheeks. The pink panties were the ones she had been wearing when he came home that evening. “Oh, I left those for you,” she quipped saucily. “I thought you might like a souvenir; you said you liked the view.”

He blushed, “Thank you, I’ll sleep with them under my pillow.”

She loved that she made him blush. “Are we done, doctor?”

He stood up, grabbed his bag and nodded, “Where are you living?”

“The homeless shelter,” she snapped.

His eyes grew big and his face dropped, “Oh Maggie, I really feel responsible. I can’t tell you how horrible I feel. I should never have asked you to leave.”

Maggie could see that he was crestfallen, “Oh, cheer up. I’m living at Downing College. Now can I go?”

He went from desolation to anger in a flash. “That was cruel and unnecessary.”

She snarled at him. “Oh, cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it.” Straightening her shoulders, Maggie walked off in a huff.

Campbell watched as she made her way through the evening crowd, her blonde ponytail waving as her petite body swayed gently up the street. He hated feeling emotions and so many of them were running through him at that moment. Turning, he kicked the bench.

*********************

On the last Friday in June, Maggie woke to someone banging on her door and yelling, “Excuse me, R.A.?  R.A.?  Can you
help us?”  The male voice sounded urgent, almost frantic, “My wife is having trouble breathing.”

Maggie immediately jumped up, recognizing Mr. Bitner’s Midwest accent. H
e was here on a six week course, and his wife had joined him. Maggie put on a housecoat, her slippers and opened the door.

“Mrs. Bitner is sick?”

“Last night she woke up gasping. It’s like an asthma attack, but my wife doesn’t have asthma.”

“Okay, uh, let me talk to her.”  Maggie ran up the well-worn sandstone stairs to the “first floor.” The Bitners had the room directly above Maggie’s except that it had a matrimonial bed brought in for the summer months to accommodate visiting couples.  

Mr. Bitner opened the door and Maggie looked in to see Mrs. Bitner sitting on the side of the bed, her shoulders hunched over. It wasn’t as if she was struggling for air, but she was breathing hard and Maggie could hear her wheezing.

“Do you have a car?”  Maggie asked.

Mr. Bitner shook his head, “We were told that we wouldn’t need to rent one to get around in England.”

Maggie looked down at Mrs. Bitner, “Yeah, that’s normally true. But we should probably ring an ambulance to get her over to Addenbrookes.”

Mrs. Bitner’s eyes opened and she shook her head wildly.

“My wife is deathly afraid of hospitals,” he said, patting Mrs. Bitner’s back.

Maggie looked at Mrs. Bitner with concern in her eyes. “But Mrs. Bitner, you really should be seen by someone. Did this just come on?”

Her breath was raspy, “No...over...the last...few...days.”

Maggie turned to Mr. Bitner, “She really should see a doctor.”

“Do you have a doctor that comes to the college?”

Maggie gave them a look of frustration, “No, we don’t.” She paused and thought for a second, “I know a doctor who doesn’t live too far away from here. I can’t guarantee he’s home or if he’ll come, but I could try.”

Mr. Bitner nodded enthusiastically. “Please, we’ll pay him well.”

“Okay, I need to go get dressed first and then run to get him.”

Maggie ran back down the stairs, changed into some army green gym shorts and a thin white tank top. She grabbed her sneakers, put them on without socks, and took off.

Running through the Downing College courtyard, she passed the porter’s building and then crossed the street. Sprinting through Parker’s Piece, Maggie crossed the Park Avenue and ran up Campbell’s steps and knocked on the door. She was both out of breath and sweaty. The light went on in the stairwell. 

After looking through the peep hole, he opened the door and stared at her. Her chest was heaving; rivulets of sweat were running down her neck and into her cleavage. The cast was gone and he could see she didn’t have a bra
on; her nipples were hard from the cool night air.

“What? Have you come to give me a midnight bullocking?”

“Doctor Ad...Professor Adair, I have an American couple in the dorm at Downing and the woman is having trouble breathing.”

Shaking his head, he frowned and then
started to slam the door close. “For God’s sake, ring an ambulance, get her to Addenbrookes.”

Maggie threw herself at the door, “Hey, asshole!” she yelled angrily. “She’s afraid of hospitals. Come on, I thought you were a doctor, a
professor
...at the
pinnacle
of his profession.”

The door bounced back open, hitting Campbell in the arm. Glaring at her, he thought about his options. Without another word, he turned and walked up the stairs.

Maggie barged through the door and followed him up the stairs. “What?  Are you going to ignore me, ignore her?” She screamed.

He continued to walk down the hall to his bedroom as Maggie followed right behind him. Campbell stopped and turned to look down into her eyes. The woman was formidable, standing defiantly in front of him, her fists on her hips. “I have to get dressed and get my bag.” He noticed her body relax, “Would you like to watch?”

Maggie looked around and realized she was in his bedroom. She had never been in his bedroom. It was a lovely mixture of subtle blue-gray silk drapes hanging from the twelve foot ceilings to the floor that matched the same blue-grey bedding. Beige pillows and trim complimented the bedding. It was beautiful, probably done by Gemma. Unsure what she should do, Maggie turned and ran down the stairs, waiting for him in the foyer.

He came down the steps a few minutes later, his bag in hand, wearing indigo jeans, a long sleeved polo shirt with slip-on shoes. He grabbed his keys
, and they were out the door without saying a word to each other.  As they crossed the street towards Parker’s Piece, he took a look at her from the corner of his eye.  Her arms were folded across her chest.

Maggie looked up at him, “It didn’t seem this cold on the way over.”

“You were running and your adrenalin was high.” he said softly. “What can you tell me about this woman?”

Maggie shrugged, “Her name is Mrs. Bitner
, and apparently she’s never had asthma.  She could talk, but not very well. I could hear her wheezing. She’s about 40 and came over with the Michigan student.”

“Michigan?  Does Michigan have dry weather, wet weather, what’s the flora like?”

She thought about it, “Michigan during the summer is hot and muggy, lots of plants, trees, grasses.”

He thought about it, “Well, she’s been exposed to flora, so it’s unlikely to be an allergy to plants. I wonder if she’s been exposed to any animals lately.”  He said it rhetorically, not really expecting Maggie to answer.

They crossed the campus, entered the dorm and started up the stairs. He watched her bottom as she climbed the stairs. It sashayed back and forth at eye level causing a smile to pass over his lips. When they reached the landing they went directly into the room next to the bathroom. 

Campbell immediately crossed to
the woman sitting on the side of the bed noting that her lips had a very slight blue tinge to them. He took out his stethoscope, “Mrs. Bitner, I’m Professor Adair.”

She looked in shock at Maggie as if to say, who is this?

Maggie interrupted, “He’s a medical doctor, they just call them Professors here in England.”

She immediately relaxed and turned back to him.

“I’m going to listen to your chest and back.” He began to examine Mrs. Bitner and ask her questions about the onset of the condition.

Maggie walked over and sat down in the wooden chair next to the bed, watching Campbell, admiring the professional way he treated Mrs. Bitner. It was rather sensual watching him do what he d
id best. Campbell looked over at her, “No fever so I don’t think it’s an infectious disease. I think it is an allergy. Mrs. Bitner, here’s a prescription for an inhaler.  There’s an all-night pharmacy in the city center, but you’re going to have to ring ahead so that they’ll open the doors for you. I want you to come into Addenbrookes outpatient clinic in two days to let us know if this is working for you. I would also like for you to write down everything you have eaten in the last four days and everything you eat until you get to the clinic. You’re having an allergic reaction to something you’ve either eaten or have been exposed to. I’m prescribing you an inhaler, but we really need to determine what is causing this reaction. It is only going to get worse until we can eliminate the cause.”

He gave them the information for the
pharmacy and said good night to the couple. They offered to pay him, but he informed them that NHS actually paid doctors to make house calls. Maggie and Campbell walked down the stairs and stopped at the bottom of the staircase.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. Thanks for coming...for helping her.” Maggie looked down and shifted her weight back and forth. She so wanted to end this conflict between them. There was something about him that both annoyed and attracted her.