Chapter 68:
Doug walked in and found her asleep. He filled a bag with ice and sat down in a chair so he wouldn't wake her up. He set his feet on the small table in front of him and rolled up his pants leg. He rubbed the small scare in the side of his leg. Doug set the ice on his knee and crossed his arms in front of him as he looked at Anna sleep. She looked so happy. He slouched down in the chair and looked out the window at the wind blow. It was probably going to rain tomorrow. After awhile his eyes got heavy and he drifted into sleep.
Anna woke to the sound of raindrops on the glass. She sat up and stretched, seeing Doug asleep in the chair with a bag of melted what had to have been ice on his knee. She slipped out of the bed as quietly as she could throw on her shorts and workout shirt. She tied her tennis shoes and headed down to the small workout room that the hotel had. She put her headphones on as she started the treadmill.
Doug heard the door close and opened his eyes. Sure enough it was raining. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and looked around the room for Anna. 'She must have gone downstairs' he thought. Doug went to stand up and winced a little at the stiffness. He shouldn't have slept in the chair. He looked at the clock and noticed it was just a little after eight. It wasn't like him to sleep that late. He put on a pair of jeans and a blue button shirt. After he got cleaned up and shaved he picked up their clothes from the bathroom so they could dry. He smiled thinking about last night in here. Doug rolled up his shirt sleeves so they were just below his elbows and jammed his feet into his boots. He walked around the hotel until he found Anna running on the treadmill by herself. He opened the door to the workout room and leaned against the door hinge watching her run for a second. "You should have let me know you were going running I would have come down." he finally said.
She stopped the treadmill and walked over to him, "you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you." She said as she attempted to catch her breath and wrapped her arms around him.
Doug hugged her back. "You didn't have to stop running for me." he said kissing the top of her head. He pulled back and leaned against the wall again. "I need to go pack some things up at my mom's house. You can hang out here or you can come with me, it doesn't matter, but I'm probably going to be there for awhile." he took a deep breath in thinking of what he had to do. "Edna wants to move in by tomorrow so..." Doug cleared his throat and stood up straight. "We could grab some breakfast though."
She bit her lip for a minute. "I uhm, think that I'll just hang out here for awhile." She leaned into him for a minute, "I have some stuff that I need to finish up before we head back to Chicago anyway. I'm not really hungry baby." She kissed his cheek, "but maybe depending on how late you get back we can grab dinner together." She walked back over to the treadmill and turned it back on. She gave him a half smile as she took off running. She didn't want to be there when he had to pack up. She didn't want him to have to do it alone, but she could feel the pain from having to pack up her parents' house, and she couldn't put herself there again.
Doug nodded as she walked away from him. He wasn't really mad, but he didn't want to have to go alone. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'It'll give me sometime by myself' Doug left without another word and made his way to the door. After running through the light rain he hopped into the jeep and turned on the heat. The rain storm had brought some cold air with it. He clicked the radio onto the oldies station and tapped the steering wheel to Major Lance, um um um um. He loved that song. Finally he pulled up to his mom's house and went inside. He had pulled out some boxes from the garage earlier and he took them upstairs. He turned on the radio in his room and looked around deciding where to start. He pulled down the pictures from the walls and most of his trophies. He took his jersey out of the frame and folded it up. While he was going under his bed he pulled out a box he hadn't ever seen. After blowing off the dust he sat on the floor and opened it up. There were at least thirty sealed letters with his name on each one. He opened up one and read it. The date on top was from his last birthday from his mom. His eyes scanned it and caught the bottom before the rest. "I hope you find these when the time is right. I want you to know how proud of you I have always been...My life would have meant nothing if I hadn't had you." Doug rubbed his chin thinking about everything. All the letters were written to him on his birthdays for the last 38 years. At the bottom of the box was a smaller envelope. He opened it up to find a small note and a silver necklace with a cross on it. The note said. "I hope you find your faith, even if it's only faith in yourself like I have for you. Love mom" Doug put it on and slid it under his shirt. "Walking in Memphis" came on the radio and Doug set the letters down in his lap. He leaned against the bed and felt the tears stream down his face. He really was loved and it made him feel good to finally know it. He pulled his knees to his chest and cried it had been the first time in a long time that he really could.
Anna finished her run and headed back up into the room. It was silent in there with him not there now. She hated herself for not going with him, but something's were better done alone. She climbed into the shower, the hot water felt good against her back. She smiled as she thought back to the fun that they had last night in here. She climbed out and pulled her wet hair up off her shoulders. She sat down and plugged her laptop into the wall connecting her to the internet. She found emails from those who were covering for her at County. Things were going well for them; they had stuck her work shift at the bottom of the email after telling her that she owned the big time. Robert was hard to work with. She just shook her head as she read it. She got up and started the coffee pot that was in their room and was soon back in front of her computer. She had been invited to speak at a conference in Boston on her last paper that she had submitted. She pulled it up and reread it before she started to put together just what she was going to present. She looked up at the clock as she reached down and pulled a notepad out of her bag. She chewed on the pen; she grabbed her reading glasses putting them on as she set in to work. This was going to keep her more than busy until he got back.
Doug finished filling up the two boxes he had brought up. He had most of his stuff and a few things of his mom's that was important, like her wedding ring. He taped the boxes closed and walked them down by the door. He took some old china they had picked out together and some photo books. In the back of one he had found a picture of his son. He hadn't seen him since he was a baby. He had been born when Doug was still in pre med school. He put the photo in his wallet. He guessed their family had kept in contact with his mother. That was another thing he hadn't shared with Anna, he was afraid to think of how she would react if he told her since she loved kids so much. Doug knew he would have been a bad father then though. He walked through the rain and set the boxes in the back of the car. He would mail them out before he left. He looked at his watch. It was a little after four, time had gone by faster than he thought. He started to drive back to the hotel when he passed the church. Mass was going to start soon. He debated what to do for a good ten minutes as he sat in the car. Finally he turned around and parked. He sat in the car for another ten minutes before getting out and walking inside. People were just starting to show up; they always got there early for a seat. Doug sat in a pew in the back and waited for the service to start as people filled in, in front of him.
Anna's stomach growled as she looked up at the clock. She had some chips from driving all over so she started to munch on them as she wrote and read. She hoped that he was doing okay. Maybe making him go by himself wasn't such a good idea. She threw herself back into her work, she was so use to using it as an excuse to avoid dealing with things that it was second nature now, she rechecked her flight times and she would get back into Chicago in time to pick up the shift that they wanted to her to work. The sooner that life got back to normal the better.
Doug sat through mass and stayed seated until everyone else was gone. After thinking for a half an hour he realized that he couldn't work out the tings he needed to sit there by himself. Doug stood up and walked back through the rain to his car. He had made an unconscious decision to go to mass every Sunday from now on, he wouldn't tell Anna, he wasn't sure he could explain it. Doug drove to the cemetery and walked through the rain until he found his mom's grave. "Sarah Ross. Beloved Wife, Mother, and Friend." the stone said. Doug stood in front of her gave longer than he meant to. He didn't say anything but he hoped she knew he was there. He looked up into the sky and smiled. Doug leaned down and kissed the stone before going back into his car. He was soaking wet and really cold, but going there was worth it. It didn't take him long to get to the hotel. He got some strange looks from the front desk as he walked upstairs to his room. 'I must look pretty bad' he thought as reached the door and looked through his pocket for the key. "Ahhh damn" he said as he realized he had left it in the room. Doug looked at the small puddle of water he was making outside the door from being so wet. Anna was going to kill him. Doug ran his fingers through his hair and knocked on the door.
Who was knocking on the door? She got up and crossed the room opening the door she came face to face with a soaking wet Doug. "Oh my!" She said as she looked at him and reached out for taking his hand, "come on let's get you warm and dry." She let go and walked into the bathroom for a towel tossing it at him. She wasn't going to ask. 'I don't want to know,' she said to herself. 'He'll tell me if he thinks I need to know.' She just sat back down in front of her laptop.
Doug caught the towel and dried his face off. "Sorry. I forgot my key." He took off his shoes and leaned over to see what she was doing. "No rest for the weary huh?"
She laughed softly, "No, not when I have to get up in front of group, can't make a complete ass out of myself. But hey what can I say the glamour of research."
Doug grinned and touched her shoulder. "Do it to it." he said walking away from her. He changed into some black slacks and button shirt. After he fixed his hair again he looked at himself in the mirror. He tucked the necklace back inside his shirt and walked out of the room. "So you hungry yet? I was thinking we could go somewhere nice."
She smiled at him, throwing her glasses down on the table and closed her laptop, "you have yourself a date, just let me get out of my jeans." She got up grabbed her bag and headed back into the bathroom. Pushing the door almost closed behind her. Thank god she had grabbed this, but then she never had fully gotten the hang of traveling with out something for every occasion that might pop up. She slipped into the dress and pulled her hair up on top of her head. She left it in a loose knot with some strands that floated down next to her cheeks. She slipped into her shoes, as she tossed her jeans and tennis shoes into the bag at her feet, and gave herself one more look over in the mirror. "Perfect. Red is your color Anna." She smiled at herself before she turned and walked out of the bathroom. "I'm ready."
Doug grinned as he saw her. A thousand compliments floated into his head...but she knew she looked good. "I think red is you're color Anna." he said taking her hand. He spun her around and brought her back close to him. "I feel a little inadequate standing next to you."
Anna looked down and blushed. "Don't, you are a very handsome man Doug Ross, and I wouldn't dream of being on anyone else's arm tonight."
Doug grinned. "I knew I could make you blush." he said giving her a quick kiss. "Now let's see...What kind of restaurants are in Kentucky? Well we have steak, steak...and probably some steak. So i hope you're feeling like cow." he said with a laugh. Doug grabbed a nice jacket and took her hand. "I think its still raining though. You ready?"
Anna could help but laugh, "Yeah sure." She reached down and picked up the wrap that she had in the other bag. "Cow...it is."