Invisible People

Invisible People: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Heath looked  up as the door sensor chimed and saw Amy entering the clinic.  He smiled automatically, since she'd been on his mind for the past twenty minutes.  She squinted across the expanse of the room at him.  In her fingers she clasped a mangled pair of those horrible wide-framed glasses she insisted on buying the last -- and only time -- she'd been in here.

“I’ll be with you in a minute,” he told her.  She nodded and turned away from him.

Quickly he helped the elderly gentleman select a pair of reading glasses so he could go over and assist Amy.  She wandered from display to display, squinting at all the different frames available.  Heath kept one eye on her as she casually browsed, half waiting to see that tiny sweet smile he glimpsed earlier, half curious as to why he was so fascinated with her in the first place.  Amy wasn't someone anyone would look at twice...or maybe not see the first time.

Finally the man left with his purchase, and Heath walked over to Amy.  She was studying two pairs of frames, but both were too large around than necessary for a face like hers.  And yet, she seemed determined to wear that style regardless of fashion or looks.  Heath sighed.  He could have her in a pair of dazzling turtle shell rims that would set off her lovely eye color to perfection.

And now that he was close enough to see those blue-green orbs of hers...really nice.  Too bad the rest of her didn't live up to those little beauties.  

Jeez, Marrow!  Talk about being a louse!

"Good afternoon," he said.  "Amy, right?"

"Correct," she said with a pleasant smile but not the one he saw earlier.  "Dr. Marrow."

"Please call me Heath.  We practically work together."

She gave him a little laugh which said she was nervous about something.  She set down the two frames and picked up her old ones.  Then he noticed that her hands shook slightly and she kept switching the hold on her damaged glasses.

"So what happened this time?" He pointed to them.

She raised them up, studying them carefully and then sighed.  "Ruby again.  I love her to death, but..."

"A little reckless?" He offered.

"More like misguided,” she said sadly.  "I noticed that you don't carry the same style anymore."

"Lord, no!" He exclaimed.  "Even if we did, those things went out of style about twenty years ago."  Even as he said it, he saw how her cheeks darkened, but he couldn't stop the words from tumbling out.

Clearing her throat, she asked, "Do you have anything similar?"

“Can I be brutally honest here?” he asked, taking her broken frames from her fingers.  His thumb brushed against her pinky, and she jerked.  Setting those down, he reached over to take a pair of the tortoise shell frames off a rack.  “You've been wearing the wrong shape for your face.”  He slid the new frames on her nose and he noticed how her breath caught, but he assumed it was only because of his impertinence.  “These will enhance all your features, and you will still be able to see...you’re nearsighted, right?”