Free Meeting Destiny by Nancy Straight

someone standing in my doorway.
     
    The figure realized that he had awoken me and quickly raised his hands from his sides to in front of his chest with his palms facing toward me. He looked as if I was holding him up with an imaginary gun. He whispered from across the room, “I’m sorry, oh I didn’t mean to wake you.” He paused for a minute, I guess waiting to see if I was going to scream or say something. When I didn’t say anything, he continued with a little more volume but still barely over a whisper. “Hi, Lauren, I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to wake you. I just finished a call at the hospital and thought I’d check on you before I got back to work.”
     
    It was Max. That first night in the restaurant or maybe in the ambulance I noticed that he was handsome, but standing in my doorway in the dimly lit room he was mesmerizing. The dark hair and tanned skin were what I had noticed before. As I looked at him again, he was tall and very muscular, his biceps over stressed the seam of his shirt. His uniform fit him perfectly. I caught myself imagining how amazing he would look at the beach. Before I let my mind run wild, I remembered the message on his answering machine from yesterday and a cold chill washed over me.
     
    “ I’m good.” The iciness in my voice was evident, and I could see his reaction immediately.
     
    He stood for a second at the doorway as if he were in conflict with himself, then walked the ten feet over to my bed. Still barely louder than a whisper, “I just wanted to say hi. I checked your chart at the nurse’s station. You should be released tomorrow. Any big plans?”
     
    I could tell he was very nervous, and I did nothing to ease his anxiety. The same frosty tone as before, “No, I’m just ready to get out’ta here.” I didn’t dare make eye contact with him because if I looked into them, I wouldn’t care about Missy anymore. I looked at his hand and didn’t see a ring, so at least he wasn’t married. I’m sure his girlfriend would be thrilled to know he creeps into other women’s rooms in the middle of the night to watch them sleep.
     
    I could hear the tension in his voice, “I can tell this is a bad time. I’m sorry, I’m a big time night owl and just assume everyone else is, too.” I felt him looking right at me as I kept staring off. “I’ve got to get back to the bus. I’ll see you later?” When he asked, I couldn’t help but look at him, reflexively but I quickly compensated for my momentary lapse and looked back down at the bed.
     
    “ Yeah, sounds good.”
     
    Max stepped away from the bed and I felt dread gripping me. There was no way that I should feel this conflicted, but I did. I was furious that he had penetrated my subconscious, not happy that he encouraged me to call him when he knew he wasn’t available, and now he stopped by in the middle of the night, for what? To see how I was? He read my chart before he came into my room, so he already knew I was doing fine. Did he know I wouldn’t be able to get any sleep now? I ought to give him a dose of his own medicine and ask him to call me at Seth’s house.
     
    The iciness in my voice from a minute ago was replaced by a tone of resentment. Although it would have been easy to let him escape and blame my annoyance on the late hour, I decided to let him know that I knew about Missy. No sense missing my opportunity for ticking off all three of my visitors in the same day. He was at the door when I asked, “Hey, Max?”
     
    He stopped dead in his tracks, still with his back to me in the threshold of the doorway. He angled his neck slightly and answered, “Yeah?”
     
    “ Okay, I know this is none of my business, so it’s okay if you don’t want to answer,” though clearly in my mind it was not okay for him not to answer.
     
    Max pivoted so he was facing me but didn’t budge from the doorway. “No, go ahead, ask me anything.” He sounded so sincere. I wished I could ignore the