VOICES IN MY HEAD

ERICA'S P.O.V

I rose steadily to my feet from the edge of his hospital bedside, carefully sliding my hands off him, smiling as he squealed like a pig on the bed. I took a seat, my red purse fell to the ground, there I was in the dark, grinding my teeth, reaching for it, before grabbing my waist, exhaling, giving up to allow my purse sleep on the floor, because at that very moment the earth could quake but I still wouldn't get off that sit. I took my phone out, smiled while browsing through pictures of wedding dresses for a ceremony that had been three years in the making. I kept swiping the screen visualizing which of those dresses on my phone screen would best match his white tuxedo.

How I miss the days We laughed, held hands, sat on the floor, and rested our backs by the bedside. I would take my phone out, rest my face on his shoulder and insisted, "Pick one." He looked at two pictures of wedding dresses that I'd downloaded to my phone. "Which of these best suits me?" I would ask and push him "just close your eyes and picture me in both and answer, which do you prefer?"

"It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in the wedding dress before the ceremony." He would say.

"Oh, come on pick one. I will just keep pushing. Okay there's a third one, here look."

I always got my way with him so he would answer "okay, okay, okay, we'll get all three. I don't mind watching you walk down that aisle three times in one day as long as your feet are walking my direction. Soon it will no longer be you and me; it's us. The belongings won't be yours and mine but ours."

I would emphasize , "Except for my car, that's mine."

And he would take his turn and insist "Close your eyes, rub on my head and use it as a crystal ball; tell me how our tomorrow looks like in your head."

It was strange, but fun so I would complain "Uh this again."

"Come on just do it."

I would budge, close my eyes and say "Okay. I see you in a white suit, white shirt inside with a properly knotted tie around the collar that I could either strangle you with or use to tie our necks to each other, so your lips are forever connected to mine. I see you smiling as I walk down the aisle. I imagine having arguments but making up, making out and making love a few hours afterwards, teaching you how to cook for me and our children when I get pregnant with the third and hopefully the last; we can call them Gabriel, Delilah and Felicia. I see us living long enough to celebrate their college graduation, singing and humming out of the blue, not just living an ordinary married couple life but transforming our bedroom into our own little club, if you know what I mean, taking dancing classes"

"I don't know Princess twerking really isn't my thing".

He would laugh , while I would ask "What's wrong with the name Delilah ? I like it."

"Me too. But If you're gonna name our child Delilah then I'm sorry princess I step down from the throne".

I would hit him on the chest, laugh and we would keep speaking until the side effects of his pills kicked in and he fell asleep on my shoulder.

Suddenly, the loud ringing from the phone interrupted my fantasy time; I came back to reality, it was 4 A.M way too early for the scam likely calls. So either my mom didn't drink enough wine last night or my mom didn't drink enough wine last night, I took a look at the screen, Yep it was mom. I sighed, shook my head and declined the call but the phone rung a second time, until after her third attempt I got off the seat, picked it up and snook out of the hospital room.

"Good morning Mother I'm sorry about..."

"If you're not home in 30 minutes I'll have your car repossessed, your dresses burnt, your Jewelry pawned, and turn your hills into slippers"

"wow that's a good way to say good morning to your daughter, I miss you too mom"

"Must be why you refuse to pick up ninety percent of my calls."

"Joshua was sleeping. I didn't wanna wake him. I planned on calling back."

She mumbled " I can't believe he's still alive, Erica, we've gone over this time and time and again. I will not accept that boy as a son in law, I don't think anyone would want him as a son worse enough son in law, stop this nonsense and come back home, My purse is worth more than his mother's car."

She had characterized Joshua as a greedy, desperate, poor boy who at his age still shared the kitchen with his mother and assisted with the house chores. I, however, saw a man who drew up business plans on a daily bases, a man who made up ideas just by taking a look at the way people dress, a man with vision, but unfortunately he was also a man with way to many obstacles blocking his way, but in life, the bigger the obstacles the bigger the reward after the breakthrough.

After mothers statement, I retaliated. "Please not now, or by the time you receive your invite to the wedding I'll be honeymooning in Paris. Stop trying to change my mind, it's not going to work."

As I took a few steps away from Joshua's room, she emphasized, "You're putting your career on the line here, all this for some peasant that isn't worth your time!"

"No, I'm doing this for the man I love, and I am not ending things with him to satisfy your silly obsession with your daughter getting married to some Harvard graduate with a masters in dissecting frogs. Now, Mom, I've got to-" she ended the phone call without a goodbye.

An right after she dropped my mother's toy called, her boyfriend Jeff tried to be like a father to me, so I picked up and said "stay out of this old man".

Jeff asked "when he gets out what's the next step? The man has no vision, you've had that half carat on your finger 3 damn years and nothing, your father has passed on, let it go damn it, allow me play that roll in your life, treat me like a father".

"because of all that sugar my mother gives you I'll treat you like a brother, how does that sound ? I'll be getting back before midday, for now give her as much wine as you can, when I see her I want her hung over, her head aching and her knees on the ground next to the toilet seat, then we can talk, bro".

I ended the call, smoothed down my hair. "Uggh". A nurse named Linda walked towards me for information like a journalist. She asked, "Ms. Defoe Is everything all right Mam? Is it Joshua? Let me go and check on him."

"No, no, no. Linda, don't wake him he's asleep, he's very sensitive and the slightest of sounds could wake him up, and please don't call me Ms. Defoe, remember It's Erica, call me Erica."

"I'm sorry Mam, I mean I'm sorry Erica."

I smiled. "That's better."

I went back into the room and found nothing but white sheets and pillows on the mattress. I figured he was in the bathroom, so I called out, "Joshua! Josh! honey you in the there? Is everything all right?" I pressed the door handle and called out again, "Joshua, I'm coming in." I walked into an empty bathroom, walked out and headed back to the nurse's desk. "Linda!"

"Yes Mam."

"You wouldn't happen to have seen Joshua, Have you?"

"No, is he not in the room?" she asked.

"No. He's probably just wandering around, he's got to be careful; The Anabolic steroids haven't worn off yet, have they?"

"No," she responded.

"Huh, I'm going to kill him." The nurse looked at me and I said "not literally" She chuckled. "Let me consult with one of the other Nurses."

I nodded.

She walked away, A distressing sound filled my ears and Linda shouted, "Ms. Defoe!" She pointed to her left. I walked towards her to look and there Joshua was banging his head on a vending machine.

Joshua's p.o.v

People tell me your response determines your future. When I am wronged, deeply hurt, bitter, cheated, wrongly accused, my response determines my future, the landlord today can be the tenant tomorrow, the tenant today can be the landlord tomorrow, the priest today can be the drunkard tomorrow, the drunkard today can be the pastor tomorrow, the beginner is not the owner but the finisher, life is a race, so John Bevere said.

4:30A.M is not exactly my preferred time to pull out my head from the pillow. I was never a night or morning person, but an entertaining sound from a violin poked my ears and stopped before I managed to flip open my eyes expecting to see my princess by my side, for our daily routine, my fingers would brush her hair, give her a few tickles, allow her make jokes about how bad I was in the Kitchen, pondering on the first day I tried to bake her a cake and used salt instead of sugar. I wondered "Where is she?"

The sweet harmony from the violin began to flow again, "Argh" it pulled me out of the bed in anger. No matter how sweet the sound may be, I took my gown off, threw it to the floor, put on my shirt and slammed the door, my lips couldn't wait to scream at the instrumentalist for pushing me down from cloud nine, but I walked back in, grabbed the purse on the floor, picked up a few quarters and a dollar, to get some M&M's on my way back from the war of words. I rolled my walker as fast as I could through the passage. The violin was crying, still I walked through the passage with my walker infuriated, practicing the speech. "If you don't pipe down right now, I'll use those violin strings to hang you off this building."

I was ready to put on a tough guy image, so I switched on the lights and yelled, "Look here!" I kept quiet and was amazed by how my stiff jawline transformed into a smiling Emoji by a glance, she had light brown hair, to match her brown eyes. My first thought was nothing, I was speechless and thoughtless.

She responded, "Yes, hello, I'm listening."

I began to mumble "Hi, hmm I'm sorry, I was, I was hunh I was headed to the, to the candy machine."

"Candy machine?"

"No, sorry. I meant vending machine, vending machine. So, anyway, I was headed there, must have forgotten my manners or something, but I was completely blown away by the sweet harmony, I'm sorry for just storming in here like that."

"No worries, the door was wide open. But anyway, I'm glad you liked the music."

"Like, no lady I loved it."

"Did it wake you? I tend to lose thought of my surroundings when I play and sometimes get too loud."

"No, I was awake; wide.... awake."

"Couldn't get any sleep?" she asked.

"Something like that. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, that's all, I was craving some chocolate."

Yes, it was a horrible response, but when in the presence of greatness, I lost myself, and at that moment I hated myself.

I hated myself because I had Erica, my childhood sweetheart. We met at a bar early 2007, went camping and dancing 2008, and in 2009 she began to call me honey while I called her Princess, But of course, she had her flaws. She was unpredictable, checked up on me hourly and held up a chainsaw when other women said hi, Her mothers 6 bedroom triplex and Porsche had no influence on her feelings towards me. She was patient no matter what stones were thrown, occasionally she shielded me from them, but of course at times she threw a few of her own. She knitted up the holes in my socks, my decade of non-stop seizures did not chase her away, instead it brought her closer, she was a beautiful paralegal engaged to a college dropout. Whenever she found me finishing my evening walks and jogs, she would beg to play masseuse, my shoulders and feet never complained, but at that moment when I entered the room and saw that lady laying there I thought to myself , damn Temptation is a B###h.

We fell silent for a moment. I couldn't think of stupid things to say, so I got closer, stretched out my hand. "By the way I'm Joshua, Joshua Matthews."

"Kimberly" Her hands were as soft as cotton, eyes as brown as wood, it wouldn't be surprising if wings came along with the package. She continued, "Welcome to my paradise."

I laughed before foolishly teasing, "Paradise huh? you've never been to Miami?"

The magnet I call Erica kept pulling me away from this woman, but Kimberly's beauty slowly wrapped a chain around my neck, I was never the shy type, but running to the bathroom wouldn't have been a bad idea right then, I asked "you're a fan of Jazz music? Let me hear you play?"

"I already woke one person up."

"Are you a professional or part of some kind of orchestra band, you know the ones where the guy holds a stick in his hands like harry porter and creates magic with musical instruments"

She chuckled. "Neither, call it musical therapy, it brings a sense of healing to my mind."

"You checked into a hospital for some musical healing, damn, you must be loaded."

The tone of her voice declined as she answered, "No." Her patience was being tested by my disrespectful jokes.

"Three things brought me peace of mind in my life, the sound of musical instruments, money and getting wasted at the bar down the street from my mother's house. Great life?"

The energy in the room turned negative. I was out of words again and we had an awkward moment. "Come on. I've got two dollars and two quarters. Walk me to the vending machine, let me make up for my bad manners, let's go get some candy,".

She was all smiles as she said, "You want to make up for disrupting me by taking me to get some candy? Doesn't that prolong the disturbance?"

"okay, take the gloves off, no need to get defensive. I'm offering you a snack. I roamed into your room, what is it? Four A.M , must have given you the creeps. It was fortunate you had clothes on."

"Stop letting your thoughts get too far ahead of you," she demanded, looking at the clock. "It's 4:33A.M. A creep walks into my room, speaking like a retard and asking me on a date at a vending machine."

"It was just an offer; I'm not gonna touch you."

She shook her head and said something in Spanish "Baboosa".

"I'll take that as a compliment".

"you speak Spanish?"

"No" I didn't understand what she called me but I sure hoped it was a good word.

"give me my share of the money."

I handed her a dollar and twenty-five cents. "Keep it safe."

She said "Give me a minute." I stood in front of her, she was sitting on the bed, my feet refused to walk, my heart beat increased, until she repeated, "Vamos, I said give me a minute."

"Oh yeah sure." She placed the money on the bed.

I stepped outside back to where I left my walker before coming in. so there I was leaning on the walker, waiting, blowing air out of my mouth; so I could smell my breath and figure out if I should look her in the eye while speaking or look at her feet.

She walked out of the room. I whispered, "Wow."

She noticed the walker and asked, "Are you sure you should be walking around at this time of the morning?"

"Yes, you know what, you take it, seems like you need it more than I do. Don't worry I just roll this thing around, so the nurses don't get mad."

We started the walk and she responded, "And today you don't mind upsetting them?"

"A man is allowed to be foolish sometimes."

"I wonder."

"What?"

"How often you say that, Well, a fool makes a lot of mistakes."

"I don't make mistakes; I have control over everything I do."

"so you wrote it in your calendar, today I'm gonna let them carry me into an ambulance and have brain surgery done"

I remained silent, and she commented "The first mistake a person who claims they don't make mistakes makes is making the claim itself. So, erm.... let's play a game. I guarantee in the next five minutes you're going to make yourself look stupid."

"Keep talking."

"You're going to look foolish"

"Keep talking."

My head was erupting as she suggested, "Flip a coin heads or tails?"

I asked "First, what are we playing for?"

"Respect. I'll apologize for my behavior, I've done nothing but judge you since I met you, there's just so much to judge, but I'll pay for the candy, answer any question you have and we start again."

"Deal." I gave her a quarter and said, "Heads."

She flipped the coin , it landed on the floor and we were looking at George Washington..

I declared, "I believe someone owes me an apology."

"I've been nothing but good to you, so I have nothing to apologize for."

"Was that it? Was that the trick or the big embarrassing moment I was going to have?"

I chuckled, she hissed and said "Keep walking."

We kept walking and I asked, "All right, tell me where you are from?"

"The united states of......"

I stopped her before she finished the sentence, now who WAS embarrassing themselves? I tried again. "Which state are you from?"

"Let's not talk about me, what about you?"

"Atlanta Georgia, the state of Joy, I've always wondered why they spell it that way. They could have just named it Joygia, what do you think?"

She smiled and said, "I've met a lot of positive minded people here. Almost everywhere I look there's a smile on the face of the person right next to me."

"True."

"Then why are you so different?"

"Lady you've known me 10 minutes, why do you keep judging me?"

"I'm sorry I judge all men, I can't help it".

I said "you need to see a therapist"

She said in Spanish "Cabeza grande, cerebro pequeno". (big head smaill brain)

"Will you stop insulting me in Spanish?" finally that chain was about to be broken, I liked her until she started talking, but couldn't keep my eyes off her

"So, as I was saying, I'm from the state that you're safely residing in; I live in Lawrenceville about 36 miles from here, just survived brain surgery"

She asked "Aw, were they able to get it all out?"

"the Tumor?"

"No the brain".

I looked at her "They couldn't risk it. If they had tried, I might not have been able to see and warn you that there's a spider on your gown." She didn't shake, she really was not like the others I'd came across before, she didn't budge, didn't like any of my jokes, nobody could read my emotions like Erica, nobody could put a smile on my face like she did, my face was like paper and her love a pencil and crayons, her hands and words could draw a smile on my face but also put a frown on it too, so I kept thinking to myself , what am I still doing here? why am I letting myself spoil my only source of happiness?

After the violin lady heard the narrative, she slowed down a bit; it seemed she wasn't as tough as she expected, so I asked, "You okay?" She started coughing and I repeated the question. "Are you okay? Do you want me to call you a nurse or something?"

"I'm fine," she gasped. "Really, I'm all right."

"I can walk you back if you want, let's go."

"Stop it, don't baby me, and don't hold me. I'll be fine."

"Well, I don't want blood on my hands, so M&M'S or Snickers pick one, you'll have it in your hands in three minutes."

She faced up towards the ceiling in pain and threw in the towel. "You have three minutes and don't walk back into that room if you're five seconds late."

"I'm a man of his word, now take it easy, use my walker and slowly walk back. See you in a second."

As she walked away, I glanced at her before I walked to the vending machine. I exhaled put my hands in my pocket and found nothing but a dollar, again I drilled my hand through the pockets and found just a dollar, I was short twenty-five cents, I kept touching my hips , right and left thigh ., looking down to the ground before realizing I'd lost the game, she didn't return the coin I gave her to flip. Heads or tails, I had lost. My first mistake was fantasizing about her, agreeing to play the game, the second was letting her defeat me by handing over the coin, and in the end, she didn't even walk me to the vending machine. . I banged on the vending machine so hard the smiley face on the M&M sachets began to frown. The night nurse, Linda, heard the noise. She walked towards me with Erica right behind her, ready for battle.

ERICA'S P.O.V

That irresponsible boy I loved with all my heart pulled a disappearing act just so he could get some candy, I marched up to him as he stood by the vending machine, I could see him trembling, he put his hands up and said "Princess".

I hit him with a purse "don't. you.Princess.me, I was worried about you, what you wanted some candy?"

"why would I want candy while my sweet, sweet Princess is always by my side".

"if that was an attempt to flatter me, that was the worst line I've ever heard".

He walked up to me, rested his forehead on mine and promised "I'm sorry, none of what happened 10 minutes ago will ever happen again".

We walked into the room, sat down on the bed, he looked at me and said "you could have been laying on the soft mattress in your mother's mansion, sipping Cuban coffee, yet, you've sat on that plastic chair for 2 weeks straight, sipping on ice tea, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice your back aches, you just won't admit it, I get it, you're worried, It wouldn't shock me if you tried to get the surgeon to make me stay". I looked away and in shock he shouted "you asked dr edward to make me stay!!".

"You said it wouldn't shock you?"

"I was lying! I thought you knew me by now, anyway that's not the point, you ditched work".

"you know I don't like that job".

"you're just gonna look for any excuse, so thank you for the late nights you kept me company, singing and humming, cuddling and so on, today it all comes to end, as soon as the doctor gives us the go ahead, you'll hold my hand, It will be like one of those romance movies, as we walk out the lights behind us start to dim down, some classic music begins to play, we turn around, look back and say, I'm really gonna miss this place, we turn around and never look back".

I chuckled "oh my god you are so childish".

He laid in bed, I laid on his chest, "I love listening to the sound of your heartbeat".

"keep listening, you're the reason it does".

He wrapped his arms around me and I said "There's no place like home".

A few hours later I was in the middle of a conference call when Doctor Edwards, his neurosurgeon, walked in for the daily procedure. I immediately cut the call. "Hello Mr. Matthews, heard you tried to escape this morning, you made it this far, you couldn't wait an extra 3 hours?"

I greeted, "Morning doctor, how is the Mrs.?"

"She's doing great, we're headed to the football game at Mercedes this Saturday."

"Oh. Fantastic; I'm not much of a football fan but hey, go eagles!"

We smiled while his assistant checked my blood pressure, I corrected her "Princess it's the Falcons, not eagles."

"Who cares? They're both birds."

Dr. Edwards held his hand up, "Time for the daily procedure, now M.R Matthews tell me how many fingers am I holding up."

"Two."

"How about now?"

"Four," I sighed.

"What's your name?"

"Joshua, Joshua Matthews."

"Date of birth?"

"October 18, 1992."

"Perfect, Mr. Matthews have you had any bowel movements yet?"

I squeezed his shoulder "No doctor not yet."

While the tests were being done "Ow!" his blood was being drawn, the room turned silent until Stephanie, his sister, and Lizzy A. K. A. my future mother in law walked in. Lizzy played multiple roles in my life, she was more of a mother to me than my own, Stephanie A.K.A my future sister in law was a twenty-year-old second year accounting college student

They walked into the room with hands held up high hugging and shaking hands with everyone in the room everybody in the room and Lizzy said, "Doctor Edward, Erica I'm so sorry I'm late, we spent thirty minutes prowling around the house looking for the car keys."

Stephanie blurted, "I spent thirty minutes searching for the keys."

"How are you all keeping?"

The doctor nodded with a small smile

Erica responded, "Hey Lizzy. I'm just fine, how are you this morning?"

"I'm surviving, what about you son, temperature okay? Steady heartbeat?"

"I've taken my shower, brushed my teeth, and did a couple of pushups earlier on. my bags have been packed, sight has been tested, now my bed needs to be dressed so let's go home." I pinched him "ow!"

He tried to stand up, I said in a harsh tone "sit down!"

"yes dear".

Stephanie said " we've missed you now let's go, I've gotta be on that plane in two hours."

Mama scolded her. "Shut up and let the doctor speak."

"Well Mr. Matthews your results came back positive" He looked at his assistant and said, " Sheryl Tell the nurses to bring the stroller in about 10 minutes."

I screamed with excitement, Stephanie and Lizzy along with me, congratulating him and clustering him with hugs and kisses while the doctor emphasized, "You might be on your way out of here but the main task at hand is sticking to that medication so you don't come back, the effects of the pills will be overwhelming, but your body will adjust, glue those pills to your hands if you have too, nine when you wake up and nine pills at night."

Erica assured him, "Don't worry doctor I'll make sure of that."

"Doctor you heard her; The choice isn't mine to make"

Finally, nobody had a reason to push him down when his feet needed to stretch, It brought joy to my eyes seeing that glow in his eyes.

It wasn't exactly my dream start to the year, but I still had a fiancée, a house, a job and money, most would consider that the perfect life, I was missing a ring on my finger, and what many would consider the most agonizing pain a woman could ever feel is something i craved so much for, I wanted a baby, I'd make the perfect mother and after a few more years of observing Joshua would make the perfect daddy . I dropped him home and drove a couple of miles back to my mother's six bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom home that only the two of us resided in, I live with a queen in an empty castle.

My mother, Margaret, was in the garden when I walked in. She heard my footsteps, walked towards me, I changed direction, increased the speed of my feet movement, but the old woman was assertive. As she caught up, I lifted my hand up high and said, "Please don't do this."

"How is Joshua doing dear?" she asked with a fake smile.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Not really, I was just being polite." I carried on walking, she followed and continued, "Now that you've ruined the moment, why don't you tell me how the wedding plans are coming along?" Sarcasm and disrespect were a natural part of her personality, so I headed to my bedroom, on my way there she mentioned, "Jeff was hoping we could dine with him tonight, what do you say?" Jefferson, My mothers boyfriend, kept her entertained and nothing more.

"Can Joshua come along?"

"Of course, not."

I turned around and carried on walking, she repeated, "So, are we doing dinner?"

"Of course, not."

"Erica, Erica!"

I walked into the bedroom, slammed the door behind me, walked to the bathroom, turned the tap on, and looked at my engagement ring as the tub filled up. I took off the ring, got into the tub and drowned my body in warm water. The ring brought back flashbacks of the day he proposed to me; it was Valentines night, we had dinner in the sky while on a hot air balloon, he got on his knees and asked, "Will you marry me?" I looked to the clouds and whispered, "Thank you."

A few minutes later, my hair was dried, mascara on, cheeks blushed with powder and I headed to work where my vacation time off ended 3 weeks ago. I arrived, walked into the elevator, took in a deep breath as it reached the fourth floor, and said to myself, "Here we go..."

As I walked passed not a single man blinked, the mail man drooled, the man at the coffee table spilled his drink, at least I know if I get fired I'll have Christian and Celine battling to sign me, as I kept walking I heard my co-worker, Shirley, scream, "Erica!! where the hell have you been? Charlie is going to murder you!" It was an interesting way to say hello; she did not miss me much.

She walked with me at a fast pace and I explained, "Long story short, I took Joshua home and lost track of time. Where's Charlie? His car isn't at its usual spot, that's a good thing isn't it?"

"You know him, probably off flirting with some girl at waffle house."

"Waffle house?"

"That's a story for another day dear; They've got a whole sexual harassment thing going on there." We walked into my office, which was a mess with tables covered with files and reports waiting to be filled and signed off so the rich could get richer. Shirley said, "Lunch is in thirty minutes; I'll help you tidy up for a few minutes, but you can't take all this on by yourself the workload is way too much for you to handle."

"I promised him I'd sort out all the accounts in three days when I got back. If I do not do this, he. Will. Kill. Me."

"Charlie was your dad's best friend; we both know you aren't going anywhere; his conscience won't allow him get rid of you."

"he runs a law firm, he has no conscience!" We started operation clean up. We didn't place the right files in the right places, we just needed the place to look presentable.

we sat there and gossiped for about an hour, we had one of the boys working in the 3rd floor offer to get us lunch, of course he paid for it, after he offered I said "it's fascinating when the door dash driver pays for the meal and adds a little extra, some would assume I know, I know you think I'm using them, but every day when the alarm hit and it's break time they stand in a line outside the door begging to get me lunch in an attempt to impress me"

Shirley chuckled, While we waited, in the middle of the conversation Shirley whistled to Give me a head's up. Her eyes opened wide and her face turned to the blinds; Charlie my boss was outside the office talking to a fellow female co-worker, so I ended the call.

Charlie walked in. "Erica, I was wondering if we'd ever see your pretty face around here again."

"Charlie sir, yeah about that".

He looked at Shirley and insisted, "Can you give us a minute?"

"Yes sir." She walked out.

"Erica, we need to have a conversation, sit down."

"Yes sir."

" Look, I knew your old man for twenty-two years and I understand you're in the middle of a crisis, but this is an law firm, money is constantly being made, so tax payments are required, tardy behavior won't be taken very lightly from your supervisors. We need more effort; the rest of the staff are observant; sooner or later one will speak up against the special treatment I've given you, so you need to straighten up. You've got a whole lot of late nights ahead of you."

"Yes, I understand sir. I'll be on time."

"Thank you, at least you've tidied up the place."

"Thank you."

He stood up and as he walked away, he stopped, turned around and said, "By the way I hope your mother's surgery was a successful one."

"It wasn't my mother getting the surgery, it was my Fiancé, Joshua. I believe you've met him."

"Yes, the extremely tall guy with the beard?"

"No sir."

"The short bald guy?"

"No sir."

"The skinny Hispanic guy?"

"Erm, I'll bring him along one of these days."

"Where did he do his masters?"

"Erm... I forgot. Anyway, got to get back to work; I'll tell him you said hi."

He walked out and I received a phone call from my Love "Hey baby, can't talk very long".,

"Good day Princess, -how're you feeling? -How does it feel to be back at work? -What's new? -Did you miss me? - Do you still love me?"

"Good, -horrible-nothing-yes -and always."

"Will I see you tonight?"

"I'll see what I can do"

He said "Moon of my life, my sun and my stars".

"Whatever it is No, please don't do anything stupid, stay right there and rest"

"I'm just going to the warehouse and ask them to change my shift".

I screamed "No!!!!, no!"

"Princess! Princess! Are you still there? You're breaking up".

"Joshua!!"

"You're breaking up Princess, I'll see you later okay, if you can hear me remember I love you!"

Going to the warehouse, now that's another fire ready to ignite.