Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (169 page)

“Jealous,
buey?
You seen my wife?”

“Oh yeah, man, every Tuesday night.”

Hector held his breath like he knew he might have crossed a line and taken it too far, but then Alberto let out a deep laugh.

“Yeah, in your Tuesday night dream. Now get going on those potatoes, Romeo.”

After I got the key for Hector, I stepped back to the grill and cooked a couple dozen more burgers and sandwiches before clocking out. I said goodbye and walked out into the afternoon heat and looked up at the sky.

It was a beautiful clear day and the sun felt good on my face. But in a way it was strange too, the clean air almost making it seem like the fire had never even happened.

I took in a deep breath and merged onto the Parkway, rumbling out of town. It was time to say goodbye to an old friend.

***

As I drove east, I thought about Jesse. I hadn’t seen him since that fiery day in the woods, but I sure had thought about him, and it made me shudder as I replayed the scene over and over in my head, hearing him say that he loved me. Once in a while I could still taste him on my lips and it left me feeling both excited and guilty at the same time.

I didn’t know what any of it meant, other than the obvious. Seeing the ring on my finger must have made it too real for him.

I desperately wanted to talk to him and put it behind us and regain the balance I had found between the man I was going to marry and the ghost I would always love.

I drove down the empty highway that cut through the high desert until I saw the graveyard glistening in the sun, metallic frames and old car parts spread out across a patch of otherwise barren land.

I turned into the junkyard and parked, not wanting to get out. After a minute I shut the car door and headed toward the little trailer where a sign over the door read, “Office.” There was an elderly man in bib overalls hunched over an ancient Formica counter, organizing nuts and bolts. The air was thick and stale, a mix of dust, grease, old wall calendars, and death hitting my nose.

“Yep, I’ve been expecting you,” he said after I told him why I was there.

He pulled out a form and had me sign and initial it.

“Can I see it?” I said after he gave me a copy.

“Oh, sure, sure. Right this way.”

He hobbled off his stool and I followed him outside and around the back. After about a hundred feet, he stopped at a blackened skeleton and my heart sank when I realized that it was my Jeep.

“How many miles did she have on her?”

“Close to one-fifty I think,” I said, clearing my throat.

“She was still a youngster then. I see these models come in here with well over two-hundred thousand on ’em, sometimes more than three-hundred.”                         

I nodded, but didn’t say anything as I stared at my poor Jeep. All that was left was a burned-out frame. There were no windows, no glass, no fabric, no plastic, no seats, no dashboard. Nothing.

My throat tightened. I could feel my eyes watering up.

“You want one of the plates?” the old man said.

I gave him a confused look.

“License plate.”

I nodded at him again and he pulled out a screwdriver, a minute later handing me the one from the rear.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, Miss. I’ll leave you be now. You take your time out here.”

I walked around the blackened bones, looking at it from all angles, with disbelief and sadness. All those years, driving to school, to work, to soccer games, it was there for me. In the darkest and coldest of nights, through rain and snow and ice, my Jeep had been a friend I had been able to depend on during the toughest of times. It was always there, always ready.

And now it was gone.

I wiped off my face and got back in David’s car, roaring away as more tears rolled down my cheeks.

CHAPTER 44

I needed a box of tissues, some Robert Osborne, and a big bowl of ice cream, but first I decided I would stop at the hospital to say hello to Thomas Richardson. I was hoping it would help me see things in the right light and give me some perspective on the Jeep. I needed reminding that in the end a life had been saved and it wasn’t all for nothing. Nothing and a blistered and burned license plate. 

Richardson was sitting up in bed, eating and watching the news on an old television set hanging high up in the corner. The machines and wires and heart monitor that were attached to him before were all gone now. His eyes were half-moons, with dark bruises underneath them, and his head was wrapped in a fresh bandage. He looked small propped up there against a pillow as he picked at some jittery Jell-O with a plastic spoon.

But he looked alive.

It was strange seeing him awake and it took me back to the first time I saw him in my vision. I hesitated at the door for a moment and then walked in and introduced myself.

“Abby Craig…” he said putting down his spoon as if it would help him think better. “Abby Craig. Why does that name sound so… Oh, you’re the girl who found me out there.”

He slowly moved the rolling table to the side and held out a hand. I shook it.

“I… I have no words,” he said, his energy slow and gray and not quite normal. “I figure… figure... figuratively have no words. My tongue feels like mo… mo… molasses. They said my speech would come back slowly. Thank you is the best I can do. Thank you.”

I think he meant literally, but it wasn’t important. I smiled.

“My pleasure,” I said, moving a chair next to the bed and sitting down.

He let his head fall back on the pillow. His eyes were bloodshot.

“I’m sorry about your friend,” I said.

“Yeah.” He looked out the window and nodded slowly several times. “We had been planning this trip since high school. But with family, our business, life, you know, it was hard to find the time. It took us all these years but we finally got out there.”

“Yeah, I read your blog.” He stared away again and I looked up at the TV, not sure this was making either one of us feel any better. I needed to change the subject. “Do you know when they’re letting you out?”

“No. Another week maybe. I have trouble remembering what people say. I wish I could remember what happened out there. The doctors say it may come back. I keep trying but it’s all darkness.”

“Well, it’s probably a good thing you don’t remember that helicopter ride,” I said. “It was kind of scary.”

A weak smile spread across his lips.

“So you got caught in the fire out there too, huh?”

“Not really,” I said. “I went out there to find you.”

He narrowed his eyes and scrunched up his forehead.

“I don’t… don’t… don’t understand.”

“It’s a long story, but I had a dream about you. Actually a series of dreams. About you and Bradley.”

“A dream?” he repeated slowly.

I guessed no one had told him. I nodded as the realization hit his face. I had seen that kind of look before. It was when someone thought I was crazy.

“It happens sometimes,” I said. “I can’t really explain it. But in the dreams, I saw that you needed help. I pieced together your general location and headed out there. I had a lot of luck. I guess we both did. I’m glad I got to you in time.”

A nurse walked in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Richardson, but we need to run those tests I was telling you about earlier.”

“I don’t remember any tests,” he said.

I stood up and pushed back the chair.

“Well, Ally,” he said, almost like he had forgotten I was there for a moment. “However you did it, thank you for fa-fa-fa-finding me.”

He smiled, but I could tell that even through the fog that was enveloping his mind, one thing was clear to him. I was crazy.

“Stop by again before I go home,” he said. “I want to talk more. If you have the time.”

“Sure, I’ll stop by again soon. Get some rest.”

I walked out into the long hallway, feeling odd about it all. I wasn’t sure exactly what I expected. Thomas Richardson had sustained a terrible head injury. It wasn’t the type of thing that gets better overnight. I tried to put myself in his shoes. I didn’t have to try too hard because I had been in his shoes, in this same hospital, all those years ago. Thomas Richardson had a long road ahead of him.

As I walked toward the elevator, I noticed Benjamin Mortimer in the distance at the other end of the corridor heading my way. He was in a white doctor’s coat, carrying a clipboard. I waved as he approached but didn’t catch his eye. He just kept walking, his gaze focused past me.

The elevator door opened, but I decided to take the next one so I could ask him if he could find out when Thomas Richardson was scheduled to be released.

I stopped and waited for him, but he still didn’t see me, even though he was now only a few feet away.

“Ben?” I said, as he passed right by me. “Dr. Mortimer?”

He turned around and finally met my eyes, nodding before continuing to walk away without saying a word.

CHAPTER 45

When I got home, I found Kate hovering over a bubbling sauce and grinding fresh pepper from the wooden peppermill David had bought for her. For the first time in a long time, the house smelled like home. I prepared a lot of meals in that kitchen, but it felt different when someone else was doing the cooking. That feeling, those smells, and seeing her there reminded me of high school.

“Need any help?”

“Nope,” she said. “It’s almost ready. I was looking forward to this all day long. I don’t get the chance to cook anymore. I miss it. How was your day?”

I told her about work and how things had kind of gone downhill since then.

“I know it’s stupid to feel this way,” I said, feeling emotional again. “But it really meant a lot to me.”

“The only stupid thing about it is you saying it’s stupid. It’s the most natural thing in the world. That car was a big part of your life. Sometimes the things in our lives take on a special meaning, like people, the people we’re close to, I mean. You need to give yourself time to grieve. Had I known I would have gone out there with you, Abby. You should have called me.”

“It was something that I needed to do on my own.”

She nodded and took a bottle out of the wine rack and put it in front of me, along with a corkscrew.

“Mind opening the wine?” Kate dipped a spoon into the pan, brought it to her lips, and then smiled. “The sommelier at the store, or whatever he is, was raving about it.”

“Sure thing,” I said, trying not to expect too much.

I had been burned by his recommendations before.

I pulled out the cork and poured the Chianti, smiling when I noticed that Kate was wearing an apron with little foxes all over it. It was new and I figured it must have been another gift from David. She saw me staring at it.

“It was on my bed the morning he left,” she said, shrugging. “It was addressed to Foxy Lady.”

I laughed, handing her a glass of wine.

“To David,” I said.

“To David. Crazy bastard.”

To my surprise, the wine was good. Kate drained the pasta and dumped it into the sauce.

“Hey, at least you have his car,” she said. “You know, until you figure out what you want to do.”

“Yeah, and that might be a while. I haven’t heard back from the insurance company but Ty thinks I shouldn’t expect to get much more than two thousand. It’s a start, I suppose. A good down payment anyway.”

“You should think about taking David up on it. He told me he gave it to you.”

“That’s what he says, but I’m not letting him. It’s way too much.”

Kate raised an eyebrow.

“I think it’s sweet,” she said. “If you want my two cents, I think you should keep it. It’s a gift that means a lot to him. It’s from the heart.”

“I think it’s more from his deranged mind,” I said. “He’s on some high right now. I don’t want to take advantage.”

“I don’t think that’s what it is. He loves that car and he loves you. Now, I don’t know if you necessarily want to rumble around town like Steve McQueen, but that’s another story.”

“Okay,” I said, pulling out the hunk of parmesan from the fridge. “I’ll give it some thought.”

“Dinner’s ready.”

I grated some of the cheese, set a couple of placemats on the counter with forks and napkins, and sat down. Kate served the pasta and sat down next to me.

“Wow, really, really great.”

She nodded.

“I used herbs from your garden,” she said.

After a few bites, I began telling her about seeing Thomas Richardson at the hospital.

“I don’t think anyone had bothered to mention to him that a psychic had been the one who rescued him. His face went all pale when I started telling him about my dream.”

She laughed.

“Did you do your best Amy Allan impression? You know, talking like a little girl with wild, bulging eyes and a potty mouth.”

“No, I forgot. Next time.”

“Well, regardless of what he thinks about you, that’s awesome that he’s out of the coma.”

Diana Krall sang softly about quiet nights in the background and a light rain tapped on the skylight.

“Hey, I have to head out tomorrow on a story. Can you give me a lift to the airport in the afternoon?”

“Sure. Where are you going?”

“Atlanta. They’re having me go to the CDC and do something on Ebola and whether we’re prepared for an outbreak here. You know how we in the press love a good doomsday story.”

I thought back to my vision and shivered.

“Well, be careful,” I said.

She must have noticed the look on my face.

“I will, but it’s not like I’ll be on the front lines of the zombie apocalypse or anything, even though I guess they film that show down there.” She laughed. “I’ll just be talking to a bunch of guys in lab coats. I’ll be fine.”

“What time do you need to be at the airport?”

“My plane leaves at three.”

“I’ll pick you up after work.”

“Thanks.”

We finished dinner and I loaded the dishwasher as Kate disappeared into her bedroom to make a few phone calls. I took a shower, talked to Ty, checked on my garden outside when the rain let up, and went back to the garage to apply a little of the leather polisher David had left for me.