Destiny's Fates

Chapter 8

Three hours later and we are all still working. The original search through the police database came up empty, so James resubmitted it without the last name, and just the years 1999 and 1998. That search gave a lot of results, about 70, so James decided to shift through them and print off them off, to see if I remembered meeting any of them. Derrek did the same thing with obituaries, so my printer was running non-stop.

I need to add printer paper to my shopping list. Unfortunately, my search was a complete end. We had hired 15 new people in the past year at the hospital. The only men that we had hired were both in their early 40’s, which apparently was “too old” to be assigned to me.

Chris looks up from the floor, where he was sitting crisscross, attempting to organize the paper mess that James and Derrek were making. “Anyone else getting hungry?”

I glance at my watch, it was 4:45. “I mean, I guess I could eat.”

“So, Des is a yes, how about you guys?”

Derrek and James both nod, not taking their eyes off the laptops.

“Is pizza okay with everyone?”

Derrek and James both nod again. “Can we get cheese sticks too?” Derrek asks, getting up from the couch. “Also, where do you keep your extra printer paper Love?”

“Bottom left drawer in my desk. I think I have a coupon for pizza on my fridge.”

Derrek nods and heads to the office.

“Okay, so an order of cheese sticks, a small pepperoni and pineapple pizza, and a large meat-lovers?”

“Meat-lovers works for me” James says, still not looking up from his laptop.

“Meat-lovers sounds great.” Derrek says, coming back from the office and reloading the printer with paper. “Who the hell is the pepperoni and pineapple abomination for?”

“Des, it’s her favorite brain food.” Chris winked at me.

“Got any pop Doll?”

“Just Coke Zero” Chris and I say at the same time.

“That wasn’t freaky at all,” James muttered, giving Chris the side eye.

Was James jealous of Chris? I mean, I guess he had every right to be. Chris was one of my Fates, and he was the one I had spent the most time with more recently. I didn’t think they were allowed to be jealous of each other.

“What?” Chris asked, then he nods in my direction. “That is all Des drinks besides coffee.”

“That isn’t healthy Doll. What happened to all the water you used to drink during Cross Country?”

“Well, I didn’t run in college and water didn’t really keep my brain awake enough for studying. Also, I drink a cup of hot tea every night to help shut my brain off.”

Derrek stares at me, shaking his head. “You drink coffee and hot tea every day and live alone with a dog. You also knit in your free time and know how to play cribbage. You are just about the youngest old lady I have ever met Love.”

I glare at Derrek, “For your information, I crochet, not knit. Also, my Grumpy taught me to play cribbage when I was 10 and it makes me feel good to play with him.” I pause, and then joke, “And you still fell in love with this old lady.” Then I see their faces. All three guys look sad. They really do love me, all of them. This is real. I am going to have such a tough time choosing between these three guys. Forget about the 4th Fate, he doesn’t even matter anymore. I have had dreams about life with each of these three guys, about where we would live, how many kids we would have, everything. I have compared every guy I have ever dated to these three men. How am I going to choose?

Chris breaks the awkward silence, “Well, I guess we need to add some sodas to the list then.”

“Okay, I will go get the coupon then.” I stand up and walk to the kitchen, followed by Cherry who hasn’t moved from the couch since she came back inside. “What’s up girl?” I ask Cherry, then realize what time it is. “You hungry for dinner?” Cherry immediately runs to her spot under the table, waiting for her food. I smiled and opened the pantry door. Right after I finish scooping out her food, I stand up. Chris coughs, and I turn around startled. “Hey, everything okay?”

“We have a problem. Derrek wants Root Beer; James wants Sprite and I want Dr. Pepper. Is there any way to do that with the pizza?”

“Okay Cherry,” I say to release her to eat. I look at Chris, “I think the pizza place has a build your own 6 pack of soda option, so we could probably do that.”

“Do you want company to go pick it up?”

“Sure, do you care who drives?” I laugh, “I am perfectly happy if you want to. You know, so it doesn’t upset your ego.”

“I have no clue where anything is in this town Des. It would probably be better if you drive.”

“Okay, I will call it in and then we can leave in about 20 minutes to pick it up.”

“Works for me. I will head back to the mess in the living room.” Chris glanced back at me, “Do you have any highlighters in your office? We want to highlight the parts of the profile that match your description of the mystery guy.”

“I think I have some in my top drawer on the right-hand side. They are only blue and yellow though.”

“You finally got over color-coordinating everything?” Chris asked, a little shocked.

“I’m not taking classes anymore, so I only need 2 colors now.” I laughed. “Plus, I remember you being very appreciative of my color-coordinating skills in school.”

“True, it was very helpful for keeping the information from Microbiology, Organic Chemistry and Anatomy and Physiology separate.”

“The good old days when life was simple. Wake up, class, study, sleep.”

“I think you forgot to add your coffee schedule in there Des.”

“Oh hush! Go get those highlighters so I can order the food.”

Chris laughed and started to walk away, “I always liked it when you got bossy Des.”