Chapter Thirty-two: Don't Stand Under the Ceiling Fan

I left my breakfast uneaten and threw my Ambien in the trash as I escaped to my bedroom. I added to my list of Monday chores a call to Dr. Castillo to request an alternative prescription for sleep. I dressed and left to visit Zelda; I went shopping after feeding her because I needed a car seat, and she needed more nightgowns, etc. While driving to the local mall, David called me.

"Hey," he said, "are you free for lunch?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm heading for the mall. Is there somewhere close we can meet?"

"Do you like sushi?"

I smiled. "I love it, and I'm starving. Where?"

"Across the street from the mall is a sushi bar – Edo's. I'll meet you there in half an hour. Is that okay?"

"Great. I can't wait."

He was sitting at a table by a window when I entered the small eatery. He looked collegiate in his rugby shirt and jeans. I couldn't help wishing I could remember how Jim looked in nothing but boxers. He rose when he saw me, pulling out my chair.

"I've ordered for us – I hope you don't mind," he said.

"That's fine." He handed me a Kirin, which I took greedily. "I love this beer. How did you know?"

He smiled. "I just ordered you everything I like."

And he had, indeed, ordered a variety of uramaki. I handed him my wooden chopsticks, and he knew, instinctively, to break them for me. We ate, messily, with our chopsticks and our beer, giggling as we shoved different bits into each other's mouth. I was on my third beer when I realized I was stuffed. I also realized the lunch had been a pleasant escape from the tension I'd felt around Blue Eyes.

"Oh, David, thank you so much. This has been a wonderful lunch," I gushed.

He was handsome with his dark hair and green eyes, and his smile was just the slightest bit off kilter. He said, "I'm delighted you could fit me into your busy schedule."

"I'm going shopping for a car seat and baby clothes. I don't suppose you want to accompany me?"

"Hmmm. Baby clothes. Audra, one more beer and I'd accept."

I laughed at him. "Does that mean we're having another beer?"

"I guess we are."

We had kept our conversation away from literary subjects, but with the last beer David brought up my program. "Before you started your online program, I had begun compiling writing assignments for a textbook specifically geared towards internet courses. Would you be willing to give it a look?"

The uneasy feeling the carefree lunch had dispelled returned with a loud thump. I answered, "Sure, David, I'd be happy to look at your manuscript. Are you proposing we use it in conjunction with the writing modules I've already developed?"

"I'm not suggesting you change your program at all," he replied smoothly. "Of course, if I have anything you want to use, then I'm sure we could work something out."

I suddenly felt as if I were in a business negotiation. I recalled my appointment with Dr. Jacobs first thing Monday morning and decided to ask him about David's "textbook." I finished my beer and grabbed my cell phone.

"Oh, dear. I had my phone off. Dr. Chase at the hospital has been trying to get in touch with me, probably about Zelda. If you don't mind, David, I'll step outside and call him back," I lied.

He nodded nonchalantly. "Go ahead. I'll take care of the bill."

"Of course you will," I thought as I put on my coat and stepped into the chill wind to fake a call to Dr. Chase. When David joined me, I said, "I'm sorry, but Zelda is having a problem with the formula they're giving her. Dr. Chase wants me to come by. I hope you'll forgive me for canceling our shopping trip."

"Audra, you must take care of your daughter. But we are still on for Utopia next Saturday, right?"

I stared at his unchanging smile as I replied, "Definitely. I'm looking forward to it."

I hurried away from him feeling confused about his motives. I wasn't sure if he was courting me or my teaching skills. Rather than go directly to the hospital, I stopped by my university office and checked the writing modules and responses for the three online classes we had going. Everything had been checked and updated according to our syllabus. I spent several hours reading the response comments from the students; they were, largely, positive and enlightening. I printed out the comments to share with Cindy, Troy, and Dr. Jacobs. Before I headed home, I stopped at the hospital and fed Zelda. I honestly believed she smiled at the sound of my voice when I first lifted her from her habitat. I held her until she fell back asleep.

A light snow was beginning to fall when I returned to the townhouse. I didn't see any evidence of Jim, but when I entered the den, I was shocked to see Blue Eyes parked on the sofa watching basketball. Before either of us could say anything, the doorbell rang.

"That's pizza. Can you get it?" he said.

I went to the door; of course, I had to pay for it. I plopped the box on the coffee table and stood in front of the television.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded.

"I was watching basketball. Can you get me a beer from the frig?"

"No. Why don't you get us both a beer?"

He got up and went into the kitchen. I turned off the television and sat down in the place he had vacated. He brought two beers back and handed one to me. I stared as he sat down beside me.

"Where is Jim?" I asked him as he opened the pizza box.

Blue Eyes handed me a slice of pizza. "Date. Disappointed?"

"Who does he have a date with?"

He took a bite of his pizza. "He refused to tell me. I thought you might know."

I nibbled on my slice. "I hope he's with Dr. Cuddy. I think he likes her."

"Nope. Not Cuddy. Don't think so."

"And you don't have him staked out to find out who she is?"

He looked at me. "Thought about it, but I decided to check on you instead."

I shrugged. "What do you want to know?"

"How do you like Wilson in his shorts?"

I shook my head and answered, "Sorry I called you. I don't remember any of that."

"Sure you don't. You sounded awfully cheerful."

"Wonders of medicine," I replied.

He grinned. "Gonna take some tonight?"

"Bite me," I laughed. "Where's Succubus?"

"Haven't talked to her since you ran her out of my apartment."

"So," I mused, "you thought you'd find her here?"

He snorted beer out his nose.

"Oh, nice," I said as I handed him a few napkins.

He wiped his face. "Think I can turn the basketball back on now?"

"Here, let me," I offered as I got up. "Another beer?"

He nodded, his mouth full of pizza. I played waitress and got beer for both of us. It was a beer-full day for me.

"How's Zelda?" he asked.

I smiled. "Have you seen her? She's wearing the onesies you bought her. Four pounds now."

"I fed her lunch yesterday. Chase says she'll be ready to be set free by the end of the month. How're you going to handle that?"

I answered, "My secretary has a sister who will keep her. I haven't met her yet or negotiated her fee. Why – did you have someone to suggest?"

"Cameron's unemployed."

"What? Why?"

He shrugged. "She quit. So did Foreman, but he's staying on to head up his own department. And Chase has moved over to the NICU permanently."

"So, your flunkies have fled. Who do you torture now?"

He looked at me seriously, then moved his eyebrows up and down.

I laughed, "Oh, now I understand why you're over here. You're out of victims."

"You were the one who chased Succubus, I mean Stacy, off."

I smacked him in the arm just as something significant happened with the basketball. He yelled obscenities at the players, and I pouted. My bottom lip went unnoticed.

"Hey," I finally said, "I thought you were flirting with me."

"Huh?" he gulped. "I was? Damn, I lost my place. Where were we?"

I giggled like a damn schoolgirl as he leaned toward me, his arms wrapping around my waist as his tongue licked tomato sauce off my chin. "I love pizza," he growled into my ear.

I squirmed under him as he tried to undo my jeans. I slapped at his hands. "Who gave you permission?"

"I just wanted to see if you had on those big girl panties," he whined. "Mama, may I?"

I giggled; he was tickling me. I reached behind my head to grab a throw pillow, but the quick bastard had my pants unbuttoned and unzipped before I could hit him on the head.

"Oh, my," he whispered. "What do we have here? Someone forgot to wear any panties."

I hit him again. He grabbed the pillow and wrestled it from me. "After Jim made fun of my 'big girl panties,' as you call them, I decided to just go commando."

"My kinda woman," he chuckled as he started trying to pull the jeans off me.

"Hang on there, puddin'. You don't get to remove my pants while you're fully clothed."

He stopped. "Okay. What can I trade for your jeans? My shoes?"

I wiggled my ass right off the sofa and onto the floor. "Let me take care of those fucking shoes," I said as I sat up and grabbed his Nikes. He leaned back and let me, watching while I then removed his socks.

"Okay, Tiger. Your turn. Off with the jeans."

I looked up at him and shook my head. "Your shoes and socks don't even compensate for my lack of panties. What else you offering to shed?"

He sat up and unbuttoned his shirt very slowly, one button at a time. When he finished, he swung it over his head in circles, finally releasing it to fly up into the rotating ceiling fan. As we both watched, dumbfounded, the shirt caught on one of the blades, and the whole contraption started to wobble. Slowly, cartoonishly, the fan dipped away from us and fell from the ceiling, crashing into a huge mirror hanging over the fireplace. The shards fell down, showering the remains of the fan as it came to a bumpy rest on the hearth.

"How heavy was your damned shirt?" I asked.

"Seven more years bad luck," he complained, "just when I had worked off the last sentence."

I turned back to look at him. "You've broken mirrors before?"

"Every seven years. Although not usually with my shirt." He lifted his foot and shoved the coffee table towards the fan debris, clearing a nice area of the carpet. "When you slip those pants off, I'd advise you to just let them drop."

I sighed, "No shit." I stood up and squirmed just enough to send my jeans to the floor. Blue Eyes immediately pulled his t-shirt off; I snatched it out of his hand. "Let me put that aside, along with my pants."

He grinned, watching as I stepped out of my pants and kicked them onto the coffee table, his shirt following right behind. "I'll trade you my jeans and boxers for your sweater and bra?"

"Deal."

We both stood up and stripped in a modest race. I couldn't get my bra unhooked, so he finally made me stand still and undid it. He fussed, "I would get a woman who can't even get her own bra off."

"And I would get a man who destroys entire rooms."

We made it onto the carpet with me on the bottom. Preliminaries were not needed; we intersected as quickly as we could get the parts to fit, the carpet rubbing places on my backbone and his knees. Just as he had finished the grunting of his orgasm, we both heard the front door close. Blue Eyes looked up. "Uh oh," he groaned.

"Oh my god!" Jim yelled. "I'm blind!"

I tried to look back over my shoulder; however, all I could see was Jim, his hands over his face, backing out of the room.

Blue Eyes chuckled. "We blinded Wilson. How cool are we?"