Chapter 20

The alarm on Melissa’s cell phone went off at 11:15 much to her relief. She had been swamped with paperwork for a last minute department meeting that evening. Although she didn’t need to attend, there was more than enough summaries, reports and recommendations to keep her busy for hours. She had, however, allowed herself a break from her work to meet Jon downstairs and make sure that he was settled on the floor, before she would force herself back to her work.

Melissa grabbed her phone and headed out of her office, telling her assistant, Gina, that she would be back in 20 minutes. She stopped by the lounge and got two cups of coffee before heading to the elevator. The ride on the elevator seemed eternal as it stopped on every floor from the fourth to the ground floor. All this waiting had Melissa’s stomach turning with nervous energy, and she could feel the butterflies making her previous three cups sit uneasily.

Oh, Melissa you’re being stupid. Take a breath, Melissa thought trying to calm down her stomach. I can’t even remember the last time that someone made my stomach feel this way, she smiled. The doors opened with a ding, snapping her back to focus. She made her way over to the information desk across from the main entrance and had a seat. She offered a cup of coffee to one of the receptionist, and talked with her for a couple minutes while waiting for Jon to arrive. Every time she heard the automatic doors open she eagerly looked over, hoping to see him.

Finally, after waiting what seemed to be an eternity, Jon entered through the doors, and Melissa could feel her heart literally skip a beat. She waved hello from her seat and quickly said goodbye to the receptionist she had been talking to and made her way over to him. When she took a good look at him she noticed a huge vase of roses in his hands. At a second look it was hard to miss them, there had to be at least fifty petite roses in a vase and the arrangement looked so heavy he may drop it. She walked over to him, coffee in hand and couldn’t help but smile at the arrangement in front of her.

“Oh, Jon they’re beautiful,” she said smelling their rich aroma.

“Beautiful flowers, for a beautiful woman,” Jon said smiling.

Melissa couldn’t take her eyes off the flowers; there were pink, purple and white roses. There were different amounts of each color the pink over taking the majority but there was a nice mix of purple with a little hint of white.

“These may be the most beautiful roses I have ever seen! And roses are my-“

“Favorite? I know,” Jon said grinning. “I’ve got a friend who knows somebody. I do my homework, when I try to impress a woman.”

“Well it definitely worked. Come on let’s head upstairs they look like the weigh a ton. And now my gesture is looking a little pathetic next to those flowers,” Melissa said gesturing to the cup of coffee.

“Don’t underestimate the power of coffee,” Jon said following her into the elevator. “And what do we have on the schedule for today? Same as last time?”

“Not exactly. There’s a last minute department meeting tonight, so I have mountains of paperwork to finish. You can actually just pick the nurse or therapist of your choice and shadow them. I’m thinking of you as a regular volunteer this time, rather than a ‘celebrity volunteer’ if that’s ok with you.”

“Not a problem at all. Is my favorite nurse working today?” Jon asked as the doors opened.

“Yes, Angela made it quite clear that she would be here today after she missed your last visit,” Melissa said walking them down the hallway. “Do you mind putting the flowers in my office, I don’t think I could carry them.”

“Not at all lead the way,” Jon said following her into a small office. “I’m glad I bought you flowers, because this office looks a bit to blah. White walls are no place to work.”

“Not all of us can be so lucky to work anywhere we like,” Melissa said smiling. “I think the desk it a lost cause for now you can put them over here,” she said moving her purse from a small table in the corner.

“Now that’s better. It looks cheerier already. And you weren’t kidding about this work. I don’t think I’ve seen that much paperwork in one place in a long time.” Jon said looking at her desk, or what he could assume was a desk seeing that it was thoroughly covered in papers.

“Yeah well that’s what happens when meetings get pushed up two weeks. I was perfectly on top of it before they changed it,” Melissa said shaking her head.

“Do you have to go to this meeting or do you just have to do the prep work?” Jon asked.

“I don’t have to go, just make everyone else look good. All the staff reports, and financial summaries. It’s one of the downsides of my job, all the formal stuff. Why do you ask?”

“Well, Steph is at her mom’s tonight and I won’t be picking her up until late, if you wanted to get a bite to eat. That is if you’ll be finished and you want to of course.”

“Of course I want to, and it may get ugly if this isn’t done by four. So it’s a date. Now lets go see if we can find Angela and she can tell you what you’re gonna be doing.”

“That sounds like a plan, any ideas where she is?”

“I actually expected her in my office waiting for me to get back. Maybe she’s off text-flirting with a certain friend of yours-“

“Oh my God! Are those your flowers? Are they from you? They are absolutely beautiful.” Angela squealed entering Melissa’s office.

“Speak of the devil. And yes those are mine. We were just gonna go looking for you,” Melissa said.

“Nice to see you again Angela,” Jon said giving her a quick hug and a kiss.

“You too. Now I already have dibs on you today, and lemme tell you it wasn’t easy. It took some serious bargaining,” Angela started.

“I’m sure we’ll hear the whole story, but my office is way too small for the three of us to be in here. Why don’t we head down to the patient rooms? You do have a job to do, Miss Angela,” Melissa said and turned to the door.

“Oh fine, ruin all my fun. I kinda didn’t mind your office though,” Angela said giggling following her down the hall.

“Angela, please, control yourself just a little,” Melissa said as they approached the nurse’s station.

“I have a question. Why is it that I’m dressed nice, and everyone around here is dressed in exactly what I wanted to wear today?” Jon asked as he saw all the staff in football jerseys.

“Oh it was theme day. Today was retired football jerseys, and I think you are looking mighty fine just the way you are mister,” Angela said as she scanned over his jeans and green sweater.

Jon laughed at her obvious once-over, “Just let me know if next time I can get away with something a bit more casual.”

“Next time?” Angela said raising her eyebrows at the elusive hint of retuning.

“Ang, let’s not pester the volunteer and get to work,” Melissa said giving her ‘the look’ before turning to Jon. “What we usually do is you can shadow Angela here for as long as you’d like. She’ll introduce you to the patients and families, but she can’t give you any personal information because of patient confidentiality. The families are usually more than eager to tell you their stories. You can visit with each family as long as you’d like, but you may be asked to leave at times if they need to be checked or taken for tests.”

“That sounds perfect, and I’ll come make sure that the paperwork doesn’t suffocate you later,” he said smiling.

“I’ll look forward to it. And feel free to tell me if she drives you too crazy. And Angela Faith please don’t do anything to embarrass yourself,” Melissa said before they turned to leave.

“Mel you worry too much sometimes. We’ll be fine. Now go get on that paperwork. Right this way, Jon,” Angela said putting her arm around his waist and leading him down the hall.

“I mean it Angela, or you’re walking home!” Melissa called out to them. Angela waved her off with her free hand, and Jon gave her a thumbs up behind Angela’s back before she slipped his arm over her shoulder.

Reluctantly Melissa dragged herself back to her office, and was hit with the aroma from the flowers. She smiled and settled back into her work. At least she had one thing to look forward to at the end of this mess, dinner.