by Nancy Adams
They heard a car pull up, and Kylie jumped to peek out the front window. It was Rob, of course, and Katie Lou found herself suddenly very nervous. She scooted to the edge of the couch, to make it easier to get up when the time came, as Kylie said, “He's coming, he's coming to the door.”
Kylie scurried back to the chair she'd been sitting in and plopped in it, so it was Judy who opened the door when Rob rang the bell. Allen stood up as Rob came in, and the two men shook hands.
“Good evening, sir,” Rob said. “I'm Rob Christopher.”
Katie Lou watched her father's reaction, and suddenly got even more nervous when she saw his eyes narrow as he looked at Rob. He was quiet for just a few seconds, which made her almost panic.
“Rob, I'm Allen Brennan, and it occurs to me that we've met before. Didn't I spruce up a car for you a few years ago? A GTO, as I recall.”
Rob's eyes got wide. “Oh, my gosh,” he said. “I remember! Oh, that was a while back. It was my uncle's car, my aunt gave it to me and had you get it ready because it had been sitting in storage for so long.”
Allen nodded. “Yep, that's the one I'm thinking of. How's it doing?”
Rob shrugged. “Actually, it's back in storage. It's sitting in our garage at home, waiting for the day I have time to mess with it again. Maybe I should bring it back to you, let you work your magic on it once more.” He suddenly looked over at Katie Lou, and his eyes got wide as his smile got wider. “Oh, my gosh,” he said again. “Boy, sometimes fate just plays all sorts of tricks on you, doesn't it? The evening we came to see the car, you had two little girls there with you. I remember now, you told me they were your daughters. Who would've believed, all these years later, that we'd be reconnecting this way?”
The five of them all agreed that it was a strange twist of fate, and Rob promised to bring the car over to see Allen one day soon. He complimented Katie Lou on how lovely she looked, and then the two of them walked out the door. Rob held the door as she pushed her walker through, helped her get down the stairs with it, and then walked beside her the rest of the way.
2
“Katie,” Rob said, “you look absolutely lovely. I was really blown away, because while I know you're beautiful, I didn't expect you to go to such efforts for tonight. This is just a social dance, a little thing to raise money for one of the local charities. It isn't that big a deal.”
Katie Lou smiled at him. “You're looking pretty sharp, there, yourself,” she said. “That suit looks really nice on you, and the red tie just sort of sets it off.”
They got to his car, and he used his remote to pop open the trunk. “May I?” he asked, and Katie Lou released her walker, leaning against the car for support as he took it and folded it, then put it in the trunk. He closed the lid and then walked beside her to the passenger door, opening it for her. He had carefully not offered to help her walk, knowing her independent streak.
Once she was seated and settled in, he hurried around and got behind the wheel. “I was thinking that we could have dinner at one of the seafood places? Unless you prefer a steak?”
“Seafood is fine,” she said. “I love shrimp, and scallops.”
He smiled at her as he put the car in gear. “No lobster? I would've figured you for a lobster girl.”
She shrugged with a grin. “I've had it, it's okay. I just prefer shrimp. And scallops, scallops are very good, too. What about you? What's your favorite seafood?”
“Actually, we're in agreement. I think I might prefer scallops over shrimp, but I love them both. What about—oh, let's see, what's your favorite pasta dish?”
“Mine? Hmm, let's see. I guess it would have to be plain old spaghetti, preferably with meatballs. I like it sometimes with just noodles and sauce, too, though. You?”
Rob grinned. “Once again, we're on the same page. Spaghetti and meatballs, some Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top, and I'm just about in pasta heaven.” He glanced over at her. “We seem to be playing twenty questions. I think it's your turn to ask one.”
Katie Lou turned slightly so that she was facing him a bit better, and smiled. “Oh, well, then, I need to come up with a good one. Let me see, let me see—oh, I've got one. It's not about food, though, is that okay?”
“Of course it's okay,” he said. “This is twenty questions, you can ask anything, and I have to give a truthful answer. Just remember that the same goes for you, when it's my turn to ask. You have to tell the truth.” He grinned and winked at her.
“No problem,” she said. “Okay, here's my question. How is it that a young, good-looking doctor like you isn't married?”
Rob's eyebrows went up. “Okay, I'll confess I wasn't expecting that one,” he said. “On the other hand, the rules say I have to tell the truth, so I guess the truth is that I just never met the right girl. Couple times I thought I had, but—well, there are a few things about my life that won't necessarily be easy for any girl to accept. I guess that's part of the reason, too.”
Now it was Katie's turn to raise her eyebrows. “Oh, come on now,” she said, “what could be so bad? Are you a serial killer in secret, or something like that?”
Rob looked at her for a couple of seconds, then forced himself to look back at the road. “Katie—look, I really, really like you. I mean, as in, part of me is wondering if maybe there's potential that you might be that right girl, you know? The last thing in the world I want to do is scare you off, especially before you even get to know me on a personal level. Will you get upset with me if I tell you that there are some things I'm afraid to tell you right now?”
Katie Lou stared at him for a long moment, and it dawned on her that his question bothered her. She liked him, too, and enough that she was wondering the same things. For him to imply that something in his past might prejudice her against him sort of stung. “You don't have to tell me anything,” she said. “I'm sorry I asked.” She turned and faced the road in front of them, and Rob knew that he’d made a mistake.
He sighed, then very slowly, he reached over and took her hand in his. For just a moment, he could feel her resisting, but then she relaxed and let him pull her hand over and kiss it gently. She turned to look at him again.
“No,” he said, “you're better than that. I shouldn't treat you that way. I'm going to go ahead and tell you, and all I'm going to do is ask you to have an open mind. Okay?”
Katie Lou forced a smile onto her face. “Rob, I'm about to open a practice as a counselor,” she said. “If there's one thing I'm gonna have to be good at, it's keeping an open mind. But seriously, you don't have to tell me anything you don't feel ready to tell me. I'll trust your judgment.”
Rob smiled. “I know you would,” he said, “but if you aren't the one, then I'd just as soon know it now. Katie—you know that I was in a bad wreck when I was a kid, and was in a wheelchair myself for a while, right?”
“Yes,” she said. “Believe me, I can still remember Anna slapping me in the face with that, when I was so rude to you. I had it coming, too.”
“Well, I think we told you that we lost our parents in that accident. That's true, but not necessarily completely true.” He paused, as if trying to think of how to phrase his next thought.
“Not completely true?” Katie asked.
“Katie Lou, my father died in that accident. My mother, on the other hand, suffered a severe head injury. There was quite a lot of brain damage, particularly in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, but in other areas as well. She lost a lot of her memories, particularly memories after about her sixth birthday, and her abilities to learn were seriously damaged. What it boils down to is that, for the last sixteen years, my mother has been a six-year-old in an adult body.”
Katie stared at him, her eyes wide. “And you and your sister take care of her?”
Rob nodded. “Yes. She lives with us. When the accident happened, we all went to live with my Aunt Kay, but she died a couple of years ago, after a stroke. We call my mom Linda, now—that's her name, of course. She's a sweethear
t, but sometimes it gets a little hard to cope with. I mean, after all, I remember her being my mother. Kind of frustrating that now I have to take care of her the way she used to take care of me.” He cast a sidelong glance at Katie Lou. “Please don't misunderstand me,” he said quickly. “I love her, no matter what. But, yeah, the situation has scared off a few women who might otherwise have been—well, might've had potential, let's say.”
Katie looked at him, and her eyes were soft. “Rob,” she said, “a part of me wants to tell you how sorry I am for you, but that's about the loss of your mother. The rest of me wants you to know how much I admire you for accepting the responsibility of taking care of her. Of course it’s not easy, but then, nothing in life ever really is, now is it?”
He shrugged. “It's easier on Anna, I think, because she doesn't really remember Mom the way she used to be. She was only four at the time, and the few memories she has of Mom are good ones, but faded. To her, Linda has been there most of her life, and they've been like sisters. I think the hardest part on her has been that she's grown up, while Linda stays the same. And Linda can sense that, too, but I don't think she really understands it.” He smiled and glanced over at Katie Lou, before looking back at the road. “Of course, Anna still gets down on the floor and plays dollies with her, and we all play Candyland and Old Maid. Linda has a decent life.”
Katie Lou sat there in silence for a moment, just watching him as he drove. He glanced at her a couple of times, and suddenly she realized that he was getting nervous.
“Well,” she said, “I can tell you that it hasn't scared me off. I'm pretty sure it's not the worst story I'm going to hear, as a counselor, and in all honesty, I just can't help but think what a wonderful man you must be to have borne this kind of stress. There's a lot of guys who would've bolted, put her in an institution and let someone else worry about it. You didn't do that, and I guess we could say that raises you a couple notches in my eyes.” She smiled at him.
Rob drove in silence for a second or two, and then he reached over and took her hand into his. When she didn't resist, he pulled it close and kissed it gently.
“Since the moment I met you,” he said, “I've known you are an amazing woman. There was just something about you, something that said you wouldn't give up, you wouldn't quit, and since I pushed myself to get out of that wheelchair and back on my feet, those are qualities that I value and admire. I saw them in you from the first day you walked into my clinic, and I see them to this day.” He grinned at her. “We still got about fifteen minutes before we get to the restaurant. Any more questions?”
“Yeah,” she said, “I've got one. How do you really feel about taking me to this dance? And remember, you have to tell the truth.”
Rob laughed out loud, then turned to her with a smile. “I asked your sister out because she was making it pretty plain she wanted me to, and I didn't want her to think I hadn't noticed. The truth is, though, I've had it bad for you since that first day. Anna keeps shoving that down my throat, and I finally had to admit it to myself. This dance—I guess you could say it was really just an excuse to ask you out. I was going to take Kylie, and I'm sure we would've had a good time, but the truth is that I would've spent most of it wishing I was with you.”
“And you won't be a little embarrassed, that your date is using a walker to get around?”
“Not even a little bit,” he said. “I'll be dancing with the most beautiful girl there, and every man around is going to be jealous. It wouldn't matter to me if you couldn't dance at all, but I think we've established that we make a pretty fair dance couple. Don't you think so?”
“I do, Sir, indeed I do.” Katie Lou smiled brightly, and Rob kissed her fingers again. He could sense that she shivered when he did so, and it made him smile, as well.
“Okay,” he said. “I think it's my turn. My question is this. Are you going to be embarrassed to be seen dancing with your physical therapist?”
Katie Lou smiled again. “Not even a little bit,” she said, quoting him. “What I know is that I'll be dancing with the most handsome man there, so every other woman in the place is going to be jealous, too.”
They both laughed, and Rob drove on to the restaurant. He parked the car near the front door, then went around to open Katie's door for her. He opened the trunk and let her get her walker out, and then took her arm as they entered.
The hostess seated them at a corner table, which gave them a convenient place to park the walker. She took their drink orders, and a regular waitress stepped up to take their dinner orders. They both decided on a steak and shrimp platter, and enjoyed their dinner very much. They played a few more rounds of “twenty questions,” and were beginning to know quite a bit about each other by the time they finished. Rob had learned that Katie Lou had once dreamed of being an Olympic gymnast, even though she hated gym class, and Katie Lou found out that Rob had once had a crush on the older girl who helped take care of his mother for a while after the accident. Rob blushed as he told her about that one.
And then dinner was over, and it was time to go on to the country club dance. Once again, Rob took her arm as they left the restaurant, and they got back into the car for the ride across town and into the countryside.
“It's so pretty out here,” Katie Lou said, watching the scenery go by. They were in an area that had been built up into a subdivision for wealthier residents. There were beautiful homes scattered around the countryside, and she enjoyed looking at them.
“Yes, it is,” Rob said. “There was a time when I thought I'd like to have a house out here, but I basically grew up in the one we live in now. It'd be kind of hard to leave it behind.”
“Oh, I can understand,” Katie replied. “I wonder sometimes what it would be like to have a place of my own, but at the same time, I love living at home. I like knowing that my mom and dad are right there, and I think I'd be lonely if I had my own place, right now.”
“Well, it's nice to have a home, and there's something to be said for being able to live at home, especially while you're getting started in your own practice. It'll save some money, that's for sure.”
“With the settlement I got from Darren, money isn't something I'm gonna be too worried about for a while. I could afford my own place, that's not the point. It's just nice, being at home, being with my family. Someday, when I get married, of course, things will change.”
“True. If I ever find that right girl, it's possible that I might think about a different house. For right now, though, the one I've got suits me, Anna and Linda pretty well.”
Katie Lou smiled at him. “The right girl wouldn't expect you to move out of the house you love. She'd move right into it with you, and make sure it was still the home you always knew it was.”
Rob smiled back, and then he was turning the car into the country club driveway. It was a long, winding road, lined with overhanging trees. He saw that Katie was smiling as she looked at the scenery.
He parked outside the clubhouse, and once again he took her arm as they entered. There was a ramp, because several of the members were elderly and in wheelchairs, so Katie pushed the walker up it as Rob walked at her side. The door opened as they approached, and a butler in uniform held it open for them.
“Dr. Christopher,” the butler said. “It's good to see you, Sir.”
“Thank you, George,” Rob said. The butler bowed as they passed.
“I thought you didn't really come out here? Isn't that what you said?” Katie Lou asked him.
“I don't,” he replied. “George's mother is one of my patients; she fell and broke her hip recently, and her doctor felt that a little bit of PT would be good for her. He brings her to all of her appointments.”
“Oh.” Katie looked a little sheepish, and Rob grinned.
“I've been out here for a few little events, but nothing exciting. This dance, I probably wouldn't even have been coming if I hadn't used it as an excuse to ask Kylie out, but now that she backed out and you agreed to come, I'm pretty
excited about it. In my business, of course, it never hurts to be seen hobnobbing with the rich and powerful in the area. And if I can make them jealous with the beautiful girl I bring, so much the better.”
They claimed a table for two, and sat down to wait for one of the waiters to take a drink order. Rob surprised Katie Lou when he ordered a soft drink, but she didn't let it show, and ordered one for herself, as well.
“You don't drink?” Katie asked him.
“Very rarely,” he said. “An occasional glass of wine, once in a very great while I might have a beer, and champagne if I'm at an event that justifies it. I think that's happened twice.”
One of the event organizers got up, then, and thanked everyone for their attendance and support. A few moments later, the band began to play. This particular event had gone for classical music, so there was a string band with the addition of a grand piano. They sat out the first number, but when the second began, Rob stood and held out a hand to Katie Lou.
“My dear lady,” he said solemnly. “May I have the honor of this dance?”
Katie Lou smiled nervously, took his hand and let him help her up from her chair. Holding onto his arm, she walked somewhat gracefully out onto the dance floor, and then his arms were around her and they were lost in the world of the music.
3
The dance was wonderful. They had a fantastic time, and Katie Lou was introduced to many local politicians and celebrities, including the news anchor from the Springfield television station, who happened to be a member there. She thoroughly enjoyed herself, and loved every minute of it.
They danced several times, but then Katie's legs got tired and wobbly, so they sat out quite a few of them. Katie didn't mind, and actually had to politely decline a few offers. The gentlemen who asked were gracious about it, and a couple of them even teased Rob about keeping the most beautiful girl all to himself. He smiled and inclined his head in agreement.