The Devil in Love (A John Mulligan Story)

Chapter Three

 Chapter Three

John was impatient for an answer, worried that Karena wasn't coming back and when Gary came for his usual visit on the Wednesday, she was the first thing John asked about.

"She's went to visit her daughter," Gary answered. "She had an accident and broke her ankle. Pretty bad break by all accounts."

"Karena?"

"No, the daughter. They weren't sure if she'd need surgery on it, so they had to keep her in a few days. Anyway, she were admitted to Hospital on Saturday, Karena drove down on Sunday and stayed until they released her this morning."

"Where's the girl now?"

"Came back with her Mam. She's got to stay off the ankle as much as possible for a few weeks, and she just can't get around the campus, so her Mam brought her home for a bit."

"That's got to be tough," John mused. "She's only just started uni and now she's taking time out."

Gary shrugged, not knowing what to make of John's interest.

"Send 'em some flowers," John said. "White roses, five dozen. And a teddy bear. A big one."

"Right boss," Gary nodded. "What do you want on the card?" he asked.

"I dunno. Get well soon?"

"So you want them sent to the daughter then, not the mother?"

"Send the flowers to the mother, the bear to the daughter."

"And do you want me to sign the card?"

"No. Just put an X. To the Mam write "To the good Samaritan,' and to the daughter just put 'Get well soon'."

"Right." Gary jotted that down just in case he forgot.

"How's the estate?" John asked, getting back down to business.

III

Karena was even more frazzled than usual the next Monday. Her daughter needed a lot of help and she also had work to catch up on, which meant that she was constantly behind and always felt as though she was running late.

The up side of this, was that she hadn't had a moment to think about John until she saw him in the classroom. She hastily unpacked her things while she apologised for running late, and handed back the essay's back that she had taken from them two weeks ago.

"I've written extensive notes to help you improve next time but if you have any questions, just stay behind for a few moments. Did anyone complete the essay I gave you two weeks ago?"

To her surprise everyone handed in an essay, though granted, some were only one page and almost guaranteed to fail. Still, the effort counted for something and she was pleased by the progress.

John looked at the essay she had given him back and saw that he'd gotten a C+. He didn't really care about the grade but he was interested to see if she had marked him down because of his attitude. Though he had no idea how well or badly he did, he was willing to bet that C was a more than fair grade considering that, although he had put some effort into this, he had been out of education for twenty years and didn't have a single qualification to his name.

"So, I hear you watched the film adaptation last week," she said, settling on the side of her desk again. "How was that?"

Their smirks told her everything she needed to know.

"You decided to torture the substitute instead of watching the movie?" she guessed, trying to suppress her smile. "Do men ever grow up?" she asked, smiling tolerantly.