Road to Reality (12 page)

“Follow me this way.” Beth turned to follow the nurse down the hall with Zoe in her arms, her little head resting on Beth’s shoulders, eyes drooping.

Mac was walking out of an exam when he did a double take as they opened the door to the room next to him. “Beth, what’s wrong?” he asked, immediately walking toward Zoe and following them into the room with a nod to the nurse to leave.

“Mrs. Wilks called me an hour ago. Zoe was lying around almost moping, which is unusual for her. She wouldn’t drink or eat and starting crying, saying her throat hurt.  I’ve never seen her quite like this,” she ended, worried.

Mac looked at Zoe. “Come here, honey. Want to come to me?” he asked sweetly. Zoe’s eyes darted between her mother and Mac briefly, and then she finally conceded, reaching her arms out to him.

“Dr. Mac,” she whispered, then winced as tears filled her eyes. 

“She’s burning up.” He grabbed the ear thermometer to take her temperature. “One hundred and three point one,” he said, then felt around her glands as best he could with Zoe’s head still on his shoulder. “Her glands are pretty swollen, too,” he said, talking more to himself than Beth.

Turning his eyes on Beth, he asked accusingly, “Why didn’t you call me?”

Taken back, she replied, “I did.  I’m here, aren’t I? They said you didn’t have any openings. Then the receptionist asked if I wanted to see the nurse practitioner, and I said yes.”

“No, why didn’t you tell them who you were and ask the receptionist to fit you in with me?”

“I did tell them my name. They said you were booked solid,” she told him again, not understanding the frustration he was exhibiting.

“Next time call my cell phone directly. Or ask the front desk to page me.”

She didn’t have a chance to respond, as the nurse practitioner opened the door and looked bewildered. “Dr. Malone?”

He turned, addressed the newest person to enter the room, relayed Zoe’s temperature and ordered a swab for strep throat and culture to be run immediately.  He then ran his hand over Zoe’s curls that were damp with sweat.  “Hey, you be a good girl, OK? Do what Robin asks; she is going to make you feel better.”  Placing a soft kiss on her head, he handed Zoe back to Beth. “I’ll talk to you in a bit.”

“I heard he relates well with his patients. But wow, I never expected that,” Robin said in wonder.

Beth chose not to respond.  She didn’t want there to be any more talk than necessary regarding Mac.

At the end of the exam Zoe’s hoarse voice strained as she told Robin, “Magic box. I was a good girl.”

“Yes, you were a good girl,” Robin replied with a warm smile.  “But only Dr. Malone has the magic box. I’m sorry.”

Beth shouldn’t have been surprised to hear that.  He really did seem to always put the children first.

Then she saw Zoe’s eyes fill with tears, not fully comprehending that every visit didn’t result in a toy. Before the tears could start to fall, Beth picked her up trying to distract her. “Do you want Mommy to get you some Popsicles? What color do you want?”

“Blue. And purple,” she stated with conviction, her voice a little louder, but not by much.

Twenty minutes later, Beth was checking out with a script for an antibiotic and cough syrup. Even though Beth hadn’t heard Zoe cough, Robin had asked Zoe to cough for her and didn’t like the sound of it.

Beth was putting her wallet back in her purse, having had to set Zoe on the floor to take care of the payment, when Mac walked into the waiting room—oblivious to the fact that all eyes were on him.  Doctor’s didn’t normally enter the waiting room to begin with, least of all one that looked like him.

Zoe, noticing Mac first, took off toward him before Beth could stop her. Not waiting a beat, he lifted her up when she reached him. Laying her head on his shoulder, Zoe wrapped her arms around his neck to settle in.  It was a battle, but Beth managed to fight back the tears in her eyes.  Her little girl was well and truly infatuated with Mac.  And so was she, she realized.

He nodded Beth over to a far corner. Not much privacy, but better than the middle of the waiting room, though all eyes were still on them, even the office workers. “I heard you were a good girl,” he said in a low voice.

“Yes, I was,” Zoe said, her voice croaking, causing her to wince in pain, tears springing to her eyes.

“Shhhh, don’t talk, honey, not if it hurts.  But I’ve got something for you.” He pulled a little purple pouch from the front pocket of his lab coat.  “Here, let Mommy open it and show you.”

Beth took the pouch, touched that Mac thought to grab something for Zoe out of the magic box. He had done nothing but put Zoe first since the moment he met her. 

Showing her the rope necklace, with a tiny bottle of bubbles on the end, brought a tiny smile to Zoe’s tearful face. “Necklace,” she whispered.

“Yes. It’s a bubble necklace. I know how much you love bubbles, but Mommy is going to put it away until you feel better, OK?”

“OK,” she croaked out, her head never rising from Mac’s shoulder.

He looked down, Zoe’s eyes started to droop from exhaustion. “I’ll carry her to the car for you.”

“No, you’ve got patients to see. I’m sure you’re already backed up from coming to see us. Both times, actually.” She reached out to take Zoe, who thankfully didn’t put up a fuss.

Wiping a tear from Zoe’s cheek, he leaned in and gave her a kiss, telling her, “I’ll stop by on my way home.”

“You don’t have—” Beth started to say, only to have Mac cut her off.

“I’ll see you no later than six,” he stated firmly, then walked away leaving lots of speculation in his wake.

***

“How is she?” Mac asked several hours later when Beth opened the door to him. He had removed the blue tie that she’d noticed under his lab coat today, and a few of the buttons on his shirt were now undone. He looked way too sexy. She realized she shouldn’t be thinking that when he was clearly stopping to see Zoe.

“Better. The medicine is already taking effect.”
              Zoe, having finally noticed Mac from the corner of the couch where she was resting, watching cartoons with her dolls next to her, sat up and waved.  He waved back and smiled, pointing to his lips, obviously seeing the blue stain around her mouth.

“Have you been eating paint?” he asked playfully.

“Nooooo. Blue pops,” she said, her voice sounding much clearer already.

“Blue pops are the best. They’re my favorite,” he told her in confidence.

“Purple’s my favorite,” she told him.

“Tell Mac how many pops you’ve eaten today, Zoe. Can you hold your fingers up?”

Zoe held up four little fingers with a lopsided grin.

“Four pops,” Mac exclaimed. “Oh no, your tongue might change colors permanently now.”

They both watched as Zoe stuck her tongue out and looked down at it to see what color it was. 

“Definitely looks better to me,” Mac said. “Her culture came back; it’s strep.  I’ve seen four patients this week with it already.”

“So what now?” Beth asked, uncertain.

“Nothing more than what you’ve been doing. Her throat most likely won’t hurt at all by this time tomorrow.  Keep the Motrin in her for the fever overnight, but she seems fine now. Cough syrup tonight, too. If she isn’t coughing at all in the morning you can stop with that.  It will help get her though the night at the very least. And make sure she is drinking, or eating pops,” he said with a smile at Zoe who was now lying back down.

“Are you hungry?” Beth asked, changing the subject. “Zoe wasn’t very hungry, but I made some chicken stir fry. There is plenty left over.”

“Sure, I could eat,” he said, following her into the kitchen. 

Pulling a beer out for him and grabbing a glass when he nodded his head in thanks, she handed it off, then picked up a plate along with the leftovers that were still hot in the pan.

“Did you eat already?” he asked.

“Yes. I wasn’t very hungry, though. I tried to think of something for Zoe to eat, but in the end I realized she only wanted popsicles, so I made something I wanted. Except once it was done, I didn’t eat much.”

“Well, I appreciate it.”

Zoe called her from the living room, stating she needed to go potty and wanted to go to bed. So Beth let Mac finish his dinner in quiet while she took care of Zoe.  Returning to the kitchen ten minutes later, she found Mac loading the dishwasher and washing her pans.

“You didn’t need to do that. I cooked,” she reminded him.

“But I ate it, and you’ve had a hard enough day as it was. Besides, now that Zoe’s in bed and the dishes are done maybe we can go make-out on the couch,” he said with a wink. It had been two days since she had seen him at the salon and she was missing him already, so she was more than eager to take him up on the offer.

“Ah, your secret plan, huh? Butter me up by cleaning up the dishes,” she said slyly to him.

“Do I need to butter you up?” he asked curiously.

“No.” She laughed, leaned up and gave him a quick kiss that he soon turned into to something more than the playful bantering she was attempting.

Pulling back, leaving her winded, he asked, “Zoe all set for the night?”

“Out cold. I didn’t even get halfway through
Cinderella
.” Speaking of Cinderella, standing in her kitchen right now barefoot, in loose cotton shorts and an old faded shirt next to his tailored pants and dress shirt made her feel like it was the stroke of midnight. All she needed now was the glass slipper left on the kitchen floor.

Grabbing her hand, he pulled her the short distance to the living room. Then apparently decided to detour into Zoe’s room first.  He walked over, ran a hand over Zoe’s forehead, trailed his fingers down her cheeks and leaned in to kiss her good night. “Sleep good, sweetie.”

Turning toward Beth now, he whispered, “Fever is gone; she looks better. Her breathing is nice and level, so she should be out for the night. With any luck, you might get some sleep too.”

When he turned back toward the living room, Beth instead tugged him toward her bedroom door, which had always remained closed. 

“Zoe was right, it’s purple. No, lavender,” he corrected.  And yes, her bed looked like a cloud, now that she thought about it. 

“Queen Elizabeth,” he murmured.

“What?” she asked in surprise.

“Your bed. Fit for a queen.  Queen Elizabeth, that’s your name right?”

“No. Beth.  Just plain old Beth,” she replied.

“Nothing plain about you,” he stated before he captured her mouth for another sweltering kiss, running his hands under her shirt, then up her ribs. Breaking away, he lifted her shirt over her head, turned and shut the door.  When he turned back she was lowering her shorts and reaching back to unclasp her bra.

“Can’t wait?” he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

Flustered, but wanting to please him, she answered shyly, honestly. “No.” Then proceeded to undress.

Naked now, she approached him, leaned up and ran her mouth over his neck to his collarbone, then back to his ear. “Teach me,” she whispered.

“Teach you what?”

She knew he knew what she wanted, what she meant. A blush spread across her face, but she was determined to continue. “To please you,” she whispered back.

“Let’s teach each other instead.”

She didn’t understand his meaning and was too self-conscious to ask.  Instead, she brought her hands up, slowly pushing each button out of the holes one by one.  His whiskey-colored eyes seemed to glow deeper with each second that ticked by.

Pulling his shirt out of his waistband, she reached for the last button, then pushed the shirt over his thick shoulders.  His belt was next, followed by the button of his trousers. She lowered the zipper and pushed his pants to the floor.

He toed off his shoes, finished with his last few articles of clothing and climbed into bed next to her.  Pulling her close, he held her lovingly, nothing sexual for the moment, just comfort. 

But she had other ideas and started to press her hips into his after she saw how ready he was for her.

“Slow down and enjoy,” he told her when she urgently rubbed against him. “Tell me what you want. Show me.”

“How?” she asked.

“Tell me,” he explained to her again, running his hands down her body. “Or move my hands where you want them.”

She reached for his hand, placed it over her breast and watched as he touched her, shivers running through her body when his thumb grazed over her nipple. His mouth followed his hand and she arched into him. She liked that even better, her hands moving to his shoulders squeezing him, her nails biting into his flesh.

Sliding his mouth down her body, and over her stomach, he spent time on her navel. She never knew that was such a sensual part, but her body was twitching now—everything he did felt so good.  She pushed his shoulders down a bit more, urging him to move even lower.  He complied. 

Before he tasted her, though, he touched her.  His fingers glided between, spreading the moisture around. He slid a finger inside, still so tight, but oh so good. Her hips bucked up wanting more as the quiet moans escaped her lips.