Chapter 5

It was another beautiful day in paradise as some of the retirees in the neighborhood were fond of saying. With it being a Friday afternoon, Ray was wondering what he would be doing this weekend - better yet, who would he be doing it with when his phone rang.

Ray picked the phone up and introduced himself. He heard, "Ray, this is Beth Simpson. We met at Peg's wedding two weeks ago and I hope you remember me."

Ray responded, "How could I forget that sexy, beautiful lady who goosed me when I was leaving."

She giggled and said, "Yes, that was me. I am glad you remember me. At any rate I am calling to ask a big favor of you. There is a medical association dinner dance tomorrow and the fellow that was supposed to escort me has been called out of town. That has put me in a bind. I could go by myself, but since I am on the board of directors it would be a little embarrassing to go stag to this function. I was telling my problems to Katie and she told me you were escorting her next week to her bar association dinner. Katie suggested I give you a call to see if you would do me a big favor and escort me. I really would appreciate it if you would go with me."

Ray remembered how she danced with him and he thought she was a hot little number, besides he had nothing going on this weekend. Ray said, "Let me check my calendar. Let's see ... if I cancel my car wash and push forward reading the Sunday paper on Sunday instead of Saturday night and set my TIVO, yes, I think I can go. Beth, it would my pleasure to be your escort. I would enjoy the opportunity to be with you."

Beth replied, "Thanks. You don't know how relived I am to hear you will go. Do you have a tux?"

Ray said he did. Beth asked him to please wear it.

"No problem," Ray said and she gave him her address and a time was set for him to pick her up.

Looking rather dapper Ray thought in his tux, he arrived right on time at Beth's home. It was a large home and befitting of a successful doctor. It was a two story home on a long driveway sitting on what looked like to two acres. The lot was heavily wooded. Beth had said she was a pediatrician and Amy confirmed that on their plane ride last weekend. Amy said there was a little more to Beth's job than that. Beth specialized in infant intensive care medicine and was ranked in the top three of the doctors in that field in the metropolitan area. Beth was constantly being sought out by concerned parents and physicians because of her expertise.

Ray pressed the door bell button and heard chimes inside. The door was open by a cute girl who appeared to be in her late teens dressed in jeans and a tank top. She extended her hand and introduced herself as Beth's daughter, Stacy. She asked Ray to come inside.

She said, "You must be Ray. Please have a seat. Mom is just finishing up and will be down shortly."

Ray thought he could see there was some resemblance in Stacy to Beth. In talking to Stacy he discovered that she was home from college for the weekend. He heard some clicking on the marble floor and Beth entered the room wearing a formal evening gown.

He rose and, looking at her, said, "Outstanding. You have outdone yourself. You look very beautiful tonight."

He thought he saw a flush on her cheeks as she thanked him for the complement. The flush turned into a blush when he presented her with a wrist corsage.

He wasn't blowing smoke when he told her how good she looked. Beth had on a strapless dark blue floor length evening gown that was cut tight and hugged her body. He wasn't sure what kind of material it was made from but it was shiny and had two slits on each side up to her knees. Beth was a little bigger in the breast department than he first thought or she was having some help to give her that appearance.

Ray bowed and extended his arm to her which she put her arm around and they left the house. Stacy wished them a good time.

On the ride to the banquet hall, Beth again thanked Ray for coming to her rescue tonight. Ray asked her to pull down the sun visor on her side of the car which she did. He asked her to look into the mirror that was in back of it and she did.

He said, "I am a healthy American male and given a choice of watching TV or being in the company of the very beautiful lady that you are seeing in the mirror, who do you think should be thanking whom?"

Beth blushed again and thought it's so nice to hear things like that said to her. She thought Ray might be exaggerating and putting it on a little thick, but it still was nice to hear.

Ray asked her to tell him a little about herself. She told about college then med school wanting to specialize in infant intensive pulmonary care. She was married after medical school and a year later was blessed with Stacy. Her husband was some what the opposite of her in that his interests were heavily into computers. He was quite good in developing software games that there was a demand for and started his own company. She caught him fooling around with one of his programmers and they divorced. The settlement included the house and quite a large sum of money. She didn't need to work if she didn't want to but she loves helping infants who couldn't help themselves. Stacy has told Beth she wants to follow in her foot steps.

Beth changed the topic by saying although she had met Ray at Peg's wedding she didn't know much if anything about him. Amy had mention that Ray was the person who brought Peg out of her funk but that's all. Beth had recently talked with Amy since it was said at the wedding that Ray would go flying with Amy the following week but Amy didn't say anything specifically about Ray. All Amy said was that she had a very nice time last weekend and that's all she said. Beth thought it was rather unusual for Amy to be so closed mouth.

Ray said, "Well, I know you're a doctor specializing in children's medical problems but in a pinch, if I had some medical problem would you make an exception and treat me."

She said she would, if it was an emergency. Ray asked Beth if she then would consider him to be her patient, and Beth said she would.

"So what I am going to tell you now would be covered under doctor-patient confidentiality?"

Beth thought about it for a minute and said, " Oh, no. Is that what you did with Amy? You didn't, did you? What you told her is shielded by attorney-client confidentiality? No wonder she didn't say anything. She couldn't. Knowing her, she had to be dying to say something, but she couldn't. That is precious, but now you are doing the same thing to me. You know women like to talk especially about men and not being able to is very frustrating. My curiosity however right now has the better of me so patient Ray, tell me about yourself."

Ray did and he gave her the same information he gave Amy. The schooling, Army, MBA, work experience and early retirement were covered as well as his current martial status. Beth tried to slip in a question about his trip with Amy and Ray said, " Doctor, that question falls under the confidentiality of the man-woman relationship so I can't answer it other to say that I enjoyed my time with Amy."

Beth smiled at his response.

The banquet hall was large and elegant. He saw there were about 30 tables and with eight people at a table that worked out to 240 or so attendees. Beth was an excellent date. Most of the time she had her arm around his as they walked around and met other guests. She knew practically everyone there and made it a point that Ray understood what every conversation was about. Ray saw some of the men look at Beth, then at Ray and give Ray a look of envy. The women who looked at Beth seemed to do so in an appreciative way and then looked at Ray and wondered why he was escorting Beth. Ray thought it was interesting to see those reactions.

They sat at a table with three other couples. All three of the men were doctors. Their wives would not be classified as 'Trophy Wives" in Ray's opinion but they all seemed to be nice people. There was a little business talk with most of it coming from the men who were thanking Beth for helping them out with some particular problem or patient. Ray talked with the women and complimented them on their looks, dress or hair. The wives seem flattered by his attention and it was apparent that their husbands didn't know how far a few nice words went and what those words would do to improve their home life.