“Absolutely,” he gave her an appreciative glance.
When they got to the laundromat, Holly was ready for a break. She sat down on the back step. “Thank goodness.”
“It gets easier as the night goes on,” he told her. “The load gets lighter as we give more away.”
“Good,” Holly was going to need a shower by the time they were done.
Molson just grinned at her before walking down the alley.
“Hey!” Holly yelled after him. “You’re not just leaving me here.”
“Nope,” Molson replied. He crouched down in front of a cardboard box and began talking to someone.
Holly was so busy watching Molson that she didn’t notice someone approach her.
“Miss? You helping Molson tonight?” a tall, thin man looked down at her.
Holly jumped in surprise. “I’m sorry. Yes. I’m helping Molson. My name is Holly. And you are?”
“Geoff,” he rasped as he coughed into his hand. He extended the same hand to her in greeting. “Pleased to meet you.”
Holly hesitated for only a moment before shaking his hand. “Are you okay?”
“Been getting a bit of a cough,” Geoff told her. “Can’t seem to shake it.”
“Geo, my man,” Molson greeted the older fellow. “Have a seat.”
“I think I will,” Geoff sat down beside Holly. “I’ll admit to feeling a bit winded. How are you today? I see you got yourself a pretty lady with you.”
“She promised to help for the whole evening without complaining,” Molson grinned, setting down his duffle bag, rummaging within it.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not what I agreed to,” Holly was amused at his teasing. “I agreed to go out on a date and somehow I’ve turned into his pack mule.”
Geoff laughed then coughed.
“That ain’t no good,” Molson frowned, pulling out a stethoscope. “Can I have a listen?”
“Listen away,” Geoff rasped.
Placing the chestpiece of the stethoscope on Geoff’s back he instructed the man to breath in deeply. “How’s the knee?”
“Right as rain,” Geoff pulled in as deep of a breath as he could manage.
“Again,” Molson concentrated on listening as he moved the stethoscope over to listen to the other lung.
“You gonna make me use up all the air,” Geoff kidded before taking another deep breath.
“Here,” Molson pulled the stethoscope out of his ears, handing it to Holly. “Listen. This is my lung.”
Curious, Holly inserted the ear pieces and listened. “It sounds like breathing in stereo.”
“This is Geoff,” Molson pressed the chestpiece on Geoff’s back. “Breath in one last time.”
“You tell me what it sounds like,” Geoff told Holly before he pulled in air. “I want to know.”
Holly frowned. “There’s a crackling noise. It’s faint but there.”
Molson nodded. “Geoff, if you would go to a hospital they’d give you a chest x-ray.”
