Gifts and Consequences by Daniel Coleman Read Free Book Online Page B

the day off tomorrow.  I’ll stop in to see how Dexter takes it, but we won’t start any new projects until Monday.”
     

 
Chapter Ten
     
     
    Jonathan’s house was forty minutes from the office.  Details of the night’s events ran through his mind, along with Marcus’s words. 
    Did I go too far? 
    No one got hurt except Tyler, and he had earned it. 
    Marcus is just stressed.  He’ll be fine by Monday.
    Jonathan wasn’t about to change his whole operation just because of one close call.
    He turned his thoughts to Susan to distract himself from the nagging feeling that was trying to encroach on the success of the night.  He was usually home earlier than this to make sure he saw Susan before she went to sleep.  The daily visit was his number one priority, and it limited him to traveling only the eastern half of the country.  No doctor had told him so, but he felt that if she saw him just before bed every night it would reinforce her memory of him. 
    It was close to nine o’clock when he finally greeted Tamika, the home care nurse who sat at the end of the hallway. 
    “Is she still awake?” he asked hopefully.
    Tamika nodded, “Yeah, you made it in time.”  She handed him a daisy.
    Normally he asked for an update before he went in, but he didn’t want to waste any more time.  He paused outside the door and took a breath.  When he entered the room they repeated the familiar pattern.  Kiss on the cheek, flower, comment about her and Mary picking daisies.
    He asked if she knew who he was and she smiled at him as if it was a silly question.  “You’re my husband.”  She opened her mouth to speak again but nothing came out.  She kept smiling, but her brow furrowed, “Just give me a second.  You’re, um…”  She chuckled, getting embarrassed and continued, “It’ll come to me in a minute.”  Another nervous laugh.
     He couldn’t stand to see her struggle.  “It’s ‘Jonathan’.  Remember?”
    “Yes, Jonathan, that’s right.  I knew that.”  She chuckled nervously again.  “I know who you are, Jonathan.  I just…couldn’t think of it.”
    “That’s fine,” he assured her, taking her hand and sitting in his chair.  “I don’t want you to worry at all.”
    Any conversations were always initiated by Jonathan; Susan was content to sit in silence.  “It’s late at night,” he said, “but I have a story if you want to hear it.”
    “Oh, of course.  I love listening to stories.”
    “Bob was a speed reading instructor and owned an Internet company,” he began.
    After telling the short tale he wiped an invisible smudge from Susan’s cheek and left her room.
     

 
Chapter Eleven
     
     
    Dexter Wilkinson stepped out of the shower dripping wet when Dru came into the bathroom and said, “You’ve been summoned.”  She handed him his pager then looked at his bare chest and patted it, smiling.  Five weeks of physical labor had already altered his physique. 
    Her admiration wasn’t enough to offset the sinking feeling in his gut.  Usually he would relish the excuse to miss church, but the beeper was used only for work, and could mean only one thing.  Another ditch.  Thinking of himself as a ditch-digger rather than a gravedigger made it slightly easier to bear.
    He had been called in on Saturday before, but this was the first Sunday summons.  When Dru walked out of the bathroom, Dexter swore under his breath.  She hated it when he used profanity on Sundays.  No matter how slowly he dressed, he’d eventually have to bite the bullet and go in, though he continued hoping without hope to receive another page or phone call to say that he wasn’t needed.
    As he sat on the edge of the bed putting his thick wool socks on, Dru came in.  She bent to kiss his forehead and said, “I’m going early.  I’m in charge of the nursery so I’ve got to get it set up.” 
    “I don’t know how long I’ll be,” he told her, standing to kiss her on the lips this