Saving the Doctor Pt. 01

"There's a path just behind the strip mall that leads up to a park," she said as they crossed the parking lot.

"Really? I never knew that."

"Yeah we just have to trudge across a little ditch to get to it, it's not hard though."

They walked behind the strip mall and past some dumpsters into a weedy, litter covered area.

"What kind of back ally are you trying to get me stabbed in Carly?"

She laughed, "Oh shut up it's not that bad."

The ditch was apparently usually dry, but today had a small stream of water running through it, so they had to jump over it. He made it easily, but she wasn't wearing the shoes for it. So he held her hand as she leaped over, and had to catch her from falling as she landed awkwardly, the underside of her breasts bouncing against his arm as he grasped around her torso to steady her.

He kept holding her hand to help her walk up the dike on the other side and finally there was the paved path, running alongside the edge of the park. When they got to the path they never let go, and walked hand in hand down the trail.

They talked. They laughed. The sun shone from the west, hinting at the start of a sunset. A light breeze blew. It felt perfect. She took them on another path that looped back to a different spot on the street a block from the parking lot and after what had turned into a 30 minute stroll they finally made it back to their cars.

They gave one last hug goodbye. A long one. She rested her head on his chest and moved her hand slowly along his neck as they absorbed each other's warmth. He closed his eyes and smelled her hair. They stood there. Neither one moving to let go. He felt comfortable and at home.

"I guess we can't stand here all night," he finally said.

"Can't we? Let's try and and see," she said squeezing her softness into him tighter.

He laughed, "Was I not the only one needing a hug tonight?"

"No. No you weren't," she said pulling her head away and looking up at him, the hint of a tear in her eye. "You should stop acting so embarrassed Jon, everyone cries, everyone freaks out, loses control. The real one's anyway, I sure as hell do. I just happened to catch you."

He smiled, "And now you're not letting me go."

She smiled back "Nope," and pulled him tighter.

"Well luckily for me you give amazing hugs, so it's not so bad."

"Just one of my many talents," she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? What else have you got up your sleeve?" he asked, raising his eyebrow back at her.

She blushed and bit her lower lip.

His phone buzzed in his pants.

They let go of each other and he pulled it out to see the text.

"Elaina?" she asked, the smile gone from her face.

"Yeah, supper's calling."

"I should see to that too I guess," she sighed.

They looked into each others eyes again and he took her by the hands.

"Carly... Thank you," he said as sincerely as he could.

"Anytime," she shrugged, her lips tight, looking regretful.

They walked backwards a few steps as their fingers slipped apart.

"ANYtime?" he smiled jokingly.

"Yeah. Literally," she shrugged again, this time with a grin.

"Like Monday?"

"Sure."

"So I'll just be in my car again, 6:30-ish, screaming, and you can come rap on my window again?" he said sarcastically.

She giggled, "Yep. It's a date."

He laughed and shook his head, "Bye Carly."

"Bye."

They each got in their cars and drove home.

He enjoyed a delicious steak dinner that Elaina had prepared. She hadn't asked him about his day and instead had launched straight into discussing the venues they were going to look at the next day. He didn't mind, it was a nice distraction from the pain of the day's events, and the food was helping him feel revitalized.

After supper was done and everything cleaned up he pulled her into a hug. She seemed confused and took a second to hug him back. He tried to hold on to her longer but she pulled away.

"You okay honey?" she asked.

"Just wanted a hug," he said. "It was a rough day. Found out one of my patients committed suicide."

"Oh. That's too bad." she tilted her head and gave him a brief squeeze on the shoulder, before stepping away.

"Yeah it was tough to hear, he was someone I really connected with," he said.

She simply turned away and picked up her laptop. "Well it does happen. You have to be careful getting too close to people honey, it can take its toll."

Her warning had more meaning than she realized.

He thought about Carly. About how close they were getting, fully realizing now how intimate their time together had been that day. At the time it had simply seemed natural, comfortable and relieving, but he couldn't deny there was an attraction there, at least for him. She was such an enticingly different kind of beautiful than he was used to, that it was impossible to ignore. Surely he could keep that in check when she was such an amazing friend, though. It would feel wrong to run away from someone he connected with so perfectly. She was married after all, and she didn't seem to be uncomfortable with anything so far. He reassured himself that they must be on the same page and were just becoming close friends.

Elaina's response had been what he expected. Rational and matter-of-fact. He tried to tell himself he couldn't fault her for it. She dealt with the same challenges as him, but obviously she had her own way of dealing with it.

He left her to head downstairs and finally put the new strings on his guitar. It felt good, like it was a tiny step towards a more optimistic future. He'd start to practice again. Let it be an escape. Who knows, maybe there was someone he might impress.

He drifted off to sleep easily that night, remembering Carly's soft embrace.