Page 2 of Never Always
“Can you call Clover? I know she lives here, and I might want to do self-care your way after all.” Clover Ballentine grew up with Sue-Ellen and she lives in Cape Cod with her Navy SEAL husband. She owns a salon in the nice part of town. Sue-Ellen agrees to call her, but not before asking me what’s wrong a dozen times. Even she knows I’m not one to care about girly things.
I don’t tell my sister it’s because I need a friend and I can’t think of anyone else who will listen, I merely tell her she’s right about what my Sunday should look like. Sue-Ellen doesn’t believe me, but that’s okay. I hang up and she texts me Clover’s phone number a few minutes later and tells me that she’s expecting my call.
My finger hovers over the call button, but I don’t have the courage to follow through. Shaking my head, I leave the docks and head back toward my condo. Once inside, I find a hair tie and fix my hair, avoiding the reflection in my bathroom mirror. I throw my bag into the washing machine and painstakingly wipe the textbook clean. I spend the rest of the day replaying the confrontation in the park, and the fifteen different ways I could have handled it differently, the words I should have said, the confidence I should have had, and the balls I should have kicked.
ChapterTwo
Tennyson
MINDLESSLY, I STROKEthe wound on my chin as I think, a pause before I continue entering data into my system. It’s just now scabbing over and it looks horrible. Road rash looks bad on anyone, but on my creamy, freckled skin, it looks like my chin got stuck in a wood chipper. Grey looked at me funny when I came in Monday morning, asked if I was okay, but didn’t probe any further after I told him I tripped. A soft knock sounds on my office door.
“Come in,” I call out, adjusting my lab coat and hair in case the big boss decided to stop in today. Typically, he stays in Boston at our headquarters, but sometimes he makes unannounced visits when there’s an animal being treated he’s interested in or if he has big news. Big news isn’t for emails, or so he believes.
Spinning in my chair, I face the door. It’s Grey—a friendly half-grin on his face. “Hey, I know you’re deep in it, but I just wanted to tell you I emailed an intern request.” When I’m working reports, I lose track of time and I told Grey that when he first started here. This must need my attention today if he’s telling me. “It’s looking good, I just logged in to see how much you got finished.”
I smile back. “Yeah, I’ll probably finish today. Add in anything you’d like,” I offer. “And thank you, I’ll check my email now. It’s a good time for a break.”Let’s have coffeeis on the tip of my tongue, the promise I made my sister eating away at me. The courage doesn’t come.
Grey opens the door a bit more, and it seems he wants to say something to me but decides against it. “Okay, Dr. Kline. I’ll let you get back to it.”
I clear my throat, shifting in my chair. “It’s just Tennyson, Grey. Doctor just goes on my research. Makes it official.”
He fidgets with his glasses and nods at me. “Right-O. Good day… Tennyson.” His smile is sweet, and I let myself believe for at least this moment, that he would have said yes to coffee if I’d asked.
I click open the email and see that it’s not exactly an intern request, which we get all of the time, it’s a request for general help. Janitorial, cleaning, administrative. There’s an online portal that I view the request on. I usually decline them all because it’s something else on my schedule that takes away from what I really want to focus on, but I recall one of the vets mentioning needing more hands on deck to clean the sea mammal holding areas. I shrug, hit accept, and plan to send this person to that side of our facility.
Removing my blue light glasses, I head to the breakroom because coffee really does sound good right now. Grey is sitting at the table, a newspaper in one hand and a novel in the other. “Oh, hello,” he says, dropping the book and losing his place. He goes to move tables.
“Don’t get up. It’s fine. Just grabbing a quick coffee.” I pause. “Do you really read the newspaper and a book at the same time?” I ask curiously, lifting a brow. Friendly conversation. It’s painful but required for friendship. That’s what I’m seeking.
He laughs nervously, eyes darting to the door behind me. “Kind of. Back and forth. I get bored quickly.”
Grinning, I say, “Me too. I’ve never gotten that bored, though.”
“Have to keep up with the news even if it’s boring as all get out, right?”
I nod. “Right.” Thankfully, the war that raged all over our world has simmered down to nothing. A non-existent blip, a huge terror driven war that will go down in high school history books as the worst in all time. “And thank God for that,” I add, thinking about the fearful years we spent wondering who was lurking around the corner and what they might do to us. Grey presses his lips together, brown eyes on mine. I say, “I accepted the request you sent over.”
Grey stands. “Oh. I’m surprised. Didn’t figure you’d want someone doing community service walking the halls.” His smile is jovial and my stomach sinks.
I can’t let him know I didn’t check the tab that gives details about the individual. That would make me negligent and that doesn’t just make me a bad friend, that makes me a bad co-worker. I cringe. “The vet staff needs help,” I offer, pouring a small cup of joe. I add sugar and go to exit. “They can use him for manual labor or whatever they need.”
“When he gets here this afternoon, I’ll send him to your office for orders, then,” Grey says. Today? Oh, I was more lost in my work than I thought. Ireallyam negligent.
“Sounds great. Thank you.”
Setting the steaming mug down on a table adjacent to my desk, I don’t even sit down before checking the request I just approved. That’s why there was an urgency, it was for a start date of today. Not next week or next month. I panic as I phone the vet’s office. They don’t pick up which isn’t abnormal, they’re usually out on deck or in the holding tanks working. I leave a message while I read the corresponding information. Corrick Granger is his name. He’s attached to the Navy—spec ops, at the Harbour Point SEAL base. Looks like he escaped some hard time inside because of a lenient military trial. He’s been ordered community service. My eyes scan to the charges, highlighted bold, the main one:Aggravated Assault.My heart skips a beat. He truly is dangerous.
Pacing to the window overlooking the water, I let my eyes scan down to the base you can barely see from my vantage point. It’s merely a cluster of black buildings that appear as dots. I sweat because I don’t know how to fix this. This falls under the social skills wheelhouse. A house that in my case is infested with cobwebs. I sip my coffee long and deep and resume my saunter from one side of my large office to the other. I push on the door on the other side of my desk that leads to the lab and relish the cold blast of air. My workstation is just as I left it this morning. The techs are so busy in their own tasks they don’t even look up when I enter.
Sliding my wet palms down my white coat, I come up with an idea. Back in my office, I fish my cell phone out of my desk drawer and turn it off airplane mode. The text from Sue-Ellen that has Clover’s phone number is on top, and I hit call without thinking. Clover is out of breath when she answers, and her voice changes when I tell her who I am, or rather, when she hears my southern accent, just like hers.
“Tennyson, oh you sweet thing. How are you? I expected to hear from you a few days ago! You’re wanting to get in, right? For some hair processes and waxing?” Sue-Ellen, trying to run my life from Alabama.
I roll my eyes and play nice. “Yes, whatever Friday afternoon you have open is perfect. Thank you so much.” I pause as Clover tells me she has an opening this Friday. “I did have another question which might seem a bit out of left field.”
“I live in left field, baby. Shoot,” Clover counters.
“Well, you see, I approved what I thought was an intern request for a guy I think works with your husband. Or he works at the same base, so I know it’s a long shot and I was just wondering if you, uh… knew him, because it’s more of a community service request.”
