Cry to Me

"Henry, hi." She thought she was going to vomit, looking up and down her street for the familiar headlights. She was torn. One the one hand, she didn't have to explain anything to Henry as to why she stopped calling. But, considering that Sid could've already been in her house, she wanted to give Henry a reason not to show up unannounced again.

"Are you avoiding me?" Henry asked as he started to walk into her house. Dulci quickly intervened, stopping him before he fully entered.

"Look, I know I haven't spoken to you recently, but we can't do this anymore," she pointed between the two of them.

"I've met someone and I really like him." She looked Henry dead in the eyes hoping he could read the desperation on her face. He had to leave and it had to be quick.

"You're dating him?"

Dulci nodded.

"Oh." His usual dark and seductive demeanor vanished. He looked dumbfounded. She could read his face and body language like a book. He straightened up, surprised by the turn of events. His face looked bewildered like he was speechless. He opened his mouth to say something a few times but nothing seemed to come out.

"Oh. Ok." He was registering everything and what it would mean. They would no longer see each other for sex. She was no longer physically or emotionally available.

"I'm sorry. I should've called," he said as he stood in front of her, hands shoved in his jacket pockets, reluctant to leave. She watched as he slowly turned and walked toward his car, slumped slightly, almost looking defeated. When he turned around, his eyes met hers one last time before he got into his car. He looked devastated, which Dulci couldn't understand. Their arrangement would've ended eventually, so why did he seem so upset?

Shaking her head as he drove away, she slowly closed her door and locked it, leaning against, exhaling slowly, glad she got Henry to leave before Sid arrived. As if on cue, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Sam popped up on he screen, a picture she set a while ago before she ever thought she'd go anywhere with Sid.

"Hi," she answered as she walked into her room to finish getting ready.

"Hey. I hate to call at the last minute, but my assistant scheduled my meeting at the wrong time tonight, so I'll be late." He sounded annoyed, and Dulci could understand.

"It's ok. I'll be here all night," she tried to sound understanding and sexy at the same time, but she was slightly disappointed. She slumped onto her bed before falling backwards.

"I'm sorry. I'll be like an hour at the latest."

"It's ok, really. Take your time."

"I can't take my time. I want to finish what we started this morning," sidney said in a deep, husky voice.

"Well then hurry up and get here," Dulci giggled, already feeling aroused at the thought of being with him.

"As soon as I can," he said with a sigh.

"I'll be waiting patiently," Dulci laughed knowing he was bored with whatever meeting he was in.

"What are you wearing?" He whispered.

"I thought you were in a meeting?" She chortled, concerned that people could hear his indecent question.

"I just a visual to get me through the bullshit."

"Jeans and a burgundy knit sweater." Her response came out like a question because she didn't think her outfit was particularly sexy, but it was comfortable and the neckline dropped low.

"You love your sweaters," he teased.

"Yes I do. And if you get here soon, maybe you can even take it off," Dulci said seductively, biting her lip at how foolish she felt talking dirty while he was at a professional meeting.

"Jesus. You're gonna kill me," he groaned.

"Hey. You were the one asking for a visual," she chided.

"And visual I got. I've gotta go. I promise to be there soon."

"I'll be waiting, with or without clothes."

"Bye, Dulci."

"See you soon."

After lying on her bed imagining what she and Sid would do to one another, she decided to get up and open a bottle of wine and catch up on some television.

A little more than a quarter through the episode of House Hunters, her phone buzzed, alerting her of a text message. While she deleted his number from her phone weeks ago, she recognized his number.

I'm happy you've found someone. You deserve someone who can give you the world.

Dulci was taken aback, rereading the message several times. Why would he say something so emotional as if they were breaking up or ending a sordid love affair? What was worse was that she didn't know how to respond, or if she should respond at all.

Thank you.

Within a couple of seconds, her phone was vibrating again. She hoped it would be sidney telling her he was on his way, but it was from Henry.

Don't be a stranger.

She decided she wouldn't respond. They weren't even friends outside of their beneficial relationship. They were acquaintances through mutual friends who wanted the same thing from one another. She wasn't exactly sure what he did for a living, and she never cared. She knew almost nothing about him.

Two shows later and an hour of waiting, Dulci decided to change her bed sheets to something softer and more sensual. She chose eggplant sheets underneath her pewter bedspread. Lighting a couple of pheromone emitting candles, Dulci figured she’d have the mood already set when he arrived.

Looking at her phone, Dulci started to worry. Two hours had lapsed since she spoke to Sidney, and when she tried to call, his phone went straight to voicemail. She had also sent a text to call when he received it, just so she knew he was ok. In an attempt to keep herself busy and awake, she painted her finger and toe nails, spent an embarrassing amount of time on Pinterest, and baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the girls at work.

It was approaching ten and Dulci still hadn't heard from him. A little irritated and disappointed with his lack of communication but mostly concerned, Dulci decided to call it a night. She had to be up early the next day for a busy day of appointments. She also had a lunch meeting with her boss's boss tomorrow afternoon to discuss her contract. She wanted to see Sidney because he would take her mind off of the meeting. She turned her phone on silent, set her alarm clock, and quickly fell asleep.

----

Five AM arrived too quickly. After turning off her alarm clock, she sat up, throwing her feet off the bed to fully wake up. She stuck to her usual routine for early mornings, and it wasn't until she was drinking a cup of coffee in her kitchen that she bothered looking at her phone. She had several messages from Sidney, some texts and some voicemails. The voicemails were very apologetic, explaining that the meeting ran long because it was also an interview and as hard as he tried to reschedule, he couldn't. The texts made her heart melt.

I should've answered your calls. Please forgive me.

Please answer your phone. I need to know how I can make this up to you.

It was obvious that Sidney thought she was intentionally ignoring his calls as a punishment. In an attempt to lighten the mood, she texted him back, not sure if he would be awake or not, with a sexy message.

By eating sushi off of my naked body before you fuck me all night.

Pleased with her racy text, she threw her phone in her bag and left her house.

----

"This prednisone prescription can be filled but they'll need a recheck before their next refill," Dulci said to herself as she wrote the amended directions in the medical record.

"What about this one?" Alyssa handed Dulci the record of a patient that was exclusively Dr. King's.

"They've been coming in every two months for the past year rechecking an ear infection that doesn't respond to Mometamax," Dulci mumbled as she read King's barely legible handwriting.

"She's only done one cytology in the past seven recheck appointments?"

"Sounds like it. The client is at her wit's end. She says King usually just looks in Lucy's ears and tells her to continue the meds for an additional two weeks," Alyssa mimicked using air quotes.

"Ok then, I'm going to call this client and suggest culturing Lucy’s ears. Whatever is growing in there is obviously resistant to Mometamax." Dulci picked up the phone and started dialing.

"I'm sure the resistance had nothing to do with poor medicine she’s received for the past year," Alyssa replied sarcastically as she counted prednisone.

"I don't understand why they keep her around. She brings down the quality of the medicine here," Alyssa added before walking into the break room.

Dulci smiled in agreement, but she couldn't verbally chip in with Alyssa. She couldn't stand working with Dr. King, and she'd witnessed and fixed crucial mistakes made by Dr. King, but bashing her with the support staff was a line she wouldn't cross. As Dulci was waiting for Mrs. Walker's voicemail, she heard Amy gasp loudly followed by a resounding "Oh my God!" Not knowing whether an emergency had just walked it, Dulci hung up, grabbed her stethoscope off of the lab counter, and ran toward the lobby. She almost gasped when she got there. Standing in front of all of the receptionists was Sidney, covered head to toe in Penguins attire, carrying carryout. Dulci had to pick her jaw up off the floor.

"Hi! I thought there was an emergency," Dulci fumbled her lie as she tried to explain why her reaction to Sid was similar to Amy’s. Sidney just smiled as he slowly walked toward her.

"What are you doing here?" Dulci asked discreetly, looking back and forth between Sid and the receptionists, specifically Amy, who stood in a Sidney-induced haze.

"I'm making it up to you," he told her as he gently pulled her into one of the empty exam rooms, closing and locking the door behind him. Dulci stood in front of him astonished as he placed the carry out on the elevated exam table. She recalled all of the phone calls from Carly about how he would never go out in public with her in order to protect his and her image.But here he was, in the flesh, at her place of employment.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about last night. I had no idea the meeting would run as late as it did and..." 


Dulci stopped his explanation with a kiss, grasping a hold on his shirt with one hand while the other was wrapped around his shoulders. Sidney was taken by surprise, but quickly returned the kiss, picking Dulci up as they kissed fervently, getting lost in one another in a tiny veterinary exam room.


"I take it you're not mad at me?" he whispered in her ear as their embrace turned into a hug.


"I was never mad. I was worried, though," she told her truthfully, concern from last night evident on her face.

"I'm sorry I made you worry," he kissed her lips quickly before opening the take out container. Dulci stared at the sushi, and while she was elated that he brought her sushi, she wasn't kidding about the text message she sent him that morning.


"Don't worry, I've got more sushi at home." When she looked at him, she saw the devious smile on his face, reading her mind like a book. 


"I'll be right back." Dulci quickly left the room, briskly walked to her desk, grabbing her winter vest and scarf.


"I'll be back in an hour," she almost yelled at the office manager out of pure excitement. She entered the exam room, grabbing the sushi and Sid's hand, and dragged him out of the back door towards his car in the parking lot. 


"We're not going to go do that, are we?" he asked when they buckled themselves into his car.


"Maybe," Dulci giggled with a flirty smile. 


"I can't. I have a game tonight," he groaned, thinking of biting California rolls off of her. Dulci laughed as his head fell back and hit the head rest in disappointment.


"I was kidding. I thought we could eat this somewhere else, like a park or something," she suggested as she popped a roll into her mouth. 


"The hospital would've been fine. That room was ok. As long as I'm eating with you, I don't care where we are," he told her, putting his hand on her thigh as he pulled out onto the road.


"That's sweet of you, but I saw a parvo puppy in that room this morning," Dulci said as she looked out the window. She ended up euthanizing the puppy because the owners couldn't afford the treatment. They couldn't even afford the exam fee. 


"I'm not sure what that means."


"I'll tell you when we're not getting ready to eat. Its gross."

It didn’t take long before they arrived at a park. They walked, hand in hand to a picnic table, and sat down across from each other.

“So, what’d you do last night?” Sidney asked with a mouth full of sushi.

“Umm… I briefly talked to my cousin in England about her wedding in a couple of months. I got ready for you to come over.The usual,” Dulci said nonchalantly.She thought about telling him that Henry stopped by, but didn’t know how he’d take it.She decided that since she didn’t care about Henry, he didn’t need to be mentioned.

“So do you have a lot of family in England?”

“Mmhmm,” she affirmed, chewing and taking a drink of water simultaneously.

“My mother’s family is English. They all live in Norwich, including my mom.She moved back when my parents divorced a couple of years ago.”

“Do you see your mom often?”

“We skype almost every morning. As for physically seeing, I go to England once a year, usually in the summer.”Going to England this summer meant going to Aggie’s wedding, and since she’s been involved with Sidney, she’d wanted to ask if he’d be up for going with her.This was her moment to ask.

“Speaking of going to England, Aggie, my cousin I told you about, is getting married in April. I’m her maid of honor.I was wondering if you’d go with me,” Dulci asked, looking down at the table, afraid to look at him and potentially get rejected.

“I’d like to. The only problem is that the playoffs start in April, and depending on how far we go, the Stanley Cup Finals are in June.”She knew his schedule would be more demanding during spring, but, given that she was a closeted hopeless romantic, she was hoping he’d make time to go with her.At the same time, Dulci was happy that he found time in his game day schedule to make up for his absence the night before.

“I’ll see what I can do when it gets closer to April,” Sidney took her hand, taking her out of her thoughts. She smiled genuinely at him, thrilled that he would at least consider going.

“Lets get you back to work. I’ve got to take my nap.”He stood up from the table, taking the empty carryout container and throwing it in a nearby garbage can before meeting her and walking back to his vehicle.

“How accustomed are you to gawking girls?” Dulci broke the comfortable silence on the way back to the hospital.

“Unless someone asks for an autograph or picture, I don’t even notice them anymore. I tune everything out when I’m in public.”

Dulci nodded as he spoke.

“Why? Were people staring at the park?”

“No, I was thinking about how ridiculous Amy acted when you walked into the hospital,” Dulci chuckled.

“The redhead? Yeah, it happens occasionally.If I recall correctly, you got a nose bleed when you saw me for the first time,” he teased her, gently squeezing her thigh.

“I was nude and you were a stranger in my house. I was trying to get away from you.”

“You’re the first person who has ever recoiled from me,” he said in mock dejection.

Before she could come up with a witty reply, Sidney continued.

“And yet, I can’t get enough of you,” he said as he pulled into the hospital parking lot, throwing his car in park.

It was perfect. He was perfect.Dulci reached over the center console and kissed him.They kissed languidly for a couple of minutes before they both stopped, resting their foreheads together.

“Will I see you tonight?”

“What time do you get home from the game?”

“I can call you when I’m leaving Consol.”

“You promise,” Dulci said sarcastically, jabbing at his lack of calls from the previous night.

“Yes.”

“Ok,” Dulci nodded, subconsciously biting her bottom lip and she looked at his, wishing she could kiss him again.

“I’ll see you later,” He said smiling with the crooked grin Dulci grew to love.

She waved as he backed out and drove away. When she walked into the hospital, the doctor’s office was vacant.Taking off her scarf, she almost jumped out of her skin when she turned to find Amy standing behind her with an anxious smile on her face.

“When were you going to tell me you knew him?”

Dulci sighed knowing it would be a long afternoon working with his biggest fan.

Notes