Michaela sat at her desk at work. It was her lunch break, so she didn't have any patients. She was thinking of cutting her break short, and seeing patients that arrived early, just to keep her mind focused on something other than Byron Sully.
She had treated his wrist two days prior and hadn't seen him again. She checked her appointments on her computer, and was pleased to see that he had made an appointment for the coming Wednesday, but that was still several days away and she wanted to see him again sooner.
He occupied her thoughts so much that earlier that day, she accidentally signed her name to a prescription as Michaela Sully, M.D. instead of Michaela Quinn, M.D. She ripped up the prescription all together, and instead sent it electronically to the patient's preferred pharmacy.
She felt like a silly school girl thinking about him in such a way. He was handsome and very thoughtful, especially when he offered to walk her to her car the other night. Truthfully, she barely knew him, and she still hadn't found out yet if he was married or not. On top of that, he was a patient. She knew better than to get involved with a patient. It didn't matter how dreamy he was, he was still a patient.
Michaela picked up the phone on her desk and called her receptionist.
"Ma'am?" Jessica said on the other side of the phone.
"Jessica, has my one o'clock checked in early by any chance?" she asked into the phone.
"No, Ma'am," Jessica answered.
"Thanks," Michaela said. She was about to hang up until another thought entered her mind, "Jessica... I have been here for six months, and I really haven't taken my kids out anywhere other than grocery shopping and church. I would like to take them out tonight. I want to take them to a family friendly place that has things for children to do."
"There's Chuck E. Cheese," Jessica suggested.
"No, thank you," Michaela said immediately. She had been to one too many birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese and wanted something else, "Something similar to that perhaps, but not that place please."
Jessica chuckled into the phone, "Well, um… There is a McDonalds two blocks away. It's the only one in town that still has a play place. There is also Boomers. It's similar to Chuck E. Cheese, but it's bigger and has more stuff to do. It's also more expensive. They do have pretty good deals though, if you order a medium pizza."
Michaela preferred not to feed her kids pizza or food from McDonalds, "We would have dinner beforehand-"
"You know where you should go?" Jessica asked excitedly, before Michaela could finish her sentence, "It's a new place called Ice Cream Social! I took my niece there last week and she loved it! It's similar to Chuck E. Cheese, but it's very toned down. They have a play area for younger kids and a small arcade for older kids. They serve ice cream and frozen yogurt with every topping you can think of."
"That's perfect! Thank you!" Michaela said happily. She wouldn't mind getting the kids an ice cream cone after a sensible dinner and then letting them play for a while.
"Glad I could help," said Jessica.
Sully sat at his desk sending out emails. This was usually a simple task, but was more difficult than usual as he had his left arm in a sling. He did his best to type with his right hand only.
One email was to a local large animal vet who was trying to make a deal with him. The vet was offering to provide fifty free vaccinations in exchange for free advertising at the next cattle show. Sully agreed. It would take almost nothing to hang a poster, advertising the veterinarian, at the next cattle show. Vaccinations had to be done and could get pricey.
Another email was an order form to his grain supplier. His cattle ate field corn, sorghum, barley and oats. He sent out an order form to replenish his supply.
Lastly, he received yet another email from Louise Chambers. She was complaining about Zachary's behavior in class and wanted to set up a conference. Sully rolled his eyes and agreed to meet next Monday. He didn't understand what she needed to say to him in person that couldn't be said over the phone, but he agreed to meet with her anyway.
After he sent his emails, he looked over his schedule for the day and tried not to think about his beautiful doctor, Michaela Quinn. It was silly to think about her. She had kids and could be married for all he knew, but he couldn't help his subconscious.
She had not even told him her first name when she took care of his wrist. He found out what it was when he called and set up an appointment for Wednesday morning. Now that he knew her name was Michaela, he couldn't help but like the way it sounded when it rolled off his tongue.
It was more than just the sound of her name that he enjoyed. The night after his trip to her office, he had a dream about her that was so vivid that he woke up hot and bothered. He was so hot and bothered that a cold shower wouldn't do the trick. He ended up having to take care of his needs in a hot shower at 2:00 am.
He did feel better after the shower, but unfortunately, that was when the guilt set in. When he climbed back into bed, his mind drifted to Abagail and their wedding vows. He didn't know if it was right for him to think about another woman in that fashion. He felt like he was betraying her on some level.
Neither the guilt over Abagail or the fact that he didn't know her very well could stop his mind from fixating on Michaela unless he actively and purposefully made himself think about something else.
"Sully," Olive said, entering the room, causing Sully to jump, "Sorry," she added quickly.
"It's alright," Sully said, "What can I do for you?"
"Nothin'," she answered, handing him a brown box, "This came for you."
Sully took the box from Olive and opened it. Inside was a red box from Edible Arrangements.
"Someone sent you a Valentine?" Olive asked with a laugh.
"I don't know," Sully replied. He opened the box and found assorted pieces of chocolate dipped fruit.
"Looks good," Olive said, reaching over and helping herself to a chocolate covered strawberry and taking a bite.
"Does it taste good?" Sully asked with a chuckle.
"Loren's are better," Olive commented, reminding Sully that Loren sold chocolate covered strawberries and other things at the store.
"I doubt Loren is in any mood to send me this," Sully said, deciding to taste a flower shaped pineapple that was dipped in chocolate.
"Someone is in a good mood about ya. Looks like it came with a business card," Olive said, pointing to the business card.
Sully found the business card and held it up to examine it. The card belonged to C. Carol Shiverdeer of House and Home Real Estate Group. Her personal cell phone number was circled. On the back, it read:
Thank you for helping me with my car the other day.
I would love to take you to dinner sometime and give you a proper thank you.
-Carol
"I didn't know you were datin' again," Olive commented.
"I'm not," Sully said with confusion, "She had car trouble and I helped her move her car out of the road."
"It sounds like she's interested in ya," Olive said.
Sully felt bad. He told Carol to google his office because he was trying to be polite when she said she wanted to thank him. He forgot all about her the moment he drove off and took Hanna to school that morning. He assumed the most she would do is try to give him a call, if she did that at all. He didn't expect this, nor did he want it. He had no interest in seeing her again, he was just trying to be nice when he helped her move her car.
He really wished that he and Olive hadn't eaten any of the fruit in the box. He thought that the best thing to do would be to send the box back. He would also send along a note telling her that he appreciated the gesture, but he wasn't interested, and then he would apologize for inadvertently giving her the wrong idea.
"What're ya gonna do?" inquired Olive.
"Send it back," Sully said.
"Why?" Olive asked, getting a little agitated, "There ain't nothin' wrong with goin' out to dinner with someone new. I think it'll be good for ya."
"I'm not ready," he answered quickly.
"Life's too short, Sully," she told him, "I think you should give that woman a call and have a nice night on the town."
"I'm goin' out on the town tonight," Sully stated firmly.
"Takin' your kids out is not the same as goin' out to dinner with someone new and havin' a nice adult conversation for a change," said Olive. When she saw that Sully was purposefully ignoring her, she added, "Think about it at least."
"Fine," he reluctantly agreed, "I'll think about it."
Later that evening, Michaela was driving her Mercedes. Brian was in his car seat playing with his favorite touch and feel book, and Colleen sat in her booster seat humming to herself. Matthew, who was tall and old enough to sit in the back seat without a booster, was complaining.
"I hate her, Mom," Matthew whined, "She's so mean."
"Well, Matthew!" Michaela exclaimed, growing irritated, "I offered to get you out of that class."
"I know, but I like my new friends," Matthew admitted, "I play ball with Zac and Ben every recess."
"Then it can't be all bad," Michaela said, feeling nervous. She was already uncomfortable with Matthew in a public school. She didn't like that he said he hated his teacher, "There must be one good thing about Miss Chambers' class, other than recess."
"Reading time is fun," Matthew admitted.
"That's great!" Michaela said happily, "What do you do during reading time?"
"She puts us in groups and we read together," Matthew explained, "Then we answer questions about what we read. The books they read here aren't as hard as the books we read at the academy in Boston, so I'm way ahead of everyone else."
"I see," Michaela said, not liking the sound of that. She liked that Matthew was ahead, but she didn't want this school to stifle his education.
"I'm partnered with the two readers that need the most help," Matthew said, "Emma and Ingrid. Emma doesn't get any help with reading at home. She told me that her mom doesn't have much money and can be really mean sometimes. Ingrid just moved to America from Sweden last year and doesn't speak English very well."
"I see," Michaela said again, not wanting to show her son her anger. She was pleased that Matthew enjoyed reading time. He obviously enjoyed helping these two little girls that needed help. However, she was not happy that his teacher was apparently using him as her assistant, rather than challenging his mind.
"Where're we going, Mommy?" Colleen asked.
"It's a surprise!" Michaela sang happily, "I think you'll love it!"
Her answer pleased Colleen, who went back to humming.
Michaela turned the corner and drove into the parking lot of Ice Cream Social.
"Ice Cream!" Colleen and Matthew shouted.
"Ice Cweam?" Brian asked happily, making sure he heard that right.
"Yes," Michaela turned in the driver's seat of her car and smiled at her children. Then she got everyone out of the car. She carried Brian in with Colleen and Matthew following behind.
She took the kids up to the counter and let them pick what they wanted. Brian got a small sundae. Matthew and Colleen both got banana splits. Michaela got one plain scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt in a cup.
"Mom, my friend Zac is here!" Matthew said, "Can I go play video games with him?"
"Certainly," Michaela said with a smile, hoping that she would get to meet Zac and his parents before they left. She handed him a five-dollar bill that he could use to get tokens to play the video games.
"Mommy, I want to play in the playhouse," Colleen said.
"Me too!" Brian yelled.
"Certainly," Michaela told her kids, "Let's find a seat first."
Michaela walked with her younger kids to the play place area. She looked over her shoulder every few minutes to make sure she could still see Matthew. She smiled happily when she saw that Matthew was playing a video game with his friend and eating ice cream.
When they got to the play place, Brian and Colleen handed their mother their half-eaten ice cream dishes and started to run off.
Michaela was about to protest, when she heard someone call her name.
"Dr. Quinn," Sully greeted warmly.
"Mr. Sully," Michaela said, not expecting to see him there. He was sitting in a corner booth with a small half eaten sundae. She approached his table, but still looked every which way to make sure she had eyes on all three of her children.
"Are you a first timer?" Sully asked with a laugh.
"How did you know?" Michaela asked back, a little frazzled.
"First things first," Sully said. He reached around behind him and found a blue balloon that was attached to the booth and untied it, "Call your little boy over here."
"Brian!" Michaela called, "Brian!"
Brian, who had just gone down the small slide, reluctantly came to his mother.
"You like balloons young man?" Sully asked Brian.
Michaela smiled wide when Brian said, "Yes."
"Let me see your wrist," Sully said. When Brian held out his wrist, Sully tied the end of the ribbon that was attached to the balloon to his wrist. Michaela was impressed by how skillfully Sully was able to tie the balloon around her son's wrist with only one hand. His left arm was still in the sling that she had given him the other day, "You can go play now, Son."
Brian skipped off happily with the balloon attached to his wrist.
"Now you can sit down and not frantically look for him," Sully said, "You just need to keep track of the blue balloon. You see the pink balloon over there? That's my daughter."
"You're a genius," Michaela said, "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Most people don't think of that 'cause they're too shy to take a balloon. All these balloons are goin' in the trash tomorrow anyway, we might as well make good use of them," Sully laughed with a shrug.
Michaela was going to respond when Colleen approached her and said, "Mommy, I want a balloon too."
Sully unhooked the purple balloon that was attached to the booth and handed it to Michaela, and Michaela tied it around her daughter's wrist.
"Thank you, Mommy!" Colleen cheered and then skipped off to play.
"How many kids do you have?" Sully asked, "Just those two?"
"No," Michaela answered, "My oldest is playing video games. He probably won't allow me to tie a balloon to his wrist."
"That brings me to lesson number two," Sully said and scooted over in his booth, motioning with his good hand for her to sit down. When she sat down, he told her, "From this booth, we have a perfect view of the video games and the bathrooms to our left. We can see our little balloons floating around to our right."
"Oh my gosh, you're a pro!" Michaela said, very impressed and was starting to relax.
"Line their ice creams up on the side of the table," Sully instructed, "When the little ones want a break, they'll come up and take a couple of bites, then go back to play. That's what my daughter does anyway."
Michaela smiled and placed Brian and Colleen's ice cream dishes next to Sully's daughter's dish.
"Which one is your oldest," Sully asked, looking towards the video games.
"He's the thin blonde one with the blue polo on," Michaela said, "His name is Matthew."
"Does he go to Colorado Springs Elementary?" Sully inquired, noting that her boy was talking with Zachary.
"Yes," Michaela said.
"Then he must be my son's new friend," Sully said, "He's the dark haired one with the black, green, and gray striped T-shirt on. He's about the same size as your boy."
"Is that Zac?" Michaela asked.
"Yes," Sully said.
"So you're his father?" Michaela concluded.
"Yep," Sully said, "I'm Zachary's dad."
"Matthew speaks very highly of your son," she informed him, "I'm so glad they met. Zac is the first friend he's made since we moved here."
"Zac speaks highly of Matthew too," Sully reported.
"How's your wrist by the way?" Michaela asked, changing the subject.
"It's feelin' better, and I did make an appointment at your office," Sully said.
"That's good," Michaela said back.
"I hafta tell ya, you have a nice name," he told her. He thought about her name a lot since he learned it.
"Thank you," she said, "I feel like it's common now, but it wasn't common to my father when he picked it."
"Your father picked it?" Sully asked.
"Yes," Michaela said with a laugh, "I'm the youngest of five children, all girls. My father wanted to believe that he was finally going to have a son, when my mother was expecting me. He had his son's name all picked out, Michael Andrew. I was named Michaela Anne."
"Are you and your father close?" he inquired warmly.
"Yes," she said, "I became a doctor, just like him. We used to work side by side in Boston before he died."
"He passed on? I'm sorry to hear that," Sully commented politely, "Is that where you're from? Boston."
"Mmhm," Michaela answered with a nod.
"When you were workin' together, and someone called Dr. Quinn, how did you know which doctor they wanted?" he asked, starting to flirt a little bit with her now.
Michaela laughed at that, "Remember how my father wanted a male? He sometimes forgot that he had another female and called me Mike for short. Most people at the hospital called me Dr. Mike, not Dr. Quinn."
"I like that. Can I call ya Dr. Mike?" he requested.
"Certainly," She said with a bright smile.
"While we're on the subject of name changes, you can call me Sully," Sully said, "When people say Mr. Sully, I turn around and look for my father."
Michaela giggled at his comment, "How about I call you Mr. Byron?"
"No," Sully protested, feigning pain in his chest. He was definitely enjoying his conversation with the lovely woman next to him, "I go by Sully because I can't stand my first name."
"What's wrong with Byron?" asked Michaela.
"I've hated it since I was a kid," Sully answered, "I don't remember why anymore, but I'm used to Sully."
"Very well," she answered, "Sully it is."
Sully smiled. Olive was right, it felt good talking to another adult, even if they were just talking about nothing. He really liked talking to and casually flirting with Dr. Mike. She seemed a little shy. He could tell that because she would blush every once in awhile while they were talking, but she was nice. When he talked to her, he felt like he was talking to a kindred spirit. He wondered how it was possible to have those kinds of feelings about someone he just met.
Michaela liked this man. She wanted to get to know him better, but didn't want to rush into things or do anything reckless or impulsive. She had been reckless and impulsive once in her life and made a bad choice. That bad choice was something she couldn't take back and bound her to her ex-husband forever. Sure, he didn't have custody of the kids, but she knew on some level that she would have to see him again eventually.
She couldn't be completely regretful, because if she hadn't given in, in that one moment of weakness, she wouldn't have her kids now. She wouldn't trade them for anything.
If she wanted to start something new with Sully, she would have to take her time and not rush into anything. She would need to get to know him first, and she would have to find him a new doctor for propriety's sake. She didn't even know for sure if he liked her the way that she was starting to like him. She also didn't know if she could act on her feelings. What if he belonged to someone else?
Sully decided at that moment that he wanted to take Olive's advice and make a new friendship with Michaela. He didn't think he was ready for it to go farther than a friendship yet, but it was nice to talk to someone new and flirt a little bit. He was about to ask for her personal cell phone number when they were interrupted.
"Just when I thought it was gonna be a dull day," A blonde woman approached them, "I was driving home from work, my car is in perfect condition now, and I saw Byron Sully sitting in this place. Did you get my gift?"
It was Carol, the woman he helped the other day. Somehow she had managed to leave him dumbfounded twice in one day; first with the box of fruit, and now with her entrance at the ice cream parlor. He really didn't know what to say to her.
"Are you Mrs. Sully?" she asked Michaela. Then she put her hands on Sully's shoulders and neck, as if she knew him intimately and said, "Your husband was so kind and helped me out of a bind the other day."
Michaela eyed the woman strangely. She certainly was bold. This woman thought she was Sully's wife, and she put her hands all over him like that? Didn't she also just say that she stopped her car on her way home from work to come in and say hello because she saw him through a window? She had seen women like that when she was married to Ethan. Whether there was something going on between them or not, this woman wanted Michaela to believe that they were intimate. What a homewrecker!
"No, I'm not his wife," Michaela said shortly, "I'm just a friendly acquaintance. If you'll excuse me, I need to check on my children." Michaela got up quickly and left the table.
Sully was so embarrassed. He barely knew Carol, and she was acting like they were a couple. He would put a stop to that now.
"Ma'am," Sully said, "I'm glad that I was able to help ya out of a bind the other day, and I appreciate the fruit ya sent, but can you please take your hands off me? You're makin' me feel uncomfortable."
"Well, excuse me!" Carol said in a huff as she removed her hands from his neck and left.
To be continued. Please review and tell me what you think.