Forever

I wake up on a Friday morning and slap the snooze button. Fifteen minutes later, it goes off again. Chris rustles next to me and turns over. I am tempted to hit the button one more time, but I know that this is the middle of the night for him since he works 11-7 at the hospital. I recently switched to 3-11 for a higher paying position in pediatrics. They don’t prepare you in nursing school for the heartache you will see working on that floor.

It is only 11:30 in the morning and I don’t have to be at work for a few hours, so I decide I’m going to run some errands. It’s hard working opposing shifts, but we’re managing. It’s only temporary until Chris can either get his shift switched or work at a different hospital. There’s a nursing shortage everywhere, he should be able to find something if he would just step up the search a bit more.

After I ready myself for the day, I pick up a stack of neatly sealed and stamped envelopes and head out to the post office. If I didn’t drop the bills off, Chris wouldn’t do it until the last minute and risk late fees. Typical Chris. I stop by the grocery store and the pet store to get Max some more canned food before I stop home and don my scrubs and head out to work. Chris is still asleep when I leave.

It is 5:30 when I get a phonecall from Chris, frantically asking where I am. I tell him I’m at the nurse’s station and beg him to tell me what’s going on. He tells me it’s something he needs to tell me in person and he will be over in fifteen minutes. I spend the entire time terrified that something horrible has happened, preparing myself for the worst. When I see him walk through the elevator doors, my heart sinks for a second before I notice he is carrying a bouquet of roses and smiling. I am confused and curious and I can barely believe what I am seeing when he walks over to my chair and gets down on one knee and opens a delicate little box with the most beautiful diamond ring I have ever seen in my life. Everything after that is a blur and even three hours later I am still in shock as I sit and just stare at the ring that now resides on my left fourth finger.

“Let’s go out tonight after work to celebrate!” Tanya says to me. Angela and Kate rally around the nurse’s station and shake nod in agreement.

“Yeah! Just us girls, having fun, celebrating!” Kate says. I am so excited and thrilled that I agree. Chris will be at work, anyway, so I won’t be able to see him. This should be fun.

I head home after work and take a fast shower. I gussy myself up and Tanya stops by the apartment to pick me up at 12:30. We head out to our favorite local nightclub and they immediately buy me three shots to celebrate. We dance for a while and Angela buys me a mixed drink. I am getting loud and we are all screeching and dancing and having fun. When we step up to the bar to order another round, a guy sitting next to us looks over and smiles.

“What’s the occasion, ladies?” he asks. I immediately shove my left hand in his face and shake it.

“Wow, that’s quite a rock you got there. Your fiancée must be a very lucky man to be able to call a woman as beautiful as yourself his bride to be,” he says. I laugh and smile and thank him. I am about to walk away with my drink when he touches my arm ever so slightly and says “Next drink’s on me, in congratulations.” I nod and head back to the dancefloor. Things are starting to get fuzzy and blurry, but I know that Mr. Bar Man has offered to buy me another drink and I am too drunk and too happy to feel odd about taking him up on his offer. I saunter back over to the bar and stand next to him.

“How about that drink you promised?” I asked him. He smiles and signals the bartender.

“Of course, beautiful,” he replies. I laugh and he introduces himself as Eric.

“I’m Michelle, but everyone calls me Shell. I guess you can too!” I yell. I am not going to remember his name in ten minutes, anyway.

“Okay, Shell,” he says as the bartender pours two shots. He raises his toward me and says “To Shell, on the day of her engagement.”

“Here, here!” I yell back and down the shot. He drinks his and puts it back on the bar.

“Another?” he asks. I shake my head.

“Are you trying to kill me, Eric!? I have had enough to drink already!” I say with a laugh. He looks at me and shrugs his shoulders.

“You only get engaged once!” he says and gestures to the empty shot glass. I think for a second. He’s right.

“Okay, just one more,” I say and thank him.

“No problem, Shell,” he replies and we clink our shot glasses together.

I wake up at what appears to be some unholy hour of the morning. It’s already daylight and the sun is killing me. I sit up and reach over to pull down the shade on the window next to me. I see Chris under the covers with his back toward me. I know he has had a long night so I am careful not to wake him up or disturb him as I get out of bed to go to the bathroom. I do my business and I am passing back through the kitchen when I hear keys in the front door. I quickly glance at the clock on the stove and notice that it says 7:19 am.