AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I also couldn’t help but keep wondering why Tyler called. Jonah’s offer to help left me feeling unsure. I wasn’t used to relying on anyone.
I was snapped out of my train of thought when Tiffany called, “Your appointment is here,” into the intercom.
I hurried out of the break room into one of the exam rooms. A moment later, Tiffany was escorting them in the back. “Here,” she said with a smile, “this is Pamela.”
A cute little potbelly pig looked up at me. She was mostly black with a white spot on one side. She immediately approached me, nudging my knees with her snout. I couldn’t help but smile as I looked down at her. “Well, hello, Pamela.”
I looked up at the owner, a mother about my age, and her young child, who I guessed to be about five-ish. “Pamela doesn’t feel good,” the little girl announced as she stopped beside Pamela and put her hand on the pig’s back.
“Well, let’s take a look,” I said.
A short while later, I had determined that Pamela had a bad case of indigestion. “Do you know if she got into anything?” I asked.
“It’s always a possibility,” Whitney, the mother, replied.
I sent them off with some diet recommendations, some medication to help settle Pamela’s stomach, and scheduled Pamela’s annual appointment. Tiffany was already there when I walked into the break room to grab lunch. She insisted we have a scheduled lunchtime, which I thought was amusing, but I appreciated it.
She looked up, announcing, “I went to Firehouse Café. We have sandwiches and fresh coffee. I got you some chai tea too.”
Once seated, Tiffany remembered to dash to the front and lock the door. When she returned, she said, “Break time is sacred.”
I snorted on the sip of my chai tea. I was really happy I’d hired her.
She sat down with a flourish, opening the bag from Firehouse Café and taking out two paper-wrapped sandwiches. “I got your favorite.” She passed one across the table.
“How do you know I have a favorite?”
“Because you usually get the turkey with pesto and mozzarella.”
I grinned over at her as I began unwrapping the sandwich. “You’re right. I hadn’t considered it officially a favorite, but…” I shrugged. “I suppose it is.”
“So you’re looking very rested today,” she offered a moment later.
I finished a bite of my sandwich, willing my cheeks not to get red from the heat rising under the surface. “I slept well last night.”
Tiffany waggled her eyebrows. “Jonah’s staying with you now.” She pursed her lips as she cast me a sly look.
My cheeks were on fire. I might as well give it up. “I surrender. I had awesome sex with Jonah last night.” While I hadn’t forgotten how his nightmare had woken me, those worries had been overshadowed by our encounter.
She bit her lip, looking way too smug. “Excellent.”
“How is this excellent? This could get complicated.” That wasn’t even the half of it. “I don’t know how long his parents will be here because—”
At my abrupt pause, Tiffany’s gaze sobered. “Because we’re all basically waiting for Bea to move to another plane,” she said carefully.
“Is that what we’re calling it?”
“Sure. I believe there’s something other than what’s here. It’s not just plain old death.”
I took a breath, letting it out as the sadness washed through me. “I’ve always loved Bea. She babysat me a lot. I’ll miss her when she’s gone, and I think Jonah will be devastated.”
“Maybe. But this is definitely a cross-that-bridge-when-you-come-to-it moment. My point is we don’t know how long Bea will be here. Maybe she’ll surprise us all. That’s always a possibility.”
“I feel like I have to be realistic.”
“I have noticed that you can be relentlessly realistic. It’s possible you could call it pessimistic,” Tiffany said, her tone dry as tinder.
I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, my point is Jonah will be my neighbor for the foreseeable future regardless of how long his parents are here.”
