“What does that mean?” I asked trying to understand.
“I will explain, but now is not the time,” he said, frowning.
Not sure what to think, I managed to say, “Well, I can’t image an animal being afraid of anyone.” Tony wouldn’t look at me, but I knew he was watching me in his peripheral vision. As we sat quietly, I glanced at the clock on the VCR noticing it was two in the morning. Tony and I had talked for nearly two hours. I didn’t want him leaving, but I was starting to yawn.
Getting up from the sofa, “Tony, it’s late and I’m really tired,” I said, in the middle of a yawn. Without saying a word, he got up and left. I closed the door and went to the bedroom, pulled the curtain closed, undressed, and got into bed. “Some things are better left alone?” kept going over and over in my mind. What could that possibly mean when it came to animals? Thinking about the three weeks he would be here before Rick and Jan returned didn’t give him much time to explain what he meant. But, I thought of Malinda’s words, Small steps. And that was going to have to be good enough for now.
Remembering his face, smile and laugh caused my heart to race out of control. How was I going to sleep now? So, I lay in bed thinking about our conversation with a smile wide across my face until I fell asleep.
Getting up later than I normally would, I puttered around the house cleaning and dusting, deciding how to spend my day. I hadn’t seen MaryAnn since the attack and decided to go see her after lunch. Arriving at the hospital after lunch, Marcy, the reception clerk, happily told me which floor was MaryAnn’s and Ginger, the fourth-floor day nurse, was on duty for the Intensive Care Unit.
Stepping off the elevator, Ginger looked up from her desk.
“Hi, Ginger. What room is MaryAnn Cartwright in?”
“Hi, Jess. She’s in one-o-four and not doing well. He did a good number on her.”
“I won’t stay long; I just need to see her,” I said.
Opening the door to MaryAnn’s room, I gasped. Bandages covered her entire head, both hands, and her eyes were swollen and black. Stitches ran the length of her bottom lip and her left cheek indicated a small gash. Looking at her, tears started to well in my eyes, but I held my composure as I walked to the side of the bed and whispered, “MaryAnn, its Jess.”
Mary Ann tried to move.
“Don’t move, honey. I came by to see how you’re doing. I’ll be back at work in a couple of days and I’ll check on you then,” I said, patting her leg lightly. Seeing MaryAnn tore me up, but there wasn’t much I could do. Ginger was an excellent nurse and MaryAnn was in good hands. It wasn’t long before I left the room.
Outside the sun was breaking through the clouds making me hopeful for no rain. Not wanting to go home, I went to my favorite place—the park.
Mayville Park located on the north end of town, consisted of a duck pond, animal cages, train rides, a merry-go-round, snow cone shop—only open in the summer—and a play area for the children. To the local’s, it was known as the “hang-out spot” during the summer. For a lot of families it was the ideal place to picnic especially when it wasn’t raining. A lot of my days off I spend here to unwind and clear my mind from the stresses of work.
Sitting on the bench by the duck pond thinking of Tony, even though I had only known him a few days, I was really starting to like him. My heart nearly leaped out of my chest when I thought of him. Could Tony be the one? Perhaps. Only time would tell if he was the one for me.
Getting up from the bench I made my way over to the animal cages. I passed the monkey cage, snake hut, and buffalos, stopping at the prairie dog cage. A prairie dog popped his head out of the hole in the ground, saw me and disappeared back in the hole causing me to giggle. Prairie dogs were very strange animals.
Casually I strolled over to the bear cage, but the bears weren’t out. The cage next door to the bears housed the tigers. Two tiger cubs were chasing each other around the cage with their mother watching from the den. When they caught each other, they tumbled in the grass reminding me of tackle football.
Glancing at my watch, I decided it was time to go home. It had been easily four hours at the park but it felt like I had just arrived; time always flew by when I was here. Like I said, I cleared my mind at the park. The sun had warmed me, and I loved it on my pale skin, sunny days in Mayville were few and far between.
The sun was on the horizon when I got home. Passing by his house I noticed he was sitting on the porch, so I waved. He smiled and watched my car as I pulled into my driveway. Getting out of the car, I looked in his direction, waved again and went inside the house.
Usually I get myself comfortable with a warm bath when I get home to unwind, but today I sat on the sofa watching the evening news. It was on, but I didn’t hear a word the news anchor was saying because the statement Tony had made in reference to ‘some things are better left alone’ crept back into my mind. Deep in thought, a small meow came from behind me. Looking out the window, a tiny yellow kitten was on my porch and the minute it saw me it jumped up in the chair stretching to see me through the window meowing. Getting up, I went outside and the kitten ran over to me, so I picked it up. Rubbing behind its ears, “I bet you’re hungry, little one,” I said, and it started purring. “I’ll get you some milk,” setting the kitten on the chair. I went inside, and brought back a bowl of milk. The kitten jumped off the chair, ran to the bowl and lapped up the milk. I watched the kitten enjoy the milk, but suddenly the hairs on its back stood up and it darted toward the back of the house. I ran after the kitten, but it disappeared into the forest. Something spooked the kitten, I thought. Turning to go back in the house, Tony was standing on my porch and the sight of him sent my heart racing.
“Hi Tony,” I said, smiling with my heart skipping a beat when I saw him. My heart skipped every single time I looked at him. This was going to be the longest three weeks.
“Hi Jessica,” he said.
“Please come inside,” I said, opening the door.
“Jessica…”
“Please call me Jess.”
“Jess, do you work this coming Friday?” he asked.
I counted on my fingers to be sure I was off. “No I’m off, why?”
“I wanted to know if you’d like to see a movie with me Friday.”
I let go of the door and it slammed shut making us both look. Tony turned back to me and grinned.
“What movie is showing?”
Leaning against the door frame sweeping his hair from his eye he said, “There’s one I’ve been waiting to see called, “Suns over the Horizon.”
“What time does the movie start?”
“Ten. I thought we could go to the late showing if you don’t mind.”
Technically—you could say—our first date. “I don’t mind at all. What’s the movie about?”
“A space odyssey about voyager’s keeping an evil force from destroying the galaxies of suns.”
Not my type of movie, but Tony wanted me to see it with him. How could I say no? “I’d love to.”
I wasn’t expecting company so I had the television turned up. After the commercial the news anchor announced the progress of the museum in Portland with the opening in about a week.
Turning to Tony I asked, “Do you like museums?”
“I don’t know much about art.”
“Portland is adding a new museum and I’m planning on seeing it when it’s finished. Would you like to come?” I asked.
He didn’t hesitate when he said, “I’d like that.”
Smiling I said, “I’ll let you know when it’s done.”
“Okay,” he said. Tony walked to the end of the porch, turned around and asked, “You work in the morning, right?”
“I sure do,” I said, standing up.
“Have a good night and I’ll see you Friday.”
“Good night, Tony. See you Friday.”
The biggest smile I have ever had come across my face as I watched Tony walk back to his house. My first date in my life and with th
e handsomest guy I had ever laid eyes on. Tony was on his porch when I went inside.
Tomorrow was the start of my work week. Before heading to bed, I made sure everything was ready for the morning and once again it took me a while to fall asleep with Tony on my mind, he was so good looking and that body, I told myself to behave; eventually I drifted off to sleep. I woke to it raining and the wind blowing.
Heading to work I glanced over at Tony’s, wishing it was my last day at work instead of the first, remembering our movie date for Friday. Hopefully these days would fly by quickly.
Entering the hospital, I noticed a group gathered by the information desk. Marcy was shuffling through some papers and they were all asking her question’s at the same time. Marcy saw me and smiled. In her eyes I saw the frustration, but she patiently answered each question with poise.
The elevator dinged to let me know I arrived at my floor. Deep in thought about Tony, I didn’t move. I was thinking about our movie date and how it was going to go, since it was my first. Something made me snap out of it before the doors closed and I quickly exited onto my floor. I really am going to have to stop thinking about him.
“Hey Jess, how are you this morning? Did you enjoy your days off?” Monique asked, as I rounded the corner to the nurse station.
“I’m fine, sure did,” I said, hanging my jacket on the chair.
“Mr. King left this paperwork, and said you would know what to do with it.”
Mr. King had told me he didn’t want anyone filing the patient’s paperwork except me. He commented several times, I was the only one who knew what I was doing and I would file the paperwork from patients work orders correctly. After my days off, I knew what I had to look forward to the first day back. Usually the paperwork was for my floor, but today it was for all the floors. “I’ll be busy today then,” I said, looking the three stacks over.
“Have a good day,” Monique said, gathering up her purse and jacket.
“Enjoy your days off,” I said, taking a seat in the chair.
“Hardly, Ginger took tomorrow off, so I’ll work for her. I’ll see you then,” Monique said, heading to the elevator.
Sitting down at the desk, I looked at the three piles of paperwork. Mr. King really needed to hire a secretary, but I was glad I had the paperwork to do so I wouldn’t be thinking of Tony. I was deep into my work when my phone vibrated in my pocket.
“Hello.”
“Hi Jess, it’s Malinda. I’m going to Portland on my next days off and I wanted to know if you would go with me. I just hate to drive by myself. How does Friday sound?”
Forgetting about my movie date with Tony, I said, “Friday is good.”
“Great, I’ll pick you up around ten. We’ll make a day of it.”
“Sounds good—I’ll see you Friday,” I said, hanging up the phone.
The elevator dinged to let me know I had a visitor. When I looked up, all I saw was a bouquet of mixed flowers. Mrs. Johnson’s nephew, Tim, was always sending her flowers. I didn’t think too much about it until the delivery man sat the bouquet on the counter and said, “I’m looking for Jessica,” glancing around the bouquet.
“I’m Jessica.”
“These are for you,” he said, and walked back to the elevator.
I couldn’t imagine who would send me flowers. A card was attached to a holder. Taking the card, I read: To a beautiful girl. Tony.
Blushing and smiling at the same time, I set the bouquet on the counter behind me. This was the first time I’d received flowers from anyone in my life. Without a doubt, Tony was showing he was interested in me. Little did he know I was interested in him?
Working through lunch, getting the paperwork organized for filing, I was done around six and feeling hungry. I went to the vending machines located on the third floor because the cafeteria had already closed. The vending machine didn’t offer much and I ended up getting a bag of chips and bottled water, then headed back to my floor.
The paperwork today consisted of: admitting/discharge papers, prescription’s and patient’s charge charts. Halfway finished with the paperwork, I discovered it strung from floors sixth to the tenth. Busying myself, I wanted to be done before Mike relieved me at eleven.
When each floor’s paperwork was organized, I grabbed floor six and headed out. When the elevator door opened to six, I was greeted by, none other than, Mark Malone. His blond hair always hung in front of his eyes and his teeth were crooked in the front with acne scares covering his face. I felt sorry for the guy. Sure, he had a smile every time he saw me, but it was beginning to bother me.
“Hi Jess, how are you?” he said, getting on the elevator.
“Good Mark,” I said, getting off the elevator.
Dropping the pile off at the nurse desk, I went to the elevator. Before pushing the up arrow, I hesitated hoping Mark was back on the third floor. Confident I wouldn’t run into Mark again, I pushed the button. After delivering all the piles to their floors it was time to file my paperwork. Grateful there were only two charts for my floor because each paper had to be scanned one by one and placed in the patients file on the computer. Looking at the clock, Mike would relieve me in ten minutes.
Hearing the elevator ding, I looked up to see Mike coming down the hall.
“Hey Jess, good evening isn’t it,” he said, placing his lunch bag on the counter. “Flowers?” he asked, looking the bouquet over.
“It is now that you’re here,” I said, turning around in the chair and saw Mike looking at the envelope. “Who sent you flowers?” he asked.
“A friend,” was all I said.
“Anything new I should know about?” he asked.
“Nothing’s new.” Getting up from the chair, I put on my jacket, grabbed my purse and the bouquet.
“Have a good evening and I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, taking a seat.
“See you in the morning. Bye, Mike.”
Bye, Jess.”
Chapter Three
My work days flew by and I didn’t see or talk to Tony. Working the twelve hour shift was a good reason. I smiled, remembering my movie date with Tony. Suddenly it dawned on me; I would be in Portland all day with Malinda shopping and tonight with Tony at the movies. At least time would pass quickly today and the possibility of sleeping in Saturday I considered a treat, but rare.
While waiting for Malinda on the porch I didn’t see any movement from Tony’s house. What could he be doing? I wondered. Not seeing him for four days had me curious.
I saw Malinda’s car rounding the corner onto my street promptly at 10:00 a.m. Getting up from my chair, I noticed Tony coming out of the front door. Smiling, I waited for Malinda to pull into my driveway. It was the first time, I had seen him. He didn’t look toward my house as usual; instead he disappeared around the corner of the house.
“Thanks for going with me Jess,” she said, as I was getting in the car.
“No problem. I needed to go anyway,” I said, fastening my seatbelt.
Glad I was going, I wanted to find an outfit for my movie date with Tony tonight and I had a few things I needed to pick up.
Malinda backed out of my driveway. As the car passed his house, he walked up on his porch, took a seat and glanced at the car.
“Have you seen Tony since you met him at the diner?” Malinda asked, glancing toward me.
“I’ve seen him a few times, but he mostly stays to himself.”
“Really, I thought by the way he couldn’t take his eyes off you at the diner, you two would be seeing a lot more of each other.”
“I wish,” I said, knowing we had a “date” for this evening. Thinking about the date, now I couldn’t wait for tonight to be here.
Tuner’s was having a huge sale on fall clothes. Going through the assortment of dresses, I found a deep blue, long sleeve, dress in my size. Thinking about shoes, I already had a pair to match. I shopped for the perfect outfit to wear for my date tonight. A black and gray dress shirt with three quarter sleeves caught my ey
e. My blue jeans at home still looked new, so I didn’t need any.
The aroma from the food court filled the mall and there weren’t a lot of people standing in line at the food shops. Malinda settled for a hamburger, I had a pretzel with cheese.
“Good sales today,” I commented.
“There sure is,” Malinda said, in between bites. “You and Tony really aren’t seeing each other?” she asked, surprised.
“I see him sitting on his porch. Does that count?”
“No it doesn’t.
This conversation needed to change and quick. “Aren’t you and Mike seeing each other?” I asked, glancing at her.
“We dated a couple of times.”
“Is it getting serious,” I asked.
“About as serious as it can be, I guess.”
Malinda and I had shopped for hours on end because it had been a while since we had a “girl’s day out.” It was very relaxing, but I wanted to get home in time to get ready for my “date” with Tony. I was happy when Malinda turned onto the highway in the direction of Mayville.
Tony turned his head to see Malinda’s car coming up the street and watched as she pulled into my driveway. Getting out of the car I said, “Thanks, Malinda. I had a great time,” gathering up my bags.
“We’ll have to do this again soon,” she said. “See you later.”
“See you,” I said closing the door.
Putting my items away in the bedroom, I heard a knock at my door. “Just a minute,” I called from the bedroom. I couldn’t get my items put away fast enough. I knew it had to be Tony.
Getting the last item in my dresser drawer, I went to the door. Tony was standing patiently waiting. “Hi Tony, come in.”
Tony came in and sat on the sofa. “Mind if I turn on the television?” he asked.
“Not at all, I have a few more things to put away in the kitchen. Would you care for something to drink while I’m in there?”
“No, thank you. I’m fine.”
Tony turned on the television and I went to the kitchen hearing him flipping through the channels. When I was finished, I joined Tony.
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