by Lynn Story
Chris was the most painful to watch. He struggled with it physically and emotionally. Chris was a marine’s marine. He was broad shouldered, muscular and fearless. He would do anything that needed to get done to accomplish the mission and he would just as quickly help a friend. I felt like I had let him down the most. Chris insisted that wasn’t the case, that I had saved his life. It didn’t feel like it. His life as he knew it was over. He wouldn’t be a marine and now he had to use his strength to make up for the damage of his left arm and left leg. He had to learn to walk again, and how to distribute his weight to carry things. He had to explain to his kids why he looked like a robot with all the braces and splints. It broke my heart over and over again. I decided I needed to get out of here.
“Doctors, if you don’t need me any longer, I need to head out.”
Dr. Klaus looked at me with worry.
“Of course,” Dr. Carr said extending his hand. “Thank you for coming today.”
“No, thank you for taking the time to listen to our ideas. I’m sure we’ll be talking soon.” I forced a smile.
“Yes.” He nodded.
“Dr. Klaus I’ll talk to you in a day or so?” I said as we shook hands.
“Yes, of course.” Dr. Klaus looked as if he wanted to ask if I was okay, but I turned away before he could. I took out my phone and called Eddie.
“It’s time to go.” I spoke into the phone.
“Yes ma’am.”
I made my way back to the main entrance where Eddie was waiting for me.
He studied my face as he opened the door to the car for me.
“Everything alright?” He read the look on my face.
“Yes.” I lied. I didn’t want to talk about it. I slid into the back seat sinking into the cool soft leather. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. I heard the driver’s door close and felt the car start to move. Thankfully Eddie didn’t press the issue by asking more questions. I just needed some time to relax and clear my head. I dozed off on the way back to the hotel.
“You sure you’re alright? Eddie finally asked as we got on the elevator to our rooms.
“I have a terrible headache so I’m going to lay down. Maybe have a massage or something later. I won’t feel much like going out, so you take the rest of the day off and go enjoy the city.” I said taking out the keycard for the room and not waiting for a response.
“Okay, feel better.” I heard Eddie say as I closed the door behind me. I was grateful he hadn’t argued. I headed for the bathroom and the soaking tub. Then I called for a bottle of wine to be delivered and a fruit and cheese plate. I needed to relax. If this didn’t work, then it would be time to take drastic measures and call for a massage.
I greeted the room service attendant with my wine in the fluffy bathrobe the hotel provided. It was luxuriously soft, and I had half a mind to just stay curled up inside of it the rest of the day.
I double locked the door. I took the wine bottle to the tub with me. After turning on my favorite chill music station I sunk down with just my head and shoulders above the water letting the bath salts help to relax my muscles. I took a sip of wine and closed my eyes. Yes, this is exactly what I needed.
The water started to chill and not wanting to ruin a good afternoon with cold bath water I got out and dried off. I had only had one and half glasses of wine and I was feeling better already. I put the robe back on and carrying the bottle of wine and the glass I padded back out to the sitting area of my room.
I sat looking out the window at the city and drank the rest of the wine in the glass. It was dusk and lights were starting to pop on outside.
My cell phone rang. I looked down and didn’t recognize the number of a DC area code.
“Kay Dandridge.”
“Kay? This is Mac.”
I paused for a moment.
“Jim McIntyre, we met at the poker game.”
“Of course, I’m sorry it’s been a long day.”
“Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No, not at all, just watching the sunset from my hotel room window.”
“That sounds….”
“Sad?” I laughed a little.
“I was going to say calming.”
“Oh well, that too.” There was a pause in the conversation, and I had to wonder why he had called. I assumed my grandfather had given him my number. “Was there something you wanted to talk about?” I asked.
“Uh, well. I was just wondering if you’d had dinner yet?”
“No, I haven’t.” Now that he mentioned it, I was starved as the fruit and cheese hadn’t really been very filling.
“Would you like to have dinner with me?”
He sounded like he wasn’t very practiced at dating. Neither was I. I wondered why he had chosen to ask me. Was it something my grandfather had asked him to do?
“That sounds nice so what did you have in mind?”
“Nothing fancy if that is okay.”
“That is more than okay. I’d love nothing more than a place I could wear my jeans and sneakers.” I laughed.
“You got it. Shall I pick you up in an hour?”
“An hour would be fine. I’m staying at the Marriott in D.C.”
“Got it.”
“Okay see you soon.” I smiled to myself.
In an hour it would be close to nine o’clock. Mac must be a night owl like myself. I smiled. This could be fun. The trouble was Eddie. I changed into jeans, my white sneakers and an oversized shirt. I put on just a little eye makeup. I wasn’t one to wear a lot of makeup not even to business meetings. They would have to accept me the way I am. I did wear heels because I could to business meetings. It was a major accomplishment in my recovery that I taught myself to walk in heels again after my injury. So, I enjoyed it. I didn’t do it every day, it was painful after a few hours. When I was ready and a few minutes before Mac was due to pick me up, I walked over and knocked on Eddie’s door. There was no answer. I was grateful to avoid the conversation and twenty questions.
I didn’t want to text him if he was out having a good time. So, I left a message for him with the front desk that I had gone out with a friend for a while. He would get the message when he returned.
I walked over to the lobby and sat down to wait. Ten minutes later Mac walked in wearing a USMC sweatshirt and jeans.
“Hello.” I smiled.
“Hi.” He looked nervous. “I thought you didn’t want to dress up.” I looked down at myself confused. “I’m wearing jeans and sneakers?”
“Well you have a way of making jeans and sneakers look better than they should.”
I almost laughed. I saw his cheeks redden just a bit. So, I let it go.
“Thank you.” I said accepting the compliment.
“Ready?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
We walked to the door and he held it open for me, then he walked over to a bright yellow charger.
“I love your car.” I meant it.
“Thank you.” He smiled, closed my door and then walked around to the driver’s side.
“Do you like burgers and fries?”
“Love them.”
“Or tacos?”
“Love them, too.”
“Good I know just the place.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
The car started with a roar and he carefully pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic. We headed out of the city and into Virginia. I wasn’t sure where we were exactly, but I could still see the DC skyline. We parked on the street and walked past a few shops to a little place nestled between a clothing boutique and a vintner. Both businesses were closed. You could easily walk past this place assuming it was closed too. He opened the wooden door and stepped aside to let me in. The place was eclectic to say the least. I still wasn’t quite sure where we were. There was a counter like you might find in a diner with a window that opened to the kitchen. There were checked tablecloths on the tables and an interesting collection of mismatched tables and chairs. The
booths looked like they had been repurposed from another restaurant and crammed into the space. There was a stuffed armadillo on display and pictures of historic buildings mixed in with pictures of the cook posing with celebrities and politicians who obviously had stopped in for whatever it was they served here.
“Is here, okay?” Mac pointed to a booth in the corner.
“Sure.” I wasn’t though.
I noticed a sign above the counter that said, ‘Toni and Tiny’s - Welcome.” A moment later a heavyset woman appeared wearing jeans and a t-shirt that had a picture of an armadillo standing up holding a burger in one hand and a taco in the other. She approached the table with two glasses of water and a cup of coffee for Mac.
“Evening, Mac.” She said sweetly.
“Evening Toni.” He nodded.
“What can I get you drink, sweetie?” It took me a minute to realize she was talking to me.
“You have sweet tea?”
“Is there another kind?”
“No.” I admitted.
She nodded and turned away. I noticed the back of her shirt said Toni and Tiny’s on it too.
She returned a moment later with a menu and tea for me.
“I’ll give you a minute.”
“Thank you.” I said.
This time she turned to look at Mac and she winked. He pretended he didn’t notice.
“I take it you’ve been here before.” I said.
He gave me a small smile. “Yeah, Toni knows me well enough to know what I like.”
“What would you recommend?” I said opening the plastic covered menu. There was a slip of paper clipped to the top with daily specials listed.
“Well, they have the best burger in town and if you’re into tacos, they can make them with anything you like, beef, chicken, fish.”
“I think I’ll go with a burger and fries.”
He nodded. “Good choice.”
A moment later Toni was back. “Have you decided what you would like?”
“Yes, I’ll have the blue cheeseburger and fries.”
“A girl after my own heart.” She smiled and turned away.
I took a sip of the tea. It was in fact sweet tea. Someone knew what they were doing.
“So, you said you had a hard day.” Mac stated.
“Oh yeah. Well it was good, but not easy.” I tried not to sound like I was complaining.
“How so?” he asked.
“My company developed a new kind of prosthetic to replace damaged bone and we wanted to see if Bethesda Naval Hospital would consider using it or at least offering it to soldiers and marines.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Really? You’re a doctor?”
“Uh, well yes and no. I have a Ph.D. but I’m not a medical doctor.”
“So, how’d you come up with the idea for the new prosthetic?”
“Out of necessity mostly.” I hedged. I didn’t think my injuries and their circumstances made for good first date conversation. If this was a date.
He nodded. “So, how’d the meeting go?”
“Well I won’t know probably for another week or two. They did show interest. Where it really needs to be used is in the field hospitals. I figured if I can get the Naval hospital to approve of it, others might follow.”
“So, no starting off small?”
I laughed.
“No, not with me. For something like this it’s go big or go home.”
He nodded and smiled. “I see.” He sipped his coffee. “Don’t you need government approval or something?”
“Yes, I have FDA approval.”
“Well that seems like it would be the hard part.”
I smiled. “You’d think so.” I sipped my tea. It reminded me of home, and it was counteracting the effects of the wine I had earlier.
“So, what’s different about your prosthetic compared to the ones they use now?”
I smiled impressed that he was paying attention. “Mine is more of an implant, it works with the body rather than replacing it.”
He leaned back and studied me for a long moment. “That is interesting. Tell me more.”
“Well, I don’t expect that it will work in all cases. In some situations, if the tissue isn’t completely destroyed and can be saved even if the bone can’t be, this would allow the doctors to implant my product in place of the bone wrapped in simulated tissue. The simulated tissue would give the natural tissue something to adhere to and repair itself where it can. It reduces the chances of the body rejecting the implant. The implant looks like the inside of your leg or arm for lack of a better term wrapped in muscle and other tissues.”
“That sounds, incredible.”
“Thank you. I hope it offers people an option anyway. Having an implant doesn’t make it easier to learn to walk again or use your hands again, but, you don’t have to remove your limb every night before you go to bed and I think that helps with the emotional and mental aspect of the healing process.”
“Sounds like you have some experience behind you. How much research did you do?”
“A good amount, although not as much as I think the hospital would have liked but it’s hard to get test subjects. Mainly because, the decision to use it has to be made before the affected limb is removed.”
Toni came back with our plates before he could ask me anymore. I was worried I would have to tell him about my personal experience and I really didn’t want to go into that. Although, I had a feeling he would understand.
The burger was huge, and the fries came on a separate plate. I removed the knife from the utensils wrapped in a paper napkin and cut it in half. It smelled heavenly. Toni had delivered a burger to Mac.
“Your usual?” I smiled nodded at his plat.
“Yeah.” He shrugged. He then cut his in half as well.
We ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. After I had a couple of bites of my burger and a couple of fries, I was starting to feel normal again.
“Can I ask you something, and please don’t take this the wrong way.”
He raised his eyebrows at me and wiped the paper napkin across his mouth. “Shoot.”
“My grandfather didn’t put you up to this did he?” I regretted asking as soon as the words let my mouth. I had to know if this was some sort of pity date. He looked surprised for just a moment.
“Does your grandfather often arrange dates for you?” Touche`
“No, actually until this weekend I hadn’t seen in a few years.”
“So why do you think he would set you up on a date?”
“Well, before you and the others arrived at the house for the card game, he was quizzing me on my personal life.” I was feeling worse by the minute for asking. “I’m so sorry, please can we forget I said anything?” I felt the heat rising in my cheeks.
He leaned back in his seat. “Sure, consider it forgotten.”
I dropped my eyes to my plate, and I drug a French fry back and forth in the ketchup.
“You okay?” he asked, trying to get the conversation back on an even keel.
“Sure.” I said not looking up. I put the fry down and picked up my burger. Before I took a bite, I looked up at him. He was watching me intently.
“So, are you working on anything interesting at work you can talk about?” I tried to change the subject. Then I bit into my burger to allow him time to answer.
“Oh well, I don’t know if you would find it very interesting. We had a missing boy the other day. He was found safe, but it was intense for about twelve hours.”
“Oh, that is terrible. I can imagine that was very stressful. What happened?”
“He got mad at his mother and ran away. Quantico is a big place and he never made it off the base.”
“Still there are some places on base that aren’t safe for a little boy.” I said.
“You’re right. Fortunately, he didn’t wonder onto the firing range or anything. We found him in an empty building asleep with his camping gear.”
“Smart kid, how o
ld was he?”
“Twelve. His dad is deployed so he is having a rough time right now.”
“I can imagine.”
“Was your dad in the military?” Mac asked me.
“When I was very young yes, but I never really had issues with him being gone then. When he took over the family business, he was out of town a lot or worked late. However, he took me to work with him as much as he could.” I smiled at the memory.
“And you’re in charge of the company now?”
“Yes, I’m trying to add this new medical research and development division to it.”
He nodded. “How long have you been in control of the company?”
“A few years. My father passed away and the company went to my mother, it was her family that started the company and then when she passed it came to me.”
“That must have been quite an adjustment.”
“You have no idea. I had to run it for the first year from Afghanistan. Drove the corporate lawyers crazy.”
“Why didn’t you come home right away?” he asked.
“I was under contract and I had an assignment to finish, it wasn’t like I could just up and leave to run a company and at the time I wasn’t really sure I wanted to run it. Things happen for a reason. And here I am.” He seemed to know there was more to that story, but he let it go. “How long have you been with NCIS?”
“Fifteen years.”
“Do you travel a lot for your job?”
“Not as much now as I did when I was a field agent then we traveled wherever our investigation took us. I also served as an agent afloat for a while.”
“Sounds pretty exciting.” I said meaning it.
“It can be.”
“Now it isn’t so much because you’re in the office more?” I had a feeling he missed the action.
He studied me for what seemed like forever and I was starting to feel like maybe I had touched on a sensitive area.”
“That’s it exactly.” He said as if saying it out loud made it better. His shoulders relaxed a little.
“I understand. I really do.”
“I believe you do.” He held my gaze.
“I do. You can’t talk to anyone about it because you have to provide the leadership. You can’t let them see you crack even if what you are feeling is the most basic human emotion. You’ve always got to be the person of strength and knowledge. They look to you and you have to provide them with what they need.” I realized I was running on and cut my words short. I looked sheepishly at him. “Sorry, I tend to run on sometimes.”