Page 17 of Let Leaves Lay Where They Fall

“Please, I had Seb pegged the instant I met him.” Jamie teases.

“Not true, but I offered once.” He pats Jamie’s forearm.

Jamie flushes at the recollection. Sebastian had hit on him once, near the end of a company holiday party. The first month he’d joined the crew, after too many cocktails. Jamie had resisted the intense rum-driven temptation. “Oh, shut it.” There was no way he was getting naked with the Greek statute of a twunk.

Sebastian shrugs.

Colin licks his glossy lips.

“I bet we can find him.” Molly sets the challenge.

“I searched for Nurses named Dave in the city. It’s all I have to go on. The hospital staff page had no leads. There was nothing.”

“There are dozens of medical offices employing nurses in the city. What if he doesn’t work at the hospital?” Molly the sleuth.

Jamie hadn’t thought of that.

“What does he look like?” Sebastian asks.

Molly and Colin both pull phones from their aprons and start typing in unison.

“He has curly black hair. It’s shaggy. He desperately needed a beard trim but had gorgeous hazel eyes and a sexy mouth. Darker skin. He’s a few inches shorter than I am, and a thick little hunk.”

“Is this him?” Colin flicks his wrist, turning the device around. A photo of a dark-haired CNA named Dave lit the screen.

“Nope.” He’s too thin.

“This guy?” Molly’s turn,

“That’s not him either. Darker hair.”

The two detectives get back to the hunt.

Bells jingle as a trio of customers enter.

“To be continued.” Colin floats to his podium.

Sebastian gets back to lining up glasses. Molly and Jamie duck into the kitchen.

“We’re going to find him tonight.” Molly declares the mission is on.

Chapter 9

Dreams

Raucous snores rumble Mabel’s jowl flaps. Her head lay on Nathan’s belly. Kibble scented breath whistling at his face. He’s comforted by the smelly caretaker. She was at his side all night. They’d spent most of the day rotting in bed after a routine early morning stroll around the dormant neighborhood.

An ugly bruise formed on his left temple, spreading under the eye and across a swollen cheek. Tender to touch but tolerable. He’d calmed the throbbing with a frozen bag of corn kernels.

The punch had done its heaviest damage to his spirit. Why are people such a disappointment?

The incident validated his decision to avoid connecting with anyone. Loneliness was difficult to bear at times, but it wasn’t heartbreaking as betrayal and abandon.

Until last night, the random hookups had satisfied occasional cravings for intimacy that often made him doubt choosing solitude. He’s never felt more right.

Deleting the dating app was giving up a crutch he’d leant on for too long. The useless phone is still on the floor where it had landed.

Bertie had been the only person to ever show pure kindness and love. It never mattered to her that he was some throw away crack baby the rest of the world didn't want. She just loved him, and he missed her so much. He understood why she had refused cancer treatments but couldn’t help feeling terrible that he wasn’t enough for her to fight and stay longer.

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