Road to Reality (3 page)

“Yuck, Mommy, green eggs and ham,” Zoe stated, then wrinkled her nose at Beth. 

They had arrived at Zoe’s follow-up visit, having to be squeezed in at the end of the day. That was more than acceptable for Beth as it allowed her to finish up all her appointments with plenty of time to spare and she got to leave work early on a Friday, definitely a plus there. But it also meant the doctor’s office was running behind this late in the day. 

The nurse had already come in and gathered all their information to log into the computer for Dr. Malone to review. Since Zoe was a new patient it took longer than normal collecting all of her history and background. 

Now they were patiently waiting—at least Beth was—while reading one of the children’s books in the exam room.

Well into their second book, Dr. Malone walked in the door and Beth’s breath caught in her throat when he greeted them with a cheerful, “Hi, Zoe. Remember me?”

Shyness overcame Zoe—her normal reaction to any male she came into contact with. Mitchell seemed to be the only exception, but he was more feminine than Beth half the time, so that didn’t count.  With her face buried in Beth’s neck, Zoe slowly nodded her head.

“I’m sorry. She’s always shy around men.”

“No problem. It’s a typical reaction to strangers,” Mac replied nonchalantly. He turned and leaned in closer to Zoe. “My name is Dr. Malone, but my patients get to call me Dr. Mac.”

He turned to pull out the rolling stool, then sat down in front of the laptop to review Zoe’s information. “I see her medical files haven’t arrived yet from her previous physician.” He scrolled down a few screens. “So I’m not sure if her shots are up to date, but we will get to that another time.”

Beth was trying her hardest not to stare at Dr. Mac while he reviewed Zoe’s medical records on the computer. He looked comical sitting on the little rolling stool, his long legs bent more than the average person’s, yet it seemed natural for him at the same time. 

He was dressed like a doctor today. Well, of course he was—they were in his office after all. He was wearing dark dress pants, a white dress shirt and a gray-and-red striped tie under his lab coat with his stethoscope hanging out of the front pocket.  Right at this moment he looked like a movie star doctor and she sincerely hoped he hadn’t noticed her gasp when he walked in the room.

He turned his attention to her and smiled politely. She forced her eyes to Zoe, praying she wasn’t blushing. Dr. Mac leaned down and addressed Zoe. “I see you went with a pink cast, very pretty. And it matches your nails,” he said, tapping a long finger to one of her tiny ones.

There was nothing Zoe liked better than being girly, especially if someone commented on her appearance or on an accessory. Turning her head away from her mother’s neck, she looked at Dr. Mac, her tiny lips twitching just a tad. “Mommy did them. I like pink,” she said shyly, then turned to hide her face in Beth’s neck once more.

He winked at Beth and told Zoe, “I like pink, too, but it doesn’t look good on me.  It’s much prettier on you.”

Zoe giggled and, turning her face back to Dr. Mac, she lifted a sandaled-clad toe and pointed with her casted fingers. “I have pink toes.”

“I see that, and they are just as pretty as your fingers. Did Mommy do them, too?”

Zoe was now feeling much more comfortable and much less shy. Beth wasn’t sure that was a good thing at the moment. Especially when Zoe nodded, then picked up Beth’s hand and showed it to Mac. “Mommy’s pretty, too,” she said, showing Dr. Mac Beth’s own slim-fingered hand with manicured nails. Not long and flashy salon nails, but perfectly natural-looking ones with a pretty peach color, covering only four of her five fingers.

Dr. Mac eyes twinkled at Zoe’s sentence. Beth was sure he understood what Zoe was saying, but he instead addressed what he heard.  “Yes, she
is
pretty.” Then he looked at Beth’s nails and whispered mockingly at Zoe, like he was sharing a secret with her.  “I think she missed one,” he said, pointing to the one gold-toned nail.

Zoe giggled.

Beth blushed. 

Now that Zoe was warmed up enough, and Beth too, for that matter, Dr. Mac went back to his exam.  “Can you wiggle those pretty pink nails for me? Let me see if they can dance.”

Despite Zoe’s continued giggles, she complied and wiggled her fingers up and down as asked, then happily announced they were “dancing.”

“Very good.  How about if you sit up here on this table that sort of looks like a bed so I can see if the bump on your head went away.” He eyed Beth, even though he was addressing Zoe, and she nodded that the bump was indeed gone.

Zoe wasn’t quite warmed up enough to let go of Beth’s neck, and shook her head no.

“How about if your mommy sits on the end of the table and you stay on her lap?”

That seemed to be okay with Zoe, so Beth stood up and hesitantly climbed on the edge of the exam table so that he had access to Zoe’s head injury.

It made for an awkward exam with Zoe’s face buried in Beth’s neck, giving Dr. Mac no choice but to lean in close to Beth in order to get a better look.  A trace of something spicy and completely male assaulted her senses, forcing Beth to put an extreme amount of effort into not inhaling the scent deeper.

“Everything feels good back here,” he said to Beth, then stood up from his crouch and sat back on the stool. “Has she complained of any pain in her head or wrist?”

“Not since Monday. She’s a trooper,” Beth stated proudly.

“Must take after Mom,” he replied softly. “Well, ladies, I think everything looks good so far.  I see you are scheduled to follow up with the orthopedist in two weeks for another X-ray. If you could let them know to forward Zoe’s records to my office, I would appreciate it.”

At Beth’s nod, Dr. Mac continued, addressing Zoe this time. “You did well today and do you know what my patients get when they are good?”

Zoe’s interest was piqued as she looked at Dr. Mac questioningly.

“Good patients get to pick surprises out of the magic box.” He pointed to the counter.

Zoe’s eyes lit up bright, making the blue irises seem even larger on her tiny porcelain face. “Magic box?” she said in wonder.

“Yep, I’ve got a magic box. Well, two actually. One for the boys and one for the girls.  Which box do you want to pick out of? The one for boys, right?” he asked in mocked seriousness. 

Zoe giggled at him. “Nooooo. Girls.”

There was nothing better than the sound of a child’s laughter. Beth smiled back at Zoe as Dr. Mac reached for the brightly decorated pink box on the counter and brought it in front of Zoe.  “Go ahead, reach inside and get a surprise,” he instructed her.

Zoe little fingers reached in and pulled out a tiny clear plastic ring box with a picture of a princess on top.  “Princess, Mommy,” Zoe cried in surprise, waving the case around in front of her.

Dr. Mac took the box from her tiny fingers and flipped it open to reveal a plastic ruby ring. “Every princess deserves a ring.”

Beth’s heart melted at the joy on her daughter’s face. There was nothing Dr. Mac could have done better than to give her little girl a princess gift.

***

He had been late going into the exam room after spending a few extra minutes reviewing Zoe’s information the minute the nurse was finished entering it.  Noticing Beth hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring last Saturday, he’d found he was curious.  When he got to the information on parents, he saw it was blank under the father’s section with a notation saying “out of the picture.” He couldn’t explain the relief he felt and wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like he went around hitting on his patients’ mothers.

But Beth seemed different. She looked young in appearance, but mature in demeanor. Beautiful, that was plain to see, but she didn’t flaunt it either.

On Saturday she had been wearing casual shorts that did little to cover her long thin model-like legs.  The shorts were most likely long enough on the average person, just not on her.  He didn’t remember much about her shirt, only that her clothes weren’t tight by any means, yet showcased one hell of a body.

She was definitely thin, not a lot of muscle, but not frail either.  No, nothing was frail about her. She’d held it together, despite the fact she’d been scared to death watching Zoe lying on the ground.

Today she was wearing white pants and a yellow top, with a pair of colorful flats on her feet.  Her outfit looked cheerful, albeit she most likely hadn’t felt that way, if her face was any indication. She seemed uncomfortable with him, or maybe it was the office itself. A lot of parents hated bringing their kids to the doctor.

He caught her blushing a few times and trying to look around the room rather than making eye contact with him.  It wasn’t conceit by any means, but he had a feeling she was attracted to him. At least he hoped so, because he was definitely attracted to her. 

Unfortunately there wasn’t anything he could do about in the office.  So he put those thoughts behind him and made his way to his next patient. 

Beth listened to Zoe’s chattering, oohing and ahhing over her ring in the backseat on the drive home.  All she heard was “Dr. Mac this and Dr. Mac that.” Little did the poor man know he had a new admirer. 

It didn’t seem possible that someone could be that good with kids and be single. Of course just because he didn’t have a wedding ring on his finger didn’t mean he wasn’t married. Not that she was interested. Oh, who was she kidding—who wouldn’t be interested in him? She wasn’t dead.

Nonetheless, he most likely wouldn’t give her the time of day.  He was being nice to her daughter, his patient.  He probably was like that with all his patients. It was what made him a good doctor. 

So she would have to wipe any thoughts of him from her mind. But she could dream, all right. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t spent most of her life dreaming of Prince Charming. She just never figured she would actually meet one, though.

And if there was ever a Prince Charming, she was sure Zoe found him today. It seemed her little girl might have her first crush. 

Her suspicions were confirmed when, later that night, Zoe was still wearing her bright ruby ring—and still continued to babble to her princess Barbies about Dr. Mac.  It took a lot of convincing to get Zoe to remove her ring for bedtime, and only the promise that she could put it back on the minute she woke up would do. 

Once Beth was settled in bed, she allowed herself to secretly praise Dr. Mac, only in a different way.  Nothing wrong with dreams. That didn’t mean she had to act on them. It wasn’t as if her dreams actually came true anyway.

***

The next morning, dressed in a simple red sundress to match her new ruby ring, Zoe was all set to go to the home improvement store with Beth.  That was after a short debate over her red flip-flops—which Beth deemed too dangerous to wear in the store—and her cute little white Keds. The Keds won out in the end. 

Once in the store, Beth put Zoe in the cart and made her way through the aisles admiring all the colors and tiles, wallpapers and knobs. So many things she wanted to do to the little apartment, but everything cost money and took time. Two things that were in short supply in her life at the moment. 

After they had moved into their apartment, Beth had decided to start with Zoe’s room first. Everything was finally painted and decorated just right, except Beth hated the clunky old ceiling fan and wanted to replace it with something fresh. She was putting the small white fan with brightly colored flowers painted on the blades in the cart when she heard Zoe squealing. “Dr. Mac!”

She glanced over and thought Zoe might have been chatting about her ruby ring again, then realized she was completely wrong.  Her once shy little girl was excitedly waving her hands to Dr. Mac as he approached them, having heard his named yelled down the aisle.

Stopping in front of Zoe, he complimented her on the fact that her red dress matched her new ring. Of course he did, because that was what a Prince Charming would do.  Zoe lost some of her previous inhibitions and smiled back at him, tilted her head to the side, and said, “Pretty ring.” Then she lifted her hand toward his face for him to see.

Beth rolled her eyes at Dr. Mac, who was looking delighted that Zoe warmed up to him. “It’s her new favorite thing.  That and Dr. Mac,” she said, then realized what came out of her mouth and started to fidget embarrassingly. “Sorry, I mean you’ve made quite an impression on her. She was telling all her dolls about you last night,” she added, trying to explain.

He seemed to be enjoying her discomfort if his knowing grin was any indication. “That’s the best compliment ever, right? Means I rate high with my patients.” He looked down at the fan in the shopping cart and then looked at Zoe, who was staring at him almost star struck. “Someone is getting a new fan.”

“Me.” Zoe clapped her hands despite her pink cast. “For my princess room.”

“Princess room, huh? I bet you have lots of pink in there, too?” He smiled when she bobbed her head up and down, sending the little blonde ringlets of curls dancing all over. “I guess that only seems fitting, a princess room for a princess.”

Beth could tell Zoe didn’t understand much of what he said, but she caught on that the handsome doctor called her a princess and her eyes beamed, then Beth’s softened.  She was beginning to develop a crush on him like her daughter.

He looked around quickly and then asked, “Are you installing that yourself?”

Torn away from her own imaginary thoughts, Beth replied, “Yes. It’s not that hard. I’m swapping out the old one.”

Looking down at the fan, he frowned, then looked back at Beth and said, “Do you need help?”

Beth froze, startled at the offer and uncertain how to answer. “Ah, I’ve got it. I mean I’ve done it before; it just takes some time and patience.”  She was so used to being on her own and doing everything herself she was stunned that someone she had only just met would offer to help.

Dr. Mac turned to Zoe. “Zoe, do you think your mommy needs help with your new fan?”

Beth’s jaw dropped. Of course Zoe was going to say yes, and did so bouncing happily in her seat. 

To give the doctor credit, he noticed Beth’s reaction, looked a bit uncomfortable himself and grimaced.  But Beth replied before he could say anything. “I could use another set of hands. I mean if you don’t mind. I’m sure you’ve got your own things to do today anyway.” She looked down at the paint swatches in his hands.

“I don’t mind. I wouldn’t have offered if I did.” He held up the paint samples. “I was grabbing color samples. I’m having some work done on my house and was trying to figure out what colors I might want. I’m not very good at those types of things.”

Beth hesitated, not seeing any way out of the situation, at least not with Zoe looking on so hopeful. “OK, well I’ve got a few more things to get here and I need to run a few more errands. Would three o’clock be OK? After Zoe’s nap. If it’s not that is fine, I can do it myself,” she said in a rush.

“No, that sounds good to me. I’ve got a few things to take care of today, too. I remember where you live. I’ll see you then,” he said. Then turned to Zoe. “I’ll see you in a little bit. Be good for Mommy.”

Beth sighed dreamily and Zoe happily replied, “I’m good.”

***

Beth had never run her errands so fast in her life.  She knew her home was clean and took a lot of pride in it. Even more so after growing up in a home that hadn’t seen a washed out sink, let alone a vacuum cleaner. But she wanted to go over everything once more with a critical eye.

Her small apartment was in a good neighborhood, and though Mrs. Wilks had maintained the property well, it hadn’t been updated since the ’80s. As luck would have it Mrs. Wilks didn’t take much convincing to allow Beth to put a fresh coat of paint on all the walls.

The living room was her favorite room in the house. The sage-colored walls were soothing, plus they matched the small amount of sage mixed with browns and peaches on the antique throw rug she had purchased. That throw rug was her pride and joy, found at a garage sale, and currently covering the scarred hardwood floors.

She was plumping up her handmade pillows in varying shades of peach on her two loveseats—the only furniture currently in the room.  Those couches were purchases at thrifts stores.  She was a great bargain hunter. Afterwards she had neatly covered them in handmade tan slipcovers giving a more modern appearance.

Her hand stilled on the pillows when she heard Dr. Mac’s voice.  She wasn’t the only one that heard him as Zoe came running from her tiny bedroom a few feet away.