After I hung up, a wave of loneliness swept over me. I continued to stare out the window and thought about the hollowness of these past three years. My phone pinged and I jumped.
A message from Thomas,Winter Solstice tomorrownight?
I’d almost forgotten about the community celebration.I have patients. I’ll get there when Ican
He texted back,I’ll save you alog
I smiled. There was an annual tradition to celebrate the winter solstice around a large bonfire at the community park. The benches were carved logs.
I sent back a thumbs up.
The confinement of my cabin suddenly felt lonely and dull. I grabbed my jacket, put my boots back on and headed back to the clinic.
The building was quiet and dark when I arrived. I punched my code in the keypad and opened the door to the lobby. I made my way back to the emergency room where Curtis was watching a Netflix show.
He jumped to his feet. “Dr.Cain.”
“Please sit, Curtis.”
His brow furrowed. “Are you ok?”
I thought to myself, I don’t know, am I? Aloud, I responded, “Yes, fine. It’s been a while since we had an overnight guest. I wanted to make sure he was ok.”
Curtis laughed. “I understand.”
I pointed to his room. “I’ll just go ahead and…”
Curtis tried not to laugh again. He simply nodded.
Brett was in the third room at the end of the dimly lit hall. I could hear the television through the door. I knocked gently. “Mr.Barringer?” I let myself in. “It’s Dr.Cain.”
As the door swung open, he jumped to his feet from the blue faux leather reclining hospital chair. He muted the television. “Elizabeth. Hey, you ok?”
It was my turn to laugh. “Everyone keeps asking me that.”
He put his hands in his jeans pocket. I jerked my chin at the brown leather duffle bag on the bed. “You have your things.”
He tidied the bed, put some of his belongings back in the bag and looked around awkwardly for a place to put it. “Um, yeah. Mia brought them for me before they left.”
He crossed the room quickly to the closet and put the bag inside. Now he was standing very close to me. I stood with my hands in my coat pocket and looked up at him.
He continued, “Do you…” He turned to look at the room and crossed back to the chair. “Do you want to sit down?”
Awkwardly, I muttered, “Sure.” I crossed to the chair and sat.
He sat on the bed and simply stared at me. Abruptly, he stood. “Sit here.” He reached for my hand and pulled me gently from the chair. He directed me to the bed, almost lifting me up to the mattress. “I don’t like looking down at you.” He leaned against the window sill. “That’s better.”
I shifted a little on the mattress, trying to get comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. I looked down at his stockinged feet and then up to his smiling face. I looked at the hockey game on the television. “Who’s playing?”
“You came back.”
I shrugged.
“It’s Ottawa against Winnipeg.” He said, as he moved to sit back in the recliner. Now I was looking down at him. I tucked one of my feet up under me.
I stared back at the television, not really seeing the game.
He asked, “How was your day?”