Susan Carlisle - The Surgeon's Cinderella

Tanner’s attention returned to him. “Okay, Romeo. I need to give you a listen.” He pulled his stethoscope from around his neck. “I might have done a bad thing by inviting Whitney in.”

“If I promise to be nice, will you bring her back again?” Mr. Wilcox asked with enthusiasm in every word.

Whitney touched the older man’s arm. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t have to invite me for me to come again.”

She felt more than saw Tanner glance at her.

“Then I’ll look forward to it. So tell me how you know this quack over here?” Mr. Wilcox indicated Tanner.

Her gaze met Tanner’s. There was panic in his gaze. He probably didn’t want the man to know she was helping him find a wife. “Oh, we were in college together.”

Tanner’s brows rose. He nodded as if he was pleased with her response.

“Where’d you go?” Mr. Wilcox rasped.

“Berkeley,” she told him.

“Then you got a fine education.”

Tanner interrupted them with, “So, are you having any chest pains?”

Mr. Wilcox paused. “No.”

“That’s good. You seem to be holding your own.” Tanner flipped through the chart he’d brought in with him and laid it on the bed tray. “You need to be eating more. You have to keep your energy up.”

“I’ll try but nothing tastes good.” Mr. Wilcox pushed at the bed table as if there was something offensive on it.

“Not even ice cream?” Tanner asked.

“I’ve eaten all those little cups I can stand. I’d like a good old-fashioned banana split that I could share with someone like your young lady.”

Tanner chuckled. “When you get your heart and are out of here I’ll see if I can get Whitney to come back and bring you a fat-free split.”

“Fat-free,” he spat.

“That’s it,” Tanner said with a grin.

“Well, if Whitney shares it with me maybe I can live with it. She has nice eyes. Windows to the soul, they say.” Mr. Wilcox smiled.

“That she does,” Tanner agreed.

Whitney looked at Tanner. Did he really mean that? She’d had no indication that he’d noticed anything about her.

“So is she your girlfriend?”

“Just friends,” she and Tanner said at the same time.

Whitney wasn’t sure that their professional association qualified as friendship. Tanner wanted his personal business kept private, so “friends” seemed the right thing to say. Could they be friends? She didn’t know. What she did recognize was that she liked the Tanner who was concerned enough about his patient’s loneliness to invite her to meet him just to cut the monotony of being in the hospital day after day. That was a Tanner she could find a match for. Sad that the other Tanner wouldn’t let this one show up more often.

“Even behind that mask I can tell she’s pretty enough to be your girlfriend. You can always tell a special woman by her eyes. My wife, Milly, had beautiful eyes.”

Tanner put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I think we’d better be going.”

Whitney touched Mr. Wilcox’s arm briefly. “I hope to see you again soon. It was nice to meet you.”

He lifted a hand and waved as she reached the door. “You too. You’re welcome to my abode anytime.”

Whitney smiled. She liked Mr. Wilcox. “Bye, now.”

Tanner joined her. “See you soon, Mr. Wilcox.”

“You too, Doc.”

Whitney stepped out into the hall and Tanner followed, pulling the door closed behind him.

As they removed their masks Tanner said, “I’m sorry if he made you feel uncomfortable in there or put you on the spot about being with me. Mr. Wilcox can be pretty cheeky.”

“I didn’t mind. He seems like a nice guy who’s lonely.”

“He is. As a doctor I’m not supposed to have favorites but I really like the man. He’s been waiting too long.”

She watched for his reaction as she said, “That’s why you took me to see him. You knew he needed something to prick his interest. You didn’t mind him assuming I was your girlfriend because that would give him something to figure out, live for.”

“Why, Ms. Thomason, you are smart.”

Whitney couldn’t deny her pleasure at his praise. She also couldn’t help but ask, “I know you can’t tell me details, but what’s going on with Mr. Wilcox?”

Tanner’s eyes took on a haunted look. “Most of it you heard. He’s waiting for a heart. He needs one pretty quickly.”

“Or he’ll die,” she said quietly.

Tanner’s eyes took on a shadowed look. “Yeah.”

“You seem to take that in your stride.” She sounded as if she was condemning him even to her own ears.

“It’s a part of what I do. Medical School 101. But that doesn’t mean I like it.” His retort was crisp. He started down the hall and she followed. At the desk he handed a nurse Mr. Wilcox’s chart and continued on. “My office is this way. I’m on call tonight.”

Whitney had to hurry to keep up with him. They walked down a couple of hallways to a nondescript door. Again Tanner swiped his card. There was a click. He turned the doorknob and entered. She trailed him down a short hall to a small sterile-looking office. It became even smaller when Tanner stepped in.

There was a metal desk with a black high-backed chair behind it and a metal chair in front. What struck her as most interesting was the absence of pictures. Didn’t he have family? Nieces or nephews? A dog?

“Please, come in.” Tanner walked around the desk and settled into the chair. Was his home this cold as well? Could he open his life enough to have a wife and family?

Whitney sat in the uncomfortable utilitarian chair. Apparently whoever visited wasn’t encouraged to stay long. “I understand from Michelle that she had a wonderful time the other night. So what’s the problem on your side?”

Tanner picked up a pen and twisted it through his fingers, a sure sign he wasn’t comfortable with the question. “She wanted something that I won’t give.”

There was a chilly breeze in the words. “That is?”

“Let’s just say she was already getting more emotionally attached than I want to be. You need to go through your file and find me some women who are interested in security, financial comfort, social status, not whether or not they are loved. I’m looking for something far more solid than love. Companionship.”

Whitney felt like she’d been punched in the chest. She’d never heard anything sadder. All the compassion she’d just seen Tanner show Mr. Wilcox was gone. Now all she saw was a shell of a man. For him a heart was nothing more than an organ that pumped blood. Not the center of life she believed it to be. “The women I represent all want to be loved.”

He put his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers, giving her a direct look. “For the amount of money I’m paying you I expect you to find someone who suits my needs. I thought I’d made it clear what I wanted in a relationship. It’s your business to find me that match.”

If he had slapped her she couldn’t have been more insulted. “I assure you I know my business. I’ll set up a social with the next client on my list for as soon as possible.” She looked him in the eyes. “But you should know, Tanner, it’s my experience that most people see marriage less as a business deal and more as an emotional attachment.”

Tanner’s face turned stern. His voice was firm when he said, “That might be the case but that isn’t the type of person I’m looking for. I’ve made my request and you’ve stated you can fill it, so that’s what I expect.”

What had happened to the man? How could he be so compassionate toward his patient but so calculating about the type of wife he wanted? Whitney stood. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

He got to his feet as well. “Good. If you take a right out of my door you’ll come to a set of elevators. It’ll take you down to the lobby. Thanks for coming here.”

She’d been dismissed. That was fine with her. Whitney turned on her heel and left. Right now she wasn’t sure if she should keep Tanner as a client. Truth be known, she wasn’t certain she even liked him.

* * *

Tanner was at Café Lombard for the “social” before Whitney or the woman he was to meet. When Whitney had left his office the other evening she hadn’t been happy. Her lips had been pinched tight and her chin had jutted out. Somehow what he had said she had taken personally. Hadn’t he made it clear what he was looking for in a relationship during their earlier interview? Couldn’t she understand that he had no interest in a love match?

Those only led to pain, not just between the husband and wife but for the children as well. He and his brother were a prime example of that. They hadn’t seen each other in years. Tanner wanted a marriage based on something solid and not fleeting, like an emotion.

His date with Michelle had been wonderful. They’d had a number of things in common. They both enjoyed the outdoors, liked baseball and traveling. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Michelle, but he could tell by her speech and her body language that she was looking for more than he could give. There had been hopeful stars in her eyes. He wanted someone whose expectations were less dreamlike and more firmly rooted in reality.

Statements like “Children should know that their parents care about each other. It makes for a more stable child,” or “I want a husband who can be there when I need him,” showed him that Michelle needed emotional support that he just couldn’t give. Tanner wanted someone who could handle their own ups and downs without involving him.

He looked up to see Whitney entering. The displeased expression she’d worn the other day was gone but there was still a tightness around her lips, indicating she might not be in the best of moods. When had he started being able to read so well someone he hardly knew?

He half stood. She flashed a smile of greeting. It was an all-business tilt of the lips instead of actual gladness to see him. Tanner didn’t much care for that. Yet why did it bother him to have her disgruntled with him?

Today Whitney wore a flowing dress with a small pale pink rose pattern on it that reached just past her knees. A sweater was pulled over her shoulders and the sleeves tied across her chest. She was dressed like an old-maid schoolteacher. Why did she wear such nondescript clothing? Did she do it because she thought people believed that was how a matchmaker should dress? She was too young and too attractive not to flaunt it some. What would she look like in a tight, short skirt? He’d be interested to see. Great, would be his guess. But why should it matter to him how she dressed?

“Hello, Tanner.” She took the chair across from him. “You’re early.”

“My last case was canceled due to a fever so I got away from the hospital sooner than I thought I would.”

Whitney clasped her hands in her lap and looked directly at him. “I think you work too hard and too many hours.” It wasn’t an accusation, more a statement of fact. She didn’t give him time to respond before she continued. “You’re going to meet Racheal today. I think you’ll really like her. She has a master’s degree in business and loves children.”

“I remember reading her profile. Did you make it clear to her what I am looking for?”

“I did. She’s interested in a family but doesn’t want to give over her freedom just to have that. She’s looking for the same type of relationship that you are.” Whitney made it sound as if the idea left a bad taste in her mouth.

“Do you have a problem with that?”

She shrugged then leaned back in the chair. “Not if that’s what you both want.”