Читать книгу Stories at Happy Hour - A.M. Hoot - Страница 10

When Keira started having knee problems, she asked for a transfer from the hospital to the clinic setting. They found her a research job, located on the floor where Alex worked, working with one of Alex’s doctors. Keira started on the floor while Alex was away on personal time off. Keira heard all about the young girl that worked on the floor who recently lost her husband tragically in a car accident. It was awful. People were talking about it all over, at the desk, in the halls, and in the lunchroom. Everyone was whispering about Alex and how sad it was that she was a widow already at such a young age. Keira didn’t know who they were talking about, but her stomach ached for the stranger.

A week past and Alex came back to work. It was hard for her. She was sad and she knew her co-workers were sad for her. She walked into the clinic and felt like people were looking at her. She heard whispers while she walked down the halls, some people just stared, and some walked up to her crying and offering hugs. When it was lunchtime, Alex opted against going to the lunchroom. It would have been horrible, full of awkward silence, people staring at her, or worse yet, people asking her how she was or saying they were sorry. Alex knew they all meant well but Alex just couldn’t be around it, around them. She wanted to do her job, go home, hide in her bed, and stay away from anyone who knew her, or knew her and Darius and their life together.

Alex grabbed a yogurt. She didn’t have much of an appetite these days. She walked down the hallway to find an open examining room to crash for 20 minutes or so during her lunch break. The last door on the right, at the end of the hall, was shut. The lights on the outside were shut off, indicating the room was empty. Alex pushed open the door. There was a woman that Alex had never seen before sitting at the desk typing away. She thought maybe she was a resident and just found a random room to do some work, but the lady looked older than the typical resident, maybe she was a visiting doctor? The lady looked over at Alex and smiled cheerfully and said, “Hello. Do you need the room?” Alex sheepishly laughed and said she was actually looking for a place to crash and then apologized for interrupting. The lady smiled and said, “Well, there’s a couch in here and you are welcome to it. I am happy to dim the lights. The desk light is all I need. My work is mostly reading so I won’t make any noise and I’m leaving for lunch in 10 minutes, so then you’ll have the room to yourself.”

Strangely, Alex felt comfortable with this lady even though she had no clue who she was. Alex smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and said, “OK.” The lady introduced herself and said her name was Keira. She was new to the floor, working on a two-year research project for one of the doctors. Alex then nodded her head; that made sense now. Alex started walking towards the couch and told her that her name was Alex. Alex explained that she worked up at the desk, then she laid down on the couch and dozed off.

Keira’s heart sank as she looked at the young girl. She was so petite, she looked like she weighed maybe 90 pounds soaking wet. Her scrubs were a little baggy. Keira heard about Alex’s husband’s death and understood the want or need to be alone. Keira turned off her computer and turned the lights completely off and left the room.

Keira came back to her office about 30 minutes later and Alex was gone. She looked at the couch where Alex took a nap and smiled. Two hours had passed, and Keira heard a knock on the door. She looked up, and Alex peeked her head in. Alex smiled and said, “Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for letting me crash on your couch. I am sure that was weird having someone sleep on your couch while you are trying to work.” Keira smiled and told Alex not to worry, the couch was not hers, it was just in her office space, so if Alex ever needed it, she was free to use it any time, whether Keira was in the office or not. Alex smiled and told Keira she might regret she ever said that.

The next day, it was getting close to lunchtime and Alex decided to go down to Keira’s office. Alex knocked on the door and there was no answer. She cracked the door open a bit, and the room was empty. She was a little disappointed. She kind of wanted to see Keira’s friendly face. She was cheerful, but not over the top cheerful. Alex turned off the light and positioned herself on the couch.

Twenty minutes later the door opened. The light from the hallway woke Alex up. It was Keira. Keira walked into the room and saw that Alex was there. She kept the office light off and put her desk light on. She started up her computer and began to work. Alex could smell french-fries. It smelt delicious. She loved French fries. She couldn’t remember the last time she had a French fry. She hasn’t eaten much lately, nothing sounded good, nothing tasted good, and some days she would just plain forget to eat. Just then her stomach started making noises. She was a little embarrassed. She sat up. When she sat up, she saw a white styrofoam container sitting at the edge of Keira’s desk. Alex instantly knew where the yummy smells were coming from. Keira looked at her and said, “Oh hi, I hope I didn’t wake you.” Alex looked at her and said “No, not at all, it’s all good. I need to get back to work anyway.” Keira could see Alex looking at the to-go box and she laughed, “Are you hungry, I actually brought that for you. I only eat half my lunch,” Keira looked down at herself, laughed some more, and said she should only eat half her lunch, “So I was thinking you might want the other half? I didn’t touch any of it. I asked the wait staff to split the order in half when I ordered. I went with the classic cheeseburger and fries, you hungry?” Alex smiled and said yeah actually she was. She told Keira she hadn’t had fries in forever, so she was going to dominate Keira’s leftovers. Alex opened up the container and chowed down. She was not shy about it. It tasted sooo good. It smelt soooo good. Keira smiled as she worked. She was happy to see Alex eating. At least she knew she would get one meal in that a day.