Her Last Wish Read Free Page B

stand the wait just to be disappointed yet again. “How
likely am I to obtain services through your company?”
    She sighed loudly
enough for me to hear over the phone. “I’m not the one to choose who gets
services and who doesn’t. But I can tell you that our agency generally does not
work with single men, especially if they tend to work long hours. We try to
work with families with more … ideal situations. Generally couples in stable
households.”
    “That’s not fair!” As I
looked around at the students nearby, I realized I must have yelled in my
frustration. Several of them stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. I quickly
turned my attention back outside to try and calm myself down.
    “I know. And I wish it
were different. But I don’t make the rules. I simply fill in the blanks on the
profiles.”
    “Right. Thank you.” Thanks
for nothing.
    “Have a nice day.”
    I couldn’t even
respond. I simply hung up. I ran my trembling hands through my hair in an
attempt to calm myself. It wasn’t working out well, but I couldn’t let this get
to me. I still had one agency left. It would be different. It had to be.
    But the fact that I
could be turned down by that one, as well, simply because my wife was no longer
with me was too much. Didn’t they understand that I wanted to do this to have a
part of her with me after her death? This had been important to her. It was important
to me . I couldn’t let her go.
    As my blood pressure quickly
rose, I heard a soft tap on the table in front of me, startling me out of my
own personal storm. I put my hands down and slowly guided my eyes up in search
of the source of the noise. Standing in front of me was my favorite coffee
girl, looking beautiful, as always, and some male companion that I recalled
seeing in passing. He could have been in one of my classes at one point in
time, but you couldn’t prove it by me. His appearance was generally
forgettable, looking exactly like every other punk college student I’ve ever
come across in my career. Coffee Girl didn’t wear her usual uniform, but both
she and her companion carried cups with the coffee bar logo. She smiled sweetly
at me, and I nearly forgot all about my phone call. She carefully tucked a
strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear. Her blue eyes sparkled in the
filtered sunlight streaming through the window.
    “Professor Mason,” she
greeted.
    I tried to say
something, anything, but I couldn’t find words. She was such a sight for sore
eyes. I didn’t understand why I felt that way. It bothered me. Even though it
made me feel more human, I really shouldn't have noticed a difference between
her and any of the other students in the room. In fact, I should have felt the
same way about her as I felt about that guy next to her. Instead of letting my
relief at her presence (and the frustration it brought me) show, I simply
nodded.
    “I’m just coming by to
say hi. You looked like you needed this.” She pointed to the new cup on my
table. “Hazelnut macchiato. Your usual. Stan isn’t very good at them.” She
gestured to Beardy behind the counter, who looked even less thrilled to be
there than he had moments before. “He tries, I think, but …”
    I tried not to laugh,
an odd feeling seeing as how I had been so far from even wanting to smile just
a few moments before. But saying Beardy wasn’t good at making drinkable coffee
was about like saying that night is dim or rain is damp. A serious
understatement, indeed. “Thank you. How much do I owe you?”
    “Nothing. I just hope
it helps with … You know … whatever.” She smiled again. “I’ll see you in class
on Monday.” She gently took the hand of her companion, who appeared as if his
patience had run thin way before they’d ever approached me.
    A jolt of ... something
... ran through me. It felt remarkably like jealousy. I shrugged it off as
missing the feel of Elizabeth's hand in mine. And I did miss it. More than
anything. But I had to admit