Page 17 of The Candle Palace (Jamison Valley 6)
Luna shrugged. “He creeps me out too.”
“No,” I gasped. My heart plummeted into my stomach and the world tilted sideways. “Has he said something to you? Has he made you—”
“Oh, no. It’s not me. It’s Mom. When she comes here by herself, he gets too close to her when he talks.”
“Phew. You had me worried. Do you think maybe he’s a close talker?”
“Maybe? He’s a good doctor and he helped me a lot. But . . .”
“I get it.”
He had a vibe. Dr. Vernon gave me that uncomfortable twitch. It wasn’t every time he was around. It wasn’t even the majority of the time. But it happened enough to set me on edge.
“I’m sure it’s nothing.” The last thing I wanted was to ruin Luna’s relationship with her doctor. I’d probably already said too much, so I changed the subject. “You smell nice today. Did you get a new lotion?”
She nodded, bringing her fingers to her nose. “Mom brought me a new one earlier this week. It smells like you.”
“I’ll have to get the name so I can add it to my collection.” Dad had bought me a similarly scented lotion when I’d been ten. It had been my go-to scent ever since. It was fresh with citrus undertones. Nothing overpowering for the hospital, and it kept my hands soft.
“So, um . . .” She glanced over her shoulder to the wall she shared with Milo. “Is he doing okay? I heard him yelling last night. He kept shouting the name Jess. Who do you think she is?”
“I don’t know.” And I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
I’d wondered about Jess last week when Kirk had mentioned her name but it hadn’t come up again. Had she been injured in the same explosion? She must have a special relationship with Milo for him to be calling out her name.
“You’ve been sitting with him at night, haven’t you?” Luna asked.
“Yes.” I filled up her glass of ice water from the small mauve pitcher on her table.
“I thought so. You haven’t been here much.”
My shoulders fell. With her having so little time left here, I felt badly for not giving her my full attention. “I’m sorry, Luna. I told him about how I sat with you when you first got here. He asked me to sit with him and I couldn’t say no. He’s . . . different. Special. Like you.”
“It’s okay. I suppose I have to cut off my attachment to you anyway. I’m leaving soon.”
“One more week.” And boy, would I miss her.
Luna’s hand drifted up to the burn scars on her scalp. “Mom and Dad offered to bring in a tutor for the rest of the school year so I could homeschool.”
“That was nice of them. Is that what you want?”
She dropped her eyes to her lap, giving me a one-shoulder shrug.
“Or you could go back to school.”
Luna closed her eyes. “What if the kids make fun of me?”
“They will.”
Her eyes snapped up to mine, wide and full of surprise that I’d be so blunt.
I smiled and sat on the edge of her bed. “Kids are mean. Some might laugh at you, with or without the scars. I was so shy in high school, I tried daily to blend in with the walls. That still didn’t save me from being tormented because I walked with my eyes on my shoes and my hair is a strange color.”
“It’s not strange, it’s pretty. Mine is strange.”
“Yours is beautiful. The purple suits you.” I stood from the bed and went to the closet, where her books were stacked on a shelf. “You’d better get started on homework. Math or English first?”
Luna groaned and dropped her head back into the pillow. “Math. I might as well get it over with.”
