On a carpet of golden leaves…
Emily stared at the medication chart, plucking another blister pack and pressing capsules into little plastic cups. The same dreary routinedispensing pills to patients, day after day.
Is this how her life would slip away? Alone. Her heart ached, fresh wounds reopening with every cruel word her husband had tossed at her yesterday. Each syllable throbbed like a raw cut.
She tossed the empty blister into the bin beside the desk, grabbed a bottle, and poured a handful of pills onto her palm, speeding up as her thoughts drifted back…
“Emily, what on earth are you doing?” The head nurses voice jolted her. The bottle slipped, cups toppled. Emily gaped at the pills scattered across the tray.
“Whats wrong with you? You couldve killed someone overdosing them!” The head nurse shoved her aside. “God, what a mess!”
“Sorry, Mrs. Whitmore, Ill fix it” Emily scooped pills into her palm, frozen.
“Give them here! As if we can sort this now.” She snatched them and dumped them in the bin.
“I just… spaced out for a second.” Emilys hands trembled.
“If I hadnt walked inChrist, youd be facing prison!”
“I dont know how it happened…” Emily collapsed onto a chair, pressing her palms to her face. Silent sobs shook her shoulders.
“Please tell me you hadnt started the injections.”
Emily shook her head, still weeping.
“Youve never been this careless. Youre not some rookie.”
“My husband… left me yesterday.” Her voice was muffled, hollow.
“Ah. Right. Well, stop crying.” The nurse started refilling the cups. “Ill handle this. YouI cant let you work like this. Youll land us both in court.”
Emily finally lowered her hands and stood.
“Mrs. Whitmore, I”
“Sit. Better yet, go home. Write a leave request starting tomorrow. Ill explain to Matron.”
“I was saving my leave for when my daughter has the baby”
“A weeks enough to pull yourself together. Now scram before I change my mind.”
Emily blinked, dazed.
“God, imagine the disaster if those patients had taken those pills,” Mrs. Whitmore muttered. “Though theyre sharptheydve raised hell seeing extras.”
Plump, buttons straining over her bust, the nurse made Emily seem even frailer.
“Wash your face. Husbands strayeven the decent ones.” She sighed, sorting pills. “Wait. Ill call you a cab. Youll get yourself run over in this state.”
Emily didnt argue. She wrote the request, changed, grabbed her handbag, and left. A black cab waited outside. She slid in, gave her address.
Home felt unbearable. “Hes off with some young thing, happy, while I nearly sent patients to their graves. Pull yourself together…” Her phone rang. Sophie.
“Mum, hi!” Bright, cheerful.
The horror faded. She hadnt handed out the pills. No harm done.
“Sophie, love, how are you?”
“Great! You at work?”
“In a cab. Theyve put me on leave for a week.”
“What? Are you ill?”
“No, just… needed. Can I come stay?”
“Course! When?”
“Tomorrow. If I get a train ticket…”
Chatting, she barely noticed the cab stopping.
“Here you are. Got another fare,” the driver said.
“Right. How much?” She fumbled for her phone.
“Paid by card when booked.”
“Oh.” Mustve been Mrs. Whitmores. She stepped out.
“Mum, who were you talking to?”
“The driver. Ill call back once Ive got the ticket.” She went to tuck her phone awayno handbag.
Her stomach dropped. The cab was gone. Her bag with it. She staggered to a bench, brushed off leaves, and sat. “Mrs. Whitmores right. Im losing my mind…”
What was in the bag? Keysin her coat. Phone in hand. But her purse! Hardly any cash, but her cards… “Why am I sitting here? Block it now!”
She glanced desperately at the road. Maybe the cabbie would return? “As if.” She blocked the card, exhaled. Now, calm down.
Home. The pill mess and lost bag had numbed her. Now loneliness rushed back. She slumped onto the ottoman. Then rageat him. Because of him, shed fallen apart. And he didnt care.
Maybe she shouldnt go. More disasters awaited. But Sophie expected her. The flat was suffocating. Sighing, she fetched her secret stashhers alone, not the shared one with her husband. Enough for the trip.
She bought a train ticket, packed light, warned the neighbour Mrs. Higgins, and left. On the train, she relaxed. The card was safe. The bag? Shed wanted a new one anyway. And her husband leaving… not the end of the world. Others lost more. No one had died. Shed soon be a grandmother… She dozed off thinking of Sophie.
London greeted her with drizzle and leaden skies. Eventually, she told Sophie about her father.
“Mum, dont you dare take him back if he crawls home,” Sophie said.
Emily imagined him returning to an empty flat. Let him fret.
But when she got back, she knew he hadnt been there.
Mrs. Higgins invited her for tea, asking after Sophie. Turned out, shed had three husbands and still eyed the future brightly at seventy.
“Oh! I nearly forgot. A gentleman came asking for you. Distinguished-looking. Wanted something… Sorry, dear, I cant recall what.”
“Dont worry. Hell come back.”
“Odd, thoughhe didnt know your name. Couldve been a scammer!”
Emily laughed. “If he were, hed have robbed the flat while I was away.”
“True. Still, be careful.”
Next day, work. Mrs. Whitmore watched her closely but relaxed. That evening, a knock. A handsome man held out her handbag.
“May I come in? Awkward chatting on the step.”
She let him in.
“Found this in a cab. You were the last faredistraught, on the phone.”
“Howd you find me?”
“The driver gave your address. Neighbour said youd gone away. Check iteverythings there.”
Her purse. Cash, cards.
“I blocked the card,” she said needlessly.
“Smart. People cant be trusted.”
She offered him a twenty.
“Keep it. I didnt come for money.” He left.
That weekend, he returned with flowers.
“I didnt leave these in the cab,” she said.
“Your neighbour told me everything. These are for you. Im Daniel.”
“Emily.”
“Emily, would you come dancing with me? Ever tried?”
“No. Ive two left feet.”
“I love it, but need a partner. Wear something comfy.”
Suddenly, the idea thrilled her. Let her husband think she wasnt weeping into pillows. She went.
Daniel was elegant; she stumbled, stepped on his toes. After, they had tea. She loved how he guided her, how she trusted his lead.
Soon, they danced regularly. One night, she returned exhilaratedthen tripped over a suitcase in the hall. “Hes back.”
Her husband emerged.
“Em, Im sorry. Im lost without you. She cant cookIve got heartburn from takeaways. Lets start over. Weve got Sophie, the baby…”
“Bit late for that.” She hung her coat, avoiding his eyes.
“Whereve you been? You had the morning shift.”
“Im a free woman. I come and go as I please.”
“Youre still my wife!”
“For now. Sophie said not to forgive you. Shes right. Lets skip the melodrama. You left.”
“Found a replacement fast, didnt you?”
“Delusional.” She kicked the suitcase. “Good thing you didnt unpack. Take it and go.”
He begged, shouted. She stood firm.
“Fine. But dont think youre keeping the flat”
“Sophies on the deed. And soon, her son will be too.”
“Bitch!” He grabbed the case and left.
She laughedhard, until tears came.
Next rehearsal, she was late. Daniel paced outside.
“Emily, I thought you werent coming…”
They danced. She was radiant, light, spinning as if wings had sprouted.
“Emily, youre sublime tonight! Everyone, watch how its done!” the instructor cheered.
But she only saw Daniels dazzled gaze.
