The Apartment (15 page)

They pulled into the Scotts' driveway at six o'clock. All the lights were on, and his mother's Mercedes station wagon was in the garage. And feeling acutely nervous again, Sasha followed him into the house. She was standing just behind him in the front hall, when his mother came down the stairs with a broad smile and ran to hug him. She was a very pretty woman, wearing a simple dark gray suit and high heels, straight dark hair she wore pulled back, and a string of pearls on her sweater. She was everything he had described, except younger, prettier, and warmer. She didn't look old enough to have a son his age, let alone Ben's, and she still had a trim figure. She played golf and tennis on the weekends with friends. And Alex said she'd played touch football with them when they were young. She was athletic and in good shape, and her eyes widened with pleasure the minute she saw Sasha over Alex's shoulder while she hugged him. And a moment later, she was hugging Sasha as though she had known her all her life.

“We're so happy you came home with Alex!” she said, and sounded as though she meant it. “Has he been dragging you around downtown all afternoon? You must be freezing. We just lit a fire in the den. Would you like a cup of tea?” Sasha nodded, a little dazzled by the experience of this friendly, open woman who seemed genuinely kind and nice, and was so warm to her, even as a stranger.

“I'd love one,” Sasha said, and followed them into the study, lined with beautiful leather-bound books, some of them first editions. They bought them at auction whenever they found them. And there was some very handsome art on the walls, much of it English, of horses and landscapes, and several of boats. The whole family loved sailing.

Sasha sat down on a comfortable couch, and a moment later the housekeeper brought them all tea on a silver tray. Their lifestyle was more elegant than Sasha had expected, and Helen Scott took obvious pride and pleasure in her home. She seemed to be the perfect wife and mother, and had a major career as an attorney too. It was impressive. Her mother had the law career, but had never cared about their home. She hated to cook, and had sold their family home and bought a small apartment without a guest room six months after the divorce. She was a great lawyer, but not a homemaker by any means. Helen seemed to manage to do both well, and had recently heard rumors about a possible appointment to the Superior Court bench, which had always been her dream. She would readily give up her antitrust practice for that, if it happened. She wasn't counting on it, but the prospect was exciting.

“So what did you see this afternoon?” Helen asked Sasha warmly. “We have some wonderful galleries and cultural events here. It's a shame you don't have more time. And the lake activities are a lot of fun in summer, before it gets too hot. And whatever you do, don't let the boys take you out in the boat now. You'll freeze!” she warned her, and they laughed. “I'm sorry I wasn't home when you got here,” she said to Alex. “I was trying to clear some things off my desk.” The things on her desk were always fairly major, he knew, but she never made an issue of it, and made more fuss about his father's practice. She was fascinated by medicine, and always said she was a frustrated doctor, but hadn't had the patience for all the years of medical school and residency. “I know you're doing your residency too, but I don't think Alex told me in what.” She turned her attention to Sasha with interest.

“OB/GYN. I want to do high-risk and infertility eventually. Right now I'm doing pretty much everything in OB, but there's a lot of high-risk now, and multiple births with older mothers, so it's pretty interesting.” Helen seemed very interested in Sasha's work, and put her at ease with intelligent questions about it.

“Sasha has an identical twin,” Alex added, and Helen looked fascinated by that.

“I always wanted twins,” Helen said, “but there are none in either of our families,” she told her, looking mildly disappointed.

“My father was a twin, but his brother died when they were very young,” Sasha said. Alex hadn't known that, and was interested to hear it. “My sister and I are totally identical,” she said to Helen, “except in personality.” She laughed. “Our parents could never tell us apart, which was a lot of fun. We used to play on it every chance we got. I used to write papers and take exams for her, and she flirted with boys for me, and got me dates. And then I'd blow it by being boring on a date. But I got her pretty good grades on exams.” They all laughed at what she said.

“Is she in medicine too?” Helen inquired as they drank their tea, and there was a plate of homemade cookies that smelled wonderful—they were gingerbread and chocolate chip.

“No, she's a model,” Sasha said simply. “She has a much more glamorous life than I do!”

Alex nodded ruefully. “Sasha forgot to mention to me that she had an identical twin when we first met,” he explained to his mother. “I saw them at the cafeteria together at the hospital, and thought I was seeing double. She had just said she has a sister. They look the same, but they are day and night.”

“She's pretty out there,” Sasha admitted comfortably. She already felt at home with them, and she accepted her sister as she was. “She showed up at the hospital that day in a stretch jumpsuit that looked like a leotard, high heels, and a leopard coat, which is pretty tame for her. She fools my roommates all the time, pretending to be me, except one of them can tell us apart. Our parents used to dress us identically but in different colors, and my sister would make us switch clothes. It drove them crazy, and I have to admit, we loved it. No one could ever figure out who was who. But they can now. She wouldn't be caught dead in scrubs and clogs, which are all I own. No one in my family can figure out why I wanted to be a doctor. And some days, neither can I,” she said as she smiled at Alex, and he laughed.

“Yeah, me too. They're trying to kill us with the schedule we're on. We go on dates and see who'll fall asleep at the table first.” His father and brother had been through it too, so Helen knew what he was talking about.

“I could never go to the movies with your father when he was a resident. He fell asleep during the trailers for future films, and I had to wake him up after the credits. Actually,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye, “he still does that now. Nothing's changed.”

“What do I do?” a handsome man with gray hair asked as he strode into the room and kissed his wife. “Are you giving family secrets away?” He glanced at Sasha and included her in his smile, and hugged his son.

“It's no secret you sleep at the movies,” his wife said, teasing him.

“Did you tell them that I snore?” He pretended to be worried, and turned his attention to Sasha. She was startled by how good-looking he was. He looked like Alex, but taller and older. He was a very handsome man, fit and youthful, as was his wife. Alex's parents made a beautiful couple. Neither of them looked their age, and could easily have claimed they were ten years younger. “Don't believe anything they say about me,” he said to Sasha. “Welcome to Chicago. We're pleased you could come,” he said, as his wife handed him a cup of tea, and he helped himself to a cookie. “We can't get Alex here often enough. They keep him too busy to come home.” They all knew it was true.

“We had to agree to work on Christmas and New Year's to get Thanksgiving,” Alex told them, and his parents weren't surprised. They'd been through it too thirty years before, and with young children. Tom Scott had been in medical school, and she'd been in law school when she had them. Looking back, they could never figure out how they managed. Helen thought it made life easier for this generation that they didn't marry as young, although she thought Ben should be thinking about it now. He had been about to get engaged to his girlfriend when they broke up a few months ago. Helen was philosophical about it, and said she obviously hadn't been the right one. She had decided that she didn't want to be married to a doctor who worked as hard as he did. And there was no denying, their older son was married to his work. Alex was a little more moderate, and their father loved his practice, but had always made time for his family too. He had set the boys a good example about priorities, and they'd had a warm home life as a result, and still did, and strong family ties.

“So what's on the agenda for tomorrow?” Tom asked his son. “A little sailing in the morning?” He looked hopeful, and Helen shuddered.

“You're all crazy. You'll freeze. If you go, don't take Sasha. We'll find something to do here. We'll set the table and keep the home fires burning, and maybe crochet a little.” She was kidding, and they laughed. “Can't you find something else to do except freeze to death on the boat?”

“It's too cold for tennis,” Tom said practically. He played several times a week, and it showed. “And I'm terrible at Scrabble.” He grinned. Alex had told Sasha that they had their Thanksgiving meal midafternoon, and his family liked to do an activity in the morning, usually something active. On the weekend, he was planning to take Sasha to a museum and a nice restaurant for lunch, of which there were many, and she wanted to do some shopping, since she wouldn't have time before Christmas, once they went back to work. They had made lots of plans.

They chatted until dinnertime, and right before dinner, Ben joined them. And he was even more handsome than his younger brother. They were the best-looking family she'd ever seen, and Sasha silently wished that her sister would go out with someone like Ben, but she wouldn't have given him the time of day. He was too normal, healthy, and clean.

Ben was obviously curious about Sasha, and talked to her all through dinner. He asked a lot about the orthopedic service at NYU, they talked about the residency programs she and Alex were in, and the conversation was mostly medical all through dinner, and Helen held her own. Her husband talked a lot about his cardiology practice, and she was very knowledgeable and well informed about new developments in experimental surgeries. His father was very interested in Sasha's passion for infertility and innovations they were implementing in Europe, which they discussed at length. It was easy and fun for Sasha to talk to people who shared the same interests she did, and a little while after dinner, Ben left to go back to his apartment, and the elder Scotts and she and Alex retired to their respective rooms.

She flopped onto the comfortable bed and smiled at Alex, and he beamed at her.

“How are you doing? I'm sorry about all the doctor talk at dinner. It's like hanging out in the doctors' lounge. Being with my family is like living at a medical convention.”

“I love them,” Sasha said with a broad smile. “They're all so nice. My family is like a soap opera—everyone hates someone, they're always fighting or badmouthing each other. You're so lucky. This is great!”

“I like them a lot too,” he admitted, and was thrilled that she did, and she had been totally at ease all evening, and he could tell his parents and brother approved, not that it mattered. He loved her anyway, but it was such a good feeling to know that they were pleased for him, and it was a perfect fit.

They were too tired to make love that night, and slept like little kids in the big comfortable bed. His parents were at breakfast, reading the paper, when Alex and Sasha walked in, and his father looked up with a smile. It was a crystal-clear icy-cold morning, a perfect Chicago winter day, with no sign of snow, contrary to the prediction.

“Are you up for a sail?” he asked his son, while Helen rolled her eyes and Alex laughed. And his mother looked pointedly at Sasha.

“Don't listen to them. They're insane. It's a family disease, and it's hereditary. Incipient insanity around boats, particularly sailboats.” But by the end of breakfast, Alex had agreed to join his father, they had called Ben, and he was going to meet them at the yacht club.

“If you lunatics freeze to death on the lake, Sasha and I are eating the turkey without you.” But when Sasha followed Alex to the guest room and watched him dress, she wanted to go too, and asked him if she could.

“Are you serious? You don't have to, Sash. They already like you. You don't have to prove anything to me or them.” He didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or obliged to join them.

“It sounds like fun. Maybe I'm a little crazy too. Do you have a jacket I could wear?” She followed him to his old bedroom, and he pulled several out of the closet that were too big for her but would keep her warm. She picked one, and he gave her a set of long johns that he'd had when he was younger and smaller. She put on the clothes, two heavy sweaters, and the sneakers she had brought just in case, with a pair of wool socks over the long johns, and ten minutes later they were standing in the front hall, ready to go, and she was wearing a wool cap Alex had given her and her own gloves.

“Oh my God, another crazy person in our midst,” Helen said, looking at Sasha, who was bundled up like a four-year-old to go play in the snow. “Don't let them kill you out there. I'd hate to eat the turkey all by myself.” She kissed them all goodbye, including Sasha, and they drove off in Tom's Range Rover, with Sasha in the back seat excited to be with them.

Ben was waiting at the lake, standing near the boat, which was a beautiful old wooden classic sailboat that was their father's pride and joy. Ben had taken the tarps off while he was waiting, and they all climbed aboard. Alex showed her the cabins belowdecks if she got too cold, and told her not to be a hero if she was freezing, but she loved being on deck, as they pulled away from the dock in the crisp cold air. There was just enough wind to fill their sails, and they spent the next two hours sailing around the lake. Alex looked at her as though he'd found the prize of a lifetime, and Sasha was ecstatic, and he was sorry when they returned to the yacht club after a great sail.

“Your mother will kill me if we don't go back now,” Tom said regretfully. Their faces were all red, and they looked healthy and glowing from the cold. Ben went back to his apartment to change, and Tom drove Alex and Sasha home, where Helen was waiting for them with hot toddies.