Chapter 5 · Continued
Recall
As though it mattered.
Seymour circled her legs once and wandered away.
Jane watched him go, then glanced back at the small metal cover.
She hesitated for just a second.
“…Right.”
The following morning, her inbox chimed.
Jane glanced at it absently before the sender caught her attention.
RCAM Systems.
She immediately opened the message.
Subject: Shipment Notification
Your unit has completed processing.
A package has been dispatched to your address on file.
A signature will be required upon delivery.
Jane read the message twice.
Then a third time.
Her shoulders dropped as tension she hadn’t realized she was carrying released all at once.
“…Okay.”
A small smile touched the corner of her mouth.
“They fixed you.”
The words emerged softly.
The relief was real and immediate.
Cam was coming back.
Jane leaned back in her chair and released a long breath. “Good.”
She closed the email, already imagining the truck and the crate.
Cam stepping back into the house as though nothing had happened.
Seymour walking over to greet him while pretending he hadn’t missed him at all.
Jane’s smile grew.
Then her eyes drifted toward the table.
Toward the small metal cover sitting there.
Her smile faded slightly.
“…Right.”
Jane looked at her phone.
At the message thread.
The photographs.
The plant list.
She frowned.
“If they have you…”
She didn’t finish the thought.
It refused to settle into anything sensible.
Jane shook her head and pushed it aside.
“Doesn’t matter.”
She stood and headed toward the kitchen.
“He’s coming back.”
Jane smiled again.
A quiet, genuine smile.
She hadn’t expected to miss Cam as much as she did.
Not only because he had been useful, though he certainly had been.
She missed having him there.
Talking to him.
Watching him struggle to understand the strange little pieces of human life.
“Next time,” she murmured, almost amused with herself, “I’ll take you to the garden store.”
Jane could picture it clearly.
People staring.
People asking questions.
Cam standing perfectly still while analyzing every plant within a fifty-foot radius.
She laughed softly. “Yeah… you’d be the talk of the town.”
Seymour sat on the couch with his tail curled neatly around his feet.
Jane looked over at him. “Our friend Cam is coming back soon.”
Seymour blinked and gave a small, acknowledging meow.
Jane smiled.
For the moment, everything felt simple.
Normal.
That night, she tossed and turned.
Every time Jane began drifting off, the same thought pulled her awake.
He was coming back.
What would be different?
What had they changed?