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“Problem with your boss?” I ask gently.
“Not really.”
“Okay.” I don’t say anything else, because I’ve learned by now that Angela is more likely to open up if she is allowed to on her own.
“The charge nurse took a bit of convincing to believe that I’m actually stranded on this island.”
“Of course you’re not lying. He shouldn’t need any proof. And the storm would have hit Harborview as well.”
“Thanks, Carter.” She gives me a brittle smile. “But even after I convinced him, he still chewed me out about letting the teamdown and how they need to be able to rely on me.” She all but hisses the last part. “As if I,” she starts to say.
“Let it out, Angel,” I say quietly. Angela deserves to vent and there’s nothing I’d rather do than stand here and listen to her for the rest of the damn day if she needs it.
“As if I’m not the person carrying the entire damn team every day of the fucking week. As if I don’t put in one hundred and ten percent every day I show up. As if I’m not the only reliable person they have.” The words come out soft at first and then gather steam as she goes, spewing from her mouth like she’s finally been unleashed.
“I cover for my fucking manager sometimes,” she continues. “And I know I’m the only person he would ever ask to do that. He always tells me I’m the only person he’d trust to run the ship without him.”
“Sounds like you should be managing him,” I mutter.
“I should be,” she says. “But he’s been there so much longer than I have.”
“I know there aren’t a lot of hospitals around, but maybe you could switch jobs,” I offer.
“Maybe. Sure.”
But we both know that Bar Harbor Hospital where she works is the only one close enough to Harborview to not make commuting an issue.
“Angela, why did you come back to Harborview after so?—
“Let’s go to the general store, okay? I’m hungry.” She smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
Another line in the sand. For whatever reason, she doesn’t want to tell me why she came back. But I’m going to figure it out, just like I’m going to figure everything else out. She can’t hide from me. Not any longer.
15
ANGELA
The general storeon Isle North is cute as a button. It’s a small whitewashed clapboard house with red shutters and a red roof. On the side there’s a sign that says, “Eggs: one dozen 40 cents” and another that says, “Fresh blueberry muffins.” On the front, the sign simply reads, “Isle North General.”
When we walk inside, the smell of freshly baked goods and coffee hits us and I immediately feel woozy from hunger.
“Muffins first. Coffee second. And then we’re figuring out how we’re getting out of here,” I say, and all but run to the counter.
An older woman with a blonde bob and a pair of corduroy overalls is sitting at the counter.
“Hi,” I say.
She does not look up from the crossword in the paper that she’s working on.
“Um.”
“One second,” she says. “What’s another word for planting seeds? Six letters.”
“Sowing,” Carter pipes up immediately from where he is browsing the chocolate section.
“Thank you, young man.” She scribbles in the word and then looks up at me, and then gasps. “You must be the hikers who got stranded! Mitchell is never going to believe this! Mitch!” she yells into the back of the store. “Look who turned up! It’s the hikers.”
A man ambles over from the back. He’s also wearing overalls, in a matching shade of corduroy to the woman at the counter, and his dark skin is lined with age. “Huh,” he says, looking me over.
