“You see? That’s the problem with you. Now you don’t think anybody could possibly be interested in you.”
“Well, being abandoned is one thing,” Doreen said. “And being abandoned or tossed out and replaced by your ex does give one a poor sense of self-confidence,” she admitted. “But you’re wrong, Nan. I think Mack likes me. We’re definitely friends, and he seems to feel obligated to help get me back on my feet. But any more than that, I’m not sure.”
“That’s because you’re blind and deaf.”
She glared at her grandmother. “That’s not fair,” she protested.
“Maybe not, but it’s the truth,” she said. “I’ll be on my way. I’m sure you two have a lot to discuss. You think about my words,” she said, with a shake of her finger, “and don’t waste this opportunity.”
“Waste what opportunity?” Doreen asked, raising both hands. “I’m not even legally divorced yet. I think it takes a whole year of separation first, and I’m only about nine months into that process, if we count from when I was first tossed out of his house.”
“And you don’t have to wait until you are divorced to start considering Mack,” Nan muttered. “Goodness,” she said, “I always kept it one at a time, but nobody said I had to let the seat grow cold beside me.” Muttering to herself, she shook her head and walked back down to the river.
“Are you sure you should go walking down the river path at dusk?”
Nan lifted a hand. “It’s dropped quite a lot already,” she said. “The path is there. It’s a bit slippery, but I’ll be fine.” Doreen didn’t like to hear that, and she gingerly hopped to her feet and moved down the pathway.
“I’m coming with you then,” she said. “I can’t stand the thought of you having an accident on the way.”
Nan stopped, then looked at her and said, “You’re the one who almost drowned.”
“And what? You’ll go down the same road? What if I don’t hear from you when you get home again?”
“Fine, you stand here and watch,” she said. “You’ll be able to see that I get all the way down to the end without a problem.” And that’s what they did.
Doreen sat at the edge of the river and watched as her grandmother slowly made her way down the pathway. And, indeed, it was surprising just how much the water had dropped. The fact that it was river-fed meant that a ton of water came down in one big cascade, but then would easily disappear into the lake because nothing continuously fed it.
She heard a bright whistle and saw Nan waving at her as she went around at the far side and onto the street. With a happy sigh of relief, Doreen stood and slowly walked toward her deck. As she got there, she looked up to see Mack standing there, his hands on his hips, glaring at her.
She shrugged. “I was just watching to make sure Nan got home safe. She insisted on walking down by the river.”
Mack’s eyebrows shot up. “She went down the river pathway?”
Doreen nodded. “And I didn’t want her to, so I insisted on at least watching to make sure she got there okay.”
“Good,” he said, staring down at the river. “The water has dropped a lot, hasn’t it?”
“It has.” She made her way up the few steps to the deck and sat down in the chair. “How come I’m so tired?” she muttered.
“Well, maybe because you’re injured,” he said, his voice calm. He walked over and stood in front of her and studied her face.
She smiled up at him. “I know. I’m pasty and pale and look tired. On the other hand, I’m home. So I’m happy, and things are looking up.”
“Looking up?”
“Well, I’m not almost drowning in the river anymore,” she said. “And I have no bleeding or otherwise untended wounds.”
“But what I see is a woman who doesn’t seem to know when to stop or to even want to take care of herself,” he muttered.
“Snoz attacked me and my animals in my own home,” she said, staring up at him. “You know I would not back down. You know I would put up a fight. What else was I supposed to do?”
“I’d like you to go over exactly what he did do,” he said, sitting down on the footstool in front of her. “Right from the beginning.” It took a moment to collect her thoughts, and, when she did, she went over the scenario as best she could recall.
“He was so mean to the animals. I thought he’d really hurt Mugs with that vicious kick,” she said. “But then he threw Goliath across the room. So, when he shot me, I knew it would get even worse.”
“You think?”
“Well, what was I supposed to do?” she said again. “I texted you as soon as I realized there was trouble.” He looked at her in surprise. She pulled out her phone to show him and then frowned. “Well, I thought I was sending them to you,” she said.
He reached out a hand for her phone, and he looked at it and said, “You sent them to someone else,” he said.
“Oh, great,” she said, as she looked closer at her phone. “Oh, jeez, that woman wouldn’t give a darn if I was shot or not.”
“It would have been nice if you’d reached me though,” he said. Then he stopped and said, “Okay, this message I recognize.”
She nodded. “I thought I was sending all of them to you.”
“Well, you got one sent to me anyway. I made it here in time, but the gunman did get away. We’ve got everybody out looking for him now though.”
“Maybe,” she said. “You’ve got his picture and his rental car to John Smith,” she said in a sarcastic tone. “But you know he can sneak his way around town without any trouble.”
“Everybody is out looking for him,” he said firmly.
“So he can double back around and get me here?”
“Well, you were supposed to be in the hospital.”
She looked at him and said, “Did you think that maybe he is at the hospital, looking for me?”
His eyebrows shot up as he studied her. “That wouldn’t be very smart of him.”
“It would be very smart of him,” she said, “because all kinds of things happen in hospitals.” She leaned forward and said, “People die there all the time, you know?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Yeah, I think I do know that.” He pulled out his phone though and said, “I’ll call security at the hospital and make sure.”
“Maybe they should check the feeds to make sure they don’t have anybody like him coming through.”
He just glared at her and said, “I’m the law enforcement professional. Remember?”
She shrugged. “I’m just a sidekick. Got it.”
He groaned. “No,” he said, “you’re more than that. You’ve been a huge help. But you’re the one under attack right now, so you have to give us a little bit of room to help.”
“How about a lot of room?” she said, with a wan smile. “Thanks for the save, by the way.”
Chapter 30