Wednesday
At lunch, Elizabeth made her way to the diner and sat at the counter again. Mr. Dimples looked up and grinned. Sweet gravy goodness! He was so adorable.
"Good afternoon," he said.
"Hi."
"Getting your usual today?" he wondered.
"I don't know, I really liked the grilled cheese from the other day."
Clara walked up. "Hey there, Beth. How's your day going?"
"Pretty good. Just trying to decide what to have to eat. I think I will go with the Tuna Melt with fries."
She looked at the chef and smiled and he rewarded her with a laugh. Yeah, she definitely was enjoying the flirting.
After she ate her food, she left her tip and walked away. Clara headed into the kitchen and handed him the napkin that Beth had handed her to give to the chef.
"For you, Chef," Clara said.
He looked down and smiled. "Hi. Call me sometime, 729-555-7616- Beth." He definitely would get in touch with her.
So that night, he texted, hoping he wasn't waking her up as it was almost midnight. "Hey, it's Jack from the diner."
After a while, she hadn't responded so he figured she must have fallen asleep. In the morning, he woke up, picked up his phone and he had a text. "Sorry, I fell asleep. Will I see you at lunch?"
He had the day off so he wasn't going to be there to cook, but he was going to make sure he was there to hopefully eat lunch with her. "Yep! I will be there."
At around noon, Elizabeth walked in to the diner and sat down at the counter. When she looked up to meet his eye, there was someone else standing where Mr. Dimples, or Jack, always had.
Feeling a bit disappointed, she checked her phone to see if he had texted but there was no message.
"Beth?"
She turned to look who had said her name. "Jack?"
"Yeah. I have a booth. Would you like to join me?"
"You're not cooking?"
"My day off," he said with a grin. "We don't have to eat together…I just thought it might be nice."
"I want to. I have about forty minutes left." They walked to the booth and sat down. "I can't believe that you want to eat here when you are here every day," she mentioned.
"Well, it's not a big deal. I know the food is good."
"Yeah it is."
"And I knew you would be here."
"We could have met somewhere else."
"Next time."
Before she could respond, Clara came up and grinned knowingly at them. "Good afternoon, Doc, Chef."
"Afternoon, Clara," Elizabeth greeted.
"What can I get you?"
"Grilled cheese, fries and a diet soda," Elizabeth ordered.
"Okay. Chef?"
"Just Jack, Clara. I will have the Chef's salad, French dressing on the side please. No tomato."
"And to drink?"
"Water, please."
Jack looked up and met Elizabeth's eyes. "What?"
"Your order…it explains a lot."
"What does it explain, Doc?"
She blushed and stared at her hands. "Nothing. Forget I said anything." There was no way she was blurting that he looked good. Better than she imagined, actually.
"Hm. Well, since we don't know each other well, I won't push."
"I appreciate that," she told him, her cheeks taking on an even darker tint. She was grateful that Clara showed up right then with their drinks. That way, she had something to do other than get lost in his sparkly green eyes.
"So, Beth, what type of doctor are you?"
"I specialize in pediatrics."
"I bet that can be difficult sometimes. Seeing children suffering."
"It is, but most of the time, seeing them get better outweighs the suffering."
He noticed the tears filling her eyes and that reminded him of the bad day she had had the previous week. He reached over and covered her hand with his. "I didn't mean to upset you."
"You didn't. I….know we aren't supposed to get attached to them but…"
"Hang on. Who says you aren't supposed to get attached?"
"Everyone…as doctors, if we get too attached….we end up like me. Miserable and sad and lonely."
She couldn't believe she just said that to a guy she barely knew.
"I'm sorry, Jack. Let's talk about something else." She wiped her cheeks and looked away.
"Do you want to take a walk with me?"
"What about our food?"
"We can come back." He stood and motioned for Clara. "We will be right back."
When they walked outside, Elizabeth took a few deep breaths as they strolled.
"What happened, Beth?"
"A little girl. She came in because she had pneumonia and I prescribed medicine and I thought she was getting better." Elizabeth took a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes and nose.
"Did she get better?" He wanted to hug her but the truth was they didn't know each other. He couldn't just pull her into his arms as if they'd dated for a month or two, so he shoved his hands in his pockets.
"No. She didn't make it."
"That's not your fault, Beth. You did everything you could." He touched her wrists and held her hands for a moment. "Its not your fault," he repeated.
"I couldn't save her. I can't even imagine what her parents are going through
As badly as she wanted children, it seemed almost inconceivable to lose a child of her own. "I don't know why I'm telling you this. I don't even know you." It felt like she had known him forever but she didn't even know his last name.
"Jack Thornton," he said, sticking his hand out.
She smiled at that and shook his hand. "Elizabeth Thatcher, but everyone calls me Beth."
"Well, Elizabeth Thatcher, let's go eat our food and we can get to know each other a bit more."
The next fifteen minutes went by fast. They found out more about each other's jobs and realized it would be hard to find time to be in each other's company because of their schedules so they would just try to text and see each other when she came in for lunch.
Jack walked her to the door of the hospital when it was time for her to return.
"Thanks for walking me back."
"My pleasure, Beth."
…..
Elizabeth shook her head as she made her way inside to the elevator and took it up to the fourth floor. As she walked to the pediatric unit, Faith caught up to her.
"Hey, lady. How was your lunch?"
"Really great actually," she said with a smile.
"Wow, that's good. What did you have? I think I want some of the same if it put you in that good of a mood."
"Well, it wasn't what I ate, it was who I ate it with."
Elizabeth stepped into the lounge and Faith followed her. "You ate with someone?"
"Yeah." Elizabeth blushed.
"Hm. Pretty cute, huh?"
"You have no idea." She grabbed her stethoscope, looped it around the back of her neck and smiled. "Back to work."
"Um, I think I need to know who you were with, Beth."
"I'll tell you later."
"You better!" Faith said as she walked away.
Elizabeth was definitely going to tell Faith mostly because she needed advice. She had poured her heart out to Jack and cried, of all things. Regardless of the fact that she had just learned his last name, she felt drawn to him, like she could tell him anything and he would listen. That he would be more than willing to be her friend. She needed to know if she was completely insane.
…..
Jack called his mom after he got home from lunch. He called her on his day off every week and since she lived in Seattle, a phone call was all that could happen.
"Hey, Ma."
"Jack, good to hear from you, son."
"You too, Ma. How's Bill?"
"Doing well. How are you?"
"Good. Better than good actually."
"Why is that?"
"I met someone."
Jack held the phone away from his ear so that his mom's squealing with glee didn't burst his eardrum.
"You done?" he asked with a laugh.
"Yeah, sorry. Oh, sweetheart, I am so happy for you. What's her name?"
"Beth. Beth Thatcher and she is a doctor."
"Oh, really? At Boston Memorial?"
"Yeah. She comes in for lunch every day at the diner. Today was the first time we met face to face, or at least without a window between us."
"And what did you think?"
"I really like her, Ma. Which is weird because I hardly know her but something inside me is telling me that we are supposed to be together. Is that even possible?"
"That's how I felt about your father."
"She's beautiful, Ma, and she works in pediatrics."
"So future grandchildren are a possibility?" Charlotte squealed again.
"Easy there, Ma. We had one lunch. Don't plan a wedding yet."
"All right. Can you blame me, Jack? It's been quite a while for you."
"I know. I was waiting for the right person."
"And you think Beth Thatcher is that person?"
"If what my heart is telling me is any indication, yeah."
….
Elizabeth got off work around five pm and checked her phone. She had a text from Jack.
"I was thinking of going 2 see a movie. Wanna join me?"
Elizabeth quickly asked. "Like a date?"
"It doesn't have 2 b."
"I'll go. A date is good."
"How long do u need 2 get ready?"
"Just got off. So maybe an hour?"
"Do u want me to pick u up?"
"I'll meet u."
"Okay. Do you want 2 go 2 the Showcase Cinema?"
"Yes. I will c u soon. ;)"
"Ok!"
Elizabeth smiled and hurried to her car, but on the way, Faith stopped her. "You're in a hurry. I was hoping you would tell me about mystery man."
"I need to get home, Faith. I have a date! I'll call you later."
"You better!"
Elizabeth walked into her house and took a shower, making sure to use her vanilla body wash and shampoo.
Then she stood in her closet, wrapped in a towel, stumped.
The majority of her things were scrubs, and t-shirts that she wore with yoga pants around the house with the exception of two dresses and two pairs of jeans. She never dated, or hadn't in about five years when Charlie Kensington, her former fiancé, had decided marrying her was less exciting than being with her best friend Anna. Now they were married, and according to Facebook, were expecting their first child.
The first year or so after he ended things, she had a rough time. Then, she met Faith. Faith helped her realize that dwelling on her broken heart would not solve anything. There was someone out there for her and when she found him, it would be one hundred times better than being with Charlie had been. Was it Jack? Is he supposed to be her "only one"?
"You'll never find out if you don't get dressed and get to your date!" she told herself.
So, deciding to just be herself, she grabbed a light pink sweater and a pair of dark jeans and got dressed. Then she added lip gloss, mascara, and a pair of silver earrings and pulled on her tennis shoes.
"If he doesn't like the way I look when I'm just being me, he isn't the right one," she told herself again.
….
She didn't need to worry. As soon as she walked in the door to the theater, his heart did a weird little flip flop. She was curvy in the all right places, her dark jeans, teasing him. Her black leather jacket and pink sweater were perfect.
He walked over and kissed her cheek. "Evening, Beth. You look beautiful." It was cliché and an understatement but he went with it.
"Thank you. You look great too."
His black leather jacket matched hers and looked great with his khakis and blue polo.
He offered his hand and they walked closer to choose their movie. "What looks good to you?" he wondered.
"I have been wanting to see the new Spiderman movie," she admitted.
"Perfect." He grinned, paid for their tickets and then they headed to the food line. "Do you want popcorn?" he asked.
"Yeah. Extra butter and a diet soda."
It baffled him that she could look so fit and good, eating like she did. He wasn't complaining and he wouldn't mention it, but on their next date, he might suggest his favorite vegetarian restaurant and introduce her to tofu and sprouts.
