September 11, 2001
Chapter 2
Annie pulled the SUV into the drop-off area. As the children were gathering their pack-backs and kissing her goodbye, Ally told her, "Mommy, I have soccer practice tomorrow after school."
"I remember. I'm off work again tomorrow so I'll take you. I thought we would go to the park after school today, OK?"
"Yay!" All three children loved the park. They got their things and climbed out. She waved to them as they turned to run into the school. Then she pulled out and headed for home.
Annie stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things. As usual, although she just ran in to pick up a few things for dinner, she remembered other items they needed and began to fill a basket. Now that she had begun remembering the day she met Bobby, she couldn't stop the memories as she pushed her cart up and down the aisles.
After the Code Blue (they were able to save the man and transfer him to ICU), traffic through the ER picked up for the next few hours. Annie kept busy and didn't have much time to think about the enigmatic man who had brought his friend in earlier. Or why she was so fascinated with him. She had just finished discharging a patient, when the receptionist called her over.
"Annie, there's a man out in the waiting room asking for you."
"Did he say who he is or what he wants?"
"No, he just asked to speak to Annie Paine. But I think he was here earlier. Tall guy, really cute. Maybe he wants a date," Tina teased.
Annie rolled her eyes and walked out to the waiting room. She saw him immediately. He was sitting in one of the chairs, entertaining a little boy who looked to be about three years old. A woman, whom Annie presumed to be the boy's mother, was lying across two chairs holding her head as though she were in pain. Annie watched Bobby playing with the little boy. They were using paper cups from the water cooler as cars and trucks, and had used the old magazines on the table to create a highway. Bobby said something to the boy that caused him to laugh. He had changed out of the dirty clothes he had been wearing to work on the car, into clean jeans and green tee shirt.
The woman's name was called and she got up to follow a nurse to a room, taking her little boy with her. Bobby stood as he told the boy goodbye and then he saw Annie. He smiled and walked over to her.
"Hi," was all he said as he stood in front of her.
"Hi. Did you forget something?"
"No. I just...," he hesitated and seemed shy all of a sudden. "I just wanted to buy you lunch. You know, to say 'thank you' for what you did for Lewis."
Now it was Annie's turn to be shy. "That's not necessary. You know, the hospital actually pays me to do those things."
Bobby laughed and seemed to relax a bit.
"I know. I would just really like to have lunch with you." He smiled down at her and leaned a little closer. "Please."
Annie considered his offer. She was always professional at work and did not become personally involved with anyone she met there. She had once dated a resident, but that made working with him so uncomfortable that she decided she would never again date anyone she worked with, and certainly never a patient. While Bobby was not a patient himself, she felt like she had a professional relationship with him that made even having lunch with him out of bounds. But there was a voice in her head insisting that she very much wanted to sit and listen to his voice and hear his laugh again.
Bobby didn't say anything else, he just waited. Finally she told him, "OK, I'll have lunch with you in the cafeteria. But I'll buy my own. And I'm not sure when I will be able to take my lunch. It might be another hour."
"I'll wait," he said. He smiled at her again, walked back to the chairs, and picked up a magazine. He settled into a chair and opened the magazine.
Annie was right. It was an hour before things slowed down enough for the nurses to start taking lunch breaks. She went to the waiting room and he was still there, seemingly engrossed in the two-year old women's magazine he was reading. He got up as soon as he saw her and they walked to the cafeteria in silence.
When they finally settled at a table and began eating, Bobby asked her, "So, do you come here often?"
Annie laughed and relaxed a little.
"As a matter of fact, I don't. I usually bring my lunch and eat it in the break room so I can read."
He asked, "What are you reading?"
"Today I brought 'A Is For Alibi', by Sue Grafton."
"You like mysteries."
"Among other things. I usually have about three books at any given time that I am reading."
Books. She couldn't believe she was talking about books. He must think she was incredibly boring. But he was hiding it well, he actually seemed interested as he asked, "So what else are you reading?"
"Well, there's 'To Kill a Mockingbird', and a book of poetry by Robert E. Howard. Do you read much?"
"My mother was a librarian, so I grew up with lots of books and I read a lot. Right now I'm reading some case studies on serial killers."
"Really. Serial killers? That sounds gruesome. I hope you don't read them before you go to sleep at night."
Bobby laughed and said, "Actually, I do read them at night. Its research for my job. I'm in the Army, with CID."
"CID? What is that?" she asked.
"Criminal Investigation Division. I'm studying profiling." He explained that he studied psychology and case studies to try and get into the minds of criminals, in order to find out their identities and what they were likely to do next. Annie smiled at how animated his face became as he talked about his work. Profiling was obviously a passion for him.
All too soon, Annie's thirty minute lunch break was over. Bobby walked her back to the ER. Before leaving he asked, "Can we have lunch again tomorrow?"
She felt a thrill of pleasure that he wanted to see her again.
"OK, but no guarantees on when I'll be able to take a break. And….if we are going to have lunch together again, maybe I should know your last name."
"Goren. Robert Goren. My friends call me Bobby. I'll see you tomorrow Annie."
She watched him walk out of the ER. She sighed and turned to go back to work.
Bobby showed up early the next day and again sat patiently in the waiting room until Annie was able to take her break. It seemed easier to fall into conversation with him this time. He asked her about her job and her family. She told him that her parents had moved to New York when she was one. When she was eleven, her parents were both killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver and she went to live with her father's father in Connecticut. Bobby's eyes softened with sympathy and he covered her hand with his and squeezed lightly.
"I'm sorry", he said softly.
"Thank you. That was a hard time. But I couldn't have asked for a better Grandpa. He is the sweetest man on earth and will do anything for me. He didn't know much about girls, since his only children were my Dad and my uncle. But he tried. He even bought me my first sanitary pads. He went to the drugstore all by himself. The woman who worked there told me about it later. She said he was so red and embarrassed, but he didn't leave until he asked all kinds of questions about which ones would be best for a young girl."
Bobby laughed and said that her grandfather sounded like a good guy. Annie tried to question him about his family, but he seemed uncomfortable talking about it. She managed to get out of him that his mother was a librarian, his father was a salesman, and he had an older brother. He grew up in Brooklyn and his parents divorced when he was young. It sounded as though his family was still nearby, but he was a little vague.
Again her lunch break flew by much too fast. They had finished eating and Bobby was drinking a cup of coffee when he asked, "Same time tomorrow?"
"I don't work tomorrow."
"Good, then how about dinner? And this time I buy?"
Annie hesitated. "You mean….a date?"
"I think that's what it's called", Bobby smiled and it was hard to resist.
But she hesitated. "I don't date patients", she said.
"Good. I'm not a patient."
"Or their family or friends."
"I'm not related to Lewis."
"Friends", she reminded him.
"Yeah……….about that. I'm not really friends with Lewis. In fact I had never seen him before yesterday. I was just walking down the street and heard him yelling for help, so I ran in, saw that he was hurt, and brought him here. You know, a Good Samaritan thing. Not friends at all. Actually, I don't even like the guy."
Annie's laugh drew attention from neighboring tables. He was determined; she had to give him that. She smiled as she looked at him, considering the wisdom of going out on a date with someone she knew so little about.
"OK, a date. But there is something you need to know about me. I don't eat meat. I don't drink alcohol. And I don't have sex."
Bobby choked and spit a mouthful of coffee on the floor.
"Uh…sorry?"
"I said", she repeated slowly, "I don't eat meat. I don't drink alcohol. I don't ….."
"Y….Yeah, I got that part", he interrupted.
He looked at her incredulously, and then grabbed a napkin to wipe up the coffee he had spit on the floor. Annie sat and watched him calmly. Finally he sat back down in his chair. He asked her, "Do you tell that to every man who asks you out on a date?"
"Yes."
"You don't date much, do you?" he deadpanned.
This time more heads turned at Annie's laughter. "No, actually, I don't. Not too many men are willing to abide by my rules."
"Rules?"
"Yes, rules. See, I don't expect you to remember everything I tell you about myself. But I do expect you to remember those three things. And to respect me enough not to try to change my mind about any of them. I never say 'no' more than once. If I have to say it once, it will be the last time we go out."
Bobby just sat and looked at her. She wished she could read his mind, but she had no idea what he was thinking. This was where most invitations died and she had discovered the hard way that most of those who made it past this point had a difficult time believing she really meant that she would only say no once. Some men saw her "rules" as a challenge and tried their best to get her to change her mind about the alcohol and the sex. True to her word, she had never gone out with any of them again. It seemed like time stopped while she waited for Bobby to answer.
Finally he said, "Pick you up at seven?"
Annie sighed in relief. She hadn't realized until that moment just how much she wanted to go out with him.
End Chapter 2