Richard Mabry: Medical Error

She glanced through the peephole, then undid the safety chain and opened the door to admit Nick. He looked handsome in a blue Oxford cloth shirt, open at the neck. The creases in his khaki pants were sharp enough to cut butter. His cordovan loafers were burnished to a dull shine. "May I come in?" he asked.

"Of course."

He looked expectantly at her. "I hope you don't mind my showing up like this. I mean, I know you and Ross Donovan are- Never mind that. Truth is, I want to go to church today, and I'd feel a lot more comfortable going with you. Would that be okay?"

"Of course we can go together. Come in. I think we have time for some coffee. Would you like a cup?"

Nick grinned and seemed to relax a bit. "You know me, always ready for a caffeine fix. And if there's not a Starbucks handy, I'll take yours."

Anna poured a cup for Nick and replenished her own. "Sit down. We need to talk."

"Yeah, I guess we do." He followed her to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair. "I hadn't prayed in a long, long time before I got that call of yours. But I have to tell you, I was praying from the moment I got into my car until the time Detective Green showed up. And I feel… I don't know. But I think it made a difference."

"I'm glad, Nick. I prayed too."

Nick took another sip of coffee. "I'm glad it worked out okay."

"It wouldn't have worked out without your help. I owe you."She reached out and touched his hand. "And I'm glad you still had your gun when you got my call for help."

Nick drained his cup like a man just offthree days in the desert. "Well, I don't have it anymore. The police took it for evidence, and I told them to get rid of it when they were finished. I don't like being on either end of a gun. This was the second time. I don't want there to be a third."

Anna picked up the pot and refilled his cup. "But gun or no gun, you were willing to risk your life to save me. I'll never forget that."

Nick swallowed a couple of times before he spoke again."Of course I'd risk my life for you. I guess I didn't fully realize how much I cared for you until I thought I might lose you. I'm sorry you don't feel as strongly about me."

Anna put down her cup. "Who said?"

"Well, I thought you and Ross Donovan had something going."

"That was what my shrink friends would call transference," Anna said. "I was looking for him to rescue me. He was substituting me for the wife he'd lost. We've got that straightened out now."

The look of relief on Nick's face quickly gave way to a frown."So what about you and me?"

"Maybe when my life gets back to normal, I'll have a better sense of where we're headed. Of course, you may get to know me well enough to decide you've had enough of me."

Nick shook his head. "I don't think that's going to happen. But I'm willing to take it a step at a time. That is, if you are."

Anna rose from the table and moved to stand beside him, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder. "I guess you'd like some kind of a sign, wouldn't you?"

"It would help."

She leaned down and brushed her lips with his. "Well, Dr. Pathologist, suppose you put that one under your microscope and let me know the prognosis."