Page 73 of Let Leaves Lay Where They Fall

“Good seeing you.” Jamie lies. Forcing a smile.

He holds Mabel back until Mark and Harri have left the building. Then purchases Mabel’s jacket, treats and a bag of cat food for Rosy.

“Thanks so much.” Maggie leans over the counter. “Come again Mabel.”

Jamie suddenly feels invisible.

The walk back to the studio apartment is less joyous than the trip down. His thoughts race. Just another disappointing situation he’d let himself get caught up in. It was his own fault for not taking things slower. Nathan should have told him, not Mark.

He sits on the edge of the bed. Stroking Mabel as she drifts to sleep proudly wearing her new gear with a belly full of fresh treats. Jamie writes Nathan a note on the back of the receipt from his pocket.

We had a great time out today.

See you soon.

Jamie

He doesn’t have much else to say right now, but just wants to get home and process.

Chapter 24

Call

“Hi Rosemary. It’s Nathan, your nurse from the clinic.” He still had the little note with her number in his coat pocket. “I wanted to call and check up on you. How are you doing?” He bites into a candy bar.

“Oh! Hello dear. I’m doing lovely. Darla has been helping me change the dressing. This old body doesn’t heal like it used to.” Her voice is sweet. “How did your date go? I’ve been hoping you’d call.”

“It was great actually. We’ve seen each other a couple times now.” He smiles and his chest flutters at the mention of the cutie. “He’s really nice. I like him a lot”

“Oh! I’m so happy to hear that!” She’s giddy. “New love is such a beautiful thing.”

“Well, it’s a bit early to prescribe the L word.” He chuckles.

“Nonsense. I can hear in your voice how taken you are. You’re glowing through this silly little phone. I could see sparks in your eyes when you saw him in the clinic. You lit right up.” Her words catch for a moment. “I knew the moment I saw Millie that very first time. She and I spent wonderful years together.”

“We’ll see. My dog sure loves him.”

“Of course they do, dear. Our pets pick up our energy. He makes you glow, and the pup knows it.” She pauses. “Oh love. I need to let you go. Darla is here. Call me again soon, will you? I want to hear more.”

“I will. You tell Darla I said hello. She can bring you by the clinic to visit anytime.”

The call ends.

He taps to ring Jamie, but the call goes straight to his voicemail box. He sends a text instead. “Hey. I hope Mabel didn't give you any trouble?” Whoosh.

He waits for a response that doesn’t come, before tucking the device away in his scrubs pocket.

The next few hours pass slowly. It’s not a busy day for the sickness and wound care business. So, he’s stuck entering data into the computer system at the nurse’s station. Checking his phone for a response more often as time passes. Why isn’t Jamie responding? He hopes there hasn’t been an incident he’ll need to clean up after work. Mabel being polite to strangers sounded too good to be true.

A hand lands on his shoulder. The head nurse shifts around to his side. “Why don’t you get out of here for the day. You covered for us last week. There isn’t much happening, and we have plenty of staff around if it does.”

“That works for me!” He doesn’t wait for the opportunity to change and bolts for the lounge to gather his things and head for the Jeep.

Maybe the two darlings have run off together.

When he walks through the door, Mabel is on her own. Dressed in a ruffled purple coat, smiling at him proudly showing it off. “Well, look at you gorgeous.” He giggles, squatting to jiggle her jowls and kiss her head. “I heard you had an adventure today. Where did your new boyfriend go?” He pulls two bones from her bin and tosses them toward the sofa. She flip flops after them and crunches down.

Still no reply on his phone. He sees the note on the kitchen counter. Shocked at what Jamie spent on the coat. He flips the receipt over.

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