Free Slow Dancing by Suzanne Jenkins Page A

said to the waitress. Turning to sit down while she waited, Alan quickly pulled a chair out from his table for her.
    “Join me,” he said. “Saw you here yesterday.” Not sure if he was serious, or if she even wanted to sit by him, she paused. “Please. Join me.”
    Hesitantly, she pulled the chair out a little further and sat down. “Thanks,” she said. “My feet are killing me.”
    “Nurses are always on their feet,” Alan said, noting she was in a navy blue scrub suit.
    “I’m not a nurse,” she replied, holding out her hand to shake and holding up her hospital identification card. “Noelle. Noelle Carson. Housekeeping.”
    He made small talk to get her to relax, but he could tell it might not be as easy as he hoped. She was so shy, her face expressionless except for a mean mouth, the corners turned down. He wondered if she smiled if she’d be more attractive, but the more he said the more awkward their conversation got, her defensiveness growing. Studying her face, he could see makeup skillfully applied hid the ravages of acne or maybe something worse. Several bandages were stuck to her arms. Housekeeping must be dangerous work, he thought.
    Noelle didn’t catch on that Alan was trying to engage her. Getting through life was exhausting for her; just as she would have something approaching success, some Lothario would come along to disrupt her equilibrium and she’d have to start back at square one. Subtlety wouldn’t work with her due to the huge wall of defense she had up. Redoubling his efforts, he increased the charm. Alan was so handsome and so engaging with his compelling story, she decided to let her guard down, just a little. He chipped away at her resistance with chatter and compliments but nothing worked. Until he mentioned Margaret.
    Somehow, hearing about another woman put her at ease. If Margaret had a baby at that facility fifteen years ago, there would be a record of it somewhere. Telling more lies, he fabricated a story about being away at war, not sure what war was going on at the time but he thought it was something in the Persian Gulf, and that he’d just discovered his girlfriend at the time had had a baby while he was gone.
    “I have to find her if I can. She and her mother disappeared into thin air.”
    “Oh how sad,” Noelle said, understanding the pain of having lost a child after losing custody of her son fifteen years ago. His father took him back to Mexico and she never saw the baby again. She didn’t share this with Alan, although the parallels between them were amazing.
    “I don’t even know the baby’s name. She’s not a baby any more,” he said, bowing his head. “I don’t even know if they’re alive.”
    “What about her friends?”
    “Margaret didn’t have many,” he said. “It’s been so long ago, I don’t remember any names.”
    “Gosh, it seems pretty hopeless,” Noelle replied, softly, not used to offering encouraging words. “Do you know who her doctors were?”
    Alan shook his head. He remembered he was supposed to have been overseas. “We’d just started to date when I got orders. I’d only met her aunt, and she’s dead now.”
    “I just had an idea. Why can’t you go to admissions and find out if she had the baby here?”
    “They won’t give me that information because we weren’t married.”
    “What about getting an attorney?” She was on the path he wanted, hopeful, thinking of ideas.
    “I don’t have the money for an attorney, Noelle. I barely have enough to pay my rent this week.” He’d rented a room in town with the last money he had. “I’m looking for work, but until I find something, I’ve just got unemployment.” If she was wondering why a man his age didn’t have any money set aside, she wasn’t saying. Grabbing her hand, he laid it on.
    “You’re my lucky star,” he said, smiling. “I feel like we were meant to be together, the first person I talked to when I arrived. I have a good feeling about us.” He