Saving Grace

Joshua strode down the hospital hallways, greeting his busy colleagues with a slight nod and a dashing smile to complement. He walked over to the emergency unit with hasty steps and was about to fling the door open when Helen popped up right in front of him with a cherubic smile.

“Hello Doctor Joshua, where are you going?” Helen questioned, folding her arms under her voluptuous bosom, causing them to rise and reveal fair cleavage to the eyes of the one in front of her.

With a loud smack on his dry and crackly lips, Joshua replied, “I got your text, you said my attention was needed in the emergency unit.” He was confused at her question.

“Oh, did I say your attention was needed in the emergency unit?” Helen blinked, flipping her midnight black hair that toppled over her shoulders.

“Yes, you did!” Joshua glared at her, he was starting to get irritated, he couldn’t comprehend why she was playing silly games with his mind. He glanced at his wristwatch briefly and folded his arms behind his back.

“I meant to say that I needed your attention. My phone must have typed the wrong message.” Helen chuckled, then proceeded to pluck out two buttons off her shirt letting some of her ample chest spill out and giving him a glimpse of red lace that was hidden behind her blouse.

Joshua gulped, sucking in a deep breath. He looked at the red lace bra that barely contained her big mounds, her nipples were hard and seemed to be begging for his touch through the bra, her white coat made her look even more irresistible. He groaned out, the sound of a man fighting his instincts. He wasn’t willing yet she was begging for it.

“Then I should probably go back and check on my next patient,” Joshua told her, shutting his eyes to remove the lustful image of Helen in his brain. He didn’t want her, but he was a man and had needs.

“You aren’t busy, I already looked through your schedule, you have no patients to attend to this afternoon and you have no night shifts either.” Helen pressured, a pout on her red lips as her eyes begged.

“Are you sure? The shifts would have changed. Why don’t I go check?” Joshua argued, worry laced in his tone. He looked around the room, anywhere else but the inviting bosom in front of him.

“Why don’t we go to that fancy restaurant and have some fun?” Helen suggested, reaching out to caress Joshua’s chest through his shirt, pretending that he had specs of dust on his starched blue shirt.

“Or I should probably head home and have some fun, alone.” Joshua concluded helplessly, raising his hands up in the air.

“But-” Helen interjected.

“Next time, call me when there’s an actual patient,” Joshua replied with a frown growing on his face.

“But you are always busy and this was the only way I could draw you out. I miss my best friend,” She cooed, pouting her lips again.

“That’s not an excuse, Helen. Go attend to your patients. I am damn sure they are crying out for you.” He ordered, peering daggers at her fluttering eyelashes.

“Give me a hug so I’ll feel better,” Helen replied, stretching her arms out.

She wanted to use that and trap him and he knew it, one hug with her breast pressed against his chest, may be his downfall. Joshua bluntly declined and turned around. He refused to look back, fearing that her tear stricken eyes might draw him back. He could still hear Helen grumble and stomp her feet angrily in rejection, almost like a child throwing a tantrum. The drive to walk faster pumped into his legs.

Helen was his best friend ever since they both began medical school and she always displayed her affections openly. He never liked her in a sensual or sexual way, neither did he ever catch feelings for her but she was always persistent, even when his late wife, Sally was still alive, Helen was still into him knowing he was married. Couldn’t she see from the way he stared at her or from the way he stood her up on several occasions?

Helen was cute but not in a knock off your socks kind of way. She had lambent, jade-green eyes that could melt a man’s heart and a soothing voice to match. She had a sculpted figure which was twine-thin. Her waist was tapered and she had a burnished complexion. She wore skirts and pants trousers that brought the firm swell of her hips and from what he noticed, her skirt hitched up her thighs anytime they were alone in the doctor’s lounge.

Joshua simply ignored her body advances without telling her his true feelings. He didn’t want to ruin a long time friendship, he hoped that she would move on over her silly crush on him and find a nice guy to settle down with. Someone who will love her for who she was and not what her body was offering.

He reached the parking lot and raced towards his car, he removed his coat and rolled up his sleeves. He opened the vehicle door and bent his head before flopping on the seat. His height was always a problem even with doors. He started the engine with vigour and he drove fast, faster than he should have, the mental picture of Grace swiped in his head and then a guilty picture of a dead Sally and his late two year old daughter popped up in his head. He swore loyalty to his dead wife as he punished the steering wheel with a death grip.

This was torture, This was hell. This was wrong. He needed to get Grace out of his head but her puffy pink lips didn’t help his predicament. She was just a normal patient, they had met only once and he was already smitten by her physical beauty.

******

It was almost night when Joshua stopped in front of his small apartment which was situated in a secluded place in Ohio, he jerked the car to a abrupt stop and removed his car keys from the hole. Grabbing hold of his doctor’s coat, he strode towards the front porch with his lips pressed in a thin line. He unlocked the door and the wisp smell of loneliness lingered around the nearly pitch black living room. Empty packs of noodles greeted him as he walked over to the refrigerator to grab a drink.

Placing his white coat on a nearby couch, he bent low to pick up the empty noodle packs and he threw them into the trash can. He then opened the refrigerator and after some quick thinking, he settled for a soda. He took huge gulps in his mouth as his Adam’s apple bobbled, reacting to the sweet taste of the soda in his right hand.

Joshua reached to remove a portrait on the wall with his left hand and then flopped on the soft couch. He trailed a finger over the portrait that showed him and Sally with his daughter, Leah smiling brightly at the camera. The picture was taken a year ago, few months before they both lost their precious lives to a bomb explosion in Florida. A tear rolled down his right cheek, then another followed and another.

Oceans of water kept running down his face, he sniffed, trying to get control of himself, but it was all in vain. Everyday, he worked hard in the hospital with a determination to treat lives but he couldn’t even save his own family. His brain tried to persuade him that everything was going to be alright but the loud thumping of his heart said otherwise. He took another large gulp of the soda and wiped his tears with the back of his hand.

Joshua was a man who smiled sweetly in the day and cried himself to sleep at night.