portable scanners.”
While he scans the shoe box (beep) and types (click click) I change back into my old shoes and pack the new ones away.
“You sign on the screen. I’ll put the tip of the pen where it goes.”
I hold out a hand and it finds a pen. I grab on and he’s holding the other end in space until it clicks on a hard surface.
“There.”
I sign my name and he takes back the pen.
“I tucked the receipt in the box.”
“Thanks.”
“If you check it later, which you should, it actually cost only sixty-eight dollars, or seventy-three seventy-eight with tax.”
“They’re on sale?”
“No, I have a Friends and Family discount. I think we’re friends now. It’s just a code we enter—we don’t flag your account or anything—so whenever you come here you have to ask for me, Jason Freeborn.”
“Cool—thanks, Jason.”
“But if my boss asks, I’d better have a name to give him.”
“I’m sorry?”
“What’s your name?”
Oh. What an idiot. “Parker. Parker Grant. Just like on the credit card.”
“I didn’t want to assume. A lot of people use their parents’ cards.”
“I wish.”
“Here are your shoes. Promise me you won’t run at night, even though you can.”
“I promise.”
“Good. Maybe I’ll see you in the halls at Adams. And since we’re friends now, I want to see you run in these sometime.”
Strangely enough, I’m thinking I might let him.
Except there are no patients in the room, or rather the table where Sarah and I are sitting outside in the Junior Quad. We provide easy access to our patients but not much privacy. Sarah says we can’t be overheard if we talk softly but people still have to struggle with whether they want to be seen with us since most people know why we’re out here every morning. Well, most Adams natives know, not the Jefferson immigrants.
“Lori’s talking to someone I don’t know and looking over here,” Sarah says. “Either gossiping about us or working up the nerve to come over. Oh, here comes Molly.”
“Hey, what’s up? You guys usually sit out here in the morning?”
“Every day,” I say. “Doing the good work.”
“It looks like sitting around to me.”
“Looks are deceiving. We provide a rare and valuable service—”
“Here they come,” Sarah says with an edge to her voice because Molly’s here.
Before I can say anything, Lori says, “Hi, Sarah. Parker.”
A girl I don’t know says, “Hi, Moll.”
“Hey, Reg,” Molly says. “How was your summer?”
“Okay.”
“This is Regina,” Lori says. “She has a problem. I told her she should talk to you.”
“Have a seat,” Sarah says. “Um … Molly?”
“It’s okay,” Regina says. “She can stay. She already knows most of it.”
There’s some scuffling as people sit down.
“Go ahead, Regina,” Lori says. “It’s okay.”
“So … I was going out with Gabe last spring, but we broke up right before school let out.”
Silence.
“Regina …” Lori says.
“He dumped me. Then he went to Spain for the whole summer on an exchange program.”
“Hang on,” I say. “How’d he do it? In person, phone, text?”
“When I was at work he texted me We need to talk and I texted back About what? and he said We should talk in person and I said You’re freaking me out, what’s wrong? and he said I could call him if I couldn’t wait and I said I was at work but I’d call him on my break. Then I called him and he broke up with me.”
“Did he say why?” Sarah asks.
“He said we were growing apart. That we both knew things were cooling off and he didn’t want to drag it out when we only had one more year at school.”
“Was he right?” I ask. “Were things cooling off?”
“I didn’t think so, but …”
Silence. This is what I need from Sarah later, whether this girl is looking at her hands, looking up at the sky trying to find words, glancing at all the faces not wanting to share with a crowd …
“We can’t keep entire conversations confidential because honestly it’s too hard to sort everything out,” Sarah says. “But if there’s anything specific you want us to keep to ourselves, we will. Just tell us.”
“It’s not that. It’s just … well … I guess things weren’t that hot in the first place?”
“You’re not that into him, or he into you?” I say.
“Oh, we’re great together, but … maybe he wants to go faster than I do?”
I say, “He said things were cooling off but he actually meant things weren’t heating up fast enough.”
“Maybe.”
“Did you two talk about it?” Sarah asks.
“No. I didn’t say much. I was at work, and I really didn’t expect it. I dunno. I just felt like I blew it somehow. I didn’t want to make it worse by trying to figure out what went wrong and promising to fix it or begging or whatever. I just wanted to hang up. So I did and that was it. Well, until last week. He started calling me again.”
“He wants to get back together?”
