Learn To Love Again

Chapter 29

The rain had subsided to a light drizzle when detective Sterling took me to work that morning. Despite the rain, it was a busy day, and he waited in the waiting room while I got to work.

Just a few minutes before my lunch break, Hilda came into my office to inform me that Mrs. Leslie, one of our regulars, said that her dog got canine influenza and that she would be there in a few hours.

Despite wearing a disposable gown that covered every inch of my body and gloves that stretched above the end of the sleeves on the gown, and despite having the entire place disinfected and washing my hands and face with antiviral soap after the procedure, I still wasn't comfortable treating other dogs or cats after treating dog flu.

So, in order to avoid this, I worked through my lunch time to get the other patients out before Mrs. Leslie could get there.

She arrived shortly after the last patient left and was there for nearly two hours. By the time I was done with her, I was famished, especially since I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

When the place was properly disinfected and I had finished cleaning up, I started to lock up with the intention of getting home quickly so I could get something to eat. I was very disappointed when I got to the waiting room and detective Sterling was no longer there. I was even more disappointed when I saw that it was raining heavily again.

Hilda had already left so I locked all the doors and waited under the overhanging for detective Sterling to return. His car was still in the parking lot so I assumed he wasn't far away.

However, when a few more minutes passed and he still hadn't returned, I began to get a bit uneasy. The dark clouds that blanketed the sky made the evening darker than it should've been and the fact that Malcolm could've been lurking around waiting for a chance to strike did nothing to ease my twitchiness.

The evening was cold and the wind had started to slant the rain in my direction. I was about to open the door and wait inside when I saw detective Sterling jogging across the parking lot under an umbrella, carrying a black plastic bag. Breathing a sigh of relief, I joined him under the umbrella and we hurried to his car. Despite the umbrella, the rain still managed to dampen my skin and clothes and I was happy when we were finally in the car and out of the rain.

"I got you a snack," detective Sterling said as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.

I took the bag he handed me and peered inside. There was a pack of double stuff oreos and a bottle of water inside.

I gave him a wide grin. "You got me oreos? I thought you were opposed to sugar consumption."

"I am," he said with a smile, "but the supermarket didn't have anything less poisonous and I figured you must be hungry. You skipped lunch."

"Thanks," I said, opening the bag of oreos.

"No problem."

As it usually is on a rainy night, the highway traffic was heavy. We started driving in slow motion the second detective Sterling pulled onto the road.

"I hope you weren't planning on getting home anytime soon," detective Sterling said.

I took a bite of Oreo and shrugged. "It was to be expected."

He reached over and turned on the stereo, then removed a flash drive from his glove compartment and inserted it into the slot.

When Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart pooled out of the stereo, I shot him a  disbelieving look.

"What?" He asked.

"I didn't think you listened to songs that people actually know. You're a little less ancient than I thought."