Free Next to Me by AnnaLisa Grant Page B

Don’t compare him to Landon. I make this my mantra for the night and choose a black pencil skirt, a blue top that nearly matches his tie, and a pair of black patent heels. I check myself in the mirror and, feeling good about being up to par with Adam, I find him standing in the living room.
    “Oh, that’s much better. You look lovely, Jenna,” he tells me.
    So glad I meet your approval , I think. “Thank you. Let’s go.”
    We step outside onto the sidewalk and I almost suggest walking to the restaurant, but decide against it since Dr. I’ve Got It All Planned Out is in charge. Adam grabs a cab and we’re quickly being whisked away. It doesn’t take long before we’re pulling up to an Italian restaurant about two blocks from Navy Pier. I sigh to myself remembering how Landon and I walked all the way from my apartment just last night.
    Adam and I are seated at a quiet table for two in this restaurant I didn’t know existed. After we order and our server brings the bottle of wine Adam ordered, we settle in for what I hope will turn into a lovely evening.
    “So, Jenna, tell me about yourself,” Adam asks. Standard first date question number one!
    “There’s not much to tell, really,” I say. I take a sip of my red wine. It’s delicious and obviously more expensive than the cheap stuff Mercy and I usually drink. “How about you go first? Did you always want to be a doctor?” I avoid asking about his family for now. I have a rehearsed answer I give about mine, but think maybe I’ll wait it out before I open the door to that conversation. Since I’m trying to be more open to things, I may be able to tweak my answer and provide a little more of a personal spin on it.
    “Yeah. I was the guy studying my ass off in high school so I could get into a great college and go pre-med. I used to want to have a family practice and then thought about pediatrics, but decided that I didn’t have the patience for it. Some people go to the doctor for every sneeze and then some don’t come until it’s turned into something worse. And don’t get me started on pediatrics!” he huffs.
    “You don’t like kids?” Him not liking kids is going to diminish any potential I’m working to find here. So far this date is going the exact opposite of how I had once hoped it would. I’d blame it on me being preoccupied with thoughts of Landon, but that is definitely not the case. Dr. Adam Fisher has taken us on the a-hole train and I’d like to get off.
    “Oh, no, I like kids,” he says with a smile. “It’s the parents that would drive me crazy. I have a good friend in pediatrics and you wouldn’t believe the ignorance and arrogance of some parents. They don’t want to vaccinate because they think they know better. Then their kid gets sick and they wonder why. Then some parents think their home remedies are better than FDA approved medicine that’s gone through a decade of clinical trials. I think I’m better off with patients who have serious issues.”
    “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” I tell him. “Don’t you think that parents are just doing the best they can? They don’t have all the information we do, and sometimes the information we give them is confusing.”
    Adam just stares at me for a long minute. I don’t know if I’ve stumped him or if he thinks I’m as crazy as the parents he just referred to. “I’m sorry,” he finally says.
    “Why are you sorry?”
    “I don’t think I’m getting off on the right foot here. Work is an intense topic for me, so let’s start over and avoid talking about work like the plague. What do you say?” He looks at me with a sweet smile and morphs into the nice guy who stood on the other side of the nurse’s station and asked me to dinner.
    “That sounds good,” I tell him. The waitress brings our dinners and we ease back into conversation.
    “So, Jenna…what changed your mind?” I look at him quizzically and he answers my unspoken question. “Any