Accidentally Yours (6 page)

“
I’m here with a friend,” Gordon said. “He’ll get me home. Vivian, I don’t want to ruin your afternoon. I’ll be fine here.”

“
Are you sure you don’t need anything?”

“
Nah, I’m good. I’ll see you before it’s time to leave.”

“
You stay off that foot now,” Zack cautioned. “Use your poles as crutches.”

“
I’ll do that Thanks, Doc.”

Vivian and Zack fell into step together as they left the building. She could hardly believe he was here beside her. What a wonderful opportunity. It had to be fated.
“Tell me,” he asked, “is this standard for you?”

“
Is what standard for me?”

“
Do your dates frequently end up in need of urgent medical care?”

She tensed.
“Wait a minute. Are you suggesting I’m a jinx?”

“
No, of course not.”

She wasn
’t convinced. “Let me tell you a few things,” she said, stopping and turning to face him. “First of all, I’m not a jinx. Second of all, neither of these men were dates. In both cases we had just met. So what if one cut his arm? People have freak accidents like that all the time. It was pretty mild as those things go. And people also get hurt skiing all the time. A twisted ankle isn’t a serious injury. The way Gordon was tangled up in his skis he’s lucky he didn’t break his leg. These two incidents are nothing more than unfortunate coincidences, and I think you’ve got a lot of nerve suggesting otherwise.”

“
I didn’t mean anything by it. You’re right, it’s just coincidence. And just to prove I don’t think you’re a jinx, let’s hit the slopes together.”

“
Only if you promise to run into a tree,” she snapped, beginning to walk again.

Zack put his hand over his heart and looked wounded.
“Ouch.”

Vivian really didn
’t wish anything bad to happen to Zack, she was just still smarting from his inferring she was bad luck. She remembered how Gordon twisted his ankle and hoped Zack wouldn’t feel he had to outdo her.

As it turned out that was an unnecessary concern. Zack was an excellent skier, zigzagging down the hill with true agility and gliding to a smooth stop at the bottom. It was all she could do to keep up with him.

“Hey, you’re really good,” she said to him as they rode the lift. “You’ve been at this for a while, haven’t you?”

“
Only a few years. NBP is big on skiing. I went to Switzerland with them last winter and practically lived on the slopes the whole time I was there. What about you?”

Vivian recounted her background in the sport.

“Ah, so you were one of those privileged Negroes from the suburbs.”

“
Why, where did you grow up?”

“
I’m a city kid from St. Nicholas Avenue, where we played on the sidewalks and any grass around was for viewing only and was cordoned off, like the Mona Lisa on exhibit.”

“
New London was a nice place to grow up. I guess maybe I was a little privileged. But does that have to be dirty word?”

“
No, of course not. It’s really what you make of yourself, not what your family has. And our generation had a lot of opportunities our parents, aunts, and uncles didn’t.”

“
That’s very true. I’m sure your family is proud of you. Where did you go to school?”

“
Howard.”

“
What made you choose emergency medicine?”

“
I know this sounds corny, but I wanted to help people. Believe me, there’s no difference in the length of time it takes to be an ER doctor than there is in being an ophthalmologist.”

“
That’s true. But it probably requires a lot more practice.”

“
All right. Now that I’ve told you all about me, don’t you think it’s your turn?”

“
All right. You know where I’m from. I went to U. Mass, and I’m a human resources administrator.”

“
You’re the one who summons the unsuspecting to your office on Friday afternoons and ruins their lives, huh?”

“
No, but I conduct their exit interviews. We leave the firing to the individual managers, although a couple of the bigwigs have occasionally been too cowardly to let their secretaries go. That’s fallen to my manager, not to me.”

“
Do I detect a bit of wistfulness?”

“
I guess you do. I love my job, Zack, but I’m ready to be a manager myself.”

“
So you can fire executive secretaries?”

“
No, silly. I just want to be a manager. I’m qualified. I’ve been working in human resources ever since I finished college. My goal is to become a vice president, but I need a manager’s position first, then a director’s position, before I can even think about becoming an officer.”

“
Ah, the pitfalls of corporate America.”

“
It’s not so bad. There are perks.”

“
Yes, I know. My buddy owns his own company, and every year he and his partner give themselves nice, fat bonuses.”

Vivian almost said,
“Austin,” but she caught herself. Once upon a time she had had an eye—all right, both her eyes—on the stealthily handsome Austin Hughes, whose parents lived downstairs from her, but then she met and became friendly with Desireé and learned she held the keys to his heart, so that was the end of that. Still, there was little doubt of whom he was referring to. Austin co-owned a travel consulting business, and his assignments took him to hotels and restaurants all over the world.

Meanwhile, if anything progressed between she and Zack
, he would eventually learn about her connection to Desireé and Austin and that he was her landlord, but a sixth sense told her to keep mum for now.

“
That’ll never happen working for a hospital,” Zack concluded.

“
It could if you were in private practice. I know you practice emergency medicine, but there are private clinics, acute care centers, whatever name they go by, all over the place.”

“
Don’t think I haven’t thought of it. I’d like to do that someday, but not in New York. Maybe some out-of-the-way place on Long Island or up in Westchester. Where do you live, anyway?” He already knew from Gary Allen that she lived in Mount Vernon, where he owned property; but that day she herself had only told him she lived in Westchester.

He
found himself glad she didn’t still live in Connecticut; that was awfully far.

“
I’m in Mount Vernon.” At least he didn’t ask where she ‘stayed,’ a ghetto-ish form of speech that was right up there with people driving the wrong way down one-way parking lot rows on her personal vexation scale.

She waited for him to say he owned an apartment building there, but he only said,
“Oh, yes. Convenient location.”

Maybe he felt it was best if she didn
’t know about his real-estate holdings. She couldn’t blame him. It would be difficult to make even a casual statement along those lines and not sound like he was bragging. Besides, he didn’t want to attract gold diggers, even if as an ER doctor his earnings probably paled next to specialties like cardiology or plastics. It was probably wise for him to keep that under his vest. “Yes, it is,” she agreed. “What about you? Where do you live?”

“
Harlem. You know what they say. You can take the boy out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the boy. So are you going to join NBP?”

“
Oh, I don’t know. I’ll have to find out what the benefits are. All their events are open to the public, aren’t they?”

“
Yes. They give a discount on admissions and travel if you’re a member. That’s the main benefit.”

The rest of the afternoon went by in a maze of trying different slopes and talking while riding the lift
. Before she knew it, it was time to board the bus for the trip home. “What bus were you on, Zack?” she asked.

“
The last one. You?”

She hid her disappointment.
“Number two.” Gordon, too, was on the last bus. Neither man had asked about seeing her again, and while she found Zack infinitely more attractive she wasn’t ready to rule out Gordon. But time was running out. She wouldn’t see either of them again if they didn’t have any way to contact her.

“
I’m going to turn in my skis. Vivian, it was a lot of fun skiing with you. I hope we’ll get to do it again.”

She forced herself to sound light and unruffled.
“Likewise. You take care, now.”

As she looked around the crowded lodge for Glenda she suddenly felt very tired. She hadn
’t expected husband hunting to be this exhausting. She had thought things were going well between her and Zack, in spite of the rocky start. Why hadn’t he asked for her number? Had she turned him off in some way? Did the mints she consumed after lunch not cover the fact that she’d had onions added to her hamburger? Had her deodorant failed? Maybe she should have told him about knowing his friend, Austin, and Austin’s girlfriend, Desireé, after all; it would have provided a link…plus he’d know where to find her.

She saw Gordon waving her way and went over to where he sat, knowing that walking was difficult for him after his fall.
“I’m glad I saw you before I got on the bus. I’d like to see you again. May I call you?”

“
I’d like that.” She had to force the enthusiasm in her voice. If she had her choice of just one of them, it would be Zack who asked for her number and Gordon who gave her a polite kiss-off.

She scribbled her home number on the back of one of her business cards and handed it to him.
“How’s the ankle?”

“
Now that my foot is elevated it doesn’t hurt as much. Danny is turning in my equipment.”

“
I’ve got to find my friend myself. I’ve barely seen her all day. Take care of your foot, Gordon.”

“
I will. Thanks for your help. I’ll call you soon.”

Vivian gave up looking for Glenda in the lodge and went out to where the buses were parked, where Glenda stood waiting.
“I was looking for you. I thought you’d be in the lodge.”

“
You know, I was just about to go in there, since I didn’t see you out here. It’s warmer, for one thing.”

They climbed on the bus and took seats.
“Ooh, my legs are sore,” Vivian complained. “Those ski boots must weigh ten pounds apiece.”

“
I’m afraid I’m not much for skiing. I probably need to stick to water sports.” Glenda lowered her voice to a whisper. “You seemed to have a nice time. Every time I saw you, you were in the company of a man.”

“
Well, let’s see. One of them twisted his ankle on the slope. Fortunately, there was a doctor who Ace wrapped it for him.”

“
A doctor? Was he with our group?”

“
Yes.” She paused. “It was Dr. Warner. Can you believe that?”

“
No!” Glenda exclaimed loudly.

Vivian scowled and waved her hand, gesturing Glenda to talk more quie
tly. “He’s a member of NBP. And there’s more than that. He’s the same doctor Desireé Mack wanted to introduce me to. Can you believe that?”

“
How’d you find that out?”

“
By his first name. It’s Zack. The only thing I knew about him other than him being a doctor was his first name. When we were talking about working in corporate versus the health care industry and he said something about a friend of his who owned his own company I knew it had to be him. He was talking about Austin.”

“
You didn’t ask him if he knew Desireé?”

“
No. Maybe I should have. I think it came as too much of a shock. This man is my landlord, Glenda. He and Austin own the building I live in.”

“
So what happened?”

“
We went skiing. Gordon encouraged me to go ahead, since he was out of commission.”

“
And you’re going to see him again, of course.”

“
No.”

“
What do you mean, no?” Glenda hissed. “This is the answer to a prayer!”

“
Glenda, he wasn’t interested in seeing me again. He didn’t ask for my number or anything. The only thing he did was ask if I was going to join NBP.”

“
We’ll have to make sure we go to their next event. It’s a dance, next month. He’ll probably be there.”

“
No. To me that’s the same as my going to the hospital looking for him. I wouldn’t do that, and I’m not going to do this, either.”

“
Don’t be stubborn, Viv. It’s not the same thing. There are interesting people at these events. You met someone new today, didn’t you?”