Read Promise Me Eternity for Free Online Page A

this was not what it seemed to be and began to say
whatever came into his head. He told her that Helen really was not
so bad, that it was probably his fault too, and that we all have
our little peculiarities. He kept on talking and hoped she would
take her hand away.
    Then, at last, she spoke. “Did you ever think
that maybe the two of us could possibly …? I don’t really know the
best way to say it. … I’ve always liked you a lot, Simon. Maybe we
could get together sometime outside of work, for dinner or
something.”
    He swallowed, almost choking on his saliva.
“You mean just the two of us?” He looked directly at her for a
moment. Anita Carter was a beautiful woman with a face that was
completely adorable. He had often wondered why she used such heavy
makeup, since it didn’t suit her. But he was bothered by her eyes,
which had a hazy translucence. He could never tell what was going
on with her, what she was thinking. He was afraid of those
eyes.
    He pulled his hand closer to his body, but
only succeeded in shifting it a fraction of an inch. Her hand only
intensified its pressure on his.
    “Simon, you have no idea how attractive you
are. What if we went to your office? No one will bother us there.
What do you say?”
    For a second he thought he might do it. Anita
Carter, after all, was an extremely beautiful woman. An opportunity
like this didn’t come along every day. He was almost about to nod
when he looked into her eyes again. An unpleasant feeling ran down
his back. He pulled his hand away sharply and moved off the
barstool. “I don’t think that would be wise. Considering that we
work together.”
    Her lips got thinner, her eyes even glassier.
“You really think we couldn’t make it work?”
    Now that he had freed himself from her touch
he could be more decisive. “Yes, Anita. I think we should just be
good friends. That would be best.”
    A beeping noise came from his pocket. His
pager displayed a number he had to call. This was almost certainly
something urgent. The pager in Anita’s pocket was also beeping.
    Five minutes later they found themselves
together in the same operating room. A woman had been in a car
accident and because she had not been wearing a seat belt, her head
had gone through the windshield. An operation was needed
immediately or there could be long-term consequences. She might
even die. The woman, who was fully conscious, was crying.
    “We need a CT scan immediately,” Dr.
Patterson called out to the staff.
    The duty nurse helped move the patient onto
another table and guided her into a special apparatus.
    A few minutes later, the doctor slowly shook
his head as he examined the scans of the cranial cross-sections. It won’t be an easy operation.
    When the patient was on the operating table,
Dr. Anita Carter started the anesthesia. She monitored the
patient’s heart rate and blood pressure. “The patient will be ready
in two minutes.”
    Dr. Patterson could still feel the pressure
of Anita’s hand on his, and did not even want to look at her. He
said only, “Fine. Jerry will be here in twenty minutes. The poor
guy was sound asleep. I think we can go ahead and start.”
    The operation at first went smoothly, without
complications. Anita Carter kept her eye on various monitors; the
duty instrument nurse handed out the instruments; and Dr. Patterson
operated.
    The first trouble appeared just as Dr. Jerry
Duncan was coming through the door. Dr. Patterson had removed a
large piece of the cranium that had dug itself into the brain
tissue. The heart rate monitor started beeping loudly, which meant
the patient’s heart had stopped.
    “Quick! Resuscitate!” Dr. Patterson
shouted.
    Jerry Duncan, who a little while earlier had
been sleeping soundly, looked around in confusion to see what was
going on. He wanted to go over to the resuscitation apparatus, but
the duty nurse got there first. She placed the defibrillator
electrodes in Dr. Patterson’s hands.
    After the patient’s