“He won’t come back.” I was pretty sure of this.
“I think he will.” She pressed her lips together and crossed her arms. “And I don’t think you should be there when he does.”
“Maybe you’re right.” There was no point arguing with her. “And Doc’s okay with Jezebel?”
“He’s more of a dog kind of guy, but he loves animals,” she assured me. “He’s fine with it.”
I touched the door frame, frowning. “But this room should be for…”
“It’s yours.” She snatched at my hand and squeezed it again. “I want you here.
Please stay.”
So I did. We left the bed at my apartment. I wasn’t even thinking of it as
The strangest thing was bed time. I had to pass through their room to my own and seeing them snuggle together was the hardest part of my night. Well, almost. They tried to be quiet, I could tell. But Carrie didn’t have a “mute” button when it came to sex, and eventually, I think they forgot themselves, forgot about me. That was the hardest part.
Other than that, living with the Baumgartners was easy. Jezebel adopted Doc like he was her long-lost familiar, or maybe the other way around, waiting for him at the window and twining herself around his feet, trying to trip him the moment he came in the door. I don’t know what Carrie did while I was in class, but she was always happy to see me when I got home, no matter what mood I was in. She was like that with Doc too. And she was an amazing cook. No more Lean Cuisines for me.
And the best thing was playing. That’s what Carrie called it, “playing.” Not just sex, which there was plenty of between the two of us-Doc was gone so much it gave us ample opportunity-but really playing. Like two little kids, we’d run around the apartment in our underwear tagging each other with squirt guns Carrie brought home on a whim from the dollar store. We got into tickle fights-my feet and the backs of her knees. And the first time it snowed, we made angels.
“I wish there were real angels.” Carrie reached over to me with a mittened hand and squeezed my gloved fingers as we rested, splayed in the snow, mouths open to catch the big, fat flakes that fell all around our faces. It wasn’t even Halloween yet so it was a wet, heavy snow that would probably disappear tomorrow or the day after when the fickle weather decided to warm again.
“That’s what my mother told me.” I snorted. “Don’t worry, Dani. Isabella’s with the angel’s now.”
She sighed. “That would be comforting, wouldn’t it?”
“I wish it was.”
Carrie sat up and exclaimed, “Let’s make a snowman!”
And that’s what we did. It was huge, as tall as we were, and we draped it with a purple scarf and gave him a drooping carrot for a nose and stony black eyes. His hands were branches we shoved mittens on and his mouth was made out of strands of red licorice. When Doc got home, Carrie told him she was sorry, but there was another man in our lives now. She giggled as we gathered at the back door to look out at our new guy in the fading sunlight and Doc praised our mad snowman-making skills.
“If you have to throw me over for someone, it might as well be the Brad Pitt of snowmen. Look at that six pack!”
“It’s more like a keg.” Carrie laughed, sliding her hand under his sweatshirt and I got a glimpse of Doc’s belly, which was nicely toned.
Doc grinned. “Hey, if a six-pack is good, a keg is better, right?”
We ate chili that night and I tried to study on the couch while Carrie and Doc snuggled at the other end of it under a blanket and watched MacGyver.
“Oh, I got our costumes,” Carrie said during a commercial.
“Uh-oh.” He looked sideways at her. “Please tell me I’m not going as Dr.
Frankenstein.”
“Nope.” She grinned. “You’re going as Dr. Hawkeye Pierce and I am going as Hot Lips Houlihan.”
He laughed. “Well I guess that’s better than Dr. Dolittle.”
“Hey, I could have gone with Dr. Frank-N-Furter.” She stuck out her tongue and I tried to imagine Doc dressed as a transvestite. “Or Dr. Spock.”
“I’d wear fishnets for you.” He nuzzled her neck. “Or big ears.”
“You could go as Dr. Scholl.” I chimed in and they both laughed. “You have to go as doctors?”
“It’s the Halloween costume party at the hospital,” Doc explained. “Everyone has to go as a doctor or a patient.”
“Dani, you still have to get your costume.” Carrie nudged me with her foot.
I shook my head, burying myself back in my book. “Not me.”
“Are you gonna make me pick it?” She nudged me again, making a face.
“Are you really gonna make me go to a costume party?” I groaned. “I won’t know anyone there.”
“Neither will I.” She petted my thigh with her instep. “We can get drunk and embarrass Doc in front of all the other residents. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
“Come on, Dani.” Doc winked at me. “Come with us.”
Damn that man had a sexy smile. “Maybe.”
“I’m picking your costume.” Carrie brightened. “How about a sexy nurse? Or, let’s see… Dr. Who? Dr. Strangelove? Dr. Kevorkian?”
“I liked the sexy nurse idea,” Doc chimed in and gave me another grin when I looked at him. Every time he looked my way, it made me feel hot.
“Go ahead,” I mumbled. “Pick whatever you want.”
“Does that mean you’ll come?” Carrie urged.
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Tease.” She poked me with her pink-painted toenail. “Come with us. Besides, you don’t want to be stuck here passing out candy to toddlers in cute costumes all night, do you?”
“I’m gonna head to bed.” I closed my book and stood to stretch.
“I’m sorry,” Carrie apologized and I gave her a brief smile.
“Nothing to apologize for,” I replied. “I’m just tired.” Which was mostly true.
Besides, I liked to get into my room before they did so I didn’t have to walk through theirs while they were in bed.
“Goodnight, Dani,” Doc called as I went past.
I let out my pent-up breath when I got to my room. It felt as if my whole body was buzzing. I didn’t know how much longer I could live here with them, like this. The tension was palpable, and not in a bad way. I kept trying to hide it, but I was attracted to Doc and I think he knew it. I think they both did.
Maybe if I dressed up and pretended to be someone else, I thought sleepily as I crawled into bed with a book I didn’t really intend to read, I might have the nerve to actually do something about it.
Of course, I never intended to go half-naked, but that’s just what happened. I didn’t go as a doctor, or even a sexy nurse. Carrie decided I should go as their patient, so I got to wear a hospital johnnie and fuzzy bunny slippers. She let me have a creamy silk robe with a tie to cover that, but she didn’t let me wear any panties. Or a bra.
“It has to be authentic,” Carrie teased as we got ready in the bathroom that night.
She was in green army fatigues with “Houlihan” written on her pocket. She made a sexier “Hot Lips” than Loretta Swit ever even thought about being. “Besides, I can do this…” She slipped a hand into one of the openings in the back, squeezing my ass.
I squealed. “Yeah, well so could anyone else!”
“It’s no shorter than some skirts I’ve seen you wear.”
Well, that was true. Thankfully the weather had changed for the warmer and the snow had completely melted. And Carrie was so excited about the “authenticity” of my costume that it was hard to disappoint her by putting on panties. And I was already buzzed, which helped, although Carrie made the suggestion completely sober.
