SNAKESKIN

Leo's blue hospital scrubs lay crumpled on the green marble floor while he showered. Snake skin, Claire thought, pretty blue skin that a snake sheds. She bent over and buried her nose in the scrubs. They smelled sweet, like a lotus in bloom. No hint of sweat or betadine. The smell made her dizzy, she closed her eyes and swayed; one hand clenching a large brown envelope and one hand loosely holding the sweet scrubs.
Leo stepped out of the shower, his naked body wet and scrubbed pink. "Claire, are you okay?" He took the scrubs from her hand and threw them onto the floor. "Let the maid do that." Leo examined her face, she looked nauseous. "Did you take your meds yet?"
Her eyes flickered, "No. I was waiting for you to get home. I couldn't sleep without you last night." She opened her eyes. "Where were you?"
Leo turned away, "I told you, it was an emergency." He wrapped a towel around his waist then picked Claire up, a little too rapidly. She was so light, a light little bird. He took her downstairs and deposited her onto a breakfast table chair. The pills were sorted into a green plastic container. Leo knelt down and put each pill into her mouth and then held a glass of orange juice to her lips.
After Claire swallowed the last pill, Leo smoothed back her bathrobe, exposing the Porta-Catheter inserted above her left breast. His fingers probed it for signs of infection or the tenderness that happened when the Oncology nurses inserted the chemo IV's too quickly. He buried his head in her lap and wrapped his hands around her waist.
"I'm so sorry," he said.
Claire smoothed his hair with her right hand, with her left she put the large, brown envelope on the table.
Leo looked up, "What's that?"
"Nothing," Claire replied. "Don't you have a case this morning?"
"Yeah, an 87 year old woman with a Mitral Valve replacement and quadruple bypass. I better get going." Leo smiled at her, "I want to get home early today."
Claire sat at the breakfast table long after Leo left. She smoothed the brown envelope, running her finger across the return address label; Kraft & Sons Detective Agency. Discreet, that's what the yellow pages ad said. She stood up and threw the envelope in the trash.