Legs Part II

I was in Beth’s office, sitting in a comfortable chair, reviewing the evaluations on the Chest Assessment class I had taught the student nurses, and was pleased that they all thought the class was instructive and a lot of fun. I like teaching student nurses because I am not that far removed from them in age, and they are usually eager to learn. I don’t have a problem getting down to their level of knowledge, then teaching them complex topics in a way they can grasp quickly. If you do it right, a student can learn a lot in a short time.

“Rob, you seem to be a gifted teacher,” Beth said. She was sitting in the chair beside me, her skirt high on her perfect thighs, her knee touching mine. She was in civvies today, not in her usual white uniform, and her outfit was professional, but somehow undeniably sexy; an above the knee wine red skirt, ivory fitted silk blouse, long auburn hair just over her shoulders, and her lips were pink and moist looking. I found myself wondering what they would taste like.

“Well they are a pretty good group. It was more their enthusiasm for the material than my skills I think.”

Her perfume was subtle but very feminine, and just that first scent seemed to entice me to lean closer to her to smell it again. I suddenly realized I was a little too close and backed off, but she just smiled at me and put her hand on my arm.

“Rob, would you consider teaching a series of classes on respiratory diseases to the students? You don’t have to volunteer, we actually have some funds budgeted. We could work together on a regular basis.”

In a flash, I could sense that we were just beginning a long and involved dance, and we were taking the first steps. She was married, and she was the mistress of one of my direct supervisors, but I found myself agreeing to teach the classes, knowing that one time soon, probably in this office, we would be starting a physical relationship.

I had always thought of myself as a pretty straight shooter. I had never even considered being with a married, or even engaged woman before, and yet here I was wanting to lean closer just to smell her scent and kiss her moist pink lips. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, to what dark corner my judgment had fled.

I think we all go through times when we are thrown off balance, where we become susceptible to things or people we usually resist. I realized for me it was losing Celtic Woman. We all have things and people which we base our lives on, and when they go we become off balance. I had my hospital work, my woman, and my music; but now my woman was gone and I felt like a three legged stool with only two legs. I was on tilt, about to fall into a risky affair with a married woman, and my woman was only gone a week.

I leaned back and took a deep breath to clear my head. Beth kept her hand on my arm, it felt hot even through the sleeve of my lab coat. Her lips seemed even pinker and her eyes were wide, the pupils dilated with excitement. Just knowing that she felt excitement too made me want to kiss her right then. She actually pulled my arm toward her, and I could feel my heart starting to pound as her lips parted.

There was a knock on her door, and we both let out a sigh of disappointment. Beth got up to answer it and there was Charlie M__, her lover and my boss. He gave me a questioning, then a dirty look.

“Thanks for asking me to teach the classes Beth, sounds like a good thing to me.” I stood up and left, squeezing past the Chief or Surgery in the doorway.

As I walked down the corridor, I had the competing feelings of relief that nothing happened, and regret for not having kissed her. I knew I had to get myself together.

That night in my apartment I was looking through pictures of Celtic Woman before I stored them away. I had not yet developed the strength to hide them from sight, but I found them too hurtful to keep out. I found some of her old letters too, the special ones with the poems she wrote just for me, and started reading them. I read one free form poem that she had written about the kind of person I was, She called it Someone Who .., I had always thought she had greatly exaggerated my good points in it, but tonight I needed to think some nice things about myself. I started reading.

Someone who carries Reese pieces in the pocket of his white lab coat to share with toddlers and children while working on the Pediatric floor 

Someone who has the eye for photography, of black and white, sepia toned and colours, framing beauty on walls of my heart  

Someone whose hands can fit my fingers and my heart, all at the same time

Someone whose heart is an endless ocean of skies of bright blue clarity, with the ability to love the world and its entirety with kindness and respect

Someone who slept next to his brand-new baseball glove when he was a kid

Someone funny with infectious laughter, who cracks jokes like Groucho Marx would, and is lighthearted and mellow on nights we spend together. 

Someone whose hand is always on my lower belly, the small of my waist, playing with my hair, wiping my tears away, massaging my tired shoulders, everywhere leaving traces of his scent on my skin

Someone who is not afraid to lay down the rules and live by them, who creates clear boundaries of black and white, and that we should have some kind of a system to abide by

Someone who adores the combination of cheese and white wine and long conversations in plushy luxurious bathrobes in between melting candles and billowing white curtains with Miles Davis is playing at the background

Someone who has poetic soul, intense intellect, light aura of humour and a great zest for love

Someone who, apparently, loves me.
 

‘Someone who,’ I told myself, ‘is considering career suicide to screw a married woman. No Rob, you’re not the man Celtic Woman thought she saw.’ I felt so shallow next to the man she had described, and I resolved to become that man once again. I would resist Beth.

e=”Times New Roman, serif”>’Someone who,’ I told myself, ‘is considering career suicide to screw a married woman. No Rob, you’re not the man Celtic Woman thought she saw.’ I felt so shallow next to the man she had described, and I resolved to become that man once again. I would resist Beth.