Zoey

You would think when my patients died, it would be the hardest part of my job. But it wasn’t. Nora’s battle with her illness had ended and she was no longer suffering. Her soul left her body and she joined hands with her mother and father, who were waiting to take her home. Before fading into the distance, she turned to me and smiled. I smiled back as I waved goodbye to her.

I decided to leave the room and give Carter some time alone with his sister. Walking into my bedroom, I took my phone from the nightstand and called Dr. Sutton to let him know Nora had passed. Then, per Nora’s instructions upon her death, I called her attorney.

“Who were you talking to?” Carter asked as he stood in the doorway of my room.

“I had to call Dr. Sutton and Nora’s attorney.”

“Why her attorney?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Nora gave me specific instructions to call him immediately after she—” I looked down. “Someone will be here soon to take her body, so if you need some more time…”

“I’m fine. Sadie is in there now. I have no fucking clue what I’m supposed to do. She told me that everything for her funeral was taken care of and I didn’t have to worry about a thing. So now what? How the fuck do I know what to do?”

“All I know is her attorney is on the next flight out of New York. He’ll be here tonight. I’m sure she made all the arrangements with him.”

“This doesn’t make any sense to me. Why wouldn’t she tell me and let me handle it?”

“I have no clue, Mr. Grayson. I wish I had some answers for you, but she never discussed her arrangements with me. So, we’ll have to wait until he gets here.”

He shook his head and walked away. My job here was over, at least with taking care of Nora. She wanted me to try and help Carter through it, but I didn’t know how I was going to. The minute we got back to New York, we’d part ways, and I’d probably never see him again. Not by any choice of mine, but his. I was sure he couldn’t wait to get rid of me. I went into Nora’s room, expecting to find Carter in there, but he wasn’t.

“Have you seen Mr. Grayson, Sadie?” I asked.

“No. I haven’t,” she spoke with sadness as her teary eyes looked at me.

I walked around the house to see where he had gone, and I couldn’t find him. I even went up to his room, but he wasn’t there. Walking into the kitchen, I decided to make a pot of coffee. While I waited for it to brew, I placed my hands on the kitchen counter and stared out the window. That was when I saw Carter standing on the beach, facing the water.

I was startled by a knock on the door, and when I opened it, two tall gentlemen stood there with their hands clasped in front of them.

“Can I help you?”

“We’re from Kingsley Funeral Home and we’re here to collect the body of Nora Grayson.”

“Please, come in.”

I led them to Nora’s room and let them do their job while I went down to the beach to get Carter.

“Excuse me, Mr. Grayson?”

He turned and looked at me.

“The funeral home is here to pick up Nora. I thought you should know.”

“What funeral home?” he asked.

“Kingsley,” I replied.

He hastily walked back to the house and into Nora’s room.

“Excuse me, but who called you to pick up my sister’s body?”

“A man named Mr. Gainsley.”

“And what are you going to do with her body? She needs to be flown back to New York.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know. The only thing we were told was that we needed to pick up the body and further instructions will be given to us tomorrow.”

“Damn it.” He shook his head.

I walked over to him and lightly took hold of his arm. I knew I was crossing the line, but I didn’t care. He wasn’t going to make a scene.

“Mr. Grayson, let’s go into the kitchen and let them do their job. I’ve made some coffee.”

He looked down at my hand on his arm and then up at me.

“Coffee? You really think I want fucking coffee right now?” he angrily spoke as he left the room.

I followed him down the hallway and into the living room, where he picked up a bottle of scotch and poured himself a glass.

“This is what I want.” He held up his glass. “Not a fucking cup of coffee.”

I bit my tongue because he was lashing out from anger and hurt over Nora’s death. If the only way he could cope right now was to drink, then so be it. I turned away and walked into the kitchen where Sadie had started preparing dinner.

“You don’t need to do that, Sadie.”

“I do, Zoey. I need to keep busy.”

The men from the funeral home carried Nora’s body out and had Carter sign some papers.

“Let me ask you something,” Carter spoke as he approached me. “What did Nora mean when she said ‘they’ were here? Who did she see?”

I didn’t want to tell him because I knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it. So I hesitated.

“I asked you a question and I expect an answer,” he spoke in an angry tone.

“Your parents.”

He let out a loud, roaring laugh.

“And you expect me to believe that? She was delirious.”

“I don’t expect you to believe anything, Mr. Grayson. You asked me a question and I answered it.”

“You’re fucking nuts.” He pointed at me. “You may take good care of dying patients, but you’re not right in the head.”

He grabbed the bottle of scotch and took it upstairs.

“Don’t listen to him, Zoey. He isn’t aware of what he’s saying,” Sadie spoke.

“I know he doesn’t.” I sighed.

I ate dinner with Sadie, helped her clean up, and headed to my room for the night. When I stepped out of the shower, my phone rang. It was Mr. Gainsley.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Miss Benson, it’s Brian Gainsley. I just landed and I’m going to get a hotel room for the night. I’ll be by tomorrow say around ten?”

“Ten o’clock will be fine, Mr. Gainsley.”

“See you then,” he spoke.

Before climbing into bed, I decided to check on Carter. The door to his bedroom was slightly opened, and when I took a peek inside, I noticed he wasn’t in there. Opening the door all the way, I looked around and saw nothing. So I went downstairs and noticed the patio door wasn’t slid shut all the way. I went back to my room, put on a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, and went down to the beach.

“Mr. Grayson.” I knelt down beside him as he lay on his back in the sand with the empty scotch bottle lying beside him.

He let out a moan and tried to roll over. I sighed and shook my head as I grabbed his arm and tried to get him up.

“Come on, Carter, you have to help me out here.”

Another moan escaped his lips.

“As much as I want to leave your dumb drunk ass out here all night, Nora would never forgive me. So come on!” I shouted.

I managed to sit him up and he looked at me.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” he slurred.

“I know. We can talk about this later, after you’ve sobered up.”

I helped him up, hooked his arm around my neck, and practically dragged him back to the house. There was no way he was getting up the stairs, so I led him over to the couch and helped him lie down. I ran up to his room and grabbed his pillow from the bed and a white blanket that sat on a chair. After covering him and making sure he was comfortable, I went to bed.