Mesmerized

cuarenta.

Exhaustion weighed heavily upon my body as I clocked out of my second double shift of the week. Things at the hospital had become much worse and my newfound responsibilities only added to the stress that I felt on any given day. Many of the people I'd known since my start at the hospital had been fired or had their hours cut; it had become routine to see different faces during each new shift.

Thoughts about the state of the hospital followed me home as they did on most days, they were almost impossible to shake off. It was about seven in the evening when I arrived home, Lani was in the kitchen and leaned across the counter to greet me.

"Another double?" Her tone was sympathetic as she appraised my appearance.

I swept a hand through my disheveled hair and offered her a lackluster nod in response. "I'm gonna take a shower and then we can talk. I need some normal girl talk after the last twenty-four hours."

"Sounds good, I'll make you a plate!" Lani replied.

I thanked her, then headed to my bedroom where I sunk onto my bed with a long sigh of relief. I took a few seconds to collect myself and then headed to the bathroom where I took a hot shower; anything to loosen the tense knots that I called muscles. As promised, I found Leilani sitting at our little dining table after I'd gotten dressed.

"Thank you for the food." I said to her, "Talk to me Lani, what's new with you?" My mood had lifted after taking a few bites of salmon.

She shrugged while shooting a coy smile my way. "I may or may not have met someone today."

"What?!" I was fully alert at that point. "Tell me everything."

Lani chuckled softly before taking another bite of her food, purposely leaving me in suspense. "Well, she's a regular at the bakery that I used to work at, and I bumped into her while I was there... then we got to talking... all morning."

"What's she like? I'm assuming that she has to be a good conversationalist for you to get caught up like that." I smiled at my friend, her track record with women left a lot to be desired.

Lani nodded, sharing my excitement. "She's smart, funny and very intriguing; talking to her kind of inspired me to put some roots down."

"Please elaborate." I encouraged, pushing my empty plate out of the way.

She mirrored my actions, "Well Halima, that's her name, works at the Natural History Museum and listening to her talk about her job and everything with so much passion... it made me want to set some real goals for myself."

"You mean with your degree?" I asked, knowing that she'd gone back to school part-time to finish her Master's.

Lani nodded, "Exactly, I'm going to go back full time! I want to work in the psychological field, I don't want to keep putting it off and doing random jobs anymore."

"I'm proud of you babe! Seems like this girl is going to be a good addition to your life." I told her, "Do you have plans to see her again?"

She nodded, eyes shining with glee. "We're meeting up later tonight actually, I planned something for the weekend but we're both impatient."

"I'm all for it, she sounds nice Lani!"

Leilani smiled sheepishly, "I don't want to jinx anything, but I agree, she's a good woman." She checked the time on her phone and squealed, "Speaking of, I need to get ready! I'll deal with the dishes on my way out babe, you need to get some rest."

"Don't worry about it, I'll do them right now. Just focus on getting cute for your date." I grabbed our plates and kissed Lani on the cheek as I made my way to the sink.