Sweeter Than W(h)ine Read Online Free PDF Page B

practically danced across the keys. She really played well; he was impressed. She brought life to the baby grand piano that stood in the lounge. When she started singing about dreaming of a World Series, he laughed.
                  “I’m sorry,” she said, after the second song. “I haven’t played for a while, and my arms and shoulders are starting to hurt. Do you mind if we go back?”
                  “Of course not,” Rafe said. “You haven’t opened the rest of your gifts anyway, and we haven’t toasted the new year. Do you want to use the walker, or the wheelchair?”
                  “Wheelchair,” she murmured. Rafe hoped that soon, she wouldn’t need the wheelchair anymore. He probably wouldn’t be around to see it. Once she got home, she wasn’t likely to come back here. Unless a patient lived nearby, they didn’t come back to visit. He chided himself a moment later. What did it matter if she came back or not? He wasn’t interested in her, at least not romantically.
                  He helped her into the wheelchair and wheeled her back to her room. She called for Alec, and he and Rafe settled her back into the bed. Raphael put the rest of her presents on the bedside table. Dina unwrapped present six, two bars of nice-smelling soap in a small box with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on it.
                  “Oh, this smells so good,” she said. “I can’t wait to use it.”
                  “The soaps in these places aren’t usually so nice. My sister-in-law likes that kind of thing, so I thought you might.”
                  “Well, thank you.”
                  Present seven was some bath and shower gel in chocolate mint flavor. “This is nice, too,”
                  “My sister-in-law likes that brand, too,” he said. He walked to the sink and got two plastic cups, then checked her mini-fridge for some ice. He found it, put it into the two glasses, and walked back to the bedside. Then he waited for her to open the last gift, a bottle of sparkling grape juice.
                  “It’s perfect!” she said, with a sweet, open smile. “May I make the first toast?”
                  “Be my guest,” Rafe said, and then laughed at their formality.
                  “Here’s to you, Rob,” she looked upward, toward heaven. “I love you, and I always will. And here’s to my parents, and Krysta and Jay. And you, Doc.” She drank from her cup, and Rafe drank from his.
                  “And here’s to you, Dina, and to a much better year next year.”
                  They both took another drink and emptied their glasses. A nurses’ aide walked in to take her vitals, and give her a breathing treatment.
                  “I’ll take that as my cue to leave,” Rafe said. “I had fun.” He did.
                  “I did, too,” Dina said. He was standing close to her and, for some reason, he wanted to kiss her. He knew he couldn’t, especially not with a colleague standing close by. He couldn’t help but wonder, though, what kissing this woman would be like.
    ***
                  After Rafe left, Dina took her breathing treatment and watched TV. While she watched, she thought about the good doctor, and how she liked making new friends. That’s all he was, too. A friend. For her, there would never be anyone else except Rob. Sure, before he’d passed away he’d told her to make a new life, and start over, but there was no one who could ever measure up.
                  Instead she thought of her friends, Krysta and Jay, and how she’d met each of them. She’d met Krysta at Cranwell College, a small college located in Walnut Hills, with a beautiful view of the Ohio River. Dina had needed a ride home and posted an ad, and Krysta, who’d lived nearby, had been the answer.