Learning To Trust Again

A few minutes later Jake came jogging back. He shook the hand of the other officer and after saying good bye to Rebecca, the constable quickly moved off in the direction Jake had come from. Jake looked at Rebecca and asked ‘okay, you ready to go?’

‘Absolutely’ she answered with feeling, pushing off the wall. ‘I think I’ve seen all the delights this lane has to offer.’

Jake gave her a crooked smile. ‘Well let’s go then’ he said and walking side by side they headed out of the lane and turned to the left.

As they walked along Jake asked ‘so where do you work?’

‘At the hospital, I’m a nurse.’

He nodded and after a few moments silence he asked ‘will there be someone at home when you get there?’

Rebecca shook her head and replied ‘no I live by myself.’

‘Is there someone you can call to come and stay with you tonight? It might help you to be able to talk about it. This kind of thing can sneak up on you.’ he said with a concerned expression.

She shook her head again and without looking at him said ‘no but I’ll be fine. I could call my brother but then I’d have to explain what happened and he’d only worry about me every night from here on out. It would drive him crazy. My parents don’t live close enough to come.’

‘What about friends?’

‘To be honest, the questions I’d have to answer, concern me more than being alone. I’m just too tired to face it. Once I’m home and have locked the door, I’ll be fine.’

Jake looked at her for a minute and then nodded ‘okay, but I don’t live far from you. I’ll give you my number. If you need to talk, or if you’re worried about anything just give me a call.’

Surprised, Rebecca looked over at him for a minute. She wondered if he normally gave out his number to people he rescued.

But if he sensed her concern he didn’t say anything. He just put his hand out.

Unsure about it, but telling herself it wasn’t like he was asking for her number she pulled her phone out of her bag and placed it in his hand so he could enter his number. She couldn’t imagine calling him, but it did make her feel better just knowing she had his number and could call if she needed to. As he handed it back she said ‘thanks Jake’ and joking, she added ‘I’ll try not to drag you out of bed in the middle of the night.’

But Jake didn’t respond in the way she expected. He didn’t smile or treat the statement in the light hearted manner that she had intended. Instead he seemed to take it at face value. Shrugging and without looking at her, he replied ‘it doesn’t matter.’ 

Rebecca’s smile faded as she watched a frown came down on his face.