Little Known Facts A Novel - By Christine Sneed Page 0,30
single, she let him stay with her while he was in town for a conference. During medical school, it has been hard to find time to date, and aside from her classmates, many of whom are already attached, she meets so few men she would consider dating. Her mother and brother, both unhappily single, wonder why she doesn’t complain more about not having a boyfriend; what she doesn’t tell them is that she misses having a sex life but not the effort of keeping a relationship from going flat and finding the time and space for a boyfriend in her already crowded life.
Dr. Glass is the first man in a while to whom she has had an immediate visceral response, but the ethics of their situation are undebatable: a professional relationship, nothing else. Even a platonic friendship outside of the hospital would be frowned upon, at least while she is still his intern.
“You were the only one in your group who suggested that the zoster virus Grace Whiting is suffering from might be a sign that her breast cancer is out of remission. Not everyone remembers this possibility.”
She smiles, her eyes on the table. The pleasure of his praise is almost unbearable. And her competitiveness shames her; she hadn’t realized before today just how much it bothered her that Jim Lewin is considered more of a star student than she is. “I hope I’m wrong, for Mrs. Whiting’s sake,” she murmurs.
“I do too, but what’s most important is that you thought of it. I ordered some tests, and we’ll know more in a couple of days.”
She glances toward the street where a group of shirtless boys in swim trunks are walking noisily by. She would like very much to stay with Dr. Glass for a while longer, but she can’t believe that he truly wants her company. There is also the chance that his wife and sons will ambush them, and that he will act like it is the most ordinary thing in the world for him to be sitting at a restaurant with one of his young interns, a woman who also happens to have a crush on him, something he must sense. Something his wife would also be likely to sense. Oh, and by the way, did Mrs. Glass know that the intern’s father is Renn Ivins, the movie star? though Anna and Dr. Glass have never discussed this. She does not want her father’s shadow to intrude on this private area of her life, this guilty but sexy possibility, at least not until she gets to know Dr. Glass better, if she will be given the chance.
And it seems likely that she will be. When she has made up her mind not to linger any longer, he smiles and says in a light tone, “I’m here at this time on most Sundays. You have an open invitation to join me whenever you’re in the neighborhood.” He extends his hand and she grasps it, realizing that this is the first time they have made a point of touching each other, aside from the day they met when they also shook hands. Her palm keeps tingling as she walks to her car, and she nearly forgets where she parked it. It is as if she is in ninth grade again and has just received the first love letter of her life.
On the drive home, she thinks of calling Jill and Celestine, but she knows that they would both tell her to accept his invitation and whatever it implies. Go next Sunday and the Sunday after that. He wants you. Of course he does! Why else would he ask you? If you won’t go, I’ll go in your place. Especially if he’s as cute as you say. Both of her friends have always been a step ahead of her, both having lost their virginity at fifteen, almost three years before Anna did, both pressuring her to loosen up and do it too—what was she waiting for? It was the best thing ever! Obviously she had no clue, otherwise she wouldn’t be sitting around with her legs crossed morning and night. But Anna knew, even then, that neither of them were necessarily happier after sleeping with boys who went on to snicker with other boys about what they had done, Jill angrily defiant about the rumors until she learned to ignore them. Celestine, however, had trouble ignoring them; it was easier to humiliate her, her Catholic mother having indoctrinated her from