12

Once again bright lights stared me in the face. I turned my head away from the light and found Bailey sitting next to the bed.

She managed a brave smile, but she didn’t rush me. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey yourself. What happened?” No IVs? That had to be good.

“When you didn’t come back down, Toppy went up to get you. He had a hard time rousing you. You woke, but you were incoherent, so we brought you in.” She came over and kissed me. At least she didn’t cry.

I’d dreamed some weird dream about working in the diner. I’d been balancing three dinner plates on each arm, and doing quite well, until a stray cat came in as someone opened the door. It ran right under my feet, and I’d dropped the whole mess. Everyone, including Melissa had rushed to start cleaning it up. They shook their heads at me and said, “Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

I tried to shake off the dream, but without noticeable success. “Just tired, I guess. You probably didn’t need to go to all this trouble.” My head felt like a bucket of glue.

“Toppy’s getting coffee. Dr. Harkin said, oh, well, here he is,” she said as the doc walked in.

“Are you going to follow your program, or will I have to admit you?” He reached out and shook my hand.

“Well, I...”

“You haven’t taken your medicine regularly, you spent the night at the lake and now you have a bad cold.” He crossed his arms and took a step back frowning.

“I...”

“I’m going to find Toppy and that coffee. Give him ‘what for’ Doctor.” She squeezed my hand and left the room.

“No excuse.” I sat up on the bed. “Can I go now?” Where was my cap? At least I had my clothes on this time. I stood up.

“Sit down, Scott.” Dr. Harkin pulled up two chairs next to the bed.

We sat facing each other.

“I know this is difficult for you. It doesn’t have to be this hard. I didn’t dictate that you make a complete 360. But you have to start taking baby steps to relieve some of your stress. You show signs of having a severe anxiety attack.” He crossed his legs still frowning at me.

What did he want me to say? We weren’t exactly buddies. I wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about the decision I’d made regarding Bailey. Since he hadn’t asked me a question, I decided to change the subject. “Your assistant’s pretty stuck on you. When are you going to bring her out to my place?”

Dr. Harkin cleared his throat and flipped the pages of his chart. “What makes you say that?” He leaned forward but avoided my eyes.

“Oh, the way she looks at you, the way you look at her. Since we’re in each other’s business today, I just thought I’d throw that out there.” I leaned back in my chair. Let’s see what he had to say about that.

“The way she looks at me? Really?” His face contorted and then grew younger with each passing second. “What did she say?”

“Say? Nothing. Are you blind? I thought you had to be smart to be a heart doctor.” Good, we were off the “Bad Scott” subject.

“She’s, well, I...” he stammered. Heart doctor, not matters of the heart, apparently.

“What, she’s a little younger than you? Not by much, I’d guess.” I almost laughed at how the tables had turned.

“Five years.” He scratched his head and grimaced. “I don’t think she’s interested. She’s my assistant, and a darn good one, but I’ve never so much as...”

“That’s not so many years. And you’d better ‘so much as’ or you’re going to lose her. She won’t wait around forever.” I might just get out of the ER without too much more trouble. At least my theory about Melissa and the doc was spot on.

“I think you’re mistaken. There’s never been a hint of interest from her.” He stood up and paced a few steps beside the chair, his face red.

“Hinting won’t cut it, Doc. Tell her, and before it’s too late. Now, if you’ll just sign me out of here.” I rose from my chair and inched toward the door. Ironic that I should be giving advice on romance since I couldn’t measure up to managing my own.

“Sit down; I’m not finished with you. I’ll write down specific instructions for you. If you don’t abide by them, I will insist on putting you right back in this bed.” He scribbled on a notepad from his pocket.

I sat down. “Meds and rest. I got it. I’ll do it, I promise.”

“More than that. I’m setting you up with the counselor. Keep your appointment when they call and schedule it. The first person they’ll call if you skip it is me.”

I nodded, picked up my jacket, and shuffled toward the door again.

“Fine. If I see you back in here because you didn’t take care of yourself, you’ll definitely be a candidate for hospitalization, and then you’ll have to miss your wedding.” He reached out his hand for another shake.

The wedding that won’t happen. “Listen, you should bring Melissa out to Bible study at the diner on Sunday mornings. Don’t put it off. Life is too short.” Just how short for me, God only knew, but I wouldn’t risk Bailey’s future on my stupid heart.

I had to tell her, and soon.