A Tender Touch

\.A Million Pieces./

Friday, - March 23, 1990

"No, I think I'm fine."

I swiftly turned around, while my eyes were searching for the face belonging to the voice I had just heard.

"I'm over here, ... you fool."

Torey, a colleague of mine, waved at me. His brown dreadlocks were just being put in a ponytail when he asked me for my finishing time.

"5:30."

I replied with a smile on my face that I just couldn't hide. Thinking that I had heard a 'Lucky one...' when his tall figure brushed me, a snicker escaped my mouth.

"Well, it's only fair. I still need to drive home for a good one and a-"

He interrupted me.

"Yeah, driving home to THE king of pop. Darling, don't even start complaining."

Then he grabbed a cup of coffee, his eyes beaming at me with that mix of irony and joy.

"Have a good one, Mira. And make sure to really relax. You work too hard anyway."

"I will, you too by the way."

I said while taking a look at the schedule board.

"You got a night shift today? Poor you, for real. I heard that we've got three new patients on the intensive care unit and Liam and Valerie's condition got worse as well. You sure I shouldn't stay here for a little lon-"

He abruptly shook his head and tried shoving me out of the office.

"You, my bean, are gonna enjoy the weekend now. I got that... And if it does get too much, I'll call Michelle to come over. She might not be such a sweetheart like you but she does her job."

"Okay, I'm gonna... go then."

I gave him a warm smile, quickly pulling him into a hug before making my way to my car.

I started the engine, slowly pulled out of the parking lot and saw to it that I would get to the highway the fastest way possible. The song "Express Yourself" by Madonna was blasting through the radio which had me singing along although I have to admit that there is just something about her that I don't... like. My thoughts were more overly drifting off to Michael anyway. Actually, he said that he would call me during my lunch break. He had to head towards a business meeting, that's why we didn't get to see each other this morning. I just hoped that it wasn't something bad keeping him from calling and tried to get back home as quickly as possible, which turned out to be - due to the stop-and-go traffic - a little complicated.

2 hours later...

Finally, I was able to listen to the familiar sounds that came along with entering the Ranch. I know it sounds very cliche but the birds were chirping, you could hear the soft splashing of the fountain and most importantly, and I saw another car being parked in the distance. My first immediate thought: my baby was home.

Full of joy and excitement to spend the whole weekend with my favorite person on earth, I closed the car door and walked down the desert pavement path. Meanwhile, I tried to find my keys inside my purse but eventually had to stop in front of the door. I kneeled down at the porch and rummaged around until I finally saw something reflecting the evening sunlight. The keys! I happily beamed at them, standing up seconds later. But it wasn't until I was about to put the key into the lock that I noticed that the door was already being left ajar.