Читать книгу Piano in the Dark - Eric Pete - Страница 12

“Ow,” I allowed to escape my lips when I finally dared move.

The woman standing by my bedside chuckled, rubbing my forearm in a comforting manner. She wore a lavender sleeveless shirt and a pair of tight-fitting jeans. “How do you feel?” she asked. Ignoring the question, I allowed my surroundings to register. The bedrails and smell of antiseptic were a sure giveaway.

A hospital room.

“Where am I?” I asked.

“Memorial Hermann,” she answered. “Want me to get the nurse or something?”

“No. I’ll live,” I said as I strained to sit up in the bed. My neck was stiff and my face was sore, but fortunately it was milder than my last hangover. “What are you doing here?”

“I rode with you in the ambulance,” Ava answered. “You don’t remember?”

“No,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “But thank you for doing that.”

“Do you know who I am?” she asked, her brow furrowing.

“Yes. I don’t have amnesia. And I still know you about as well as I did last night, Ava,” I joked. “How’s my car?”

“Um…pretty bad. It was towed away. That big dump truck didn’t see you stop for the dog and creamed you.” Her eyes widened as she probably relived the moment.

“Oh. Got it,” I said with a smile that didn’t match the state of things. In spite of my pain, it was comforting that she was here. But I had to be careful not to confuse her kindness with something else. “Why’d they let you ride in the ambulance anyway?”

“You want the truth?”

“Yeah.”

I watched her redden with embarrassment. “Uh…I told them I was your wife,” she said, turning away as her voice diminished.

“Heh,” I chuckled. “You must’ve been bored to do that.”

“No. Just wanted to make sure you were all right. I feel bad because I distracted you.”

“Don’t. It was my fault. Was looking for you anyway. To thank you for the gift. It’s a very lovely painting. Unique. I like that.”

“You’re welcome,” Ava responded, taking a mock bow. “I hope you didn’t mind my going by your office to drop it off. I had no other way of getting in contact with you and last night, you said where you work.”

“I did, didn’t I? Sometimes I talk too much.”

“It was always one of your adorable qualities, Chase,” Ava said. It was as if she were looking not at me, but through me. And it wasn’t just the meds they’d given me. Eerie. “Any other faults I should know about…since school?” she teased.

“My wife would say I have a bunch,” I said with a grin. Then things really hit me as I looked at the clock on the wall, realizing the time. “Oh God.”

“What? Are you in pain?” she asked as she touched me on my shoulder.

“No. My wife. I have to call her. She’s…she was waiting on me. We were supposed to go to dinner. Shit,” I uttered as I ran my hands over my face in frustration.

“She’ll understand,” Ava said as she reached in the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out my iPhone. “Here. I removed a few of your personal items from your car. Didn’t want someone stealing your stuff from the wreck.”

“Damn. You’re a regular guardian angel, aren’t you?”

“I do what I can,” she replied, sharing a smile with me quite like the one just before Scruffy’s misadventure occurred. I didn’t understand our connection, but it was there. This could’ve had a whacko stalker vibe, but it didn’t.

Ava was about to say something just before I called Dawn, but the doctor interrupted both of us with a quick tap on the room door.

“How are you feeling, Mr. Hidalgo?” he asked, quickly reviewing my chart in his hand.

“A little sore, but ready to get out of here,” I replied to the diminutive man in the lab coat.

“Well, it shouldn’t be too much longer, sir. Looks like we’re going to have some soreness over the next couple of days.” Love how he said we as if he felt my pain.

He shined a light in both my eyes, then instructed me to follow it, speaking to Ava as I complied. “Mrs. Hidalgo, your husband has a mild concussion,” he said, startling me momentarily. “He’ll be okay, but I’m going to need you to continue to monitor him once he’s released. Just be on the lookout every hour or so for any irregularities.”

Ava didn’t tell him any better, simply nodding in agreement as I curiously eyed her. She cut a mischievous grin my way. Absent her shopping bag, I had a chance to take her in fully minus the haze of a streetlight or drunken stupor. I could tell the way I looked at her made her nervous, yet also pleased her.

“That was good to know, wife of mine. Be sure to follow those orders,” I teased as the doctor left us alone. Before joking any further, I told Ava to hold a moment as I returned one of several missed calls from my real spouse. Dawn must’ve been worried shitless when I didn’t come home.

“Baby, it’s me.”

“Chase!” Dawn screamed loud enough for even Ava to hear. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Sorry about dinner. I was in a car wreck.”

“I know,” she said, out of breath as she scrambled somewhere. I heard a car door slam. Sounded like an echo wherever she was.

“You do?”

“It was on the news. It looked like your car and when you didn’t answer your phone, I called Jacobi. He came get me. We just arrived at the hospital, baby.”

“So you’re not mad at me?” I joked.

“No baby. Not this time,” she said with a nervous sigh. “See you soon.”

I hung up, looking at Ava. “She’s here,” I said.

“I guess I better go then. Only room for one wife,” she said as she leaned over, kissing me without hesitation. I didn’t know how to react, but smelled the coconut again, taking me to my fantasy. She took her thumb and carefully eliminated any traces of lip gloss from my dry, tired lips. It seemed she wanted to tell me something else, but refrained.

“Ava,” I called out as she walked away.

“Hmm?”

“I still don’t really remember you, but I’m glad we met again…in spite of my car.”

“Me too,” she whispered as if hiding a secret from the world. “See you around, Chase. Get better.”

I opened my mouth to call out, still at square one without a phone number or anything. When a female silhouette appeared in my door, I thought I might have another chance. But it was my beautiful wife instead, wearing the dress she’d probably selected for dinner, followed by a flustered Jacobi.

“Bro, what happened?” Jacobi asked, his lawyerly mind wanting to assess liability right away.

“A dog ran out,” I said shaking my head as I avoided eye contact with my friend. “And I slammed on my brakes. I was just…stupid.” He had to know roughly where the accident occurred, yet said nothing of it or what I was doing around there.

“We’re just glad you’re alive,” Dawn said as she sat on my bed and embraced me.

“I’m not going anywhere, baby,” I said as I held her tight. Dinner plans ruined because of me.

In addition to my phone, which Ava retrieved for me, a tiny framed painting rested on the table beside my bed. When asked about it, I told Dawn it must’ve been left by the hospital staff.

Concussion and all.