by A. K. Evans
“I feel horrible,” she said as she sat up in the bed.
“I’m sorry,” I responded, hating that she was in pain.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I feel awful for waking you. You have to work tomorrow,” she clarified.
I handed the water and painkillers to her as I sat down on the bed. “So, if I was sick, injured, or just not feeling well, are you saying you wouldn’t wake up to take care of me?”
“Of course I would,” she answered without hesitation.
“Precisely.”
She tossed back the pills, chased them with the water, and fell to her back again. “Ugh. It’s my stomach and my lower back. This is the absolute worst.”
“Your back?”
“Yeah. It never used to be like this, but for the last year or so it’s gotten worse. Now I have this awful cramping in my stomach, pain in my back, and even down into my thighs sometimes.”
That didn’t sound normal to me. “Have you seen a doctor?”
“It’s PMS, Dom. What’s a doctor going to do for me other than tell me it’s part of life?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t like seeing her in pain. I stood and walked over to her side of the bed. I plugged in the heating pad and put it on her belly.
“This should help take the edge off a little until the meds kick in. Just try to relax and go back to sleep,” I started as I began rubbing her back.
“I can’t fall asleep with a heating pad plugged in,” she worried.
“Yes, you can. I’ll take care of it after you’re asleep.”
She closed her eyes and murmured, “I’m so lucky to have you.”
I pressed a kiss to her cheek and continued to rub her back until she fell asleep. It hadn’t been quite twenty minutes when I turned the heating pad off, unplugged it, and climbed back into bed beside her.
It was difficult to find sleep again as my mind drifted to the thoughts I’d pushed to the back of my mind when I arrived home about ten hours ago. Something had started at work. I didn’t know what the outcome was going to be, but there was a case I was working on that was giving me bad vibes.
Really bad vibes.
Rarely, if ever, were my instincts wrong with something like this. My goal, though, was to try to figure out what was going on and get it sorted as quickly as possible. I didn’t want the stress I’d certainly feel from it leaking into the newfound peace that Ekko was working toward.
Good luck today.
That was the text I received this morning from Dom. It was my first day at my new job and while I was slightly nervous, I was mostly excited.
I finished getting ready, walked out to my car, and tapped out a reply while I gave my car a minute to warm up.
Thanks. I hope it goes well!
Not even a minute had passed when my cell chimed with his response.
It will be. They chose you because you were perfect for the job.
I sent him a reply in the form of an emoji. The one blowing a kiss. Sadly, he never sent one back. Not that I expected it. I mean, as sweet and charming as Dom was, he did have his limits. I never took him as the kind of guy to send an emoji, but I didn’t hold that against him either. He’d been an absolute blessing over the last month.
As the days had passed since that night at the diner, he’d proven on more than one occasion just how incredible he was. In fact, when I had inadvertently woken him up in the middle of the night a week ago, he wasn’t angry. When the unbearable pain in my stomach had pulled me from the comfort of my own sleep, he went out of his way to care for me. I knew he’d never given me any reason to doubt how caring he was, but sometimes it was still difficult to wrap my head around.
Ryan hadn’t ever gotten up with me in the middle of the night. And my mother certainly never took care of me. Even as a kid. It was a wonder I even survived my childhood—how I managed to clean up my own vomit at the tender age of eight is beyond me.
I shook my head, attempting to rid myself of the negative memories and focus on the good I was experiencing now. I had succeeded in getting myself back into an apartment, I was on my way to a new job, and I had the most amazing boyfriend. While I couldn’t be certain of just how long my good fortune would last, I knew enough to appreciate it while I had it.
I arrived at the library with ten minutes to spare. I gave myself one last pep talk before I got out of my car and went inside. When I had come in to complete the paperwork just before Thanksgiving, Alice told me to seek her out when I arrived on my first day here. So, I walked in and went straight to the circulation desk. There were two women there, one who looked to be about my age and another who looked to be in her late-fifties or early-sixties.
“How can I help you?” the younger woman asked.
Offering a friendly smile, I replied, “Hi, I’m looking for Alice.”
“Are you Ekko?”
I gave her nod.
She stuck her hand out for me to shake and introduced herself. “I’m Kate. It’s nice to meet you. Alice mentioned that you’d be starting today. I only remembered because you have such a unique name. I love it.”
I liked her instantly. “Thank you.”
“I’m the archivist here,” she shared before she pointed to the woman standing next to her. “This is Judith; she’s the librarian.”
“It’s so nice to meet you both,” I replied.
For the first time since I arrived, Judith spoke. “Please, call me Judy. I’ll let Alice know you’re here. She’ll give you the grand tour and start your training.”
“Thanks,” I said before she turned and walked away.
“You look familiar,” Kate stated. “I feel like I’ve seen you before.”
I shrugged and guessed, “This place is like a second home to me. For a long time, if I wasn’t working, I was here.”
Her brows knitted together. “So…you don’t come here anymore?”
“I do,” I corrected her. “It’s just that I was working a lot at my previous job and had very little free time. I have a boyfriend now and so I was spending some of my free time with him.”
“Oh, yummy,” she joked. “That’s at least a good reason not to come in here as frequently. How long have you guys been together?”
“It’s new. Only about a month.”
She laughed. “I’m not much further ahead. My man and I have only been together about three months. I love this stage, though. He’s so sweet and attentive.”
I rounded my eyes. “You’re so right. That’s how my last relationship was. It started fine, but then I just felt like I didn’t matter one way or the other. This one, though, has been amazing from day one. I don’t want to think about that changing.”
She held both hands up and announced, “Fingers crossed for the both of us.”
At that moment, Alice and Judy had returned. “Good morning, Ekko. It’s great to see you again. Are you ready to get started?”
I perked up. “Yes!” I exclaimed.
Alice and Judy both grinned at my enthusiasm. While Judy got back to work, Alice took me on the grand tour to start my day.
I had spent my entire day learning most of my job responsibilities. Alice didn’t want to throw too much at me for the first day, so she said she’d teach me about half of it today and the remainder tomorrow.
There were things Alice covered today that I already knew since I spent so much time in the library and there were other things I had to learn. While circulation desk procedures weren’t something I’d had any experience with, shelving returned and used materials was a breeze. The Dewey Decimal System was like a second language to me.
In addition to learning how to check materials in and out of the library, I also had to learn about processing fines, issuing library cards, and repairing and reconditioning library materials. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt excited about my job.
I liked the people I worked with at the diner and always made the effort to give my patrons a good experience, but being a waitress w
as just a job. It wasn’t something that made me feel alive.
And while I adored Jerry and Christie, they weren’t people I was going to call up and chat with when I was having a bad day. The library had Kate and I really liked her. We ended up taking our lunch break together and she shared a lot with me. I learned more about her in one thirty-minute lunch than I had about any of my co-workers at the diner for the years I’d been there.
I was surprised at how quickly I felt comfortable with Kate. She was just one of those people that, with her outgoing and quirky personality, you couldn’t help but like.
After lunch, I was back at it with Alice. I spent the rest of my afternoon learning the ins and outs of the mechanical functions of library equipment and sorting and processing the mail.
A few hours later, I was back in my car and completely in my glory. My first day had ended and it was, without a doubt, something special. Roughly thirteen years from the day I told myself I was going to get a job at the library and make something of myself and I was finally seeing that happen.
On that thought, I pulled out of the lot and went home to my apartment.
About nine and a half minutes after I walked through the door of my apartment, there was a knock at it.
I opened it to find Dom standing on the other side. “What are you doing here?” I asked as I stepped back to allow him to come inside.
Once I closed the door, he gave me a kiss on the cheek and answered, “I wanted to hear how your first day was.”
“You came here just for that?” I asked, disbelievingly.
“Yes.” His response was short and sweet, but a moment later he grew concerned. “Does that bother you?”
Bother me? How could it?
“Not at all. It’s just…unexpected.”
The second the words were out of my mouth I realized they weren’t true. Perhaps with anyone else, they would have been accurate, but Dom had proven he wasn’t like everyone else. I should have expected he would care enough to know how I liked my new job and I felt awful for grouping him with the others who let me down.
“I’m sorry, that’s not what I mean,” I quickly corrected myself. “Thank you for coming by to talk with me about it. It means a lot to me that you care.”
Dom and I moved out from in front of the door and sat on the couch. My place still didn’t have all the bells and whistles, but I was slowly adding personal touches when I could afford them. Those were few and far between because after I’d set aside the money for rent, I was putting the rest into saving for school. While I knew that I could apply for federal student loans, I wanted to wait to take those out until I was going to school for my master’s. I was a little too worried about my bad luck leaking in and creating an even more desperate situation for me.
Once we made ourselves comfortable, I bubbled, “It was the best day ever. I love my new job.”
“I’m so happy for you, Ekko.”
I offered him a genuine smile and went on, “Since Alice is the manager, she showed me the ropes and I met a couple of my co-workers, who were all very nice to me. Judy is the librarian and she’s one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met. I didn’t get a chance to really talk with her much because she was always busy doing something. There were several other people working different positions that Alice introduced me to throughout the day, but I feel like I made a connection with the archivist, Kate. We’re right around the same age and I think we’re well on our way to becoming good friends.”
Dom wrapped his arm around my shoulders and curled me into his body. After kissing the top of my head, he surmised, “Sounds like you had a really great first day. And I’m sure you’ll become great friends with your co-workers.”
With my cheek pressed to his chest, I let the events from the day run through my mind. It really had been the best day.
“I love it there,” I sighed after a few minutes had passed. “It feels like I’m where I meant to be.”
“You deserve this, sugar. I’m so proud of you for working so hard to get what you want. With everything you’ve been through, there’s not a lot of people who could endure all that and keep going. You’ll get back to school and get your degree before you know it.”
I gave him a squeeze before I responded, “Thank you for believing in me. It feels so good to have someone there to support and encourage me.”
Dom held me just a little tighter. After we sat together in silence for a few moments, he asked, “How’s the belly pain today?”
I tipped my head back to look up at him. “Much better. And my period should be gone within the next day or two.”
Dom leaned down and kissed me on the forehead.
“How was your day?” I wondered.
He sighed. “Not over yet, unfortunately.”
“What?” I asked, putting a palm to his chest and sitting up.
I watched as a look I couldn’t read washed over his face. “I’ve got a case I’m working on right now and I wasn’t quite finished when I left work to come here.”
“Why did you leave then?”
His face softened. “It was your first day. I knew how important and special it was to you, and I wanted to be here when you got home so you could tell me how it went.”
“Is it a bad case?” I worried.
“I don’t know yet,” he huffed, clearly frustrated. “It’s a bit of a mystery at this point, but I’m working on it.”
I didn’t like hearing this. Dom never really spoke much about his work to me. Other than the one case that I had been involved in months ago, he kept his work life private. I guess it made sense, considering he was likely always working on confidential cases, but now that I was hearing this it worried me.
“Is there anything I can do?”
He shook his head. “Just focus on accomplishing your goals. I’ll get it worked out. One way or another, my team and I always figure it out.”
“Well I hope it’s nothing too serious,” I said. “What time do you have to go back to work? Do you have time to eat dinner first?”
He grinned. “I won’t be able to focus much if I don’t eat something. Are you inviting me for dinner?”
My shoulders fell. “I would love for you to stay for dinner, but I can’t make you a fabulous meal like you always do for me. I had originally been planning to make a batch of turkey chili. It’s so warm and comforting when the weather is like this.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m sure I’ll love it,” he agreed. “Can I help?”
“No!” I exclaimed. “You rarely let me help at your place and you have to go back to work tonight. I’m doing this tonight, but you can certainly talk to me while I cook.”
“Can I kiss you for a minute before you do that?”
“You could, but that would delay me starting the chili, which once all the ingredients are combined, will need to simmer for at least twenty minutes. I thought we could use that time for making out.”
His eyes got dark and he advised, “You better get to work then.”
Before I hopped off the couch, I gave him a quick peck on the lips. Not quite fifteen minutes later, I had tossed all the ingredients in the pot and set the stove to the low setting to simmer. Then, Dom and I spent the next twenty minutes acting like high school kids with out-of-control hormones.
Dom finished his dinner in perfect time. His phone rang the second he put his spoon in the empty bowl. After fishing his phone out of his pocket, he looked at the display and held it to his ear. “Michaels? What’s going on?”
I watched as he listened to whoever Michaels was speak. I also watched as his body grew visibly tight.
“Leave it for me. I’m on my way.”
Dom disconnected the call and brought his eyes to mine.
“I’ve got to go and get back to work.” It was clear from his tone that he was not happy about having to leave. I couldn’t say that I didn’t understand his frustration.
I took a sip of my water before I stood to walk him out.
When we
got to my front door, I stepped in close to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek to his chest. Dom engulfed me in his arms.
“Thank you for coming by to see how my day went. It means a lot to me that you cared enough to do it.”
I felt Dom’s lips on the top of my head. After he kissed me, he spoke. “I wanted to make sure you had a good day.”
I tipped my head back to look up at him and teased, “You could have called, you know?”
“Then I wouldn’t have been able to see your beautiful face,” he remarked while simultaneously dazzling me with his dimples.
He was the sweetest man.
“How’d I get so lucky?” I wondered.
Dom didn’t answer me with words. Instead, he lowered his head and touched his mouth to mine.
“Thanks for dinner, Ekko.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll talk to you later.”
I gave him a nod and wished, “Good luck with your case, baby.”
At that, he gave me one final kiss before he turned and walked out.
After he left, I finished up my dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. Then, I spent the rest of my night figuring out my plan for returning to school. Tomorrow, I’d stay a little later after work and use the computers at the library to get all of the necessary applications completed so that I’d finally be able to finish my last semester and get my undergraduate degree.
With any luck, I’d have something to celebrate soon.
“I get the feeling this is the second piece,” Trent Michaels said to me as I walked into his office.
Trent worked at Cunningham Security with me. He was a genius when it came to anything tech related. This didn’t mean that he couldn’t handle his own out in the field; he was just utilized better behind a computer. As a result, he spent a good amount of his time in the office, especially when the guys were out on cases that required someone to be watching their backs from a controlled environment. Because of this, he happened to be at the office when a new piece of the case had arrived.
I had an indication a few days prior to Thanksgiving that something wasn’t right. I got proof of it the Monday after the holiday. Then, later that week I had received a delivery at the office. It was a plain white envelope with my initials, D.M., on the front of it. When I opened the envelope, I found a puzzle piece inside. A single corner piece. It was about the size of my palm and looked like a close-up picture of the ground, a street perhaps.
