Chapter 8: Loading Dock

Maxwell Hensley ended it in one sentence.

"Mrs. Reeve," he said pleasantly, "this is a medical facility, and you're upsetting the goat."

The goat bleated on cue.

Norma drew herself up, snatched the envelope, and lifted her chin at me.

"You'll regret this."

"Probably," I said. "Not today."

She turned and swept out, carrying the empty cat carrier.

The bell over the door rang behind her.

Calvin didn't follow.

He stood in the middle of the waiting room with his hand still pressed to his chest.

"Ellinghaus," Maxwell said without looking at me. "Take your ten minutes. Out back."

"I don't need..."

"You need them. So does he."

He nodded toward the loading dock, then turned to the farmer with the goat and said, "Sorry about the show. You're up next."

I walked through the swinging doors with Calvin behind me.

The dock was a concrete slab behind the building, with a view of the barn and a line of green fields.

Morning sun lay across the gravel.

Calvin stopped three feet away and shoved his hands in his pockets.

He was twenty-seven.

He looked about twelve.

"I didn't know she called Jocelyn," he said.

"I believe you."

"I didn't know she'd been to your diner before I was."

"Calvin."

"I should've guessed. My mom's never been wrong about a person in her life. That should've scared me."

"How did you know she'd said steady? I never told you."

I had practiced this answer on the bus.

"Your mother said it to me at the counter. 'Such steady hands.' The rest I put together from Jocelyn."

"You talked to Jocelyn?"

"Yesterday. She told me why she said no."

His shoulders sagged.

"So you know."

"I know about your heart."

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