Brainstorm. Sheldon J.D. Cohen

waiting area of the restaurant. She was already there when he arrived. More than prompt, he thought. I like that. He was anxious to continue the introductory phase of their new relationship.

      After they sat, he said, “I want to hear all about you. What are you doing here at Covenant?”

      “I got a supervisory nursing role on the third floor. I couldn’t pass it up. But you tell me about yourself first,” she said.

      He nodded and sipped his Martini. “Okay, I’ll get right into the nitty-gritty, what there is of it. What do you want to hear first: professional or personal?”

      “Let’s save personal for the last,” she responded with a smile that took away Burt’s concentration.

      “Well?” she offered.

      “Uhh, yes, forgive me. That smile dazzled me for a minute. You are a very attractive woman, you know.”

      “Thank you for the nice compliment,” she said careful not to smile.

      “Well deserved,” he said. “Anyhow, after I completed my internal medicine residency, I went into practice here at Covenant. It’s the only hospital I use. That makes things a lot easier as opposed to many of the doctors who run to three or four hospitals.”

      “Yes, circuit workers we used to call them,” said Eve.

      Burt nodded. “That’s a quick rundown of the professional side of it. On the personal side, I’m thirty-years-old and divorced one year from a wife of three years. If you spoke to my ex, she would tell you I ignored her. Never home she would say. It was tough for her not to be the center of attention at all times. We talked about how busy I was before we got married, but I think she never believed it. Anyhow, she wanted out and she got her wish.”

      “I’ve heard it before,” she reassured him with a smile. “Are you over that trauma now? You look kind of sad.”

      “Yeah, I’m over it. When someone wants out as bad as she did, there’s no use fighting it. I must have been the only medical resident who lived in an 800,000-dollar house, a gift from her father for her to live in while she worked in Chicago before she met me. A starter home, he called it. Eight hundred grand to him was like loose change to me. His net worth was over three billion. He made it as one of the early hedge fund pioneers. Anyhow, everything that guy touches turns to gold. When his daughter moved back to New York he sold the house for a million dollars and I moved to a nice little condominium overlooking a crystal-clear man-made lake.”

      “Was it a nasty divorce?”

      “Not at all, it was easy. We had nothing to fight about. I didn’t even hire a lawyer. My wife said, let’s each take what we brought to the marriage, split our joint assets fifty-fifty and go our own ways. I thought it was her old man talking, but her financial savvy was good enough for it to be just her. I can’t argue with fairness, I said, and I moved out. By that time, the residency was history and I went into a partnership with a very busy, older internist who promised to retire after one year of orienting me to the ways of private practice. The guy’s got more money than he knows what to do with.”

      “What’s his name?”

      “John Wagner. Do you know him?”

      “Do I ever. I worked with him many times at Illinois General. We used to call him Porschy, because that’s all he ever drove were Porsches; I think a new one every year. We figured he had family wealth. No internist can make that kind of money.”

      Burt laughed and said, “Ain’t that the truth, and while he was on the Illinois General staff he was also on the staff of Covenant, but when he made the decision to retire, he left Illinois General to concentrate on Covenant. That’s when he took me in practice with him. Would you like another drink?”

      “No thanks. One’s my absolute limit. Anyhow there’s the waiter coming with our food.”

      Well that is refreshing, he thought. Most of the women he dated years back were clueless compared to this gal and would never turn down a drink even after they got to the babbling idiot stage. Nothing turned him off more than that. His turn-on came from women with impressive intellects. He had met Eve when he would attend grand round medical conferences at Illinois General. Their relationship had been only a professional one when she took care of some of his patients. She was a medical nurse and was married then, but there was no ring on her finger now and that suggested she was unmarried, or perhaps was practicing good hospital infection control and no longer wears a wedding ring.

      “Tell me about you now,” he said.

      She nodded her head and smiled a smile again that brought back the emotion he felt when he first saw her in the cafeteria.

      “Our lives are sort of running on a parallel course. I’m divorced too. My ex was involved in extracurricular activities, if you know what I mean.”

      “I think I know what you mean.”

      “You’re right, so I moved out and had a lawyer give him the news that I’m history. I had an easy divorce too. I promised I wouldn’t make any waves if we just called it quits. He saw the wisdom of that.”

      That was concise and to the point, he thought. “Have you dated again?”

      “You’re the first.”

      Burt smiled, sat upright, puffed out his chest, and said, “It’s not often that a man is recorded a singular honor such as that.”

      His eyebrows lifted again as she laughed and threw her head back. He liked her relaxed manner and the way she concentrated on his every word. Her facial expression was a model of attentiveness and a mirror of the emotion she may have been feeling at the moment. And those sparkling blue-grey eyes staring into mine, he thought. She had dark brown hair coiffed to hang shoulder length in a graceful curve covering her shoulders. She stared at you as if nothing else mattered except hearing what you had to say. There was no makeup, nor was any necessary on her smooth, blemish free face. She was five foot seven inches in her high heels, probably five three or four in stocking feet and was trim and fit. He judged her height when she stood next to him. First date, first impression—this gal was class. Let’s see what happens. The good news was that after her divorce she left Illinois General to take the supervisory nursing role at Covenant.

      “Where are you from,” he asked.

      “I was born in Covenant, believe it or not. My parents live in Barrington Hills now.”

      Recognizing one of the most affluent suburbs in the nation, he said, “Whoa, have I met another gal with big bucks?”

      “My parents have the big bucks, not me. They helped me with college for my nursing BS, but I paid for my master’s degree. I’m self-supporting, my good man. A woman’s in trouble these days without being able to support herself.”

      “You got that right; any serious man in your life?”

      “But I already told you, you’re the first date since my divorce. Anyhow why would you wish to know?” she asked with chin down and eyebrows lifted.

      “Just trying to be sure I got a chance to get to know you. I’m not one who likes to beat his head against the wall. I kinda like what I see, but when I get turned down, it wreaks havoc with my fragile ego.” He shook his head and put his hands over his eyes.

      She said, “Aw…poor baby.”

      He stared at her mock, pitying face and tried to mask a smile. Eve Worthey, he thought, this could be the start of a beautiful relationship.

      CHAPTER 3

      George finished Worthey’s mantelpiece earlier than promised. He felt better, but when he forgot to take the antacids, the pain returned. He began to suspect some medical problem, but chose to dismiss it. Too damned busy to be sick, he thought.

      In a few days, his symptoms quieted down. He delivered the signed masterpiece to Worthey who was very pleased. “George,” he said. If your work is always this good,