Page 49 of Paging Doctor Grump

Things haven’t felt quite right between us. In the last two days, I’ve barely seen her, even though we’ve been working the same shifts. When I leave at the end of my shift, she’s usually still working.

Today might be the first chance I have to get back to normal with her.

Although, she has to focus on her training here. She needs to get the fellowship.

I sigh and look up at the sky, trying to figure out what the right move is here. It feels like there’s a wedge between us, and I can’t seem to get rid of it.

Instead of dwelling on what’s been happening, I head inside the Barn and take off my jacket. Patrick looks up from his spot at the front of the room. He raises his coffee mug in silent greeting before turning to look at a map on the board.

“Is someone out hiking already?” I ask as I walk over to him and look at the route cards posted beside the map. “It’s barely light out.”

Patrick nods and sips his coffee before tapping a finger on the map. “They wanted to have breakfast at the peak before coming back down later this afternoon. They were going to head out to this pond and then turn around.”

“It’s a cold morning to be going for a walk. There will be a lot of ice on the mountain with that freezing rain that came down last night.”

“You’re right.” Patrick looks at the route card before grabbing a length of orange string and several black pins.

He sets his coffee down and shoves the pins into the map. He winds the string through the pegs, showing the route the hikers are taking. I watch as he looks at route cards from another group and pins that route on the map using blue string.

“There are only two groups out this morning. This second group is just doing breakfast at the waterfall and then coming back. I’m expecting them in about two hours. That trail should be relatively clear. One of the rangers was on it this morning.”

“And what about these ones?” I tap the orange string. “Did they seem experienced enough to make this kind of hike in bad conditions?”

Patrick hums before nodding. “They seem like they knew what they were doing. I think I’ve seen a couple of them before in the summertime. They should know the route well and know what to look for.”

The doors to the Barn open again and more people start filtering inside. Jessie keeps her back to me as she shrugs off her coat. Her gaze doesn’t connect with mine as she crosses the room and makes her way to the table we share.

“Alright, well, with everyone starting to get here, I need to get a couple things and then we’ll start the next round of training.”

Patrick grabs his coffee and disappears into another room. I stand there and try to memorize the routes the hikers have taken. Once I’m sure I have a good idea of the routes, I head to the table.

“Morning,” I say, sitting down beside Jessie and stretching out my legs in front of me.

She looks at me, a forced smile on her face. Her cheeks are hollow, and dark bags circle beneath her eyes. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days. “Morning.”

I lean forward on the table, crossing my arms as Patrick brings out boxes of equipment. “How are you doing?”

“Fine.”

She pulls out her phone as Brea’s name flashes across the screen. Jessie slides her thumb across the screen, ignoring the call. She opens up another app, her thumbs flying across the keyboard.

I glance away, not wanting to invade her privacy more than I already have. Though I don’t know what’s going on, the way Jessie is behaving doesn’t sit right with me.

“You look like you haven’t really been sleeping,” I say, keeping my voice soft as other people start to take seats around us.

Even though I know we need to keep our relationship professional while we’re at the training, there’s no way I can focus without knowing she’s alright.

Maybe this is what Dad was talking about when he said that Jessie is a distraction for me.

I shake the thought from my head. Dad isn’t right about Jessie being a distraction. I’m worried about her because she looks like she’s been sick, not because I think she’s the object at the center of my universe.

“That’s because I haven’t been.” Her words are clipped as she continues typing out a message, not even bothering to look at me.

Cracks run through my heart as I watch her ignore me. It seemed like everything was okay when I left her apartment the morning after my dad’s visit. I thought that everything between us was good. That we were going to be moving forward together.

Now, it seems like we’re right back at the start of our relationship.

Maybe this is all moving too fast for her. Should we be taking a step back and slowing it down?

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