The Night's Legacy by P.T. Dilloway Page B

talking about last night!”
    “Yes.”
    “Ooh, he’s such a jerk!”  Melanie pounded on the counter, which seemed ludicrous compared to how sunny she usually was.  “What are you going to do?”
    “I don’t know.”  Lois wiped at her eyes.  “Let’s just get to work.”
    “Sure.  We can think of how to get back at him later.”
    Lois nodded, but she knew no petty revenge scheme could really make things right.
    * * *
    Tony risked sticking his head out of the stockroom three hours later.  “Lois, could you come back here?”
    Before Lois could say anything, Melanie shouted, “No way, Creep-O.  She doesn’t want to have anything to do with you, right?”
    “Right,” Lois said.
    “See?  So you can go get bent, jerk.”
    Tony stepped out of the stockroom, a piece of paper clutched in his hands.  “I made this for you,” he said.
    “She doesn’t want it,” Melanie snapped.  “She doesn’t want anything from you and neither do I.”
    He held up the paper and Lois saw it was covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics.  “I spent all morning on the phone with Dr. Johnson to write this.  You want to know what it says?”
    “No, and you know what you can do with that paper,” Melanie said.  She took a step towards Tony, but Lois grabbed her shoulder to hold her back.
    “Fine, what does it say?” Lois asked.
    “It says, ‘I’m sorry about last night.  I never wanted to hurt you.  I really care about you and I would do anything if you’d forgive me.’”
    Lois squinted at the paper.  “It doesn’t really say that,” she said.
    “Well, you might have to use your imagination a little, but that’s the gist of it.”
    She looked into his eyes, trying to gauge how sincere he was.  She took the paper from him and then growled, “I’ll forgive you this time.  But this is your last chance, got it?”
    “I got it.  And I really am sorry, Lois.  You’re a very special girl—”
    “Save it for later,” Lois said as a customer sauntered in.  “We’ve got work to do.”
    She tucked the paper into her pocket for later.  Once Tony had returned to the stockroom, Melanie sighed like a romantic heroine.  “That was so cute,” she said.  “I wish I could find a man like that.”
    “I thought you said he was a creep and a jerk,” Lois said with a smile.
    They laughed until the customer gave them a funny look.  Once the customer bought a T-shirt and porcelain bell, Lois and Melanie laughed some more.
    * * *
    The next time Tony appeared it wasn’t anything romantic.  It was time for Lois to go on lunch break.  Seeing no one else around, she kissed his cheek and whispered into his ear, “I’ll see you later.”
    Instead of going down to the cafeteria, Lois went upstairs to the fourth floor.  Mom’s door was closed and Lorna stood up to bar the way.  “She’s in there with a donor,” Lorna said.
    “Oh.  I was just going to see if she wanted to get lunch.”
    “I’ll tell her you stopped by.”
    “Thanks.”  Lois turned to go but then stopped.  She turned again to face Lorna.  “Did she tell you make an appointment with Dr. Pavelski for us?”
    Lorna stared at her.  “No.  Should she?”
    Lois clenched her fists.  “That lying bitch!”  She glared at the door, expecting it to open, but apparently the donor inside was too important.
    “ Lois—”
    “Don’t worry, I’m not going to break in there.”
    Instead she turned on her heel and stormed back to the elevator.  She took it to the first floor, stomping past the cafeteria and through the front doors.  She had to wait a few minutes to flag down a cab to take her a dozen blocks down the road to Dr. Pavelski’s office.  The office was still on the sixth floor, just as it had been when Lois first went there for her vaccinations.  She couldn’t remember that day, but Dr. Pavelski had frequently raved about how good Lois had been.
    She threw open the door to the doctor’s office.  There were a half-dozen young