She stood up and walked me towards a door. “Change into the gown and wait for the doctor, he’ll be through to see you soon,” she said.
I walked into the room and looked around. So this was where Alex worked. Suddenly I was flooded with pride. Alex was a doctor. He worked in the hospital and saved lives and probably did it with a smile. The gown was hanging on the wall and I wasn’t about to change into it so I sat on the bed and waited for him. The door opened and the receptionist stuck her head around it.
“Well, what are you waiting for? The gown,” she said, pointing at it.
I stood up quickly and grabbed the gown this time, taking my clothes off and changing into it. It was one of those terrible bright green hospital gowns that open in the back. It was cold and I shivered while I waited for him.
It felt like forever, but finally the other door opened. I heard the voice before I saw him. “So, Sally, I believe you have a bit of an emer—”
Alex looked up and stopped talking. Our eyes locked and my God, he looked amazing. Truly. He was wearing a crisp white doctor’s coat. His name was smartly embroidered onto the jacket pocket. He had a stethoscope casually hanging around his neck and he was wearing a cute pair of glasses I’d never seen him in before. They drew even more attention to those gunmetal-gray eyes of his.His eyes. . . God, you could get so lost in them. Fall into them, swim in them, live in them and never want to leave.
“Alex,” I said quietly to him.
“Val,” he said back. His voice was cool. “Why are you here?”
“Um . . . I’m here because I have this pain in my chest,” I said slowly. “I’ve had the pain for exactly three weeks now and it won’t go away.”
Alex looked at me and sighed. “I’m not that kind of doctor. Maybe you would be better suited to a cardiologist,” he said.
I shook my head. “No. You are the only person in the world that can fix this pain.”
“Why?” he asked, taking a step closer to me.
“Because . . .” I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. “Because I think my heart is broken and only you can put it back together again.” A tear rolled down my cheek.
Alex’s face softened somewhat and he took a small step towards me. “You came all this way to tell me that?”
“Well, my article didn’t work so I had to.”
He shook his head. “What article?”
“The one I wrote about you. Didn’t you see it? You subscribed to the magazine?” I asked.
“I lost my phone,” he said softly. “I didn’t see it. What did it say?”
I got up and walked over to him. “It’s you, Alex,” I said. “It’s everything about you. It’s your eyes and the way I feel when you look at me. It’s the way you smile and the way my heart skips a beat every time you do. It’s the way you make me feel about myself when I’m around you . . .” I paused and took a moment to wipe my tears a little, they were blurring my vision and I wanted to see him when I said this next part. “I love you and I made a terrible mistake.”
“Really?” He stepped closer to me.
I nodded. “I’m an idiot for choosing Matt and nothing happened with him,nothing.”
“You mean that?”
“Yes! With every single part of my heart, every single tiny fiber in my body and nerve cell and everything!”
“That’s a lot,” he said.
“So . . .?” The moment of truth had arrived. “Will you forgive me for being a total idiot and can you give me another chance?”
Alex looked at me. I could see he was thinking, weighing things up. He didn’t say a word.
“Oh God, say something. Please,” I begged. My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest with anticipation. I took another step closer to him and then reached out and took his stethoscope. I put it in his ears and then pulled the cord towards me, placing it onto my chest. “Listen,” I said.
“It’s beating fast,” he said.
“And it’s beating all for you.” I placed my hands on his chest and moved closer to him. He took the stethoscope out of his ears and then I felt his hands on the sides of my face.
“You kind of broke my heart a little bit,” he said quietly.
