Page 101 of Sick of You

“Maybe we should get started on that.”

“What are you waiting for?”

I pulled Davis close to kiss him again.

Connect might not have been a long-term job solution, but I’d found exactly where I belonged. Perfectly.

I hurried down to check on one of my patients presenting with troubling new symptoms. The man had seemed to recover satisfactorily from his travel-acquired dengue fever, but I’d seen on his chart that he was suddenly unable to eat since the day before. Worrisome enough to pull me out of my office for an unplanned visit.

After no one acknowledged my knock, I pushed the patient door open cautiously and pumped some hand sanitizer out, wincing at the noise. But the patient probably hadn’t been able to hear me over the noise of his television, set to the highest volume.

“It’s Dr. Donaldson,” I called, stepping past the curtain around his bed. No sign of the patient.

Had he been taken for a procedure I hadn’t heard about? I was already scanning my badge to check his notes on the computer by his bedside when the TV spot on the local morning talk show caught my attention.

“Local entrepreneur Davis Hardcastle wants you to find a friend,” a woman’s voice said.

I looked up to see a shirtless Davis bench-pressing heavy weights in what was probably a state-of-the-art home gym, sporting more abdominal muscles than I’d learned about in medical school. Entrepreneur? Up until a few weeks ago he’d been Assistant Director of the Division of Urban Health, office on the same floor as mine.

“Working out. Reading. Ordering takeout. That was how Davis used to spend his time outside work. But then he found the connection he craved,” the voice continued.

The screen blurred into a video of Davis holding an ice cream cone. He offered the cone to someone just outside of the shot, his words inaudible through the voiceover.

The camera zoomed out to show the recipient, a woman I knew well: Dr. Cassidy Croft.

I gasped. She hadn’t mentioned she was going to be on TV. Then again, we hadn’t exactly been in contact since her work at the hospital ended a week ago. The time had gotten away from me. I’d planned to call her to officially invite her on my family cruise as soon as her fellowship was complete.

“Davis is good at learning from his mistakes,” the voiceover continued. “After a few months without making meaningful friendships in Philadelphia, he turned his attention to making an app that would let him and the many others like him find friendship.”

Cassidy and Davis were friends? She hadn’t even seemed to like him during his brief stint at the hospital. Sure, she’d been caring and concerned when Davis was exposed to anthrax, but that was how she treated all her patients. It was one of the many things I admired about her.

The video cut to a studio where two local TV hosts sat opposite Davis and Cassidy. Davis was wearing a dress shirt that fitted like it was poured over him, while Cassidy wore a sunshine yellow blouse I’d seen her in once before. I always loved it on her.

“And this morning onPhilly’s Finestwe’ve got Davis here in the studio to tell us all about the app,” the male host announced.

“So, Davis!” The female host leaned across the coffee table separating her from the guests and laid a hand on his knee. “I hear you’re very concerned about loneliness.”

“That’s right, Millie.” Davis shifted slightly towards Cassidy until he’d moved out from under the host’s hand, launching into an explanation of how his background in public health had led him to research the debilitating effects of loneliness. “Isn’t that right, Dr. Croft?” He smiled at Cassidy.

And covered her hand with his.

Cassidy smiled turning her hand over to clasp his while remaining poised as ever. “In fact, the surgeon general has issued an advisory labeling loneliness as an epidemic,” she began.

My heart started palpitating so irregularly I feared I’d have to hit the emergency button to summon a nurse.

The male host didn’t let Cassidy speak very long before cutting her off. “And you’ve created an app to address this terrible problem, right, Davis?”

“Yes, Mike, and we’ll talk about that as soon as Dr. Croft finishes.”

Cassidy gave a small laugh. “Thank you, Davis. As I was saying, loneliness isn’t just emotionally painful, it also carries serious health risks. I think the Connect app is a wonderful way to combat it.”

Once she’d finished, Davis took over smoothly—just as smoothly as he slid an arm around Cassidy’s shoulders.

They weren’t friends.

They were more than friends.

They were dating.

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