must admit: Caller ID is a wonderful thing. I really had a great time with Marcus. And had I answered the phone when he called the day after our date, I most likely would have let him talk me into another one. With Caller ID, I ended up allowing his call to go to the answering machine, fully planning on calling him back when I felt strong enough to turn down any and all invitations or continuing relationship talks. Friday, he called me at work.
“Well, I suppose you’re really busy, since you haven’t returned my call,” he began.
“Yeah, it’s busy everywhere. You know how it gets sometimes. And I have this wedding that I’m working hard on.” I immediately began to look for an excuse to get off the phone as quickly as possible. “It’s also really jumping here today,” I said.
“I enjoyed our date on Wednesday night,” Marcus said, his voice deep and strong. “To be honest, it’s the most fun I’ve had in years, other than with my daughter, of course.”
“Yes, it was nice,” I said. My heart started to pound faster, then skipped one beat.
“What do you say that we do it again? Go on another date. Your choice again.”
I allowed the silence as I searched for the right words. “You know, I don’t think so.” I made sure the tone of my voice was not mean. I wasn’t trying to put him down.
Now it was his turn to be silent. “Oh, so you don’t care to go out with me again? Well then, I suppose things didn’t go as well on our date as I had thought.”
I could feel myself softening. I didn’t want him to think I didn’t like him or that there was anything wrong with him personally. He really is a nice guy. “Marcus, honestly I’m just so busy these days. That’s all.”
“I realize you’re working hard on that wedding. I’m scheduled to be in a wedding. I know a lot of work goes into planning one, even though my part has so far only entailed being fitted for a tux and committing to a night for a rehearsal and that one day for the actual wedding. What I’m saying to you is that I don’t mind waiting. After you finish—”
“Listen, Marcus, I think it would be best if we just let this whole thing go. It was fun, but I really do need to stay focused. All right? I have dreams, and I just realized I really need to work hard at them if I want any of them to manifest themselves. You understand.”
I heard him sigh. “Sure,” he said. “Of course. I understand.”
“Okay, then good. Well, I need to get back to work now. Okay?”
“Melissa.” Marcus said my name with such tenderness. “Will you keep my phone number? And if you change your mind, if you ever want to go to Bible study again together, or anything, anything at all, even if you just want someone to talk to, I’m a great listener. Will you please give me a call?”
He was making this so hard. “Sure. Yeah, sure,” I said. “Listen, I need to catch this call. Good-bye.” I took the other call. After I finished, I placed my forehead firmly in the palms of my hands. “God, why is it nothing ever seems to work for me?”
I hadn’t lied when I told Marcus I was too busy to pursue a relationship or to talk to him. He’s seen how busy this place gets. A few times, even he has had to come back because things were so hectic. Dr. Brewer’s schedule gets all out of whack when he has to do an emergency C-section. This leaves me having to call and let patients know we’re running behind and having to reschedule those who either can’t wait or can’t be here at a later time.
Two years ago, when Dr. Brewer worked in an OB/GYN practice with four other doctors (one of whom was a female), they were able to cover each other easily. The downside was the complaints from patients who preferred a certain doctor but were forced to see all of the doctors so they would be familiar with whoever was on call. A lot of Dr. Brewer’s patients were upset when they were in labor and found they had no real say-so when it came to which doctor would deliver their baby.
The breaking point for Dr. Brewer came when one of his patients was treated badly by one of the associates. On top of that, she was a high-risk patient. He’d asked why she hadn’t called him, since he happened to be available that day, especially since the doctor on call was already tied up and a backup doctor was required to come in.
“I did ask for you,” she had said. “In fact, I begged for you. I was told very nicely it didn’t matter what I wanted. Then that doctor came in, and he treated me like I was some charity case or something. There I was in pain and in trouble, and he talked to me like I was some kind of a bother to him. To be honest, he talked to me as if I should be glad he was doing anything at all for me. He eventually told me that I should have thought about all this before I went out and got pregnant. Although he tried to laugh it off like he was merely joking, I didn’t appreciate his sense of humor one bit.”
Well, that was the last straw for Dr. Brewer, and the last time he allowed one of his patients to go through anything like that. He informed me he would be moving back into his own private practice again. And when it was time for that patient’s six-week checkup, our new office is where she came.
“I’d rather get a backup to fill in for me when I can’t be there than to have my patients go through something like that ever again,” Dr. Brewer said. I think he hated that practice as much as his patients did.
If you knew Dr. Brewer, you would have known he wouldn’t stay with those others for too long. I’ve worked for him for ten years. He was impressed with my skills and hired me right after I graduated from high school. I can say this with conviction: he truly cares about the people who come to him. I think it broke his heart to have those patients who had sought him out—including one who had been with him from the beginning of his twenty-three-year practice—have their babies delivered by one of the other doctors. He’s just that kind of physician, a relationship doctor. Dr. Brewer cares about people.
His love for people is why I think he lets Marcus come and talk with him as much as he does. Although I wholly admit that Marcus also seems to be a nice guy. Maybe nice people just need to learn how to tell people to take a hike—in a nice way, of course. I’m working on that myself. It’s too bad Marcus is divorced. I was totally feeling him. In fact, I was starting to believe he may have been sent to me by God, an answer to a prayer.
Oh well, I’m sure one of these days the right man will come along for me. I just need to wait on the Lord, although it is getting hard. And I know You know this already, Lord, but I’m not getting any younger down here.
In the meantime, I have this big wedding to pull off in stellar fashion. Angela’s family will begin arriving next week for the wedding. The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are scheduled for that Friday night. With the wedding party Angela was having along with all of her and Brent’s families, the rehearsal dinner was proving to be almost as large and as much work as the actual wedding and reception.
One positive thing about being this close to the wedding is that I will be too busy to dwell on what might have been with Marcus. After all, it was only one date. One date where we’d done nothing grand or spectacular other than go to Bible study and talk afterward while eating a burger.
Get over it, Peaches. Let’s move on. Peaches, are you listening? Forget about Marcus. Face it, it just wasn’t meant to be. Onward and upward! I said to myself.
The ringing phone cut through my thoughts like a hot knife through soft butter. I shook my head as I answered the phone. “Dr. Brewer’s office, this is Melissa speaking.”
Chapter
