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Once she’d finished eating, she went back up to her room and started to unpack her bags. They were a bit of a hodge-podge since she’d just been cramming things into bags because she wanted to just get it all done so she could leave.
Unpacking was an adventure as she figured out where she wanted things to go. There was plenty of space for everything. More than enough space, really, since she didn’t have a ton of stuff.
The most important things that she’d brought with her were the picture frames that held photos of her and her mom and the album that they’d put together during her mom’s illness. In addition to the pictures they’d chosen for that book, the importance of that album was the time they’d spent together and the memories they’d created.
Aria set the last photo they’d taken together on the high chest of drawers. Gripping the edge of the furniture, she stared at the picture. “I’m in a new place, Momma. It’s so beautiful here. I think you would have liked it. Iknowyou would have liked it.” She blinked back tears. “It’s a new chapter. I’m going to do my best to make you proud. No more bad decisions, I promise.”
A knock on her door made Aria jump. Her heart started to pound since she didn’t think anyone would be home until later.
“Aria?” The sound of Janessa’s voice brought a wave of relief.
She hurried to open the door. “You scared me!”
Janessa laughed, her dark eyes sparkling. “Sorry about that. I just wanted to come home and see how you were doing.”
“C’mon in,” Aria said as she walked back into the room. “I’m making progress.”
“I love seeing you settle in like this. Makes it all the more real.”
“It is very real,” Aria agreed. “And I’m loving it.”
“Did you want something to eat?” Janessa asked. “I’m going to make myself a sandwich.”
“Sure.” Picking up her phone, she followed Janessa down to the kitchen.
“Sit,” Janessa said, pointing to a barstool at the island counter. “What do you want in your sandwich? Ham? Turkey? Cheese?”
“Turkey and cheese would be great.”
“Tomato? Lettuce?”
“Both, thanks.”
Janessa worked quickly as she assembled sandwiches for each of them, chatting about what had been going on at the clinic that morning.
“Gareth and Jay were getting into it again this morning,” Janessa said with a sigh.
“They fight a lot?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s a fight, necessarily. More like there are certain things that they never see eye to eye on. Jay, the businessman, is always focused on the budget, while Gareth doesn’t want to cut corners on anything, even when doing so wouldn’t affect patient services. So yeah, another heated discussion on where money was being spent.”
Janessa slid the plates across the island, then went to get glasses and filled them with water. “Part of your job will be ordering supplies, so you might get caught in the middle of discussions at times. If you want to please them both, you need to find the best products for the cheapest price.”
“Ismiracle workerpart of my job description?” Aria asked with a laugh.
“No, but it probably should be.”
“I’ll do my best. I’ve never done anything like that before, since at the hospital, I just got what I needed from the supply room. I never had to order anything with an eye towards cost.”
“Yeah. Because we’re a small clinic, we have to deal with that ourselves.”
Aria hoped that she’d be able to fulfill the role in a way that made both Jay and Gareth happy because, if they weren’t happy with her, she wasn’t going to last long in the job.
“Oh, and whatever you do, don’t flirt with Jay or tell Gareth you like his broad shoulders. And definitely don’t spike their morning coffee.”
“What?” Aria gaped at Janessa. “Why would I doanyof those things?”
“Well, one of our previous receptionists did, and she re-applied when the position came open again, even though Gareth had fired her the last time she’d worked for us after he took a sip of his coffee and discovered it had a littleextraadded to it.”
