Free The Refugee Sentinel by Harrison Hayes

start fresh. Plus, there’s so much crime in Las Vegas now and no jobs.” She uncrossed her legs and crossed them again in different order. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”
    “I’m… surprised. Did you know I lived in Seattle before you moved here?”
    “I did.” She looked away with the quiet pride of a student expecting praise from her math teacher. “But in case you want to know, you’re looking at the new Chief of Nursing at Virginia Mason Oncology. Can you imagine?” She clapped hands in the air. “I started last week.”
    “I’m… happy for you.”
    “Well…” her lips puffed air. “It’s not all glory and unicorns. Their staff is so overworked they are sleepwalking with exhaustion. I’ve worked my share of night shifts in Las Vegas, but didn’t realize how much worse the coasts had it. It’s like a different way of life here… the highlands versus the coast.”
    Colton stared at a passerby outside, then ventured a smile. “How did you find me in the library?”
    “Pure fate, dear.”
    He had to admire the benevolent energy of a woman who could love with a full heart. Why couldn’t he respond? Why was he so stuck on Sarah who, chances were, hated him still? Humans were born screwed up and, in that department, he was a model human.
    “I was out, strolling along these burly suspension bridges you call downtown here. I’m drinking my frozen beverage…” She waved an empty Starbucks cup, as if presenting important evidence to a jury. “And who do I see as I walk by the library’s windows?”
    “I… I have to run home,” he stammered.
    “Wait,” she tapped a finger on his nose. “You can’t leave without giving me your number.”
    “I live in… that direction.” His thumb jabbed at the air behind his back.
    “That was clear… Not.” She gave a pout after the deliberate pause. “I live and work there.” She pointed a finger in a random direction. “But that didn’t give you my contact information, did it? So let’s get rid of the guesswork and have dinner at my place tonight? You’ll see how much the kiddos have grown.”
    He stood up. “I have to leave,” his voice full of ice. “Virginia Mason is lucky to have you.”
    Sylvya’s face turned red. “I can imagine how busy you are, but we must make plans to see each other.” She held to his green suede jacket as he was beginning to leave.
    “I need to go, Sylvya.” He ran outside, among the Seattle pedestrians whose purpose, together with everyone else on Earth, was to kill time until the day of their deaths. Sylvya ran after him, jostling bodies out of the way.
    “Wait… wait for me,” she said.
    He kept walking, the back of his head bobbing up and down among the sea of others. Then he dove into the Starbucks at the corner of Denny and Fourth.
    She stormed behind and slammed the door shut. “I only saved your life,” she screamed.
    He turned around. She was right. He would have died without her.
    “And now you’re running away from me,” her face twisted; mascara, dark and splotchy, invading her cheeks. “How can you be so selfish?”
    He took a step away from the entrance, pulling her with him. “I admire you for saving my life,” his head hung as he spoke, “and won’t forget that. But you see… I don’t feel about you the way you feel about me. And should never have led you on.”
    She reached inside her purse and dabbed her eyes with a crumpled tissue.
    He raised a hand. “Let me, at least, get you a latte,” he said and headed for the counter before getting an answer. He returned with two paper cups, a latte for her and some other brown liquid for him. They sat down and he took the lid off her cup. “It will cool down faster this way,” he said. Heart-shaped foam swam like a melting iceberg in the middle of the hot coffee.
    “Am I not attractive to you?” she said. “Is there someone else?”
    He gulped whatever his cup held, bottoms-up, and clenched it with both fists, careful not to shred