Pt. 04: The Illusion of Innocence.
On Monday morning, it struck Jon that he was actually glad to go to work. He still wasn't loving the clinic by any means, but he had gotten used to it, and more importantly it meant getting away from Elaina. It meant getting out of their house and out of her overbearing reach.
Beth's face and smile were like a breath of fresh air. The roster of patients looked like a nice do-able challenge to take his mind away from the rest of his life. He focused on his work and stayed in the moment, at least for most of the day.
Whenever his mind slipped away it kept dwelling on the downward spiral his relationship seemed to be in. They kept arguing more, getting fed up with each other again and again, and attempting to address it only made Elaina try to assert more control. This was supposed to be the time when you were most in love, and most excited about your future, and they were already like an old bickering couple. How much worse could he let it become before he did something? Could he even bring himself to do something?
He thought back to the night before and shook his head at himself. The sex always felt good, and a part of him did enjoy being dominated to some degree, but it was getting out of hand. It wasn't just bedroom play, she really was trying to control his behavior and even his thoughts, with her body. There was no trust, there was no reassurance that it was just a game. It WAS a game he supposed, but a very real one that she was playing more and more.
He couldn't help doubting how legit his concerns were though. He knew men would die to spend a night with a woman as beautiful as her, and so what if she had a control kink...
"Jon!"
He suddenly broke from his daydreaming to look over at Beth.
She giggled at his startled surprise, "Phone call, line 3....I'll grab you a coffee K?" she said, and smiled endearingly as she walked away.
He picked up the phone.
"Hello, Dr. Davidson here."
"Hi Jon," Carly's voice replied. It was just two words, but he felt that he sensed a nervous friendliness to her voice. Two words and he was suddenly in a different world entirely.
"Hi... How are you doing Carly?" he replied, reflecting the same nervous friendliness back at her, despite himself.
"I'm good," she said, and gave a tiny cough. "How about you?"
"Oh, busy enough, but nothing I can't handle," he said, trying to sound casual, then worried it sounded cocky.
"Well look how far you've come," she said more playfully. "Guess you don't need me to reassure you these days, hey?"
He laughed, "I mean, I wouldn't mind a bit every now and then."
She laughed back, "K. Well don't let this erode that confidence, I kinda like it... but, um, today I gotta give you some awkward news that one of your patients hasn't been exactly forthcoming with you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah Mrs Foster has only been taking her thyroid pills 'as needed' whenever she starts to feel 'down'. Yeah... I know. She said she didn't want to tell you cause she likes you so much and she didn't want to upset you."
Jon chuckled, "Damn, I guess a good rapport can backfire."
"Yep, you're just too damn lovable," she giggled. "I only found out by accident, cause I asked why she didn't want more dispensed at once, and she suggested it would last her way longer than a month and... yeah, I eventually got it out of her."
"Well thanks for catching that," he said. "Did you explain to her she needs to take it daily?"
"Oh yeah, I think I got through to her eventually, that it's not cool to just take it whenever like that, and her body doesn't work that way, and she agreed to follow your instructions now, though she still insisted she could 'feel' her levels like, down to the hour, so she had this tea she was drinking that she thought would help and only took the pill if she didn't feel better after a little while and..."
Jon chuckled again, "Honestly, that kind of thing doesn't even surprise me at this point, I'm just glad you caught it and talked to her."
"Yeah no worries, but I wanted to hold off on the dose increase you just wrote, since she hasn't really been taking it," Carly said.
"Oh yeah of course. Thanks Carly. I don't think we had gotten up that high on it yet thankfully, so I don't think I'll lower it further, but we'll check her labs again after a while," Jon said.
"Okay. I warned her about the actual symptoms to watch out for if she's suddenly getting too much of it."
"Perfect."
A few seconds of silence.
"That album you linked to me was killer by the way," Jon finally said.
"I KNOW right?!" Carly said excitedly.
"Yeah the trumpet being in there threw me off a bit at first, cause it's not usually my thing, but it just works. It adds a punch, it's funky. I love it," Jon said, leaning back in his chair with a wide smile and tapping his pen on his knee.
"Aaahh exactly! Actually my first listen I wasn't completely sold cause it was pretty different from their other stuff, but now I can't stop playing it."
"I'll have to check out their other stuff too. Thanks again for that,"
"Yeah no problem....It's better on vinyl by the way," she said teasingly.
"Psshhh of course you'd say that," he teased back.
"IT IS! I'll have to prove it to you sometime."
"You inviting me over then?" he said, before even realizing what he was saying.
A few more seconds of silence, as his smile turned into a cringe, then he heard her sigh.
"I better get back to work, Mrs. Foster's still waiting." she said, still with a friendly tone, but obviously reigning herself in.
"Yeah no worries. It was great talking to you Carly," Jon said sincerely.
"You too. I'll catch you later."
"Yeah, uh, this Saturday at the Hospital shin-dig I guess right?" he said, hopefully.
"Yeah... I'm looking forward to it. See you there," she said softly
"Bye," he said, and hung up the phone. Suddenly feeling the best he'd felt in a while.
They had still chatted with the occasional polite phone call since their fallout, but since their drive home after Jeff's party and their few friendly texts since, it was like a switch had been flipped. He felt like he suddenly had his old friend back. It was exactly what he had wanted.