Page 75 of The Gift
When he was gone, Jamie just… deflated. He braced both hands on the edge of the counter and took a deep breath, letting his head hangdown.
“Jamie?” I said softly. “Youokay?”
Jamie shook hishead.
I took a step forward and placed a hand between his shoulder blades. “You wannatalk?”
He shook his head again. But this time he took a deep breath and straightened. He grabbed a rag and started cleaning up the mess on thefloor.
“Let me help,” I said, picking up the spilled pan and dumping it in the dishwashingsink.
“I’m good, Jules. Sorry you had to see that,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “I’ll, ah… I’ll have the food ready in afew.”
“Nobody gives a shit about the food, Jamie.” I grabbed the rag from his hand. “What’s goingon?”
“Just the usual. Contemplating murder.God,that man makes me fuckinginsane.”He slammed his hand down on the countertop with bruising force. “One of these days, he’s gonna make me lose my mind, Jules. Mark my words. Which is why—” He shook his head. “Never mind.” He took a deep breath. “What’s going on withyou?”
“Who cares? Jamie, babe, do you wantto…”
He shook his head again. “Just… give me a minute, okay?Alone?”
I hesitated, but he raised his big brown eyes to mine. “Please.”
I nodded. “If you needme…”
“I know. Thanks.” He smiled tightly and turned back to his cleaning while I walked back out thedoor.
I was still distracted, though, which probably explained why I didn’t see my mother standing there waiting forme.
I’d spoken to her only the one time since Thanksgiving and hadn’t seen her at all, which was probably a healthy amount of interaction for a nearly-thirty-year-old man and his mother, but unusual forus.
“Mama.Hey.”
“Julian.” My mother knotted and unknotted her hands in front of her, looking uncharacteristicallynervous.
“Is everything okay?” I demanded, unreasonably panicked by her nervousness. My mother didn’tgetnervous, and the last time I’d seen her truly uncertain was when she’d had to tell me about my dad’s heartattack.
She frowned. “Yes, ofcourse.”
“You’re alright? And Con and Theo?” I hadn’t seen either of them indays.
“They’re fine.” Her eyes softened. “Theodore’s right over in the corner with Sam and Rae, and I just talked to Constantine thismorning.”
I nodded, finally convinced. “How’swork?”
“Good. Way more business than I’d anticipated. Looks like Micah’s Blooms is downsizing for the holiday.” She shook her head like she was mildlytroubled.
“Isn’t that a good thing? More business for RossLandscaping?”
“Oh, yes. Good for us, but bad for him. I thought the man had better business sense. I hope everything’s alright with him. He’s not a youngman.”
I blinked. Micah Bloom had opened his nearly-eponymous shop just three doors down from my clinic and I saw him every day. He was maybe forty; hardlyancient.
I pressed my lips together. “I thought he was your biggest competitor. I thought he pissed you off when he opened his shop here inO’Leary.”
She shrugged. “Well, yes, but I don’t dislike the man,Julian.”
I nodded. Contrary as it seemed, I knew she meant exactly what she said. She disliked what Micah Bloomrepresented.
