The Arrival | The House of Voices #3

Six - Can't

Can’t

 

Darren wasn’t at the café when I arrived at twelve-fifteen, so I picked a table at the back of the room and sat facing the entrance of the café. When it was clear that he was going to be more than a couple minutes late, I ordered a glass of lemonade to sip on while I waited.

I watched as his car pulled up into the little parking lot outside the café about half an hour later. When he stepped out of the car, I noticed he was dressed in his office clothes; which meant he either had therapy sessions with Kara and Sid after our lunch, or he’d just finished up with his therapy sessions.

Because Abercoster’s liked to shove the feeling of fake homeliness in its patients faces, it never had a strict dress code for the doctors and nurses. The therapists were required to dress office-appropriate whenever they were meeting with a patient, but when they weren’t actively working they were allowed to walk around the institute in more casual clothing.

Dr. Takei, whose position Darren filled after she left, had spent a lot of her free time in jeans and plain t-shirts. Darren had taken to wearing polo shirts and jeans when he was off-duty and during weekends.

We never saw Dr. Larkson out of her sharp jackets and pencil skirts because she was never in the Institute when she was off-duty. The minute she was done for the day, she packed up her things and drove home. She never spent more time with her patients than necessary, and really, that was fine by us.

Darren slammed his car door shut a little harder than necessary and, as he made his way briskly into the café, I noticed he looked very grumpy. A gut feeling told me that Larky had something to do with the sour look on his face.

A bell jingled through the room as the door to the café opened and Darren stepped inside. He gave the room a quick scan and spotted me in the back when I raised a hand to get his attention.

I watched a little of his earlier crankiness melt away as he twisted his expression into a welcoming one.

“I’m sorry I’m so late, October,” He said, pulling out the chair across from me and sitting down. “Got held a little held up back at the Institute.”

“Everything okay?” I asked, sipping a little lemonade.

“Yeah,” he nodded, glancing around for a free waitress. “Dr. Larkson’s acting a little funny, though.”

“Funnier than usual?”

He gave me a wry smile. “She’s been avoiding Dr. Lipnicki.”

“Dr. Lipnicki? Who’s that?”

He shifted in his seat. “The Warden at St. Elizabeth’s,” he said, lifting a hand to call one of the waitresses over. “He’s been calling her every day since… well, since Parish was captured, and Larkson keeps avoiding his calls. Today she got me to lie for her and tell him that she was with a patient. And then refused to tell me why she was avoiding the man.”

I frowned. “That’s odd.”

“It is. Especially if you think about how cooperative she was being with the man just a few days ago. I don’t know what to make of it.”

I opened my mouth to ask if he had any ideas what was going on with her, when a shadow fell across our table. “Oh, hello again!”

Darren and I looked up to see the friendly face of the woman who’d waited on us the last time we’d met at the café.

“Hello,” I smiled up at her.

“No boyfriend today?” She asked, looking pointedly at the empty space next to me. “Or should I come back in a couple minutes when he gets here?” She winked.