Someone Like You

Chapter 9 - The Alpine Slide

"Where did you go to school?"

"Before she died, I was at UCLA, after she died though, I took some time off, and then transferred to Berkeley. What about you, what's your family history?"

"Pretty similar actually. My parents met in college at Columbia, my mom is actually from Salt Lake and my Dad was from Chicago. They settled in New York for a time, which is where my sister was born. Eventually they moved back to Chicago, to be close to my Dad's parents, which is where I was born. They split when I was about five and my mom decided to go to medical school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and so we moved with her. She did her residency in Columbus, Ohio and that's sort of where I grew up. But she got remarried years later and now she lives in a suburb of New York City. I really wanted to leave the Midwest after high school, so I went to college In Portland at OHSU and then went to Northwestern in Chicago for Medical School. I didn't really see my Dad much when I was growing up and I feel like part of me moved back to Chicago to reconnect with him. Ultimately, I'm really glad that I did because I was there when he died. I mean, I was in town when it happened, not actually present at the time of his death. He had had a heart attack a few days prior, it was a pretty massive one, but it didn't kill him right away. The heart wall weakened though, and three days after the MI he had cardiac rupture and was dead within a few seconds, probably. My sister had come into town when he first got sick and the two of us were out eating dinner at my favorite restaurant, laughing and drinking and telling stories about our Dad probably at the exact moment that he died. At first, my sister was really upset that we hadn't been there for him when he died, but I've seen those codes before, they are horrible, messy affairs and the way that we did it was better for everyone. He had zero, and I mean zero, chance of survival, so it only would've been traumatic for us. At least this way we were toasting him with good food and drink, and I think he would've liked the tribute."

"Are you close with your sister?" Andy had completely devoured his meal and was finishing the last dregs of his wine.

"Very. She lives in Colorado with her husband and two kids. She's a financial planner. What about you, close with your siblings?"

"Absolutely. I got to see my sister for a minute during my trip to San Francisco. Don't get to see my brother much, but he's actually coming out here later this month and staying for two weeks so it will be nice to see him."

The waiter came by to clear our plates and asked if we wanted anything else. I was stuffed to the gills, again, but Andy ordered a Warm Blueberry & Cranberry Cobbler.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" My wine was gone so I was sipping my water as I said this. I placed the glass down and looked him in the eyes.

"Certainly, ask me anything." He finished his wine and set the empty glass on the table.

"What would Caroline say about you taking me out to dinner?" I swallowed hard, but kept my gaze on him.

"I don't imagine that she would be too happy about it. What would Sean think about me taking you out to dinner?" Andy answered back.

"We'll get to Sean in a minute. I'm serious Andy, you've spent the whole day with me doing breakfast, the hike, the slide, the nap and now this amazing dinner. I know we said that this wasn't a date, but it feels like a date. In fact, it feels like the best date that I've ever been on and I can't imagine that I would be too excited if my boyfriend was on the best date ever with some other girl."

The waiter returned with Andy's dessert and he took a moment, and a bite of cobbler, before answering my question.

"Before I answer your question, and I promise that I will, can I ask you something?" He took another bite of cobbler and pushed the plate toward me, as if to offer me some.