Perfect Match (10 page)

The door to his hospital room creaked open. A tall
pretty-faced blonde nurse entered. The door clicked closed from her backhand
push. She approached his bed, her uniform hugging her shapely body. Through a
bright smile, she said, “I’ve come to check your vitals.”

“What happened to the other nurse?”

“She had an emergency, and I volunteered to fill in for her.
Is that okay with you?”

“Sure.”

The nurse tinkered with the monitor, nimbly pushing and
resetting a button or two, with her back to Roscoe. His eyes quickly fell into
their old habit of staring at the ass of any available female. As his eyes
analyzed, he concluded no panty line means no panties, or at best a thong, with
only a slight chance of panty hose.

The nurse turned back, and against hospital rules, sat on
the edge of his bed. With stethoscope in position, she said, “Let me take a
listen.” She moved the instrument from place to place around his athletic chest
and stomach, each time leaning closer to his face. Her eyes watched his, as she
placed her left hand on his shoulder, while the stethoscope listened to his
increasing heartbeat.

She draped the scope around her neck and straightened up,
but still sat on the edge of his bed, looking at him. “You look familiar. I’m
pretty sure I’ve seen you before.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

She crossed her arms, which uplifted her breasts even more.

“Have you ever seen me before?” She laughed devilishly.

“No, first time tonight.” He shook his head.

“Now that’s hard to believe. See if you remember this?” She
stood quickly, hands over head, making a few snaky movements, then turning her
back to him, gyrating her six-foot body, hands moving quickly at her front.

When she turned to face him she leaned down to his bedside,
exposing her naked breasts, watching his eyes. “These hot things look familiar
to you, now?”

Roscoe took deep breaths as he barely nodded. How could he
forget the small rose tattoo on the inner side of her right breast?

She laughed a low laugh as she buttoned up everything,
glancing at the bedside monitor, “Damn! Look at that blood pressure spiking
now. I didn’t know I had that kind of effect on men.”

As she stood by his bedside, her hand trailed along his
twitching thigh. “Remember me now? Amazon Annie at the Naked Pole Runway, one
of the exotic pole dancers? I lost count of the twenty dollar bills you tucked
inside my G-string, ‘for just one more gyration, Annie.’ Remember that night?”

Roscoe let his head plop against the pillow as he dimly
recalled another drunken night on the town. He closed his eyes, trying to shut
out the memory. He felt her hands on both sides of his neck, soft hands. His
eyes popped open.

“Don’t pass out on me now, Mr. Fallington. I might have to
give you mouth-to-mouth.”

Her breath was fresh like a swirl of cherry juice, very
alluring, but Roscoe took her wrists and carefully moved them back. “Uh…I think
we better get back to normal…”

She grinned.

“What are you doing dressed as a nurse?”

Her smile continued. “Because I am a registered nurse.
Almost a year now. I only work weekends at the Naked Pole until my college loan
is paid off in another two months. Be glad to get out of that place.” Her smile
vanished briefly.

Roscoe wasn’t sure what to say next. He didn’t want to
dredge up something stupid he might have done while at the Naked Pole. Why are
all these past events coming back to haunt me, he thought. “Annie—”

“Angela’s my real name.” She pointed to her ID badge.

“Angela, I hope I didn’t do—”

She laughed cutting him off, “Something to embarrass you or
me?”

He nodded.

“You didn’t. Lots of men do though, but you didn’t. But I
could tell you were horny for your date that night the two of you watched me
perform.” She laughed deeply. “You were a pretty decent guy. If you hadn’t
been, I wouldn’t be talking to you now.” She studied him a moment, her eyes
traveling over his face, chest, and groin area. “Do you have a honey now?”

He shook his head, feeling uncomfortable with this very
attractive woman, dressed in a nurse’s uniform. He said. “You probably have
several boyfriends.”

“Nope. I’ve dated two men while in college. One flunked out
of accounting; he was lazy. The other one was okay-y, but he had a drinking
problem. Didn’t need that. I don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs. I just get men,
who are strangers, highly excited and then leave them to the night.” She
glanced at the monitor. “Hard to find good men in shallow places.”

She looked back at Roscoe.

“I’m the same height as you, six feet. I looked at your
chart, so I know more about you than you know about me, although you’ve looked
at every inch of my body, except the most private part.” She flashed her smile.
“We’d be a perfect match. Interested?” Her slanted eye brows raised with the
question.

He was about to panic. He’d never felt so cornered by a
woman. He couldn’t escape so he’d have to give some kind of answer. “Uh…Angela,
you’re too young for me. I’m going on thirty-nine. Too much age difference.”

“Huh, that’s hard to believe. The young babes you brought to
the Naked Pole looked like high school girls. I’m 28, that’s not that big a
difference.” She paused, looking at the clock, releasing a small sigh. “Well, I
have other patients. Check on you later.” She patted his thigh, winked at him,
and moved for the door.

“Before you leave,” he motioned her to bedside, and took her
hand, looking her in the eyes, “Angela, you have a beautiful body, but you’re
even more attractive and exciting in your nurse uniform.”

Her eyes began to water.

“You’re going to find a man worthy of you. It’s just…that
I’ve made some bad blunders and I need to get those things settled before I
involve another person. Believe me; you’re very desirable in every way,
especially dressed.”

She fanned at her face with her hands. “I can’t cry, my
makeup, but that’s the nicest compliment I’ve ever had. Thank you.” She started
to leave again.

He waited until she reached the door. “Uh, what college did
you say you graduated from?”

“UNC-Asheville. Got to run. Other patients.”

When the door closed, he relaxed so much that he thought his
limp body would sink through the mattress. He thought, I can’t take much more
of these unexpected reminders from the past. All I want is for this damn foot
to get better so I can hobble out of here. At this point I’ll settle for hobble
and scarface. Maybe I’ll be in the next Scarface movie.

He looked at the clock. It was going on 11:30 pm. He didn’t
know whether to try to go to sleep or stay awake. He wasn’t sure he trusted
Amazon Annie. While sleeping, she might try to get in the bed with him. Oh,
what a pleasant thought, but I’d better stick with normal if I can figure out
what that is.

Thursday

After breakfast, Roscoe hobbled to the bathroom to clean up
and brush his teeth. Amazon Annie had not been back to his room during the
night, at least to his knowledge. He’d slept miserably. Worst of all he’d had a
recurring dream of a parade of blonde pole dancers chasing him with
stethoscopes, trying to choke him. He’d awakened twice clutching his throat,
coughing, drenched in perspiration.

He’d gotten where he could get dressed in casual clothes,
but he’d had to split the lower portion of the right leg of his cargo pants to
get them on over his bandaged right foot. He felt like he was getting closer to
getting out of the hospital, but hell he hadn’t figured out where he was going
to live when he did get out.

Maybe he’d better stay in the hospital as long as possible.
Hell, maybe he’d give in and shack up with Amazon Annie. No, he’d better not
start that kind of thinking.

He sat in his wheelchair, reaching for his phone in his
leather portfolio. He called the number he’d looked up.

“
UNC-Asheville. How may I direct your call
?”

His call was patched through and answered.

“Um…yes, I need to make a payment on my niece’s student
loan.”

“
What’s the account number
?”

“Sorry, I don’t have that. We live in two different states.”

“
What’s her name
?”

“Angela.”

“
Her last name
?”

He hadn’t seen that one coming.

“Like I said, we live in two different states, and I don’t
see her that much. I know she was married, but divorced, and she was going to
take her maiden name back, but I’m not sure which side of the family, so…”

“
Sir, I have to have a complete name to access her
account
.”

Now what, he thought? “Could you look it up under her
degree, you know, like Angela under nursing?

There was huffing of air on the other end of the phone. “
I’ll
try. When did she graduate
?”

“I believe it was a year or two ago.” He was racking his
brain for these damn details, something he had little practice with.

He heard the clicking of keys, grumbling tones, and loud
sighs. “
I’m still checking, sir
.” More grumbling and grunting. “
Well,
I’ve found two Angela’s in last year’s nursing class
.”

“My Angela is 28 years old. Does that help?”

“
It might
.” Clicking keys with more sighs. “
Well,
let’s see, one Angela is forty-five…that must not be the one…oh, this one’s
twenty-eight and…oh, oh, I know who this Angela is, she’s Amazon Annie. Oh,
gosh, she’s an exotic dancer and got a beautiful body, or so I’ve heard. Is…Is
that your niece? Why didn’t you say so? I would’ve known who you were talking
about. You have a famous niece, did you know that
?”

Roscoe said, “Actually, no. I don’t know anything about her
personal life. I’m just proud of her for finishing nursing school and wanted to
help with her expenses. So what’s her balance and where do I mail the check?
Oh, and what last name did she decide upon?”

“
Um…it looks like…the only last name I see is Anderson?
So are you Mr. Anderson
?”

“Yes…yes, my name’s Tom Anderson. So give me the account
number and balance. You’ve been so helpful.”

After giving him the number and balance, the finance
representative said, “
This is so nice of you Mr. Anderson. I’d love to have
an uncle like you. How old are you
?”

“Uh…I’m sixty-five, well thank—”

“
Well, what a coincidence, I’m fifty-nine, maybe you
could drop by the university one day and I’ll buy you a cup of coffee
.” She
giggled.

Roscoe was already perspiring from this conversation. He
tensed even more from her flirting. “Well, my wife of forty years might get
jealous—”

“
Oh, dear, I’ve spoken out of turn. Please forgive me,
but you seem like such a nice man
.”

“No problem. Thanks again for your help.” He ended the call,
rigid as a fence post, thinking how the conversation had taken him in
unchartered waters. He felt old just thinking about tossing around big numbers
like 45, 65, and a marriage that lasted 40 years. My how time flies. He shook
his head.

What the hell am I doing? Surely I must have had some brain
damage that wasn’t detected by the X-rays. Or maybe they’ve given me some kind
of experimental mind-altering drugs, because I’m thinking things and doing
things that are not me.

Outside his door, Selena sat in her wheelchair, puzzled like
never before over the conversation she’d just heard. Married 40 years? His
name’s Tom Anderson and he has a 28 year-old niece named Angela? Holy shit!
He’s a lunatic. Her wheelchair shot back to the sanctuary of her room.

Roscoe had already spent a good portion of the day combing
through his shrinking financial picture. He had a 30-year mortgage on the
million dollar penthouse, 51 months of payments left on the latest and most
expensive Corvette, and an assortment of credit card balances that were due.

As he did the arithmetic he might have thirty or forty
thousand dollars to work with if, and it was the biggest if he’d ever seen, he
was able to unload the penthouse, sell the Corvette once replaced by the
insurance company, and pay off the outstanding credit cards. And then
everything else would have to work perfectly for him. But he was in a real funk
as far as his future looked.

He knew from past experience that his grandmother would not
cut him any slack at all. There was no chance she’d change her mind and restore
him to CEO status or just give him his old salary back just because he was her
grandson. She was not kidding about offering him a salary of $24,000 per year,
if he could qualify for some job with Fallington. What a slap in the face!

Perspiration popped out on his forehead just thinking about
the financial squeeze he was facing. How could he have been so blind to the
consequences that were now upon him? Embarrassment rolled through him as he
thought about the staff meeting in which his grandmother had removed him from
CEO and replaced him with Madison. In his heart he knew he’d been very unfair
to her. But he couldn’t do anything to change the past.

He’d gotten another shock when he called his realtor and
learned that the penthouses in his building were sitting on the market for up
to ten months before selling. The realtor had told him, “You’re best bet is to
see if we can get you a three to five year lease. We’ve had a couple of clients
shopping in that price range. If you’re lucky we can get you enough to cover
the mortgage, taxes, and incidentals.”

Roscoe’s hopes sunk even lower.

The prospects with his attorney were even dimmer. “The firm
will represent you as a private citizen, since you’re no longer employed with
Fallington Enterprises. And of course we’ll bill you as an individual.
Umm…you’ll have to pay a retainer up front, since the firm hasn’t done business
with you as a private party. We don’t know what kind of credit risk you are.
You do understand?”