Pot Roast

Toni rushed her last patient through his paces, she apologized to him but she wasn’t sorry. She had a half made plan in mind and rushed out of the clinic and back to her house, back home. Once there she called Miss Peeg.

“Miss Peeg, this is Toni... um, I don’t want to talk to him but is he there?”

“Yes, he is…are you sure you won’t?”

“No, no I ah…do you think you could make sure he comes straight home from work?” She bit her lip.

“I’ll do my best, are you there now?”

“Yes, thanks a bunch Miss Peeg.”

She rushed up the steps dropping her bag on the floor and into the shower; once dressed she went back downstairs and into the kitchen, shaking her head at the mess. A quick stop on the way home from the clinic at Ivy’s grocery and she had the makings of a pot roast which she quickly assembled and stuck it in the oven, then she attacked the messy kitchen.

She could only hope but she knew Richie, knew him well.

Richie drove down the street to his house thinking Miss Peeg was probably right; he did need to go home and rest he certainly wasn’t sleeping at night. He pulled into the drive and his heart leaped into his throat. Her car was there. Of course it might not mean anything, he reminded himself as he walked to the door and opened it.

The aroma hit him as soon as he opened the door; he walked trancelike down the hall absently dropping his keys in the bowl stopping at the entrance to the kitchen. Toni turned startled she hadn’t heard him come in over the water running in the sink.

She dried her hands, “I thought…pot roast because we…haven’t had it for awhile…and…it was one of your favorites…but…maybe you…don’t like pot roast anymore?” He was walking toward her.

“I love pot roast,” it came out a bit strangled for the presence of the heart still crowding his throat.