have to feel. I was missing out.
There was so much love inside me at that moment, filling me, making feel so lucky to still have this wonderful, precious gift in my life. How would my life have been without her?
I started when I heard movement. Kendall had turned over, laying on her back, her eyes open. She was looking at me. I didn’t know what to say, or if I should say anything. Suddenly her arms opened, and her head cocked to the side slightly, hope in her eyes, so much like my own.
Without a word, I went to her, sat on the edge of the bed, and gathered the little girl in my arms, holding her tightly to me.
'I’m sorry,' she cried, the sobs wracking her small body. 'I didn’t mean it.'
My eyes closed tightly, my hand going to the back of her head, holding her head to my chest.
'I know. It’s okay, Kendall.' The sobs began to subside, small fingers digging into the material of my shirt, until she had a handful to hold onto.
'I love you, Andi.' A smiled spread across my lips, and I hugged her tighter.
'I love you, too, Kendall.'
My brows drew as I watched the computer screen, the levels of the equipment, set up to show right in my office. I grabbed my bottled water, sipping as the levels evened out.
'Yes,' I smiled, finally satisfied. I shut the program down, and turned to my daily log, writing the information down.
'Hey.' Looking up, I saw Haley standing in the doorway of my office, a wrapped sandwich in her hand, and a carton of orange juice. I smiled.
'Hey, yourself.' Leaning back in my chair, I ran a hand through my hair. 'What’s up?' It had been three days since our talk, and she had come in every morning to say hello. I was surprised to see her in here during lunch, though.
'Well, I figured since you never go to the cafeteria anymore, you probably don’t eat. I can’t imagine you bring more than your normal apple.' She nodded toward the piece of fruit sitting on my desk. I grinned.
'Busted. However, I did bring some water.' I showed her the half-empty bottle. She stepped into the room.
'Yeah, well that’s still no lunch. Here.' She set the sandwich down. 'I remember how much you love fish, so I figured you’d enjoy this. Here’s some juice, too.'
'Aw, for me?' I grinned at her, grateful for such a thoughtful gesture.
'Yes, ma’am. All for you. You can’t just lock yourself up in this lab, Andi. You need something substantial to eat.'
'Thanks, mom.'
'You’re welcome, daughter.' She smiled. 'I have to run. Catch you later.' She turned to go.
'Yeah. Actually, um, Haley?'
'Yeah?' She looked at me from the doorway, her hand on the frame.
'Well, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to get together tonight. You know, maybe we could catch a movie, or dinner or something?' She turned, facing me fully, a huge smile on her face.
'I would love to. Thanks for asking.' She looked at her watch. 'I have a session at four-fifteen, and I expect that to last for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Why don’t I give you a call when I finish?'
'Yeah. Sounds good.'
'Great. Talk to you then.' She hurried out of my office, and the lab. As I sat there, a through occurred to me. With a wicked grin, I grabbed my keys, and headed out.
With a sigh, I looked into the microscope again, seeing if my eyes deceived me, or if maybe, just maybe it had actually worked.
I looked at the numbers again, and,
'Yes!' I stood, arms above my head, as I twirled in a circle, doing my happy dance, only to stop, mortified. Haley was still laughing as she clapped.
'Nice. May I have an encore?'
'Hi.' I grinned sheepishly. 'What I was working on, well, worked.'
'Well, then I guess your little jig there was justified.' She smiled again. 'I just came by to tell you that my client canceled, so I’m free now.'
'Oh. Well, I need about another half hour.' I wrote down the results, scratching my head with the back of my pen. 'Maybe forty-five minutes.'
'Well, how about I head home, get changed, then make my way to your place around five-thirty? Is an hour enough?' I nodded.
'Yeah. Should be.'
'Great. See you then.'
I watched her leave the lab, then turned back to my work.
'Hello, my baby.' I picked up my boy, and tried to avoid little Pug kisses as I hurried to my bedroom to change my clothes. Haley would be here any minute, and I wanted to be ready to go.
Ding dong.
Just in time.
I pulled the tank over my head, and buttoned my cargo shorts as I walked toward the front door.
'Hey.' Haley smiled when I pulled it open. I opened my mouth to speak when it snapped shut. Haley’s head went up, and her nose began to work. I watched, my hand still on the door as she began to sniff the air, taking small steps, following the smell. 'Brownies,' she murmured as she went. I looked down when I heard a whimper.
Bunsen sat on his haunches, looking up at me as through he were completely confused about why the fun lady totally passed him up. Picking him up, I turned to Haley again. She was turning the corner into the kitchen, still sniffing. I hurried to catch up.
Haley was headed straight for the counter by the stove where a plate of her favorite brownies, baked this afternoon, waited for her. She turned to look back at me, a huge smile on her face.
'May I?' I nodded. Like a piranha, she dug in, moaning happily as she did so.
'So, um, still interested in a movie?' I muttered, shaking my head as I watched.
The week had passes so quickly, a lot of that due in part to Haley. We had seen each other nearly every night to some degree, whether it was to grab a movie, or to get some coffee after work. I had even pulled myself out of the lab for lunch Friday.
As Bunsen and I walked the bike path, headed to the park Saturday morning before my nine o’clock Tae Kwon Do class, I thought about the time spent with her, and how refreshing and, well, needed it was. Her friendship was bringing me out of my haze, much as it did over a decade ago. What was it about her that made the world around me brighter? Almost like she threw the curtain I’d thrown around everything back so that the brightness could come in, and make me see life again. What an amazing gift she had.
I turned us away from the park, and began to head left on an offshoot of the path, Bunsen strutting his stuff beside me.
As I walked on, I thought more about her. I thought about her marriage, however brief it was, and wondered what her husband was like. What had she seen in him? What sorts of things did she look for? Why was she back here? I wasn’t much for coincidences. I was far too logical for that, but it was so odd that she was back, from the span of half the country away.
I looked up, surprised to see that I was in Haley’s neighborhood. Looking around, I felt almost scared for a moment, wondering how the hell I’d gotten here. Then, thinking about how far from this my house was, I looked
