by Ella Frank
“She’s been coming to me for nine years and occasionally when she paid me for the flowers I’d ask her to come with me to see Carly.” She shook her head slowly. “Every time she said no. Mason, please be careful, love.”
Smiling, he walked over and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I am being careful, Mom. Don’t worry, I won’t break her heart.”
Smiling sadly, she reached up to cup his cheek. “I’m worried about both of you.”
Standing up he nodded slowly. “I know she’s difficult, Mom. I know she has more problems than I even know what to do with or how to deal with and I’m pretty sure they all stem from losing her sister, but yesterday we came so far. She let me inside.” He gave her a goofy smile. “I sound like a schmuck.”
Laughing, she shook her head, “No, dear, you sound happy.”
“Would you mind if I go get her? I’d love to finally have us all in the same room, and I’m fairly certain if I don’t go and get her she’ll be up here a little later anyway.”
“Why would I mind, dear? Go get your girl,” she told him with a smile.
He turned and walked out the door—oh, he planned to.
Lena had just walked into the break room after finally finishing with her rounds this morning. She’d managed to coordinate a break during her day when Shelly could join her. Now they were both sitting down for lunch. Pulling out her incredibly boring ham and cheese sandwich, Lena peered over to her friend’s plate.
“Lasagna, really? Do you have to bring a good lunch every day?”
Shelly lifted her fork to her mouth, then chewed and nodded. “You’ve been around me when I’m hungry. It’s not pretty.”
“That’s true,” Lena agreed, taking a bite from her sandwich.
“You okay today?” Shelly asked around another mouthful.
Lena’s eyes came up to meet her friend’s. “Yeah. Why?”
“You seem different. Quieter than usual, but more relaxed.” Grinning, Shelly sat back. “Is Mason keeping you nice and relaxed Lena?”
Rolling her eyes, Lena cursed the fact that she could never keep things from Shelly. So of course that had meant she’d come into work today and told her everything that had happened—in the flower shop that is. She hadn’t found it in her to talk about their little excursion yet. That was still too new, still too life altering, to divulge just yet.
“No, we haven’t done anything since a week or so ago. I told you that. We just talked yesterday.” Then with a grin, Lena added, “No touching.”
“Pssh! Yeah, well I don’t know what to believe because you told me all about what happened when you both decided on the “no touching” rule in the shower just recently.”
Lena was about to reply when Brandy knocked on the door and then hurried in. She came around and stopped beside the table. “Dr. O’Donnell?”
Looking up at her receptionist, she raised a brow. “Yes Brandy?”
“Ah, you have a visitor.”
Frowning, Lena looked at Shelly, turned back to Brandy, and then shrugged. “Can’t they come back? I’m on lunch.”
“Well, yes I asked him that, but he insisted that I come and tell you ahh, that Casanova is here?”
Lena felt a huge smile break out over her face and she actually burst out laughing. Shelly’s mouth fell open. Brandy looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Casanova, huh?” Shelly asked with an arched brow. “Doesn’t think too highly of himself, now, does he?”
Still laughing, Lena reached for a napkin and wiped her face. She was just about to answer when she heard, “I didn’t pick the name myself, just so you know.”
Mason watched as three heads turned to face him standing in the door. Sure, the little assistant had told him to wait at her desk, but he’d heard Lena laughing and decided to take a chance and walk on back. He knew she’d get a kick out of the nickname and was happy to see her sitting there grinning like a fool.
“Ah, I told him to wait at my desk,” he heard the little assistant assure her boss.
Lena kept her eyes on him and said softly. “I’m sure you did. He doesn’t listen very well.”
Grinning at her, he walked in and looked down at Shelly. “Sorry to interrupt lunch.”
“Nonsense. It’s fine,” she smiled up at him.
He watched Lena stand and then said softly, “No, no you’re fine, don’t get up. I’ll just join you two. If you don’t mind?”
Shaking her head, she sat back down. The assistant was still standing and staring at him. He smiled at her and winked. He watched her turn bright red and then seeming to find her footing, flee from the room. Turning his head, he saw Lena arching a brow.
“Just can’t help yourself, can you?”
He leaned back in the chair and put a hand to his chest. “Me? What’d I do?’ he asked innocently.
“Throwing that charm around everywhere.”
He looked over to Shelly, who was chewing on what appeared to be lasagna. “At least she admits I’m charming.”
Shelly grinned at him.
“So you’re here visiting your mom?” Lena asked, sitting very properly with her hands clasped on the table. She looked so professional today, with her hair pulled up into a bun and her scrubs and lab coat on. Her glasses were sitting beside her on the table. Leaning forward, he reached across and flicked her name badge around in his fingers, Dr. Magdalena O’Donnell MD and the lapel of her coat blocked the rest. Wow—in this setting, she was something else. She was all brains behind those careful eyes. She was watching him closely right now, so he grinned. Dressed as she was, he couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. This lady was smart with a capital S.
Lena watched his grin as he looked at her closely. She couldn’t help but wonder what it was he was seeing. Was he remembering the way she’d fallen apart in the flower shop? Or maybe the way she’d clutched his hand, terrified to move across the cemetery? Either way, she found it infuriating that she didn’t know, and that he was grinning at her like a loon.
“What’s your problem, Langley?”
“I don’t have a problem. I was just thinking how professional you look.”
Shelly laughed at that and then blurted out, “As opposed to how unprofessional she looks in a tub?”
“Shelly!” Lena cried and her eyes flew to his. Her cheeks were heating and the more she tried to glare him down the bigger the smirk was that covered his damn mouth.
“What?” her friend asked innocently.
Looking toward Shelly, she said through clenched teeth, “Shut it.” Then her eyes came back to rest on two laughing blue ones. “And as for you?”
“Yes, Doctor?”
She narrowed her eyes and said in the most dignified voice she could find, “Behave, you.”
Grinning at her, he sat back and turned to face Shelly, and with a whisper she heard him say softly, “I don’t know. She sure looked professional at what she was doing that night in the tub.”
Lena stood quickly, tipping her chair back. “That’s it!”
Glaring down at him she noticed, for the first time, he was wearing a pair of well-worn jeans and a black T-shirt that was molding to all his hotness and a black leather jacket sat on the table. She shut her eyes for a minute, breathing deeply, because quite frankly she didn’t want to be thinking about that night in the tub when he looked so damn amazing. When she heard a second chair push back, she opened her eyes and looked at him where he now stood. She heard Shelly still laughing softly behind them. He grinned down at her and then reached out to push a wisp of her hair behind her ear. “You’re so easy to fire up, Lena O’Donnell.”
Still feeling pissy, she crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her chin up to him. “That’s Dr. O’Donnell.”
She watched his mouth tug at the corner and he nodded, reaching down to grab his jacket. “Oh, is it now?”
Rolling her eyes she snapped, “Is there a reason you’re here, Langley? Other than to drive me crazy and embarrass me in my workpl
ace?”
He was about to say something when Shelly chimed in. “In all fairness, I did start it.”
He looked over his shoulder to Lena’s friend. “I appreciate that.” Then he turned back to Lena.
“Well?” Lena asked.
“I want you to come and see my mother.”
Mason was trying very hard not to laugh as Lena nodded and then marched down the hall ahead of him. Damn she was cute. She was all kinds of mad at him right now and he couldn’t find it anywhere in him to care. She’d huffed out of the lunchroom, pissed off at him and Shelly, and then made her way in front of him to the elevators. She reached out and punched the button and that’s when she finally looked at him. “You’re an ass.”
Nodding, he stepped to the left, close enough that their arms brushed. “Can I hold your hand?”
Her head snapped around to look at him and he stepped back.
“Okay. I’ll take that as a no.”
The elevator door pinged and they stepped inside, waiting quietly as the doors slid shut. She punched the floor his mother was on and then turned to glare at him. She looked as though she was about to yell and then punch him, or punch him and then yell, but instead she shocked the shit out of him.
“Kiss me,” she demanded.
He didn’t need a second invitation. He moved a step over to her, grabbed the lapels of her lab coat, and pulled her in close, covering her mouth with his. She groaned against him and parted her lips. He quickly dipped his tongue inside her mouth, rubbing it up against hers, knowing the doors were about to open. Then he pulled back and traced her bottom lip with his tongue, ending it by nipping it gently. He stepped back and grinned, reaching out to take her hand.
“Don’t even think about it, Langley. You’re still an ass and you cannot hold my hand.”
He couldn’t have kept the smile from his face if his life had depended on it.
Lena stood silently beside Mason as the elevator slowed. She was finding it hard not to grin at him and equally hard to breathe after the kiss he’d just given her. The ping of the elevator signaled that they’d arrived. When the doors slid open, she stepped out and made her way down the hallway to the left, already knowing what room his mother was in. When they got there, she pulled Catherine’s chart from the door and took a quick peek to make sure everything was going well with her treatment. Scanning through the recent EKGs, Lena frowned a little at what she was seeing and then flipped the papers back and walked into the room. Mason had already made his way inside and was leaning down to kiss Catherine on the head. Lena stood silently, just inside the doorway, not really knowing what to say. She watched as Mason brushed a hand down his mom’s hair and then stepped back to stand beside her. Comparing the two side-by-side, Lena could see the strong family resemblance. Catherine smiled at her and Lena watched her eyes crinkle up at the side from years of laughter. Lena returned the smile and moved over to stand at the foot of the bed. The resemblance didn’t end with the smile. The blue eyes were exactly the same and now that she saw them beside one another she was surprised she hadn’t seen it before, but then again she hadn’t been looking. Mason stood by his mom, grinning at Lena with his usual effortless smile and he looked so relaxed and happy at that moment Lena couldn’t help but finally give him a smile back.
“Lena, honey, don’t you look like a doctor?”
Lena heard Mason laugh and answer her, “Well, Mom, she is a doctor. So I suppose that’s a good thing.”
“Oh yes, yes,” she said, waving her hand as though what she’d said was trivial. “I just meant that whenever I’ve seen her she has looked so . . .” she paused and Lena wondered if she was looking for the word lost. Then she continued, “Young.”
“Mother!” Mason admonished and tsked her lightly. Lena couldn’t help but be amused as the two went back and forth. “You should know better than to talk about a woman’s age. You taught me that.”
“Oh hush, Mason Langley. I didn’t mean anything by it. Lena knows I think she’s lovely. I just meant that usually she’s in casual clothes and looks like she just came from school.”
Finally, Lena spoke up. “Well, that’s probably because when we first met I was in school. You just have that same image in your head.”
Nodding, Catherine looked at her son. “You better be careful with this one, son. She’s not going to let you walk all over her just because you’re handsome.”
Lena watched as Mason tried to pull of an innocent who, me? look, but his mother was having none of it. “Oh, I know how you work, young man. From the time you were old enough to wrap someone around your finger, especially women, you worked out how and then did it.”
Lena started to laugh because she found it completely believable. It’d only been minutes ago she’d been telling him to stop charming her defenseless receptionist.
“Lena, dear, how are doing you?”
Lena walked around the opposite side of Catherine’s bed and sat down next to her. She reached out and took Catherine’s hand. “I’m good. The more important question is how are you?”
Catherine’s eyes widened a little, almost looking worried for a moment, and then she smiled wider and glanced over to her son, who’d now taken a seat in the corner of the room facing them.
“I’m doing much better. I gave myself a bit of a fright.”
Staring right at her, Lena nodded. “I’m sure you did. You need to be very careful when you leave and make sure you do everything the doctors tell you.”
Catherine nodded and then patted her hand. “I know, dear. I know.”
Lena whispered quietly, “Do you?” She watched Catherine’s eyes flick up to hers and then move over to focus on Mason. She smiled at him and nodded, “Yes, of course I do. Don’t worry. I have too much to stick around for to clock out early.”
“Mom,” Mason admonished softly.
Lena squeezed her hand once again and then looked over to see that he was staring where her hand joined his mother’s hand. His eyes softened as he looked at her and then he smiled a slow warm smile that said he was happy she was there with them.
Turning back toward Catherine, Lena said softly, “Mason took me to see Carly yesterday.” She paused as she felt Catherine’s hand squeeze hers. “Did he tell you?”
Catherine nodded. “I’m very proud of you, Lena. I know how hard that must’ve been.”
“It was terribly hard. But your son helped me through it. I owe him a lot.”
“You owe me nothing,” she heard him say softly from his chair. Lena turned grateful eyes to Mason as he enunciated slowly. “Not a thing.”
Turning back to Catherine, Lena smiled softly. ”I wanted to thank you for making her final resting spot such a beautiful place.”
Catherine shook her head then reached up to stroke a finger down her cheek, much like her son sometimes did. “I didn’t do anything special.”
“You displayed the flowers in a way that makes her spot glow. Most people would’ve just laid them over the ground. You decorated it.”
Catherine nodded. “It seemed like something she would’ve liked.”
Lena thought that it was an odd thing to say because Catherine hadn’t known Carly at all.
“I know I didn’t know her, but I feel as though I do now. I’ve been visiting and talking to her for nine years. She knows all about my family. She even knew about Mason before you took him there. Every day I’d go down and spend fifteen minutes or so tidying the area and placing the new flower in a vase and tell her about my day.”
Lena felt a tear slide down her face, not quite understanding what she was feeling, but knowing she was grateful that Carly hadn’t been alone.
For nine years this lady, a stranger to both her and Carly, had been talking to her sister and telling her all about her life. She had done what Lena herself could not do and in the process had made Lena’s life bearable by taking on a task she herself couldn’t.
“I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done.”
; “Oh, hush girl and stop this crying. Tell me something exciting.” She paused. “Like how on earth you let my son talk you into dating him.”
“Gee, thanks, Mom,” Mason interjected sarcastically.
Lena was about to answer when a short familiar young lady burst through the hospital door in tight black jeans and a bright purple shirt with red polka dots all over it. As if the outfit wasn’t loud enough, the girl’s hair was dark black but had bright purple tips all along the bottom as though the stylist had flipped up half of her hair and dyed the bottom of it that eye-popping shade of purple. She stopped suddenly when she saw Lena sitting on the bed
“Oh, sorry, Doc. I’ll come back.” She went to turn when Lena heard Mason speak up.
“Rach, it’s okay. This is Lena.”
Watching the girl closely, Lena saw her turn to see Mason and walk over to him bending down to hug him, where he sat. Then she stood back up and asked Mason. “Lena?”
Looking back in Lena’s direction she frowned then turned back to her brother. “Should I know her?” then she whispered to Mason, “Did we meet her last week? Cause I don’t remember shit from back then.”
“Rachel Langley! Watch your mouth.” Catherine admonished from the bed.
“Sorry mom.”
Mason laughed softly then stood reaching out to tug on a purple piece of Rachel’s hair. He grinned down at her and then moved past his sister toward Lena. She felt him wrap an arm around her. “This is Lena O’Donnell, my doctor.”
Arching a brow at Mason, Lena muttered under her breath, “Oh really?”
Rachel was frowning at them when a light seemed to go off in her head as she grinned and slapped her leg. “Oh I got it. This is Pantsuit!”
Mason winced at that and felt Lena stiffen a little. He’d been kidding when he’d said she was his, but now that he stood there with his arm around her and he could smell that sweet vanilla scent of hers, he had to admit it was a fantastic idea.
“Pantsuit?” Lena asked his sister. Mason glared at Rachel over Lena’s head and hoped she got the message but because it was Rachel, and she only got a message when it was written in bold letters on a large sheet of cardboard, she blurted out, “Oh, don’t worry. I know who you are now. I called you that when he still didn’t know your name.”