Last Teardrop (The Chronicles of Amber Harris)

  ***

  “Excuse me. I’m looking for a Lisa McAllen.”

  The deep male voice standing in our doorway startles Lisa and me. I guess I need to keep my head in the present and out of the past. It is not like me to not be aware of my surroundings.

  “I’m Lisa.”

  Watching the man step in the room with a long oblong box in his hands, I know without using my sense of smell that there are roses in the package. As Lisa signs and takes the box, I look up and give the delivery man a nice smile. He has been staring at me since he came to the door. “I wonder if she has anyone sending her nice flowers. Too bad I’m on the clock, otherwise, I would have to stay to find out” “You ladies have a wonderful day.”

  Lisa and I reply in unison, “Thank you, you too.”

  Glad to see my admirer leaving, I turn to look at Lisa, as she rips the wrapping paper off the outside of the box. She opens the box to reveal three dozen pink roses in a purple vase with a pastel pink ribbon tied to it.

  With a small sigh, Lisa removes the card from the three prong plastic stand, and reads the greeting out loud. “Lisa, thank you for a wonderful time this past weekend. I look forward to seeing you again. I hope these roses liven up your day as much as you have livened up my life. Nathan.”

  Putting the card on her desk, she lets out a high pitch squeal. I have to resist the urge to cover my ears. I am positive I will have a small amount of ringing in my ears later.

  “Oh my! Amber, you have got to meet him! Isn’t this just the sweetest thing ever? I don’t think I have ever had anyone send roses before and to my job! Do you know what that means? He was listening to me the other night when I was talking about my boring job. Wow! I have finally found a man who listens to everything I have to say.”

  I give my officemate a kind smile.

  “Liss, the roses are gorgeous. Yes, it does seem that you have found a diamond in the rough. Hopefully I can meet him soon. Maybe we can do lunch or something.” Oh, why did I just bring up human food? I truly hate putting on the eating show. Hopefully, she will not harp on us meeting.

  I release a small huff and check for new emails. It is almost time for us to get ready for our meeting. Being in Human Resources, I have the wonderful task of once a year standing in front of all of my human coworkers and explaining the new rates and plans for health insurance, stock options, and retirement plans. In some ways, it is nice to be a vampire, those human necessities are not needed. Although the stock options are always a good perk, I will never be able to retire from a company–that is a hard task since I have not aged from the age of eighteen in over two hundred years-and I have no need for health insurance. I could imagine the look on a doctor’s face during a physical exam. Priceless comes to mind. The upside to being a vampire working in Human Resources is that I am the one who finalizes the paperwork and passes it on to the correct offices. So there is never a person following behind me asking me to fill out paperwork that I do not require. “Hey, Liss, did you make the copies of the packets we need to pass out for the meeting? I just finished the presentation.”

  “Yes, this morning. I’m ready to go when you are, and thank you again ahead of time for doing all the talking. I really hate to talk in front of big groups of people.”

  Every year Lisa comes to me once we pick a date for the meeting with a frazzled look on her face. She has a phobia of public speaking, and each year she asks me months in advance to do all of the talking in front of our fellow coworkers. I wave my hand in the air as I stand and collect the items I need for the conference. “Not a problem; let’s go.”