"I'm done for the day," I told him.
I kept my hand on the back of the chair, not yet sitting. He gestured for me to take a seat with a vague wave of his hand.
"Visiting your friend?" I asked.
He nodded once.
"Are they okay?"
He jerked his chin, as if to nod again, then hesitated. He shrugged instead.
"I'm sorry," I said. "Have they been in the hospital very long?"
"No," he said shortly.
What was I doing here? He clearly didn't want to talk about it. I made a move to stand back up and leave him be.
He grabbed my hand in a soft grip.
"What do you do here, when you volunteer?" he asked.
I sat back down gingerly.
"I usually visit the kids in their rooms, bring games to play, or books to read to them." If he didn't want to talk about his own problems, I was more than happy to ramble on. "Sometimes the kids all gather together in the activity room and we do group stuff, like movie night. I just got assigned to work on a sort of Christmas and New Year's in July event. Because some of these kids won't make it to see the new year…"
I trailed off, going quiet. Volunteering with sick children was rewarding, but there were always those moment of heartbreak that made me wonder whether it was worth it.
"You should take part," I said suddenly.
Nathan looked up from his coffee. "Take part?"
"You could dress up as Santa Claus."
He gave me a quizzical look before chuckling. "Only if you'll dress up as one of my elves." He winked. "I've always had a thing for pointy ears."
"I bet you're a huge Lord of the Rings fan," I said.
"I've read the books a dozen times," he said. "But as much as I would love to see you dressed up as a sexy elf, I think I'll pass on this one. Kids like me even less than cats."
"At least kids don't scratch," I pointed out.
"No, but those little rugrats have a mean bite."
"You just need to learn how to act around them."
"Are you talking about kids or cats?"
"Both."
"Maybe you should give me lessons." He held out his other hand, showing off another deep scratch.
I winced. "What did you do to that poor cat?"
"Nothing," he said, affronted. "I think Cleo and I just got off to a bad start."
"If that's how cats treat you, maybe you should stay away from the kids."
Nathan laughed. I joined in, glad I was able to lighten the mood.
