Once Patty has paid for both of them, she ushers them to a secluded spot in the cafeteria.
They seat themselves.
Patty says in a hushed tone, “Old Man Pullnam wandered out to the woods one year ago. They found his mutilated body two miles away from his house. They say an animal has gotten to it, it was so badly chewed.”
Shannon remembers the wolf howl she has been hearing for many nights now, starting from the night with Lucien in the maze. A pang squeezes her chest when she thinks of Lucien, but she brushes him firmly out of her mind.
“This happened a year ago?” she says carefully.
“Yes.” Patty is clearly the town gossip and she delights in having someone new to tell her stories to. “There are wild animals in the woods. Wolves, coyotes and the like.”
“I reckon.”
“Old Man Pullnam would not be the first to go that way. Dolphin’s Bay has had a history of animal attacks going back as far as the 1930’s. The attacks are sporadic. No one ever sees the animals or lived to tell the tale. Troopers have gone into the woods to survey the area. They found wolves and coyotes and shot them. But the attacks still go on. That is why the police put out an advisory to those living near the forest. Has Deputy Janssen been to see you?”
Shannon has been working all day. So if the good Deputy has dropped by, either Jared has received him and forgotten to mention it to her or no one was home.
“No.”
“He’s slipping. He usually makes a personal visit to newcomers in the area, especially when there’s a pretty girl around.” Patty smiles. “You are very pretty, you know.”
Shannon blushes. “Thank you.”
They continue to make small talk for a while. Then Shannon says, “Does Dr. Fitzpatrick do lunch?”
“He doesn’t eat lunch.” Patty studies her. “You’re not having designs on him, are you?”
“Huh? No, of course not!”
“Well, you wouldn’t be the first to, believe me. Every girl comes in here and falls for him in one way or another, but he doesn’t date. Rumor is that he has a girlfriend back East. He trained in John Hopkins, you know, and word is that he’s pining for some colleague of his back there.”
“You’re his clinic nurse and you don’t know?”
“No one knows anything about him. He’s real close-mouthed. All work and no play, I suppose.” Patty sighs.
“Maybe he’s gay.”
“Gay? I don’t think so. He’s very male, although I suppose plenty of gay men are very masculine as well. Anyway, I thought I’d let you know the score with him so you don’t go around having your hopes dashed.”
“Thank you for being so charitable.”
Patty laughs. “Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there? You’ll do fine here. Some of the other guys are already talking about asking you out. You’re still single, right?”
“Yes. Though I’m not technically looking to start a relationship.”
“Been through a bad one?” Patty says sympathetically.
Boy, is she nosy! Shannon thinks. Though she doesn’t sense anything but warm curiosity and kindness on Patty’s part.
“Let’s just say I need to cool off a bit.”
Patty winks. “I’ll let the word out to the guys. But anytime you change your mind . . . ”
Shannon laughs. Despite everything, she likes Patty.
*
After a grueling Friday, Shannon is looking towards a long, nice weekend just chilling out after her first week at work. She drives the Toyota to a local supermarket she has noted called ‘Safeway’s’. It is fairly large with a huge parking lot half-filled with cars.
As she alights from her car, a familiar white Mercedes draws into the empty parking lot next to hers.
Shannon looks up in surprise. Lucien Walker comes out of the driver’s seat and saunters over to her, smiling.
“Hi,” he says.
“Hi.” She never expected to see him again, and so this is a major surprise.
OK, if she is to be honest with herself, she did check her phone now and again to see if there were any text messages or missed calls from him. And whenever they were none, she quelled her disappointment and busied herself with work.
“I saw your car out there and I decided to follow you.” As soon as he said this, he seems ill at ease, which has to be unusual for Lucien. “Um, I didn’t mean it in a stalker mentality sort of way. I just thought it would be nice to . . . you know, see how you’re getting along.”
His hair is neatly combed back and his face is a paragon of Nordic male beauty, as always. She remembers her limbs being entwined with his glorious body, and a flush creeps into her cheeks.