Chapter 13
As she sat there eating her lunch, Carol felt all alone.
Even though she observed some familiar faces in the cafeteria, she didn't want to sit with them. She wanted to be there all alone.
Now she was picking at her tuna casserole, more nervous than anything else.
She looked up from her table and toward the door, observing a familiar face entering the cafeteria.
It belonged to Dr. Wayne Ames, and her heart sank the moment that she observed him entering the room.
At that point she decided that she would sneak out the side exit of the cafeteria, getting away from him in that manner. She just couldn't stand to be badgered by that man again. It would be just too terrible.
She got up from her chair, leaving most of her tuna casserole. But she didn't mind that, since she did not have much of an appetite anyway.
She thought about Larry, and wished that she could be somewhere all alone with him. It would make her feel so good to be in his presence more often. But she realized that such a state of affairs just couldn't be. He was a young guy, and she was a nurse who was older than he. He would have to develop in his own way, and she would have to develop in hers.
She walked toward the door, never looking back.
Wayne Ames immediately noticed her, moving toward her quickly.
"Carol, what's going on?" she heard his voice.
She stopped in her tracks, quickly turning around.
"Hello, Wayne."
"How are you, dear?"
"You'll have to excuse me. I was just leaving."
"You were?"
"Yes, I just finished lunch."
"It doesn't look to me like you've finished," he pointed toward her tuna casserole. "Just look at all the food you left."
"I wasn't very hungry."
"Why, dear, you're a nurse. You should know that you need a good meal. That tuna contains a good deal of protein. What an example you would be setting for your patients. Now, here's what I want you to do. I want you to sit back down there, relax, and finish your tuna casserole. I'm going to get myself a cup of coffee. Would you like one?"
"No, thank you."
"O.K., but I do expect to spend a little time chatting with you."
"But I really must go."
"Don't try and con me," Wayne said abruptly. "I know what time lunch hour ends. You're just trying to get away from me."
"No, I'm not."
"You certainly are. As a matter-of-fact, that's why I decided to take my lunch hour right now and have a cup of coffee. I recognize that you'd be here."
"You have everything figured out, don't you Wayne?"
"You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to get ahead of old Wayne."
"Please, I must go."
"Don't try that on me again. Now just sit down and relax, baby, I'll be right with you."
She sat down pensively at the table. She dabbed at her tuna casserole several times, then gave up the idea of eating it altogether.
She just wasn't hungry anymore. Her stomach was crawling nervously, and the longer that she thought about being confronted by Wayne Ames again, the more fearful she became.
She watched as Wayne Ames came back to the table with a cup of black coffee in his hand.
As always, he was very self-assured. He offered a complete contrast to the way that she was. She was nervous, wondering what he would want from her this time.
She watched as he took a sip from his coffee.
"I see that your boyfriend left today," he grinned.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Come off it," he laughed. "Your very good friend Larry Gilbert left."
"Do we have to talk about Larry?" she said painfully.
"Is it all that hard ? Is it really all that tough talking about Larry?"
"As a matter-of-fact, it is."
"Just why?"
"He's a very nice young man. I'm going to miss him."
"I'll just bet you are," he chuckled. "Well, maybe you two can get together in some motel somewhere."
"There will be none of that," she snapped.
"O.K., I was just trying to be helpful."
"You don't strike me as the helpful type, Wayne. Except for helping yourself."
"Now that I consider a dirty crack."
"It isn't a dirty crack. It's just a factual analysis."
"Get off my back, baby," he snapped.
"Why are you always torturing me, Wayne?"
"I'm not torturing you at all," he said smoothly. "All I'm doing is trying to straighten you up a little."
"Straighten me up?"
"That's right. You're acting too much like a wise-ass. You are very cold, baby, and it's really strange. You're a beautiful girl, the best looking nurse in this hospital. You would think that you'd be making the party scenes, and you'd be doing very well. But you're not. It's such a strange thing. Instead of doing what you should be doing, going out with guys, having a blast, you are just isolating yourself. I've heard other guys around here say the same thing. None of us can figure it out."
"Perhaps if you spent less time worrying about me and more time worrying about yourself, you'd all be better off."
"Naturally you'd say something like that. Well, you're just trying to shift the responsibility away from yourself. That's all."
"I really am wearying of this kind of conversation."
"I'm not."
"Please leave me alone, Wayne."
"I don't want to leave you alone, I want to become better friends with you. I want to lead you out of the wilderness, honey, and teach you how to have a little fun in life.
"I have a lot more fun when I'm not being bugged."
"I'm not bugging you, I'm not bugging you at all. I'm just trying to be friends with you."
"I know. You're repeating yourself. But I just don't buy that simple answer."
"No, I don't suppose you would. Well, honey, here's what I want to talk to you about. I think it's time for us to be going out again tonight."
"I can't make it."
"You certainly can," he said. "You're going to make it. I'm going to pick you up at your place at seven. This time I've got a real surprise in store for you."
"What kind of surprise?"
"If I told you now, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"
"I guess not, but I'd really like to know what you are talking about."
"You'll find out in due course."
"I suppose I will, but I'd like to know now."
"Now there you go again," he chuckled.
"You're always getting so uptight. You can never relax about anything, baby. I don't like that. It's a very bad tendency."
"Now don't lecture me, Wayne."
"I don't think you're in much of a position to bug me about anything, honey. It's not that I like to remind you about this all the time, it's just that sometimes I feel that I have to."
"You are very subtle. Like a sledgehammer."
"Well, I get my point across any way that I have to make it. I prefer being a little more subtle, except that I have found that subtlety doesn't work with you."
"How would you know?" she asked disgustedly. "You never tried it."
"I simply know it wouldn't work."
"No, you've never tried it because you don't have any subtlety in you."
"Is that supposed to be an insult?"
"Not necessarily. That's just the way I see things."
"I'm tired of listening to you run off at the mouth. You are much better off when you've got your legs spread and I'm slipping my cock into you. I found that out the other night."
"Let's not go into that kind of conversation."
"Why not? That's what makes the world go round. Good old-fashioned sex."
"Something I really don't care to talk about."
"O.K., I won't buck you on that point. But I'm just telling you one thing. I'm going to be seeing you at seven o'clock tonight. Be ready."
"I don't have any choice, do I?"
"Come on, honey. Let's not be that way," he said in a conciliatory tone.
"But isn't that the truth?"
"Yeah, I guess it is," he said smoothly. "But you don't have to look at it that way. Enjoy yourself, honey, there are a lot of girls who'd like to be where you are."
"So you're always reminding me."
"Well, it happens to be the truth."
"I'm sure it is. You are always the voice of truth. The voice of truth and the voice of wisdom."
"Well, you don't have to put it that strongly," he laughed.
"But isn't that what you think?"
"I suppose I do."
"That's all I'm saying."
"You're really a very shrewd girl," he laughed. "I'll be looking forward to seeing you again."
He quickly finished his cup of coffee, getting up from the table and walking away.
She felt hurt, recognizing what was happening.
Again, he was taking her for granted, doing precisely what he felt like doing, and she didn't like it.
Once more she felt the world closing in all around her. She was being forced to do what he wanted, with no opportunity to exercise her own free will.
She felt jumpy during the rest of the day.
As a rule, by the time the work day moved into late afternoon, Carol began to feel highly anxious to leave the hospital and go home.
But such was not the case this particular day. She would have given anything to remain at the hospital until late that evening. Anything to get away from having to go out with Wayne Ames.
She drove back to the apartment, changing for the date.
"Going out again?" Betty asked as she arrived home.
"Yes, I am."
"Who's the lucky guy tonight?"
"Same one I went out with the other night."
"Oh, Wayne Ames?"
"That's right," she nodded.
"You don't seem very anxious about it. As a matter-of-fact, you're acting about the same way you did the other night."
"Ami?"
"Yes, you are, and I can't figure it out."
"What's so hard to figure out?"
"Just why you want to continue going out with him if you don't enjoy it any more than that."
"How do you know I'm not enjoying it?"
"If you are, you're showing it in a strange way. And if you aren't enjoying it, why do you stay so late at the guy's place?"
"Didn't we cover that point the other night?"
"I guess we did, dear," Betty nodded. "I'm sorry if it appears that I'm prying. I'm really not at all. It's just that I am concerned about you, and I like to feel that you're happy. I don't like feeling that you're unhappy. That's all I'm trying to get across."
"I know what you're saying," Carol nodded. "You're just saying that it's strange, but you're concerned about my welfare."
"That's precisely it, honey. I'm not saying any more or any less than that."
"I appreciate it, believe me I do."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Betty walked away, allowing her to get ready.
Since he had not mentioned anything about dinner, she whipped herself up a chicken dinner of the television variety, eating it quickly.
She finished at a few minutes before seven, at which time the doorbell rang.
She answered the door, leaving with him immediately. She did not want him to see Betty. She did not want Betty roped into anything.
"I'm Johnny-on-the-Spot tonight," he said, looking at his watch. "Seven o'clock right on the dot. How about that, baby?"
"Yes, you're right on time."
"We're going straight over to my apartment.
We're going to have lots of fun. I've got a real surprise for you."
"You still won't tell me what it is, I don't suppose."
"No, not right now. But you'll soon be finding out."
"I suppose I will."
"You must think I'm a real man of mystery."
"Yes, I guess you are."
"It shouldn't be long before you find out all about what I've got in store for you," he smiled.
They got into his Mercedes and he drove her quickly over to his apartment.
"You're always looking beautiful, baby," he looked at her and smiled. "Good enough to eat, in fact."
She made no comment. If there was one thing she wasn't about to do, it was to encourage him with his little sexy farce.