Arrhythmia (10 page)

“Oh, that.” He ran his fingers through his hair, which was standing on end from all the adhesive in it. “Well, I just wanted to know . . .”

“Hmm?” I pressed him when he didn’t finish.

What was the matter with him?

Frank looked around helplessly.

“All right,” he began again. “I was just wondering if . . . if I really need new drapes in here.”

Huh?
I looked at him in bewilderment.

“Your old drapes are blue. With yellow circles on them,” I said slowly.

“Yeah, but you know, I kind of liked that pattern.”

“Frank, blue with yellow circles. This isn’t a nursery!”

“Hm.”

“I don’t know what got into Birgit to make her choose something like that.”

Frank timidly raised his finger. “Uh, I was the one who chose them.”

“Aha. Well, that explains everything.” I possessively placed my hand on his shoulder. “And it demonstrates how desperately you need me as your interior designer. There is no room anywhere in the world where these drapes would look good. Just trust me.”

He gave in a little reluctantly, and I was still shaking my head later when I got home.

Blue with yellow circles. Please!

Chapter 12

I had a night shift again a few days later. With Desiderio, of course. Right from the start, I began to get strange little skips in my usually very regular pulse when he greeted me with the most alluring smile I’d ever seen. I instantly recalled my EKG plan and resolved to go ahead with it as soon as Desiderio headed to the doctors’ lounge. I didn’t even want to imagine having to explain my symptoms to him!

The outpatient clinic was empty. It was Tuesday and there was no full moon, which meant things should stay quiet. As soon as the day shift left, I sat down at the computer at the nurses’ station to input some patient data. Surgery dates, wound-care documentation . . . in other words, the usual. I took my time in order to avoid Desiderio’s handsome face.

After a while, I sensed a slight tingling on my neck. I knew that someone was watching me and, moreover, I knew exactly who it was. I’d been paying close attention to the sounds around me, so how had he suddenly appeared without so much as a swish of clothing? Was it possible for someone to move so stealthily? Had I somehow ended up in a vampire story? That would explain my uncanny attraction to Desiderio. His charm was unnatural.

But what was he planning now? Why was he standing there, silently watching me? Was he planning to bite me? And if he did that, would I fight him?

Lena!

OK, back to reality. There were no vampires, and I would most certainly defend myself.

Or not?

Of course!

What was he trying to achieve with his slinking? Maybe he was trying to scare me. That seemed the most likely explanation. Right after vampire.

But I was going to flip the script.

“What do you want?” I asked without turning.

I could practically hear Desiderio’s grin. “Do you mean in general, or specifically at this moment?”

Idiot.

“I mean, why the hell are you creeping up on me like that?”

“I just wanted to see if you’re still tense when I’m not around.”

I spun around in a flash. “I’m tense?”

Desiderio leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and winked at me. “Most of the time.”

“You’re confusing tense with annoyed,” I explained.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think you’re the one who has the two mixed up.”

“So you think you know me better than I know myself?”

He just casually shrugged his shoulders. “At least I know you better than you think I do.”

My eyebrows wandered up my forehead. “I see. The great psychoanalyst has spoken.”

I turned back to the monitor in order to stop looking at a loose lock of hair on his forehead that was driving me crazy.

Behind me, I could hear Desiderio sit down at the kitchen table. A rustling noise had to be him spreading the day’s newspaper out in front of him. Did he really have to be in here?

I doggedly tried to ignore his presence and resume my work at the computer. The clicking of the keyboard, at which I was pecking a little harder than necessary, filled the room for only a short while before I was interrupted again.

“Have you ever been to Italy?” Desiderio asked, completely out of the blue.

My fingers hovered over the keys. I briefly considered lying to him before answering, “Yes, but that was a long time ago.”

“How long?”

“Almost seven years.”

“That’s not so long. Where exactly were you?”

I thought for a minute. I finally forced myself to answer as neutrally as possible. Perhaps I could manage to carry on a normal conversation with this impossible man.

“All over, really. Rome, Venice, Milan . . . but I spent most of my time in Sicily,” I recounted, staring stubbornly at the monitor.

“Wow, how long did your trip last?”

“Five months.”

“That long? Fantastic. How old were you?”

“Seventeen. I celebrated my eighteenth birthday in Palermo.”

Desiderio reflected briefly. My shoulders instantly tensed.

“Palermo is amazing. I was there, too, once. What did you like best about Sicily?”

I was so relieved that he didn’t want to know the specifics of my trip that I gave myself over to enthusiastic honesty.

“The espresso. Oh my goodness, I haven’t had such good coffee since. Hm . . . Un caffè lungo, per favore!”

Desiderio laughed. “German coffee can only be described as swill once you’ve tasted real Sicilian espresso.”

The disarming nature of the conversation made me turn around in my chair.

“Where exactly is your family from?”

My question obviously pleased him. “My roots are in Verona. But it’s a little more complicated than that, if you’re interested.”

I even managed a smile, surprising myself.

“Go ahead.”

He accepted my invitation with a gleam in his eyes. “Well, my father was born in Verona and grew up there. My mother is a Wollbach native and met him during a trip to Italy. Both tell me that it was love at first sight. They ended up getting married, and my father moved to Germany for my mother’s sake. I mostly grew up here, but we spent all our vacations in Italy. And when I started college, my parents decided to spend their well-earned retirement in Italy and emigrated.”

“You don’t have any siblings?”

“No.” He raised his hands apologetically. “I’m a spoiled only child.

“I was about to say.”

We briefly grinned at each other.

“How about you?” he inquired. “Do you have siblings?”

“Two half sisters, but we’re not close, in several respects,” I said, and hesitated a little. “My family is a little complicated.”

“I have time,” Desiderio said encouragingly.

“All right
,
then.” I leaned back and tried to find an appropriate way to start. “My parents are originally from Munich and moved here because of my father’s work. I was born here. My parents got divorced when I was twelve. My father went through some kind of midlife crisis and disappeared to France with a significantly younger woman. It was only years later that he contacted me again and I learned I had two younger sisters. I’ve only met them once, and we don’t have much of a relationship. I talk to my father on the phone exactly twice a year: once on my birthday and once on his. No, don’t make that face. It’s all right. I never felt life would have been better with a real father—at least for me. My mother was devastated when he left and was a pretty desperate single mom for many years. She probably didn’t have an easy time with me, but anyway . . . She never had another real relationship here, and her job as a sales clerk was more than a little frustrating.”

I paused and became lost in my memories. Patiently, Desiderio waited for me to continue my tale. At some point, I cleared my throat and gave him a crooked smile.

“But now it’s love, peace, and harmony again. My mom is living in Hamburg, working at her dream job as an editor at a renowned publishing house, and she’s finally found a really nice partner. We don’t see much of each other, but our relationship is the best it’s ever been.”

Desiderio had listened to my story with the utmost attention.

“How long has your mother been in Hamburg?” he wanted to know.

“Uh, I’m not sure. It’s been a few years” was my flimsy answer as I scratched my chin.

His look grew penetrating and ever more unpleasant. He could tell I was leaving something out, and he was unsure whether to press me for more information or tactfully accept my silence.

Much to my surprise, he decided to go the tactful route.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to go to Hamburg either,” he agreed, breaking the tension.

I responded gratefully, “Well, I wouldn’t have minded moving to Verona!”

“Medical school in Italy? Oh no. If I had been accepted, I would have gone to Switzerland. Italy? Munich was a much better choice. Once a Bavarian, always a Bavarian.”

I laughed out loud. “Such patriotism!”

As we sat there giggling, I noticed how remarkably comfortable I felt in his company. I could have sat there in the kitchen with him chewing the fat all night.

Desiderio’s giggles changed into a gentle smile that made me feel warm all over. It wasn’t at all like his erotic grins, but rather honest and winsome. Why couldn’t he be normal more often? Whenever he wasn’t brazenly coming on to me, I really liked him. Why did he insist on driving me up the wall with that affected macho demeanor?

Just as I was about to ask him about that, we heard the door to the ER swing open with a buzz.

I rolled my office chair forward so I could see down the corridor. When I recognized the person headed in my direction, I felt like slamming the kitchen door.

Nurse Steffi sashayed in with flowing hair extensions and makeup piled on like war paint. She waved a stack of papers at me.

“Hiii!” she warbled. “I have a few discharge papers that need signatures.”

Signatures? At this hour? And personally requested by Miss Plastic herself? The departments normally assigned such menial tasks to the interns. Only in extremely urgent cases would a nurse deign to run such a mindless errand.

“Is Dr. DiCastellooo still here?” Steffi asked, craning her skinny neck.

So that was the real reason for her late visit. She had come to bewitch Desiderio. My God, that woman was so transparent she should use glass cleaner to wash herself.

“I’m right here,” said Desiderio as he leaned forward and waved.

“Hi there, Dr. DiCastello! May I trouble you for a moment?” Steffi purred. She came in without waiting for an invitation.

Her tone was enough to trigger a strong gag reflex in me, and I rolled my chair back to the desk to escape her cloud of sickly sweet perfume. But at least she had been respectful enough to address Desiderio using his formal title, and that put me in a more forgiving mood.

“Sure,” Desiderio replied politely. “What’s up?”

“I urgently need your signature on these papers.”

Batting her eyelashes, she placed the papers in question in front of him one by one. I wondered how a person with such amounts of mascara on could still manage to move her lashes. It seemed like so much mascara in such fine hairs would make the lids too heavy to lift. Her eye muscles had to be remarkable.

With no more questions, Desiderio picked up a pen and briefly went through each of the papers before signing them.

Meanwhile, I grimly swung from side to side on my office chair.

“Urgent discharge papers? Are you guys throwing patients out at midnight?” I asked venomously.

Steffi laughed and regarded me with pity. “Nooo. These patients are being discharged tomorrow morning.”

All I needed was for her to have added “silly!”

Stupid cow!

I tried not to bang my head against the desk and changed my voice so I’d sound slow on the uptake. “Oh, I see! And here I thought discharge papers got signed during morning rounds.”

I scored a hit!

Steffi looked at me angrily while I gloated.

Desiderio seemed not to notice our hostility, because he continued leafing through the papers, now and then scribbling his name at the bottom.

When we had done enough staring, Steffi turned her attention to the real reason she had come. “So, Doc, did you have a hard day?”

And then, as though her ass kissing weren’t bad enough, she placed her bony little butt on the table in front of Desiderio with feigned casualness.

On
my
kitchen table!

While I sat fuming, Desiderio did not even look up. That obviously rankled Steffi.

“It was fine,” he said absentmindedly and went on scribbling.

I rejoiced and grasped the opportunity that had just presented itself to me.

“But Desiderio, what are you talking about?” I chirped with a heavy emphasis on his first name. “When I started my shift, Sandra told me things had been crazy here!”

Now Desiderio did look up. And the fact that he looked at me in surprise and not at the butt right under his nose annoyed Nurse Steffi enormously. I could have shouted for joy.

“It wasn’t that bad,” he said.

“Now, now. No false modesty,” I rebuked him. “I know exactly how hard you work.” Again, flaunting our familiarity at work.

I quickly checked out Steffi, and her pinched facial expression almost made me laugh out loud. Desiderio looked at her, signed once more, and gave the stack of papers back.

“Is everything quiet in the ward?” he inquired.

The bimbo immediately threw herself into a provocative pose and began playing with a thin strand of hair. “Same as usual, really. It’s not too bad, but I’m still glad I have tomorrow off.”

This heavy-handed hint made me let out a slight groan. Did she really think Desiderio was going to fall for such a clumsy come-on?

“Oh, nice. You have the day off,” he repeated. “Do you have something fun planned?”

Excuse me? Seriously?

Steffi traced an imaginary line on her pants with her index finger and said with a flutter, “No, I don’t have any plans . . . yet.”

I could have puked! What was going on? Soft porn?

When Desiderio answered with “Really? How can that be?” I jumped up and bolted out of the hormone-laden room.

Yuck, that was just disgusting!

I stormed into the nearest treatment room and began randomly opening and slamming drawers without even looking at their contents.

What exactly was enraging me so much?

After all, I didn’t care what those two were doing. I should be glad that Desiderio had finally directed his ridiculous flirtations at someone else.

But why Steffi, of all people? How could he possibly fall for such a plastic cow?

Either he had no taste or just bad taste. Either way, I felt offended at being placed on the same level with that bimbo!

Enraged, I rummaged through the drawers and cabinets. Because of the ruckus I was making, I didn’t notice Desiderio until he was right next to me. I jumped. He had succeeded in startling me after all.

“Damn, don’t sneak up on me like that, OK?” I snapped at him.

“A whole army could assemble right here and you would never know with all this noise you’re making,” he answered casually.