She was still looking Harun over; he’d become quite fond of her, perhaps because of the scratches she gave him under the ear that made his back legs twitch.
“Um . . .” She sounded hesitant. “Ideally I wouldn’t recommend traveling so soon after an operation.”
I felt a little panicked by that. “Will it hurt him, though?”
“Well, not necessarily, but he might find it a bit uncomfortable.”
“I’ll give him his pain medication,” I added.
She turned and looked at me. “Why do you want to leave so quickly, all of a sudden?”
I looked away. “No reason.” I bit my lip, trying to push the feeling down: it was a mixture of anger and embarrassment over what had happened, ornothappened between Mark and me last night.
“Did something happen between you and Mark? A fight? You looked like you were getting on so well.”
“Mmmm, something like that. I mean, in a way. You could say it was something like that, it was, uh . . . Well, I don’t really know what happened!” I stopped talking; the more I spoke the more pathetic I was starting to sound.
She eyed me curiously. She had this way about her. This strange mysterious way. Samirah definitely gave off the vibe that at any point, she might pull out a pack of tarot cards or a crystal ball and tell your future, or pluck some kind of spiritual guidance from the universe.
“That sounds . . . complicated?” She made it sound like a question.
“Apparently,” I huffed. “So, can I take him?”
She reached down and gave him a firm pat on the head. “You know what, this guy’s a toughie! He’s going to be fine. As long as you drive carefully. Stop often so he can stretch his legs and make sure he stays hydrated and give him his pain meds and promise you’ll go straight to a vet when you get home to have him checked out.”
“Home . . .?” I said wistfully. And then a tear formed in my eye and I tried to blink it away. “I’m kind of between homes at the moment, it seems.”
“Stay then,” she said.
I shook my head. “No. I can’t go back to the hotel.”
“You can stay with Faizel and me for a few nights if you want?”
For a second I considered that, but then I remembered that look on Mark’s face last night when he’d left me standing there, and how I’d felt. Mortified. He’d clearly decided halfway through the kiss that he no longer wanted to kiss me. Perhaps he realized that he was no longer attracted to me. That was surely the only reason he stopped. It was a familiar feeling that cut me to the quick. It was only in recent years that men seemed to find me attractive; before that it had been quite the opposite.
“I must go,” I said.
“Are you sure?” she asked, all mysterious voice and piercing green eyes again. The same strange voice and eyes that implied she knew something that you didn’t. And this time it rubbed me up the wrong way a little. I put my hands on my hips.
“Of course I’m going! Why would I stay here? The only reason I didn’t go was because Harun over here swallowed the immobilizer and now that it’s out and he’s fine, I can go.”
“Are you sure it was about the immobilizer?”
“Am I sure it was about the immobilizer? Um . . . You were the one that scraped that thing out of his smelly bowels, so yes, I’m pretty sure this has a lot to do with the immobilizer!”
She shook her head. “I mean, are you sure Harun swallowing your immobilizer was the only reason you stayed?”
“What? Pssshht! Hhhhmmmff!” I spluttered and stuttered. I was getting flustered by this conversation and the word “immobilizer” was starting to sound strange, since we’d said it far too much! “Yes! Why else would I stay? It’s not like I like it here. This is not a place I would choose to be in so, YES! I am leaving. And YES, the only reason I didn’t leave sooner, was becauseheswallowed my immobilizer.”
Samirah folded her arms and eyed me skeptically.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m looking at you like this because I can hear the words coming out of your mouth, but I don’t think they match the words that are going on in your heart right now.”
I scoffed. “My heart has words now, does it, doc? That seems very scientific.”
“Science and medicine can only explain a small part of the way the world works. The rest, well, we have to rely on other explanations for it all.”
