As she ate, the orange cat appeared, watching her silently. She went to speak to him, reaching out to let him smell her fingers. He stretched to rub h...s cheek against them and Helen rubbed his head. Unlike many of his fellows, he was clean and shiny and the sun had warmed his fur. She felt a connection begin between them and withdrew her hand. 'I can't, ' she thought, 'I can't dare trust you either.'She cleaned up and went downstairs again, now along the beach, walking briskly, now in the. There was a note from Dad, “This is their apology, eat up!”After we ate, and I told Stuart just how good the hot dogs were, he said, “We got some up here too, Boss. Good stuff.”“You’re doing a great job keeping up with me,” I asserted.“I do and I do for you, and all I get is food,” he said very melodramatically.“You have two girls, work it out.”“Everybody up here with me is guys, apparently ... no girls allowed. Five minutes, Mr. Thomas.”“Thank you five,” I said showing everyone my hand to. “These are the results from the tests I ordered on Sunday. Those drugs were still in your system on Sunday, but the levels were clearly down on what they would’ve been when you were taking a pill each day.”“Okay,” I said. “That’s good.”“The good news is that everything else is normal. Once those drugs are completely gone, which might take another day or two, you will be a perfectly healthy young woman. There was a chance of some organ damage with that particular combination of drugs but there’s. She does not look at me. My stomach knots with fear; have I asked too much of her? Will she ever forgive me?I go and run a bath for her. When I come back she is sitting up with the covers pulled around her. She looks at me but there is no smile and I can’t read her eyes. I sit on the bed facing her.Gabriella asks “Did I do enough?”“Yes. You did enough.”She smiles. We embrace.We bath together saying very little as very little needs to be said. I massage her tortured muscles gently working the.