‘Do me a favor and never saythatagain, either.’
‘Just you wait until you get old,’ he complained, shuffling off. ‘It’s no picnic. My eyes need checking, my ears need cleaning, my hip hurts, and now I’m retaining too much fluid, apparently.’
The complaints continued until he was out the door.
‘Man,’ Dawn said, shaking her head. ‘That guy hasn’t changed at all.’
I stared at her, my eyebrows arched, questioning.
‘What?’
‘How do you know all that stuff about me?’
She shrugged. ‘I followed you on social years ago.’
I got a sinking feeling. ‘Did I follow you back?’
‘No. But that’s OK.’
‘It wasn’t intentional,’ I promised her, digging my phone out of my pocket. ‘I get a lot of notifications. Half the time I don’t even bother checking them, so I must have missed that one. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s fine. It’s not like I post anything newsworthy, anyway. Photos of my cat, mostly. Books I’m reading. Photos of my cat pretending to read the books I’m reading.’
I typed her name into the search bar on Instagram, scrolling until I saw one with a cat for the profile picture. ‘Is that you?’ I asked, showing her.
‘Sure is,’ she confirmed. ‘That’s Ziggy, my calico cat. I know, I’ve turned into the stereotypical single librarian with a cat.’ She brightened. ‘But at least I only have one. That’s got to count for something, right?’
I clicked thefollow backbutton. ‘Done.’
‘You didn’t have to do that just because I’m standing in front of you.’
‘I know. I want to keep in touch.’
‘You do?’
‘Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t.’
‘That’s OK. I know things weren’t exactly easy when you left. I wish things hadn’t gone down that night the way they did.’
I swallowed hard. ‘I’ve spent the last fourteen years wishing that too.’
She reached out and gave my arm a squeeze. ‘I’m really glad I ran into you. We should catch up for coffee before you go.’
I smiled. ‘I’d like that.’
The doctor emerged from the examination room and checked the file in her hand.
‘Dawn Porter.’
‘That’s me,’ Dawn said. ‘I’d better go.’
‘Yeah I’d better get going too. Ray hates waiting.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Ray hates everything.’
32
JACK
