Day 36
“Hello, stranger,” I bellow when I hear Alex’s balcony door open.
“God, it’s so nice to be done with night shifts,” Alex says, and I can actually hear him taking a load off before he cracks open a beer.
“No doubt,” I tell him. “I can’t imagine my schedule shifting at all, let alone every two weeks.”
“I haven’t had to do nights since my residency. I forgot how much it sucks.”
“Well, you have two weeks of spending your nights out on your balcony with delightful company, so cheers to that,” I tell him, lifting my wine glass toward the glass partition and clinking it there. Alex taps his can on the other side before we both take big sips.
“I’ve missed this,” he sighs. “I’ve really missed your company.”
Oh my! I mean, I knew I missed his company, but I had no clue he returned the sentiment.
“Me, too,” I murmur. “Glad to have you back, Alex.”
“Glad to be back, Hannah,” he whispers.
Before he started night shifts two weeks ago, Alex and I exchanged phone numbers. We have been texting back and forth during that time, occasionally calling. We broke the seal on actually seeing each other when he sent me a selfie of him in his PPE. I put on my ski gear and sent him a selfie back. We eventually traded selfies without facial coverings, and I was extremely pleasantly surprised to see how handsome he is. He’s got dark brown hair with some gray in it; not much, it just makes him look distinguished. His full mouth is surrounded by carefully groomed scruff; his green eyes are incredibly kind and crinkle in the corners when he smiles, adding character.
He finds me attractive, too! No one has put a bag over my head, so I know I’m not awful. But it’s nice to have someone compliment you every once in awhile; especially when you haven’t been able to go out and get your roots touched up and you’ve been living in Lululemon yoga pants and tank tops for weeks on end. And his compliment was incredible. He simply said, “You’re stunning, Hannah.”
He is really sweet, picking up groceries and wine for me while he is out so I don’t have to leave my condo. He leaves the bags at my door and then texts me to tell me they are there. As a thank you for that—aside from electronically transferring what I owe him—I have been baking treats for him every week, leaving a little care package at his threshold.
I really enjoy getting to know him better. He is intelligent, he has an amazing sense of humor, and he cares a great deal about his patients. He also appreciates my special brand of crazy, which is always a great quality in a man.
“So, what shenanigans should we get up to this evening?” he asks.
“I think we start off with shots and then play ‘Never Have I Ever,’” I offer.
“Hmmm… Tempting,” he says, amusement in his voice. “Go look outside your door.”
“Okay,” I say, drawing out the word. I get out of my chair and head inside. When I open my door, I am surprised to see a gift bag sitting there. I pick it up, head back into my condo, and reach inside. There is a Battleship case. Totally something we could play through the divider. I smile as I place the bag on the counter, grab my bottle of wine, and head back out to the balcony.
“Battleship! Sweet! I haven’t played this for ages!” I tell him as I sit down. I open my case and start getting set up.
“Just a little something to break the monotony,” he says.
“You think spending time with me is monotonous? Huh. Guess I need to crank up the crazy,” I mutter.
“Spending time with you is anything but monotonous, Hannah,” he responds, his voice very low and solemn.
Wow.
“Well… good.”
I fiddle with one of the ships, suddenly quite shy.
“Do you have your ships in position?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I tell him.
“Good.”
Day 40
“God damn it, Alex! For once I would like to sink your Battleship!” I shout.
“That’s what she said,” he mutters.
I can’t help it. I burst out laughing.
Day 45
I’m out on the balcony dancing to “Kissing Strangers” by DNCE, a large glass of wine clutched in one hand. It’s late and I’m being a tad noisy, but I just don’t care.
“Whatcha doing, crazy pants?” Alex says over the music.
“Jesus!” I shout, turning to the glass partition. “You scared the crap out of me, Alex!”
Pressing my hand to my rapidly racing heart, I’m thankful I wasn’t holding my glass of wine, otherwise, it would have been all over the floor.
I reach down and turn the volume down on my phone.
“You’re late tonight,” I tell him something he already knows.
“Sorry. I did text you to let you know,” he apologizes.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Um, check your phone, Hannah.”
I look down and see Alex has, in fact, texted me four times.
“Oops!” I giggle. “Sorry.”
“Are you drunk?” he asks.
“Maybe a little,” I tell him, holding my thumb and forefinger about a centimeter apart, not that he can see them. “I am celebrating!”
“Well huzzah!” he cries. “And what are we celebrating?”
“Well, remember I told you about that little punk, Michael, at work?”
“The one who keeps trying to make you look bad?” he asks.
I nod, once again, not like he can see. “That’s the one! His plan backfired on him! HR has all kinds of chats and email streams of him plotting my demise. Today they had a video chat and fired him! And then they called me and told me all about it.”
“Well, that’s awesome news,” Alex says, a smile in his voice.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “How was your day?”
“It was very long. To be honest, I kind of just want to go have a shower and crawl into bed,” he tells me.
“I should be getting to bed myself,” I say, picking up my phone and turning the music off. “Get your shower and go to bed. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
I put my hand on the glass and he places his on the other side, both of us lingering there for a moment. “Goodnight, Alex.”
“Sweet dreams, Hannah.”
Day 55
My phone rings. I stop working and check the screen. It’s Alex.
“Hey there,” I murmur.
“Hey,” he says. He sounds exhausted.
“Just getting in?” I ask.
“Yeah. I wanted to let you know I left something at your door for you.”
“Hold on a sec,” I tell him, as I get up from my desk and go to the door.
I open it and find a big bouquet of peonies in a gorgeous cut glass vase, a large silver bow tied around it.
I bend down and lodge my phone between my chin and shoulder so I can use both hands to pick up the flowers.
“Alex, they are absolutely stunning! Peonies are my favorite!” I exclaim. “Thank you!”
“You’re very welcome, honey.”