Cry to Me

Dulci awoke the next day feeling just as mentally and emotionally as groggy as she was the day before. The droves of sick and terminal animals came in phases at work. One week she could be dealing with nothing but exceptionally healthy and happy animals for vaccines and minor illnesses like skin, ear, or eye infections, but the next week would be congestive heart failure, kidney and liver failure, crippling arthritis, or worse, cancer. Thinking back on her appoints she saw yesterday, she knew she'd have some interesting results siting on her desk for tomorrow. She wouldn't think about it now, she wanted to relax on her day off.

She wasn't sure exactly what time it was, but it must've been early because she sun was just starting to rise and she could see the hint of sun through her curtains. It was a little after seven. She would normally sleep in a little on her off day, but since she was wide awake, she figured she'd make the most of her morning and go see her personal trainer, Shaun T and suffer through Insanity.

The hot water of the shower was divine. Dulci stood in the stream for close to ten minutes before she even washed her hair or her body. She was reveling in the soreness of her muscles from her workout that was probably exacerbated from her activities with Henry.

Last night, Henry did exactly what she'd hoped his presence would provide, a good long thoroughly satisfying fuck and Dulci was never left disappointed. Their routine was always the same. He'd come to her place, she'd never go to his, but she didn't mind. They'd start by having a glass of wine or two and talk vaguely about their day. Then he'd disappear and come back into her kitchen with some sort of restraint and their playtime would begin. He'd start by undressing her and binding her hands behind her back. Then he'd continue touching and caressing her to get her going. He would nip and suck her neck as her started the excruciatingly slow fondling of her nipples. She would start by lightly brushing over and around her entire breast with his fingers, and once her got to her nipples, he would flick them with his thumbs, lightly palm them, or tug them, which he knew was Dulci's favorite because of the soft moans she would emit. After a few moments of that, he'd left one of his hands travel south to start antagonizing her clitoris while still pleasuring her nipple with the other hand. He'd usually lift one of her legs to rest on the kitchen island as she thought the orgasms felt best when her legs were spread wide. Holding her tight, mostly for her balance, he'd start a hard and fast rubbing assault on her clitoris until she was collapsing into him with a leg weakening orgasm. Then, depending on how she wanted it, he'd put her into another restraint and fuck her hard and fast until she came again. Only then would he let himself finish.

After drying off, Dulci threw on a tee shirt and a pair of crappy, well-worn jeans. She knew she needed to clean, but first, she needed to drink some coffee and decided it was a good time to check her email. The only two that stuck out were from her cousin Aggie in England sending her an invite to their grandmother's surprise 80th birthday party, and one from Savannah with the subject: Are you forgetting something?

You must've been out of it yesterday because you forgot the disc of the X-rays from yesterday for you know who ;-).

Dulci rolled her eyes.

So I took the liberty of emailing them to you. Hope you enjoy your day off! See ya tomorrow! -S

Ps. Since you're now friends with you know who, I googled him and now I hate you. :-D

Shit! She completely spaced about discussing Sam's X-rays with Sidney after finding Carly so devastated. She grabbed her phone and sent him a text.

Morning. I have a copy of Sam's X-rays to discuss whenever you're available.

She didn't expect a quick response so she threw her phone back into her satchel. She’d go grocery shopping and then deep clean her kitchen.

----

Sidney had just gotten home from an early morning skate and couldn't wait to get into the bathroom. Something he ate didn't sit well. To waste time between contractions, he pulled out his phone to play solitaire. Half way through his game, he received Dulci's text about sam's X-rays.

I'm free for a few hours today. I'll drive to your place in an hour. Sound good?

He put his phone on the corner of the counter to collect some toilet paper. When he stood, his elbow hit the corner of his phone and it toppled into the trash can. He couldn't help but notice the multiple types of cylindrical wrappers in the trash and felt anxious when he figured out what kind of wrappers they were. Stuffing them into his pockets, he ran up the stairs to find Carly. She was in his office on a conference call about Chanel's newest foundation being launched at Sephora stores nationwide. He walked up behind her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. He shuffled around the room a bit while she finished her conversation.

"Thank you, sir. That would be great. I'll keep in touch about the new store in England. Good bye."

Carly squealed as she did an excitement dance.

"Babe! They're letting me be the ambassador for the new Sephora in London! I get to spend three weeks over there helping with the store opening!" She ran and jumped into him, wrapping her legs around his waist while peppering kissing all over his face before giving him a deep kiss on the mouth.

"I think I know a way we can celebrate," she whispered seductively into his ear before moving south to lightly suck on his neck. Realizing quickly that he was not reciprocating her sexual advances, she looked at him with a confused look.

“Are you ok? You seem… off.”

He felt off. In the past when she’s been neurotic and had “pregnancy scares,” she’d told him she was concerned and would take a test.He was troubled by the amount of pregnancy test wrappers that he found.Did she take so many because she got a positive result?How would he feel if it were positive?Was he ready to get married and be a father?More importantly, while he loved Carly, was she the person he wanted to start a family with?He pushed all of the frightening thoughts out of his mind, especially questioning his entire relationship with his live in girlfriend.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” he asked her with reservation.

“What do you mean?” she countered with a sideways, inquisitive look.

“I found these in the bathroom,” he said as he pulled out all four pregnancy test wrappers.

Carly was hoping that the panic resonating in her body was not evident on her face. It was as if she was caught in a vacuum and all of the air was sucked out of her lungs.She had already called around to various clinics in the area to inquire about scheduling an appointment, and now, given her career turn, she definitely did not want to keep the baby.But he was looking at her as if he knew she was keeping a secret, and she knew she had to make an excuse.

“They’re Dulci’s,” she explained in a rushed voice, but immediately covered her mouth regretting her choice in excuse.

“She’s been feeling nauseous and fatigued lately, so I told her to take a test and it was positive. She took four just to be sure.”Carly tried her best to keep her explanation from sounding like word vomit, but the lies kept spewing out.

“If you see her anytime soon, please don’t say anything about it. She’s very upset and she swore me to secrecy because she’s not sure what she’s going to do.That’s why she ran out of her when you got home last night.She’s embarrassed.”

Sidney instantly looked relieved that Carly wasn’t pregnant.

“Ok. I promise not to say anything.I’m actually going to see her soon to talk about Sam.”He couldn’t help that Carly looked panicked again, but brushed her reaction off as a girl worried about her best friend.

----

"I'll need quinoa, chick peas, curry paste, ..." Dulci rattled off her ingredient list for the new recipe she was trying. After she piled her grocery bags into her car, she pulled out her phone to check the time and found that she missed a text message.

I'm free for a few hours today. I'll drive to your place in an hour. Sound good?

The time stamp said it was received around fifty minutes ago. How’d she miss it?Hopefully he was running late so she could get home and quickly throw the groceries into the refrigerator and freshen up.She quickly sent a response.

I’m leaving the grocery store now. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes.

As she was backing out of her parking space, her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey Dulc. It’s me.I did something horrible.”It was Carly and she sounded nervous.

“Like?”

“So I guess I didn’t do a good enough job hiding the evidence of my current conundrum because Sid found the wrappers this morning.” Although it wasn’t her problem to be worried about, Dulci was still worried for Carly in how she would handle it.If he were to find out she was pregnant and had an abortion, it would be death to their relationship, and Dulci would know first hand.

“What’d you tell him?”

“Well, he was staring at me expectantly and the first thought that came to mind was to tell him they were your wrappers.”

“WHAT? Why would you do that?”Dulci almost slammed on her brakes at Carly’s confession.

“That was the perfect opportunity to have a fucking adult conversation with him about being pregnant and you blamed the wrappers on me?? Carly, seriously?”

“Dulci, why are you getting upset?”

“Umm, how about the fact that I’m not pregnant and within a couple of months he’ll expect to see me with a belly and it wont be there? Not the mention the fact that he’ll probably look at me like I’m a poor girl that’ll end up as a single overworked mother.”

“You don’t have to worry about what he thinks. We can just say you miscarried or aborted or something.He’s a nonjudgmental person.”After hearing that, Dulci was beyond pissed.

“So you’re telling me instead of just being honest and telling him you were pregnant but wanted to get rid of it, you’re just going to lie to him and act like everything is peachy keen?”

“Ignorance is bliss, Dulci. I can’t get pregnant.Like I said last night, I don’t want kids, like ever.I’m going to England in a few weeks and I’ll be there for some time.A baby is not an option.”

“Why are you with him, Carly? People live together who are planning to take their relationship to the next level.What would you say if he proposed?”

“Not that its any of your business, but I never really saw myself being with Sidney for that long. I originally went after him because he seemed like he’d be a good fuck.I’m not the marrying kind, Dulci.You and I both know that.This is my longest relationship.Besides, if the Sephora opening in London goes as planned, I may not come back.”

“I’m aware, but does he know that? Before he gets anymore involved, don’t you think he should know this stuff?”Dulci waited for a response, but when it wasn’t immediate, she knew Carly was shutting down.

“Carly, I love you to death, but you need to tell him about your feelings. If you’ve never planned to be with him long term, you could at least give him the courtesy of knowing that if you never tell him about the baby.Speaking of, I don’t want to be involved.”

“Fine. I’ll find someone else to take me.”And with that Carly hung up the phone. Dulci shook her head and tossed her phone on per passenger seat.

----

Fifteen minutes later, Dulci pulled into her driveway. There weren’t any vehicles waiting outside her house and she thanked God she had a moment to get her groceries inside.She opened her trunk and was eagerly pulling bags out when a dark Range Rover pulled in.Sidney quickly jumped out and reached out to take some of the bags out of her hands.”

“Here. Let me help with those.”Dulci was instantly irate because of the disabled look her was giving her like she was an invalid, and she knew it was because of Carly.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ve got it,” she said as she pulled the bag back out of his hand. Of course, the bag tore in half and all of the ingredients fell onto the concrete.Simultaneously, they both bend down to collect the grocery items and collided in the process.

“Oww!” Dulci pulled back and grabbed her forehead before looking at Sidney.He was feeling his bottom lip when looked to be split and bleeding and puffy.

“Oh my God. Are you ok?I’m so sorry!”She grabbed his clean hand and walked him into her house and into the bathroom.

“I’m fine. It’s just a cut.Nothing big,” he tried to calm her with his nonchalant tone.She manipulated his head so she could see the cut better in the bathroom light, and it wasn’t until she looked into his eyes that she realized how close they were and instantly overcorrected.Regardless of whether Carly actually loved him, he was still with her.

“Besides, I’ve had worse injuries. This is like getting hit with a high stick to the face,” he offered with a crooked smile that he’d hoped would make her feel better and take some of the tension out of the room.She smiled back at him.

“Let me grab the rest of the groceries and then I’ll explain Sam’s radiographs and lab work to you. Please, make yourself at home.There are drinks in the fridge,” she hollered as she stepped outside.

While she was outside, Sidney wandered into the kitchen and saw the chicken korma recipe opened on her counter. When she returned, she noticed him looking at it.

“This looks delicious.”

“I’m making it for lunch.” Then Dulci had an idea.She wasn’t sure how he’d take it, but she wanted to get to know him better.“You’re welcome to stay and have some if you’d like?”When she didn’t get a verbal response, she looked at him.He looked to be contemplating something.

“I don’t want to put you out. I eat a lot of food.”

“The recipe makes eight servings, I’ll probably only eat two and you can have the other six.”

“I don’t need to eat six servings,” he said with a chuckle.

“You’re right, you don’t,” she said with a smile as she put the milk in the refrigerator.

----

“This is delicious. You’re a great cook.”

“Thanks. I learned to cook by experimenting. I actually thought about going to culinary school when I was a teenager.”

“But animals were you’re first love?”

“I guess you could say that. A dog that got benignly injured mauled me when I was eight-ish.In my mind, I figured he was mean because he was in pain and I vowed to become a veterinarian at that point, to take care of the injured animals.In hindsight, however, the dog was just a dick.”

“Do you get bit often?”

“Hmm. I’d say the threat is there about twenty percent of the time.I can usually read my patients pretty well and avoid getting hurt.”She looked as Sidney and he was nodding his head in understanding.

“Speaking of injuries, you said you’ve had worse injuries than a busted lip. What was the worst you’ve had?”She didn’t realize the response she would get would be so devastating and life altering.She was heartbroken at the way he spoke about his concussion as if he was still living it. When he told her that the neurologist thought his personality might have changed, she took the opening and ran with it.

“Ohhh. So that’s why you’re with Carly.You’re judgment was distorted when you met.It all makes sense now,” Dulci joked and she was happy with the payoff because he laughed.

“So were you concussed when you met her, too?”

“Touche! I’m not sure how much she told you, but I was her tutor for a couple science classes in college.We were and still are complete opposites.She was about beauty and fashion whereas I’m about being comfortable and keeping it low key.She still hates my sense of fashion.”

“Well, you always look well put together when I see you,” he offered with a warm and friendly smile to which she returned with a slight blush. She couldn’t help but think that he noticed her when they saw each other.

“She grew on me and we became inseparable. I’m sure you know what I mean.”Instead of answering, Sidney just smiled and nodding in return.When Dulci looked at her watch, she realized that two hours had already past between the cooking and casual conversation.She knew he was there strictly to talk about Sam’s results, so she grabbed the empty plates and walked into the kitchen.

“Let me grab my computer and then we’ll go over Sam’s stuff together.”

Upon returning to her living room, she set her computer on the coffee table and opened a folder that contained various types of lab results.

“Ok, this is her knee. I’m sure given your profession, you don’t need me to explain in detail the ACL rupture, but it needs to be surgically repaired.When I sedated her, the drawer in her knee was much more evident than when she was awake.”

“Can you do the surgery?”

“Yes. Bone surgeries are my favorite.”Her face lit up when she talked about her profession, and Sidney couldn’t help but return the smile because of her enthusiasm and passion.

“I also sent out some lab work on her. Everything looks good except she has a urinary tract infection.I’m giving you two different medications.This one is an anti-inflammatory and the other is an antibiotic for her UTI.”Dulci looked at him and instantly felt hot in his gaze.He had been staring at her for some time during her spiel.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” she touched her face in various places in hopes that there wasn’t any korma smeared on her face the entire time. How embarrassing would that be?Her question broke him out of his trance and he subtly shook his head.

“I’m sorry. It’s just refreshing to hear someone so passionate and caring about their work.It’s also nice to have someone talk to me like I’m an average person.You took the time to explain this to me as if I was a regular client of yours. So, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Sidney stood from the couch and gathered Sam’s lab work and medications and shoved them in his jacket pockets.

“I should probably get going. I’m supposed to be meeting Carly at some high end restaurant tonight.”Dulci found it interesting that he didn’t seem ready to leave.She instantly remembered the irony of his situation with Carly.From their limited encounters, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, one who deserved way more that Carly could ever give him.Deep down, she wondered if he knew that.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from Carly,” Dulci said as she stood and walked him to the door. Suddenly, he turned around and it made Dulci jump.

“Do you want to come to a game?”

“That would be great.”

“I’ll call you when I figure out my hectic schedule for Sam’s surgery and tickets for the game.”

“Ok” was the only response she had before he was gone and she was leaning her back against the front door.

Notes