pay off your debt.â
âOf course I am. Do you think I want Ratchet coming after me the way he went after you?â
I feel my cheeks burn. But there is no point in correcting himâChase is so out of touch with reality, he probably really does think that Ratchet was after me for something
I
had done. I scan the next customerâs items. âLater, Chase.â
âItâs for a down payment.â
âLater.â I hang up. I try to smile at the next person in line. It isnât very natural, though, and I probably just look like a guy who is suffering from gas.
The phone rings again.
âBusy place,â the customer says.
I shrug in apology before glancing at the call display. Itâs my home phone number again. I ignore it. It rings eight times before Ralph, all red and sweaty from moving boxes, emerges from the storeroom.
âArenât you going to answer that?â He pushes a shock of gray hair aside, leaving a smudge of dirt across his forehead.
âItâs a wrong number.â
âHow do you know?â
âThe same guy phoned a few minutes ago.â
Ralph cocks his head a little as the phone continues to ring. I hate lying to him. Ralph always answers his phone, he listens to his customers, and thatâs how heâs run his business for thirty-five years. The man in line takes the bag I hand him and leaves. Ralph returns to the storeroom. Chase doesnât give up until the twentieth ring and I am ready to reach through the phone and wring his scrawny neck.
Traffic in the store has slowed down when the phone rings half an hour later. This time, itâs Jade calling from the hospital. She had taken her mother to emergency that morning. Her lungs had become filled with fluid, and Jade was unable to help her. She sounds shaken and a little uncertain, not her usual positive self.
âYou go.â Ralph waves toward the door when I tell him. âIt sounds like she could use a little support. Iâm fine. The rush is over.â
Jade is waiting for me in the front lobby of the hospital. Holly is asleep with her head in Jadeâs lap. Jade looks tired and drained, like she has barely enough energy to get up from the row of chairs. She gently moves Holly aside and gets to her feet. âIâm so glad youâre here,â she says.
Itâs instinctual to hug her. It seems to be what she needs most right then. Besides, I canât think of anythingto say. I canât tell her it will get better because I know that with her motherâs disease that wonât happen. So I hold on to her until I think I feel her gain a little strength. But then she begins to really cry. I pull her closer.
âIâm sorry,â she says. âItâs just...well, I donât know how much more of this I can take. Iâm supposed to be at work. Iâm supposed to be studying for an exam. I had to tell my friend Laura that I couldnât go to the mall to see the sweater she said would look perfect on me. I never have even two seconds to myself.â Wiping her cheeks with the palms of her hands, she backs away a little. âI know all that sounds so selfish.â
âNo, it doesnât,â I tell her. âIt sounds normal.â
Jade takes another moment to collect herself. âTheyâre going to try some new antibiotics. The ones sheâs been taking donât seem to be doing much good anymore. The doctors want to keep her for a few days to see how it goes.â
âAre you ready to go home?â
She nods. âCan you wait with Holly while I make sure thereâs nothing else she wants?â
âOf course.â I sit down next to Holly on the row of chairs. Hollyâs small body rises and falls in sleep. Iâm amazed that she can sleep at all under the bright lights and with the door opening and closing, but I guess sheâs probably used to being shuffled around. I pick up a six-month-old copy
Jessica Fletcher
Humans (v1.1)
Lola Carson
Sam Crescent
Sherry Gammon
Kit Tunstall, R.E. Saxton
Stephanie Rowe
Sally O'Brien
Morag Joss
James Hadley Chase