A Heart Healed

Chapter 2

Naomi

“And here’s our top headlines for today.”

The female anchor’s voice echoed like an alarm through the apartment as Naomi laid in bed, trying to open her eyes. Iris’ familiar weight on her chest reminded her that she left the bedroom door open again after going to bed last night. After microwaving a quick TV dinner, she had left the television on for something to fill up the silence as she read a book and tried to eat as much as she could in the comfort of her bed.

She didn’t even finish it.

Her stomach was already filled with worry for her older brother and nephew. Sure, it wasn’t hard to just send the money from her cell phone out to him, but that didn’t solve the problem entirely.

Especially when she didn’t have a lot of money to be feeding herself anyway. Whoever came up with the idea that all doctors were rich clearly didn’t live in this city. Rent for her apartment on its own took up most of it and then it was taxes and her student loan repayment.

If she didn’t save as much as she could, there was little chance she’d be able to help her brother in the first place.

She rolled over onto her side before she felt little claws stab into her abdomen for a moment, making Naomi let out for a hiss before she felt Iris jump off of the bed. Well, that’s one way to start a morning, she huffed with a cautious touch on her skin to make sure she didn’t gain any new scratches.

Nothing. Thank goodness.

This was probably her cue to get some coffee before she headed back to her second home. With the amount of time she spent there, it may as well be anyway. Naomi knocked the blanket off of her and took a few seconds to say goodbye to her bed before she lurched off of the soft mattress, letting her feet meet the wooden floor of her bedroom below.

A yawn escaped her as she ran a hand under the sleeve of her stretched out t-shirt, trying to stretch the muscles in her back as best as she could before stepping into the small bathroom attached to her room.

The room itself was something slightly bigger than what her mother had as a walk-in closet. The shower took up about half of the space with everything else just squashed within the rest of it. It was probably the main reason why she almost didn’t accept the lease for the apartment.

She needed a place close enough between Olivia’s place and the hospital that she could call her own. This place was perfect enough until this room.

However, no time to reminisce, she had to get ready for work and feed herself as well as that cranky cat.

After a quick shower and comb through of her hair to avoid it from tangling too tightly, Naomi stood in front of the stove with a spatula in her hand as she waited for the pan to heat up so she could make some scrambled eggs for her breakfast. She wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt like eggs that morning, but it was probably better than nothing.

Naomi checked the clock on the microwave. She was actually running way ahead of schedule. There were days she wished that she had more mornings like this. Where she could take her time to make sure she and Iris ate before having to rush off for work. It was actually more peaceful than running down to the coffee shop about a block down the road where all the hipster college students hung out for overpriced ice coffee and croissants. Every morning was then a battle for the good pastries and the cappuccino that didn’t taste like it was reheated and just sprinkled with cinnamon or something in attempt to disguise it.

“Hey, princess,” Naomi cooed as Iris came to rub up against her legs with a soft purr. “Did you finish your food already?” She smiled down at the cat before the memory of what she was doing came back. Breakfast, right.

She grabbed a couple of eggs from a steel basket on the counter and cracked each of them against the side of the pan before letting the contents fall into the hot oil with a loud sizzle. The clear egg white turning pale as she moved them together in order to try to keep them as a solid shape. With a stretch, she grabbed the salt and a couple of other spices from the top shelf of one of the cabinets to her left. By the time she added a dash of each onto her eggs, they were cooked enough. The whites were white enough and the yolk was pleasantly runny for toast dipping later.

She grabbed the handle of the pan and placed it onto a different plate on the stove. Toast, next. After popping a couple of slices into the toaster, she grabbed a dining plate and dished the eggs onto it. Perfect.

It was only then a matter of minutes before her toast popped up and with a swipe of butter on each, breakfast was done.

“Come on, princess. Let’s watch the news before I go, huh?” she said, grabbing her refilled coffee mug and plate before walking to the couch, Iris right on her heels.

“And now onto business news, with hip hop artist Junior in hot water once again with charges of possession and trafficking, shares of his record label’s parent company Octave Media drop with this being the third artist found guilty of criminal charges, CFO Marc Hewitt had this to say in a press conference yesterday…”

Naomi shook her head as the rest of the story went on. It seemed that the company itself was being blamed by investors for not monitoring the behavior of its talent. With the stocks losing its prestige and trust from investors, it seems that this Octave Media would be closing their record label for negligence.

Pity. The handsome man speaking at the press conference seemed to be disappointed as he was making this announcement, but Naomi supposed if you loved your job, this would be your response to this kind of thing.

“And onto breaking news, reports are coming in on a major collision on I-93 downtown this morning involving several motor vehicles after one vehicle lost control, causing several injuries as well as a confirmed casualty of one driver…”