Chapter 8

Bob's birthday came in the beginning of December, just after Blythe left. Wilson invited Bob and House to his place for dinner. When they arrived, he served a nice white wine, some broiled tilapia and presented her with a gift. It was a lovely silk scarf in shades of aqua.

"Oh, James, it's beautiful. Thank you very much."

Wilson looked pointedly at House, who stared back at him and said, "What?"

"Don't you have a gift for your oldest friend?"

"Well, I was going to get her flowers, but the guy wasn't there."

"What guy?" Wilson asked.

"The one on the off ramp."

Wilson rolled his eyes, but Bob chuckled. "It's okay, James, Greg never bought me presents. I don't expect anything from him. But on my 21st birthday, he gave me a terrific gift."

"No I didn't." House said. "I never bought you anything."

"I just said you never bought me anything."

"So what did he give you?" Wilson asked.

"Nothing. I gave her nothing." House complained.

Ignoring him, she told Wilson the story of her and House in the restaurant and the way he pretended to be her boyfriend to impress the bitches.

"Will you stop telling these old stories?" House whined, getting uncomfortable.

Wilson laughed, but in reality he wasn't surprised. House had his own moral code and although he changed it as it suited him, he adhered to it as well.

Christmas came. Even though House told her not to, Bob found herself attending Princeton's faculty Christmas party. Despite his complaints about work parties, Bob was actually excited to attend. Not being in the same place for more than a few months, she could never really participate in Christmas parties. Oh, the museums she was working with would invite her if she was there at the time and sometimes she'd attend. But since she didn't actually work there, she was always the outsider.

This time, however, she was a part of the faculty and she was anxious to get to know the others. She had met one or two, but this would be a good chance to meet lots of them.

Then House offered to go with her, which she thought was just silly.

"You've told me over and over again how much you hate these things. You don't even like to go to your own company parties. Why would you want to come to mine?"

He tried to play it down. "You don't know anyone there."

"Well, the point is that I want to get to meet my coworkers."

"Why in the world would you want to do that?"

"Some people have this crazy idea that they'd like to know the people they work with."

He just shook his head. "Absolutely nuts."

She laughed. "Anyway, I'm going alone."

"Whatever." He mumbled.

Bob went shopping and bought a new dress in a deep topaz color that just skimmed her knees. She had some lovely emeralds she had purchased in Europe that went perfectly with it and really made her eyes shine. With the auburn rinse she used in her hair, the color was wonderful on her. Although she was pleased with her appearance, she didn't think it was anything special.

The male faculty members thought otherwise.

Heads turned as soon as she walked in. The married ones cursed their bad luck for either having wives or bringing them. The single ones maneuvered their way near her.

Being the friendly person that Bob was, she greeted everyone with equal warmth. Which, of course, only made the guys more interested. And gave Bob a good opportunity to meet a lot of her coworkers.

When the new semester began, she found herself having lunch with many of them in the faculty dining room. One guy in particular she got along with very well.

His name was Devon Miles and he worked in the Math department. He was forty-five years old, with a head full of dark brown hair and dark eyes to match. He was fascinated by her travels and although his own travel experience was limited, he was well read and interested in other countries.

Being a math professor, he had a nice logical mind that she liked. She tried to tell herself that it wasn't because it reminded her of another very logical man that she knew.

She knew that he would like to go out with her, but she was careful not to encourage him, since she really wasn't interested in dating him. Her heart still belonged to a certain blue-eyed doctor.

Bob, House and Wilson spent Christmas together. Even though House didn't care about celebrating the holiday all that much, suddenly it was fun to be part of a group of friends.

Fun. Friends. These were all new concepts to him. He thought about his mother's advice to be happy. At the psychiatric hospital, they had tried to get him to accept the good things in his life and be happy. Both Wilson and Bob admonished him to be happy. They sure seemed to be.

Could he be happy?

He didn't know, but it did turn out to be one of the best Christmases he'd ever had.

On New Year's Eve, they counted down with the announcer on TV and when the ball dropped and Times Square went crazy, they started yelling too.

Then Wilson, turned to Bob and said, "Happy New Year, Roberta."

Smiling, she replied, "Happy New Year, James."

He leaned in and kissed her. Most people kissed at midnight, but he held his lips to hers a second longer than was necessary.

House watched this exchange with narrowed eyes, then limped to her bathroom.

They ate and drank a bit more, before finally calling it a night. Wilson and House put on their coats and said their goodbyes.

They were starting down the walk, when House said, "Forgot my cane. Go warm up the car."

Wilson nodded and continued to the car, while House turned back. He knocked on the door and she opened it almost immediately.

"Forgot my cane." He said and she nodded and let him in.

He closed the door behind him, limped over to the sofa and picked up the cane. Then as he passed her, he suddenly pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard.

"Happy New Year, Bob."

Then he opened the door and left.

She stood there for a moment and touched her fingers lightly to her lips, then closed her eyes.