I was no stranger to the one-night stand. From my college years on, meeting girls, having sex with them, and never talking to them again has worked well for me. It wasn’t always intentional to sleep with the women I met, but once I would start to talk to them and kiss them, there was no stopping me. I mean, nothing was stopping me except for the girls, which happened on occasion. But overall, my friends thought of me as a ladies’ man.
This time was different. Something happened when we were talking that made me want to get to know her better. She was so cute and friendly, and she was different from the girls I usually went for. My usual type was girls who were either looking for a husband or those who only wanted sex. She didn’t seem to fit into either of those categories.
From the very little I knew about Whitney so far, I knew that she was the type that you want to bring home to your parents. She was relationship material, not occasional hookup material. The other nurses made comments about her that would suggest that she was a pretty straight-laced person. She certainly wasn’t the type to hang out with a guy like me.
I had to cover part of someone’s shift the next day, so I dragged my ass out of bed and took a steamy shower at eight. I really could have used the extra sleep, but my drunk self was never very good at accounting for my future self’s hangovers when making plans. I just hoped that the patients couldn’t smell the beer oozing out of my pores.
In my sleepy state, I completely forgot that Whitney was seeing patients in the morning. When I saw her face from across the corridor, I ducked into an empty room. I couldn’t even rationalize what I had just done—I was never shy in these kinds of situations. In fact, I always enjoyed running into past hookups. For some reason, they always seemed rattled by my appearance. I liked to see them get riled up by me, regardless of whether I was touching them or not. It was all part of the fun.
So, I was completely thrown for a loop when my first reaction when I saw Whitney was to hide. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me. I just felt like all the confidence I possessed had been sucked out of me. I wasn’t some guy who’d conquered the hardest girl to get—I was the guy who desperately wanted the girl to call me back.
It made me feel sick. This wasn’t who I was. I had sex with women all the time, and I never caught feelings. That was a chick thing to do. There was nothing manly about what I was feeling right now. If one of my friends had described this exact situation to me, from their perspective, I would have made fun of them.
Somehow, I managed to make it the rest of the shift without talking to Whitney. Deep down, I wanted to talk to her because I thought there could still be a chance that she would want to hang out with me again. But if I approached her and she wanted nothing to do with me, then I could never live that down.
“Chad,” a strong, authoritative voice called from behind me. I jumped, feeling on edge from all of the hiding I had been doing. I was so preoccupied with Whitney that I completely forgot about the other person I had to be on high alert for.
It wasn’t that my dad and I didn’t get along, but he thought I could have aimed higher with my career choice. I completely disagreed with his viewpoint, but that’s how parents and children work—parents will impose their ideas on their children and won’t understand when they don’t sink in. Besides that one little difference, my father and I got along just fine. In fact, I still spent a lot of time at his house. Why would I want to hang out in my measly apartment when I could float in my dad’s pool or play video games in his home theater?
“Oh, hey,” I said, picking up a stack of charts so I could look busy. “What’s up?”
“Have you checked on Mrs. Johnson yet? I’ve had two patients admitted overnight and I’m trying to get everything done by noon.”
“We gave her a few bags of fluids and she’s already looking a little better. Her appetite is returning, so we gave her some fruit. She did tell me that I had a nice ass, so maybe you should check her brain function.”
“No, that sounds like her,” he said nonchalantly, looking down at a file. “Sounds like she’ll be ready for discharge tomorrow. Thank goodness. I try to retire, but for some reason, I have just as many patients as ever.”
“Is that all you wanted?” I asked. My dad was seemingly in his own little world of patients and medical records.
“Oh, and I’m inviting guests for Christmas dinner, so I’ll need you to come over at nine tomorrow morning to help me prepare.”
“Guests?” I asked. “I thought no one wanted to fly here this year.”
“They don’t. That’s why I invited a friend and her daughter over. What I’m trying to tell you is that I’d like for you to look presentable and be on your best behavior.”
“Since when do you have female friends?” I asked. I had only been in town for a handful of weeks, and I had never noticed that my dad was seeing anyone. I guess I never asked. Ever since my mom died, I’d never wanted to acknowledge the fact that my dad had needs of his own. It gave me the creeps to think about it.
“I haven’t been seeing her for long, but I’d say things are starting to get serious,” he mused, peering out over the top of his glasses. He looked very pleased with himself.
“Really?”
“Why is that so hard to believe?
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “So who’s the lucky lady?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”
“Come on, I think I’m a little old for surprises.”
“Nine o’clock tomorrow, Chad. Don’t be late.”
He turned and walked away before I could protest. I suppressed an exasperated groan and went to check up on a few patients before my shift was over.
I wasn’t really that annoyed that my dad was seeing someone. What bothered me was that a nice, relaxing day off was now changed into an event for my dad to show off to his girlfriend and her daughter. He would want me to play the part of responsible adult child, and I wasn’t in the mood for that. I just wanted to watch football, drink beer, and stuff myself with food until I was too sleepy to move. That was my ideal Christmas holiday.
On my way home, I called my friend, Ted. Ted and I went to college together, and after graduation, he moved to the city while I was in nursing school. He worked as an accountant, and ever since I’d landed my job at the hospital, I’d been too busy to hang out. I knew he wasn’t doing much for Christmas, so I thought he could come over to my dad’s house and be a buffer between me and whoever else was going to be there.
“Hey, man, I know you’re not doing anything tomorrow, so I need you to do me a huge favor.”
“Depends on what it is. You’re not the only one with a rare day off,” he said.