TANNER …

I sat silent with a set of schematics before me, waiting for inspiration to strike. I hadn’t had an ounce of productivity all morning, and I had a meeting with my client in three or four days. Sometimes when I hit a conceptual brick wall like this, I just had to walk away, even if I didn’t feel I had the time. I closed my eyes in a final attempt to force a reset, but when I opened them little had changed, and I pushed away from my drafting table with a heavy sigh. I looked out the window. God. I have to get out of here.

The city was the place to be if you were looking for distractions, so I took full advantage and stepped out onto the busy street and started walking. I started to people-watch as I strolled along, letting my mind wander. It was one of my very favorite pastimes, imagining whole lives for people. Where they lived, what kind of work they did, where they were headed at this hour of the day …. I turned my head and caught a glimpse of the back of a woman’s head, her lovely auburn hair pinned up tightly in a French twist, and an image of Dr. Valero flashed through my mind.

My follow up appointment with her was a couple days away, and I found myself excited to share my findings with her. When I thought about it a chill ran up my spine. It was a strange sort of feeling for me, heading into a doctor’s appointment. It made me feel more like we were partners … somehow it felt less transactional and more personal. It’s not like I’d never been given instructions from a doctor before. But something about this felt almost … intimate. I liked it. A lot. And I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. That’s bullshit. I know how I feel about it. That’s what’s got me off balance.

The walk had successfully refocused my energy, and by the time I returned to the office I had some fresh ideas for my client’s designs. I wrapped things up and headed out to meet my friend Alex for our biweekly dinner hang. We were buddies from college and had the good fortune to be working in the same city, so we had a standing biweekly dinner that I always looked forward to. Ten minutes later I was sliding into a booth across from Alex at one of our favorite taverns, beer in hand.

“Hey, man, sorry I’m a little late,” I said, grabbing my phone from my back pocket and setting it down on the table.

“Don’t sweat it.” Alex had already started his beer, and was waiting on me and some appetizers. “How’s that project of yours coming along?” he asked, eyeing me over the rim of his pint glass.

“Which one?” I took a swig of my beer and flipped open the menu to look over the happy hour specials.

“That design you’ve been stewing over … Carlson, was it?” he asked. “Why? Is there a new one I haven’t heard about yet? Do tell!” Alex prodded, making room on the table for the appetizers that had just arrived. “What’s going on?”

When I didn’t respond immediately with another war story from work, he cocked his head to one side and looked at me suspiciously. “Ah hah. I get it,” he said, shaking his head.

“What?”

“It’s not about a client at all, is it?”

I hesitated for a moment and shrugged slightly. “Maybe not,” I responded cryptically.

“I know,” Alex nodded knowingly. “Because it’s about the lady doc,” he winked at me.

I looked up from my beer and raised a curious eyebrow.

“Doctor va-va-voom Valero …?” he laughed, taking half a mozzarella stick into his mouth.

I’d talked with Alex right after my appointment with her, so I’d had a lot on my mind – in particular how captivating she was – and what the hell I was going to do if that same electricity buzzed between us at my follow up. She wasn’t an easy person to forget.

Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “My follow up with her is the day after tomorrow. I’m nervous as fuck,” I admitted, taking another healthy swig of beer.

“Why? Scared you might have to explain the boner in your pants?”

I laughed nervously. “I don’t think it will require much explanation when it appears …”

“Relax, dude. If she’s as hot as you say she is, I’m sure it’s nothing she hasn’t seen before.”

Two days later I found myself outside the glass doors of her eighth-floor office:

CELIA C. VALERO, MD, FACP

Internal Medicine

Damned if my heart didn’t start galloping just seeing her name on the door. Celia. It suited her. I entered the office and checked in, taking a seat a bit out of the way. I was buzzing with nervous excitement and thought a little isolation might help me calm down a bit. I honestly didn’t have much to share regarding my heart homework. At least, nothing I was comfortable discussing with her. Before I had an opportunity to get too comfortable, an aide appeared at the door.

“Mr. Jacobs?”

I recognized her from last time … Susan, I think. As she escorted me down the hallway, I heard a muffled woman’s laugh, and then a door that we had just passed opened and the voice became clearer.

“Okay, then. It was good to see you, Cheryl. I’ll be in touch in a few weeks …”

My body reacted reflexively when I heard her voice. I followed Susan into a different exam room than last time. There was a larger consultation area here, to the left once inside the door, and an exam station to the right that resembled the room I’d been in before. Susan ushered me in to the left and invited me to sit down, leaving the door open.

“Go ahead and have a seat,” she said, sitting across from me and opening a laptop. I lowered myself into the chair, waiting for the questions to start. But Susan typed away for a minute or two, left a paper chart on the countertop, and got up to leave. “Just relax,” she said as she walked out the door into the hallway. “She should be with your shortly.” She smiled at me and then she was gone.

I’m not sure how long I sat there, but my mind drifted off into a lovely daydream. Celia Valero stands before me in a perfectly tailored suit, slipping out of the jacket and kicking off her high heeled pumps. Letting her hair out of the tight French twist, I watch as it loosens around her face. I’m fixated on the top of her starched blouse, which she begins to unbutton slowly, all the way to the very bottom. Looking up at me with her blouse hanging open and her bra restraining an absolutely beautiful pair of full, pale breasts, she leans in to me and says, “Mr. Jacobs. Are you happy to see me again?”