The Demon Always Wins: Touched by a Demon, Book 1 by Jeanne Oates Estridge

Author:Jeanne Oates Estridge [Oates Estridge, Jeanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

The last two days of the week were not good days. The patient loads were heavy, made heavier by being short a doctor. Dara’s staff was barely speaking to her. She made it a point to avoid the kitchen at midday, when everyone came in to retrieve the lunches they once again brought from home and sullenly heated in the microwave.

The only bright spot was the patient whose life they’d possibly saved. On Thursday night, an obese, middle-aged man appeared at the reception window and showed Gabby one of the clinic’s business cards. He said someone had given it to him and suggested he come to the clinic. She fit him into the walk-in schedule. After a brief exam, Dr. Bell had sent him straight over to Bermuda General in an ambulance. He’d had a heart attack in the ER, but with lifesaving equipment instantly available, the doctors there had minimized the impact.

It felt like a vindication of her decision to keep the clinic open.

Now it was nine o’clock on Saturday night and she already had her pajamas on. A bag of popcorn perfumed the air with the aroma of movie night. Her favorite film, Ghost, was cued up in the DVD player. In the long, sleepless nights following Matt’s death, she had watched it over and over, wondering if Matt was out there, somewhere beyond her consciousness, hovering and trying to take care of her. After a while, she’d reached the conclusion that he’d moved on to his reward and no one was interested in taking care of her. The movie was a good reminder that, save for Nana, she was on her own.

She had just settled down to watch Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore demonstrate a love that lasted beyond life itself when her phone buzzed.

“I’m at Slyders,” It was Lilith. Music blared in the background, accompanied by laughter and clinking glasses. “Come join me.”

Dara explained that she already had her evening planned. “You’re welcome to come over, though.”

“And I would totally do that,” Lilith said, “if I was ninety. Come on, chica. Don’t be such a stick in the mud. There’ll be plenty of time to sit around and watch old movies when you’re in a nursing home. Come party with me.”

Dara looked around her cozy living room. Lilith had a point. Away from work, Dara’s life wasn’t all that different from Nana’s.

“Come on. I’m lonely, and that always gets me into trouble. This bar is chock-full of cute young sailors.”

“Where’s Jeremy?” Ever since Ben’s first-night celebration party, Jeremy and Lilith had been an item.

“He played golf today with the boys.”

Dara looked out through the tinted sliding glass doors at the setting sun. “It’s getting dark. He can’t still be playing.”

“He said I kept him out late last night and he was too tired to go out.” Lilith sounded disappointed and pettish, but there was a ring of loneliness there, too.

“Come on,” she said. “Friends don’t let friends drink alone.”

Dara looked at the cued-up movie and the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table.

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