Page 2 of Rescuing Dr. Marian
“Shakespeare,” came from behind us. “For god’s sake.”
“Brother to Richard. Obvs,” I added, turning to grinbetween the seats at the man who’d saved my mood if not my shirt.
He was clean-cut, with neatly trimmed light-brown hair, bright hazel eyes, and a knowing grin that made my stomach do something interesting.
I also noticed the equally attractive woman next to him, scrolling through her phone, and realized they were probably together.
Figured.
All the best ones were taken these days. All of my friends back in Wyoming had recently paired up, too, leaving me the sole, glaringly single target of my mother’s matchmaking ways.
Hence, my hookup vacation in Hawaii. No mother. No snow. No work. Only me, the sun, umbrella drinks, and a plentiful Grindr app for the next ten days. Ringing in the New Year right.
Daisy turned around and beamed at 9A. “You know him? The poet?”
He bit his lip and nodded, eyes dancing as he glanced at me, inviting me to share the joke. “I know him well. Spent way too much time with him in high school, actually. Wordy fucker.”
The seat belt sign dinged off, so Daisy turned and knelt up onto her seat to face him. She gasped. “Hey, wait, you’re the guy from that commercial! With the dog and the thing!”
“Sorry, no. I?—”
“You are!” Daisy argued, loudly enough to get the attention of all the passengers who were trying to collect their bags and deplane.
The woman sitting with him looked up from her phone andshot him a teasing look. “I assure you, he’s not that interesting. He’s a physician in Manhattan.Bor-ring.”
The playful sarcasm in her voice suggested they knew each other well, and the way he rolled his eyes confirmed it.
Daisy set her jaw. “Be that as it mayyyyy,” she said. “He’s also in that commercial with the dog and the thing!”
A man craned his head around the people in the aisle to take a look at the handsome doctor like he was a bug under a magnifying glass. “You do look a little like him.”
Another lady shook her head. “Too squinchy in the eyes. It’s not him.”
Someone behind us called impatiently, “Can we go, please? There’s a fruity drink with my name on it somewhere.”
Daisy pouted. “But I want an autograph and picture.”
The crowd around us began to argue, some trying to get closer to the doctor to get a better look, a few saying they wanted an autograph and picture also, most just hoping to get off the damned plane.
The doctor blushed fiercely.
Suddenly, I had an idea. “Oh, I know exactly who you mean now,” I told Daisy. “Wade, uh… Brown. Wade Brown. Yeah. But he died.”
“What?” Her eyes went huge.
“Mmmm,” I said solemnly. “Tragic. Even Kevin Bacon posted about it. They’d worked together a bunch. He played his guitar in a tribute song for the guy on social media.” I laid a hand over my heart and cast my eyes to the ceiling of the airplane. “RIP, Wade.”
“Ohmigosh! Now that you mention it, I think I did see Kevinplaying his guitar!” Daisy exclaimed. She turned to the doctor. “Sorry, bro. ’S too bad you didn’t do the thing with the dog, though.”
Others nodded and murmured, agreeing that it was sad for such a good actor to be cut down in his prime… and that this random guy on the airplane wasn’t semi-famous.
The doctor shot me a look of incredulity and mouthed, “Thank you.”
I winked back at him.
“So anyway,” I said to the rest of the people around us, nodding and stepping out into the aisle before nudging others forward. “We’ll all drink one to Wade tonight. I know I’m gonna.”
“To Wade!” everyone added.
