One last kiss

      Roger slowly pushed open the door of the flower shop; the bell that hung above the door gave a soft tinkle as he did so “I’ll be out in a minute!” came a woman’s voice.

           “No rush Amanda. Stella’s still waiting for the doctor to take her down for some tests.” he called out as he rubbed his hands together. He looked around the shop as he waited for her to come out from the back. After a few minutes, he heard the sound of her footsteps coming from the back and he turned to see her coming out, she had her regular gardening apron on along with her gardening gloves, and her strawberry blonde hair was tied up in a high ponytail to keep it out of the way.

           “Hey Roger let me go grab your flowers. I got the brightest and nicest-smelling tulips that I have available. I know how much Stella loves them.” she said as she pulled her gloves off. Roger caught sight of something on her right hand as soon as she pulled the glove off and looked down at her hand expecting there to be a cut or something.

           “Got a new tattoo?” he asked when he noticed that it was some multicolored flower tattoo. Amanda looked down at her hand, the protective covering was still on her hand and the flower stood out like a sore thumb against her pale skin.

           “Oh yeah, I just picked some generic flower design they had and asked them to use my favorite colors.” she said with a shrug and Roger shook his head.

           “Why do you insist on putting that stuff on your body?” he asked and Amanda rolled her eyes.

           “Come on Roger. Like you didn’t get a few tattoos.” she said with a grin and Roger gave a soft chuckle.

           “I don’t. Never saw the point in it.” he said as he looked down at his hands that were resting on the counter. His sepia brown skin contrasted Amanda’s light pink tone “All these hands have on them is callouses.” he said as he slowly opened them up showing her the scars from working in factories and working on cars when he used to drive. Amanda looked down at his hands with a smile.

           “The hands of a hardworking man. Isn’t that what you told me Stella told you all the time?”

           “Yeah, she does or did. Raised three boys and it gets harder and harder for them to come and see her.” he said before turning his head. Amanda let out a sigh as she watched him struggle to pull in his emotions, Roger had been coming to her store every week for about five or six months at this point, and he always asked for the same thing. The brightest and sweetest smelling tulips that she had in the store, Stella had always loved tulips, and while she couldn’t remember much else, she at least remembered her love of those. The doctors weren’t sure how much longer she had but the consensus seemed to be that eventually, her multiple health issues would end up costing Stella her life. Roger pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe at his nose before shoving it back in.

           “I’ll go get her flowers for you. I don’t want to keep you here forever.” she said before she walked over to another room for a minute or two coming back with the biggest tulips Roger had ever seen since he had started to come to the shop.

           “What are you giving those plants?” he asked as he took the bouquet in surprise.

           “Hey, I’m just that good. In all honesty, I’m surprised that they turned out these big because you’ve seen the other ones I’ve given you.” she said with a grin on her face.

           “Oh well thank you. I’m sure that Stella will love them.” he said with a smile and a tip of his hat before he started to head for the door.

           “Hey, Roger.”

           “Yeah Amanda?” he asked stopping.

           “Am I ever going to convince you to get a baseball hat or something?” she asked with a laugh and Roger let out one of his own before shaking his head no.

           “Not a chance. Stella bought me this hat years ago and it’s lasted longer than the hats my sons have bought themselves.” he said while touching the tweed hat that sat on his head. With a wave, Roger was back out the door. He walked down the bus stop admiring the tulips that Amanda had given him. He sat down on the bench and it seemed like before he knew it the bus had pulled up, one of the other passengers helped him up onto the bus and he sat down near the front across from a woman who looked to be about his age and her granddaughter.

           “Those are lovely flowers. Are they for your wife?” the woman asked and Roger smiled at her.

           “Yes, they are. My Stella has always loved them and she hasn’t felt very well the last few months so I’m hoping that these can brighten up her day.” he said as he messed with one of the petals. He spent his time talking to the woman and her granddaughter before he pulled the cord and rang the bell to be let off in front of the hospital.

           “Well. It was very nice to talk to you wasn’t it Mary?” the woman asked.

           “Yes, it was. I hope your wife likes her flowers Roger.” Mary said as they waved to him. Roger got off the bus and stood on the sidewalk giving them a wave as well until the bus pulled away and he waited to safely get across the street. He slowly walked through the revolving door and passed the security desk.

           “Hey Roger how’s it going?” the guard asked and Roger gave him a little wave.

           “Just fine Fredrick. Kids said to tell you hello when I came today.” he said as he continued towards the elevators. He hit the button to go up and after one of the cars arrived and its passengers exited, he got in and hit the button for the fifth floor. He hated making the ride up but some days the only person that Stella recognized was him and he would be the only one that could calm her down enough for a nurse to take her blood pressure or to give her medication so he would make a trip out to see her every day to check up on her. He would soothe her as she sobbed to him about the strange people that came into her room and poked and prodded at her and when he would see that her flowers were either dead or dying he would have one of the nurses quietly take her old flowers out of the room and he would replace them with the new ones he bought. He stepped out of the elevator as soon as it reached the fifth floor and down the hallway smiling and nodding to the various people that were also on the floor be they another patient, a loved one, or one of the workers.

           He walked up to the nurse’s station and waited for them to finish whatever they were doing when one of them looked up “Oh Mr. Wellings I didn’t see you there.” she said as she put the phone she had been talking on back onto its receiver.

           “That’s alright no rush. Did Stella’s doctor take her for her tests yet?” he asked and the nurse typed away on her computer for a few seconds.

           “Yeah, you just missed her.”

           “That’s all right. Gives me time to straighten up her room for her.” Roger said with a smile. He walked further down the hall to her room, room number 4 it was always Stella’s favorite number for some reason and she had been thrilled when she had seen that that’s where they were putting her. Roger walked in and let out a sigh when he saw that her room was in slight disarray, Stella had a habit of destroying or trying to destroy parts of her room whenever they would come to take her down for testing if her memory had slipped her and it seemed like she had another episode.

           “Oh, Mr. Wellings you don’t have to clean this up.” another nurse said obviously there to straighten up the room herself.

           “It’s fine I’ve got it.” Roger said as he let out a groan as he bent down to pick up what looked like a piece of a broken plate. He heard the nurse let out a sigh before he saw her feet moving towards him.

           “You’re supposed to be relaxing and waiting for Stella to come back up.” she scolded as she grabbed another piece.

           “How about this? I’ll spend my time waiting on her by helping you clean up the room.” he suggested. The nurse stood there and stared at him as he stood back up slowly before letting out a sigh.

           “You’re not going to take no for an answer are you?” she asked as he smiled at her. After the next hour or so the two of them worked together to put everything back in place and Roger quickly replaced the flowers before setting the vase in the window where she always kept it. They could hear Stella yelling at the orderly who was pushing her back to her room from down the hallway and Roger gave the nurse an apologetic look before he turned and sat down on a nearby chair and waited for her to come in knowing that as soon as she saw him she would calm down.

           “I don’t know who you think you are! Pulling me out of my bed and strapping me down to this chair,” Stella yelled the faint sounds of something hitting metal, which told Roger that she was probably kicking her legs “you just wait until my husband gets here and he finds out! He’s a cop! He’ll arrest you!” she screamed and Roger let out a groan. She always tried to use the fact that he used to be a cop to her advantage and it had gotten to the point where every new hire for the hospital had to be told that no he was no longer a cop and that no he did not have any way of getting them arrested. As soon as the orderly turned the wheelchair that she very obviously wasn’t strapped into her demeanor changed “Oh Roger my love. I was telling this nice young man that you used to be a cop when you were his age.” she said with a smile. Roger gave her a stern look and her smile fell.

           “Now Stella we both know that isn’t true, I could hear you down the hallway remember? You need to apologize to this man for trying to get him in trouble.” he said sternly. Stella let out a sigh before slowly turning to the orderly.

           “I’m sorry for the way I acted. I just don’t see why you have to pull me out of my bed when I’m sleeping to poke and prod me.” she said sounding slightly annoyed.

           “I understand ma’am but you do want to get better and go home right?” the orderly asked and at first Stella said nothing but seeing that he wasn’t going to just let it go she slowly turned her head before letting out a sigh.

           “Yeah, I’d like to get to go home. It just seems like it’s never-ending, you figure out one thing and something else goes wrong.” she said with a sigh.

           “I understand that and I know that I’d feel the same way if I was going through the same thing.” the orderly said as he helped her put her feet down so that he could put the footrests on the wheelchair up before helping her stand up. The two of them worked together to help her sit on the bed and the orderly took the wheelchair away “Well I hope that the doctor comes back with your test results as quickly as possible and that they’re able to get you home soon.” he said with a smile before walking out of the room. As soon as he walked out of the door Stella began to cough, Roger quickly poured her a glass of water and handed it to her. Stella slowly chugged the water before letting out a sigh and looking over towards the nurse.

           “How long have you been there?” she asked sounding generally surprised.

           “She’s been here since you’ve come in. She helped me tidy up your room love.” Roger said and Stella seemed to be embarrassed.

           “I’m sorry. I’m just tired of all of these tests.” she said as the nurse helped her lay down in her bed, making sure she was covered with a blanket and comfortable.

           “Oh, you’re not the worst patient I’ve ever seen.”

           “Yes, I am.”

           “No, you’re not.” the nurse said with a laugh. The nurse was checking her over and making sure that she was rehooked up to her monitors.

           “You know I used to be a dancer.” Stella said out of nowhere.

           “Oh really? Like ballet?”

           “Yeah. Back when I was doing it was a bit unconventional. Half of the girls in my class quit. They didn’t want someone like me in their class. But I was a good dancer and the teacher and the other parents could see it so they were willing to overlook it.” She said with a sad smile.

           “Is that how the two of you met?” the nurse asked as she adjusted Stella’s gown.

           “Kind of.” the two of them said and the nurse looked from one to the other in shock.

           “I was in Swan Lake, I wasn’t the lead obviously but just the fact that I was in the play at all rubbed a man the wrong way and he tried to jump up on stage to attack me. Now my friend had the right complexion, she was the lead, and she had a good strong kick. Long story short the cops were called and Roger was one of the cops that responded. He came to every single one of my plays after that.” Stella said with a smile as she looked at Roger.

           “Well, how could I not? There was a beautiful woman that was up there dancing her heart out.” he said with a smile. The nurse smiled at the two of them before she wrote something down on Stella’s chart.

           “Well I have other patients to attend to but don’t feel ashamed to hit this button and I’ll come as soon as I can.” she said before walking out of the room. As soon as she was out of earshot Roger let out a sigh and turned to Stella.

           “You do need to stop giving them a hard time, they’re just trying to help you, my love.” he said with a sigh.

           “I know, it just feels pointless. As soon as they figure out one problem five more pop up.” she said as she poured herself another glass of water.

           “Maybe if you’d calm down you’d stop having all of these new health issues.” he said as he looked over at a picture that she had sitting on her bedside table. It was a picture of them at their granddaughter’s birthday party earlier that year, looking at the picture and looking at her now you could tell that her hair was starting to grow out again. She was fuller in the face and her ebony skin had a nice healthy glow about it in the picture, Stella let out another cough and Roger quickly turned back to her grabbing her oxygen mask as he did so. She took a few deep breaths before she finally relaxed and nodded her head okay before settling back into her bed. Roger adjusted it so that she was more comfortable.

           “So how are the boys?” she asked with a sigh.

           “Oh. They’re doing okay. They wish they could come visit you more but, it seems to upset you to have them here more often than not anymore.” he said with a sad smile. Stella let out a sigh and looked down at her hands.

           “Believe me it hurts to look at my babies and not be able to recognize them while I know that they’re important to me too. I just wish that my mind would stop fighting me.” she said as she rubbed the side of her head.

           “One battle at a time Stel.” Roger said as he patted her hand. Stella nodded her head again before letting out a yawn.

           “Oh, they’ve had me up half of the night with all of their tests. I’m going to take a quick nap alright?” she asked with a tired smile.

           “Of course. I’m going to go step outside for a quick smoke, I’ll be back in a bit later.” Roger said as he kissed her. “I’ll see you in a few I love you okay?” he asked and she smiled at him.

           “I love you too. Now go let me sleep and smoke that nasty habit of yours.” she said with a smile. Roger left the same way he came in while pulling out his pack, the next few minutes felt like a blur. He was outside smoking a cigarette when a nurse came running out and breathlessly told him that something was wrong with Stella. By the time, they reached her room the doctor had called the time and they were pulling her sheet up over her head, Roger stoically walked into the room grabbed Stella’s hand, and pressed a kiss to her it tears rolling down his cheeks as he said his goodbyes.