My Christmas Doctor

Chapter 9JaneMarchIt was the end of March and I'd had my second appointment with Dr. Chase since getting out of the hospital. I was completely smitten with the man. He invaded my thoughts constantly, even when I was supposed to be writing. Of course, I had managed to add a remarkably similar version of him to my novel, Prognosis: Death, which was my working title, but I really liked it. I had filled the story with several twists, and I was really excited about how it was all coming together. Still, Dr. Chase, Brian, was never far from my thoughts. Every time my alarm blared, reminding me to take my pills or to eat, I was also reminded of him. He haunted my dreams and stayed in my thoughts throughout the day.

Even now, as I prepared to meet Ellie for lunch at Bigoi Venezia, which was near Lenox Hill on the upper east side of Manhattan, my thoughts were on him. My crush had turned into a massive explosion of feelings since meeting him. I pulled on a pair of navy blue capri pants, a blue and white stripped top and a pair of blue Keds. Instead of my usual braid, I just pulled my hair up in a ponytail. After a light dusting of powder and some lip gloss, I glanced in the mirror and wondered what Dr. Chase — Brian, as I thought of him in my head — would think of how I looked. Would he like my outfit? Did he find me as attractive as I found him?

Sighing, I grabbed my jacket, purse, keys, and phone and headed out the door, locking it behind me. I'd ordered an Uber, and they were due to arrive at any minute, so I went down to the street to wait. A moment later they pulled up and I checked to make sure they were actually there for me, that their ID matched the details of the driver in the application — you could never be too sure these days — and then got in. I gave them directions to Bigoi Venezia and settled back in the seat with my phone, scrolling through Twitter. The writing community there was a lot of fun and I often found myself in down times going on there and retweeting books written by several of my online friends. I'd even found some books I wanted to read on there and downloaded them to my Kindle library.

My driver pulled up in front of the restaurant twenty-five minutes later, and I paid her before getting out and heading inside. I saw Ellie's dark black bobbed hair swinging against her cheeks as she gazed at the menu and it made me smile. I joined her, tucking my purse down by my feet under the table. "Hey you."

She glanced up and smiled. "Took you forever."

"Sorry, traffic and a slow Uber driver." I shrugged.

"Cute outfit," Ellie said, looking me over.

"I'd say the same, but you're in scrubs, as usual." I laughed.

Ellie grinned. "Yeah, pretty much my standard outfit these days. I go in at three."

"I don't know how you do it, working twelve hour shifts, sometimes double that, I'd fall over by hour six." I shook my head as I picked up my menu.

"You get used to it." Ellie smiled. "So, how's the story going?"

"Really well, I've been so inspired since being in the hospital, not that I want a repeat performance from the pericarditis, but actually being in the environment around Dr. Chase and the nursing staff, it just sort of made things more… real… you know? I mean the man is amazing. And so handsome, Lord is he gorgeous. I half wish I'd met him some other way because I would love to date him, and I think he might feel the same," I rambled as I looked at my menu.

"Um, aren't you still under his care?"

"Yeah." I sighed, a smile touching my lips.

"Girl, you can't date him! It's a breach of medical ethics to date a patient!" Ellie hissed.

I glanced up and nodded. "I know, it's not like he's asked me out or anything… it's just… there's a mutual attraction. Unless I'm completely off my mark here, but I don't think I am." I frowned as I thought about it. Brian and I had shared lingering looks and extended handshakes… it wasn't just my imagination.

"He literally can't ask you out. And if he does, he's a bad doctor." Ellie frowned hard as she stared at me.

"He's not going to ask me out while I'm still his patient, but I'm not going to be his patient forever, El. I mean, eventually he'll release me. And he's a fan of my work. He's so sweet and smart, and if we had met under different circumstances, I think we would have hit it off."