“I can understand that.”
“So what about you? What’s the deal with this new guy?”
“I love him.” She grinned. “He loves me.”
“I’m glad. You deserve to be happy.”
“Thank you.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Katherine would like to have dinner with you one night. Not anytime soon. But maybe after a little time has passed.”
Forgiveness was one thing - she didn’t think she was up for dinner. Not even coffee. “Uh…let’s hold off on that.”
“Sure.” He nodded. “I’m going to head out.”
She walked Chad to the door. He turned on the threshold. “Thank you, for being so understanding. For hearing me out.”
“Of course.”
He raised his arms to hug her, but hesitated. Bree stepped forward and embraced him. “Take care of yourself, Chad.”
He squeezed her gently and let her go. “You too, Bree.”
“Private Morris, do you know if Cindy called in today?”
The young man rose from the front desk and stood at parade rest. “No, ma’am.”
She waved her hand down. “Sit, please. If she calls in, can you please let me know?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He remained standing.
“Thank you.” She left the desk with a sigh. When did she become a ma’am? She couldn’t figure out if they were getting younger or if she was getting older. Both, but it just made the new ones seem that much younger.
No messages on her work phone or cell. She called Cindy’s number again. Straight to voicemail. “Cindy, it’s Dr. Marks again. It’s about ten-twenty. I’m getting really worried. Please call me when you get this.”
She left her office and walked two doors down to Janet’s. Bree lucked out and Janet wasn’t with a patient. She knocked on the open door to get her attention. “Hey. What’s the process for a staff no-show?”
Janet looked up from the record she was annotating. “Military or civilian?”
“Civilian.” She leaned against the door jamb and crossed her arms.
“Not much, unfortunately.” She set her pen down. “You can call the local police and ask them to do a health and welfare check, but that’s it really. Unless there’s a reason.”
Bree chewed her lip, not sure she wanted to go that far.
“Who is it?”
“Cindy.”
Janet’s forehead wrinkled. “She didn’t call in?”
“No.”
“That’s not like her.”
“I know. That’s why I’m worried. Her phone’s going straight to voicemail.”
“You can always go by her house.”
