“Okay,” Noah managed. As usual, she had him off balance. “I’ve missed you as well. Welcome home!”
He watched her run across the street and open the SUV door. Before she climbed in she turned and waved. Noah waved back, then closed and dead-bolted the door. In contrast to her seeming burst of energy, he felt mentally and physically exhausted.
16
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 7:48 P.M.
Noah entered Toscano and approached the hostess desk. He told Richard, the handsome owner/manager whom he had formally met two nights ago, that he was there once again to pick up a take-out order. As he waited, Noah glanced around at the busy scene. All the tables and the lengthy bar were filled and a buzz of happy conversation and laughter permeated the room. None of the diners were thinking of sickness, injury, or death, which consumed Noah’s world on a daily basis. Usually he would have felt jealous of their normal lives and their facility at easy conversation. But tonight he wasn’t jealous in the slightest, as he was anticipating another delightful evening of his own.
The past Monday had been busy for Noah, even more than he had expected. So was the rest of the week. But any reluctance he might have entertained on Sunday night, the night Ava unexpectedly appeared at his door, about restarting his secret, intense relationship with her had progressively lessened. Although Monday morning he’d awakened still feeling that the prudent course would be to go slowly, as the day wore on he found himself becoming more and more excited about the prospect of seeing her that evening. Passing her several times in the surgery corridor, where they both scrupulously avoided any recognition of the other, only served to fan the embers of his passion into a full blaze. The secrecy alone lent a delicious libidinousness to the whole situation.
By the time Noah got to her house well after 9:00 P.M. Monday night, he was wound up like an old-fashioned clock. Apparently, it had been the same for her, because they ended up making love on the floor in the foyer just inside the inner door. In the background, they could hear occasional chatter by passing pedestrians out on the sidewalk as they were that close, but it didn’t affect their ardor in the slightest. After they were spent they lay for a time on the carpet runner, staring up at the hallway chandelier. It was a tender time as they reaffirmed how much they had missed each other, an emotion augmented by guilt on her part for not having texted him and worry on his part for not having heard from her.
Later, over take-out food, Noah had learned how hard it had been for Ava to do her consulting work while she was in Washington, since it meant meeting with or having meals with senators and congressmen who were members of key committees. She told Noah that she had suffered from a mild form of PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, with persistent GI symptoms and recurrent nightmares about failing to get an endotracheal tube placed. She also confessed how close she’d come to calling Dr. Kumar to say that she was resigning.
Noah’s reaction to all this was similar to how he had responded the previous night in his apartment, reminding her of her board certification and that she had been hired by one of the country’s most prestigious hospitals. He told her that it had not been an accident that she had handled superbly more than three thousand anesthesia cases at BMH without a significant complication. He also reminded her that she had made several major contributions to the hospital. The first had been playing the key role behind the program of recapturing vast quantities of anesthetic gases rather than venting them into the atmosphere, which saved the hospital money and was also environmentally appropriate. The second had been that she had sat with him on the hybrid operating room committee, whose work resulted in the current remodel of the entire Stanhope Pavilion OR complex.
So far Noah had ended up staying overnight at Ava’s for the entire work week, arriving somewhere between 6:15 P.M. at the earliest, which happened on Tuesday, and 9:52 P.M. at the latest, which happened on Monday, and leaving each morning a tad before 5:00 A.M. Every night they had gotten take-out food from a Charles Street eatery and then spent hours talking while they ate and sipped a bit of wine.
In many ways, Noah found getting to know Ava like peeling an onion. Every time he learned something new, he found another layer, something he didn’t know or suspect, like the fact that she had a nearly photographic memory or that she was a talented computer coder, a skill she had picked up herself, mostly thanks to her love of computer gaming. Photographic memory and coding were aptitudes that Noah appreciated because he shared them.
Perhaps the most astounding new thing Noah learned about Ava was that she was fluent in Spanish, French, and German and spoke enough Italian to get along traveling the back roads in Italy. Why it surprised him was because language was not one of his fortes, and he had struggled through Latin and Spanish in high school courses. He also came to realize that, in contrast to himself, she had a sixth sense about reading people, something that came in particularly handy with her lobbying efforts. She explained to him how easy it was for her to discover a senator’s or a congressman’s opinion on a specific issue and then how to change it if it wasn’t in line with her NSC bosses’ desires.
“You never order dessert,” Richard, the restaurant owner, said. He interrupted Noah’s thoughts when he brought out the package of take-out food. “We have some delicious selections. How about I throw in some tiramisu on the house just so you can try it?”
“Thank you, but no,” Noah said. He doubted Ava would want it, even though she could certainly get away with it, considering the amount of exercise she did every day in her workout room. Noah didn’t feel the same about himself. With as little aerobic exercise as he got, he was lucky he hadn’t put on significant weight.
“Perhaps next time,” Richard said graciously, handing the credit card receipt to Noah.
Noah walked quickly up the hill to Louisburg Square. Now that he had the food he was in a hurry, and not just because he wanted the food to be hot but because he was even more eager than usual to see Ava. Earlier that afternoon they had practically collided with each other, with him pushing into the PACU and her coming out. At first both had been horrified, but when no one seemed to notice since it happened frequently to other people, they had both found it like a bit of slapstick comedy, since they’d been trying so hard to avoid each other.
Noah pushed the doorbell and in the far distance could hear the phone inside the house. The next thing he heard was the door lock clicking open. He’d learned that at any phone extension in the house it was possible to see who was at the door and then release the lock.
Once inside, Noah kicked off his shoes and took the main stairs down to the kitchen. Ava was busy setting out place mats, flatware, and napkins at the countertop table. To Noah she looked as fetching as usual, this time in sweatpants, a mock-neck tank top, and bare feet. Her hair was damp and her skin was glowing from a recent hot shower after her workout.
While Ava opened a bottle of wine and Noah unpacked the take-out food and put it on plates, they had a good laugh about their near collision at the PACU entrance that afternoon and how they’d both panicked.
“It’s a good thing Janet Spaulding didn’t see us,” Ava said, still giggling.
“It’s amazing how she seems to know everything that goes on in the OR,” Noah agreed.
Once they had started on their meal, Ava said: “I hate to bring up a sore subject, but have you spoken with Dr. Jackson?”
“Not yet,” Noah admitted.
“Any reason why?” Ava questioned. “The M&M is coming up quickly. Only three more work days before it’s here.”