“Oh. My. God. That’s priceless. I want him to come to the next Grief Session. He’d be perfect. But I’m not sure that I’m going again.” Jill sighed.
The waitress approached the table, carrying a tray with two plates. She slid a slice of pie in front of Jill. Law had no idea what in the hell it was, because it was completely blanketed with whipped cream. As a matter of fact, it could be just whipped cream. Jill cooed. She looked up in delight. “Doris, what is this? I’m in heaven.” Law noticed Doris’ nametag for the first time.
Doris preened at Jill’s words. “Banana cream pie. It doesn’t happen often, but Sophia, she owns a catering company now, brought this by this morning. I got you the last piece. You’re going to think you died and went to heaven when you try this. This is homemade whip cream, too. None of that canned stuff.”
Jill dipped her finger into the cream and swirled it around, then licked it. “You’re right, this is heavenly.”
“Told you.” She set the second plate in front of Law. “As for you, young man. You get a hot apple pie ala mode.”
Law grew up with a mother who made French pastries, so this was a treat. “Apple pie. You nailed it, Doris.”
“That makes my night. Let me know if I can get you anything else,” she said as she topped off their coffee.
As much as the pie interested him, Law was still more enthralled with Jill’s reaction to the whipped cream. Thank God she wasn’t making any more moaning noises because then he would really be having a hard time. Literally. As it was, just watching the euphoric expression on her face made his blood hum. He picked up his fork, looked down at his pie, and took a big bite.
“This is wonderful,” Jill said around a mouthful of cream. “However, I’m going to have to go to yoga at least three times this week to make up for the splurge.” Her voice melted over his senses like the ice cream melted over his tongue.
Law took a sip of coffee so he could clear his throat. “So, you know that I’m a Marine and grew up with two brothers. What do you do for a living?”
“It’s boring. I’m a clinical services trainer for systems that do remote heart monitoring.”
“Like RF cardiac equipment?”
She cocked her head sideways. “Yes, just like that. How’d you know?”
“Sometimes I’m involved in medivac extractions. I’d say your job is pretty important.”
“Nah, it’s mostly just creating training manuals and procedures so that the real folks can do their job.”
“Jill, don’t bullshit a bullshitter. You had to do the job before you could train others to do the job. So, how much hands-on experience do you have?”
“I worked down in Houston in a hospital for two years, and also as an EMT. That allowed me to really get into the nitty-gritty. I saw just how important it was to have the right equipment to assess and immediately communicate with the physicians. For a heart attack patient, it could make the difference between life and death.”
He liked that.
He liked her.
“Do you really think your current job is boring?”
“I really don’t know what I think. I’m antsy. I can do my job in my sleep. I came here from Texas for Lorraine. I could move back to Houston, but it seems like all of my friends have moved on. Ellie got married, and Troy and his wife just had twins. Tonight’s the most excitement I’ve had in months.”
Law considered her expression. He recognized parts of it. Definite sadness and a lack of direction. She looked like the rug had been pulled out from under her.
“When was the last time you took a vacation?” he asked.
Jill didn’t immediately answer. She continued to eat bite after bite of pie. Law didn’t push her, he could see that she was thinking.
“I took time off to take care of Lorraine, and one short trip with my parents. Other than that, nothing. We had a home health care worker come in a lot, she had good insurance and money to augment what wasn’t covered. But still, I wanted to be there for her, especially in the end.”
“Cancer?”
She put down her fork and nodded. “Pancreatic. It was her third bout. I visited the other two times, but we both knew this was going to be the last time, so I came to stay.”
Lawson covered her hand. Jill turned her palm upwards so that she could tangle her fingers with his.
“She’d kick my ass if she could see me right now. We discussed this. She knew I had hermit tendencies.”
“Siblings? Parents?”
“No siblings. My parents still have the same house where I grew up in Florida, but they both retired about six years ago and Dad talked mom into an RV.” Jill shuddered. “They now spend six months a year on the road in really, really, close quarters.”
Law grinned. “And that’s a bad thing?”
“Dad can’t hear and refuses to get hearing aids, and Mom loves to talk. So he can’t hear her, and she gets her feelings hurt. It’s kind of a mess. Then let’s add in the fact that they have three cats in the RV.”
Three cats?
Jill glared at him. “Don’t even try to deny it, I see you trying not to laugh. Yes, the darn thing smells like a litter box. Mom uses Febreeze and burns incense. Patchouli. I think Dad might have also lost
