Chapter Twenty-Nine

Mark looked over Leah’s cube wall. “Hey,” he said quietly. “I saw your car in the parking lot, so I thought I’d see if you were down here.”

“Come on in, Mark.”

Mark pushed the sliding door aside and stepped inside Leah’s cube, going past the chair right up to the desk. She turned from pulling some books out of her overhead cabinet, and when he saw her eyes, he became concerned. “Leah, what’s happened?” he said, leaning over her desk.

She took a step back. “It’s nothing…really,” she said, moving the books into her briefcase. She glanced up at him, and gave him a contrite smile. “I just got out of a session with Dr. Sandler.” An unaccustomed silence fell between them. “So have I been keeping everyone busy enough?”

Mark thought for a moment, and then snorted. Never since he’d know her had they had trouble making conversation. “We have plenty of work to do, yes. As a matter of fact, you’ve managed to give us enough to warrant some overtime.”

She smiled as she closed her briefcase, and handed him another pile of papers. “Read through this and let me know what you think of the new designs. Oh, and go over the surgery restriction rules carefully. I don’t necessarily agree with the hospital board, but they’ve decided that Slocum will be only point of contact for lifting surgical restrictions in case of an emergency. And go over the rules from The Joint Committee for continuing federal and state accreditation, and the items that will trigger an audit by the insurance commission. I’m giving you update authority on the databases, the same as mine, while I’m out. Read those rules carefully, and don’t do anything that will put the hospital at any risk.”

“Why now? We’ve been fine without having your level of access?”

“When you read those designs, you’ll understand. They’re the last of the edits on the databases. If the blanket updates go in wrong, you’ll have to manually fix them, and the only way to do that is to go native in the database.”

There was that odd silence again.

Leah took her briefcase and stepped around the desk. “Call me if you need anything, Mark.”

“Wait,” he said, grabbing her arm. “About the day I took you home…” She stopped, facing away from him and holding her briefcase with both hands on the handle. “Leah, you know how I feel about you. I’ve felt that way for a long time; even before you married John. It doesn’t matter if you don’t feel the same way. I just want to help you.”

She hung her head. “Mark, I appreciate that you want to help. But I really don’t think there’s anything you can do. I have to work through…the things I’ve never tried to deal with until now.”

“If I can’t help, how can Dr. McIntyre? You keep saying he’s not your doctor. So what is he?”

She closed her eyes and turned to face him, but couldn’t look him in the eye. “He’s…become a friend, I guess…who just happens to have a great deal of knowledge about my physical condition and how my emotional condition affects me bodily.” With a short, flippant laugh, she finally looked him in the eye. “These doctors, they all talk. Dr. McIntyre knows when I need to be rescued from myself. That’s all he’s doing. He may not officially be my doctor because he and I were at odds in the beginning, but in reality, Dr. Gates doesn’t do anything concerning me without discussing it with him first.” Rubbing her forehead with her fingers, she changed the subject. “Look, I’m going to Los Angeles next week, so I’ll be out of touch. I’m going to try to get the house emptied so I can put it on the market.”

“I supposed Dr. McIntyre is going with you to help,” Mark said bitterly.

Agitated, she took a deep, calming breath before she answered. “As far as I know, Dr. McIntyre doesn’t even know I’m going. Nurse Shoop has offered to go with me. It seems she lost her husband some time back and had to deal with his things. I think she can offer some objectivity. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get out of here before Dr. Gates finds out I’m down here. I really don’t think he’ll be happy.” She turned and walked out of her cube and to the elevator without looking back.

***

“Leah!” called Ernie, stopping her just as she was stepping out the door.

“Ernie, are you on your way out?”

“Yes, I am. I’ll walk with you,” she answered, smiling.

“Well, I’m not going far. Dr. Gates still won’t let me drive.”

“I just wanted to tell you I got the time off, so I’ll be ready to leave for Los Angeles Monday afternoon.”

Leah bowed her head. “Ernie, I know I didn’t start out on the right foot with you. I appreciate you helping me with this. I think once I walk into the house, I’ll be quite lost.”

Smiling, Ernie touched her arm. “I expect we won’t get through much the first day except maybe a box or two of tissues. But once you get started, it’ll get easier. Do you have plans for the weekend?”

“I thought I’d try to make a list of some of the things I’d like to keep. Beyond that, I’m just going to try to relax. Dr. Gates said I could start walking, and there’s some people I haven’t seen in several months that I’d like to check in on.”

Ernie looked through her purse. “I’m going to have to go back upstairs. I think I left my keys on my desk.” Looking out the doors, she said, “Your cab is here. You’d better go on before someone else grabs it.”

“Good night, Ernie,” said Leah, smiling as she walked out the door.

Upstairs, Ernie found her keys on her desk where she suspected, and as she stood waiting for the elevator to go back down, Trapper joined her. “Do you have plans this weekend, Ernie?”

“No, not really. I just have to pack for next week. You?”

“Nothing definite. Gonzo said Leah can get some exercise now, so I thought I’d see if she wanted to take a walk on the wharf. There’s someone she needs to see. Pack?”

“That may not be a bad idea. I’m going with her to Los Angeles next week to help her clean out her house. She said she was going to spend the weekend making a list of the things she knew she’d want to keep,” said Ernie, stepping on the elevator with Trapper behind her.

“You sound like you think that’s a bad idea.”

“Well, she’s going to be dealing with the house all next week. I would think it would be better if she didn’t dwell on it this weekend.”

“In that case, I’ve got some very definite plans for the weekend,” he said, smiling as they stepped out of the elevator just as Mark walked by them toward the front doors.
“Mark,” said Trapper. “Have a nice weekend.”

Stopping, Mark slowly turned and stared at Trapper with what appeared to be a barely controlled sneer before he continued on without saying a word.

“That’s not like Mark,” said Ernie with raised eyebrows. “What was that about?”

Trapper snorted. “Territory.”