Romeo of the Streets (4 page)

“Don’t!” I cried, “Stay still, I’ll get help...”

That second, as if to prove my point, my cell phone started to ring.

“Hold on,” I promised and then stood up to answer my phone. “Hello?” I choked down the line.

“Hello, Sandy?”

I blinked. For a moment I didn’t know who it was and then the fog cleared. It was Romeo, Lou’s new friend. “Romeo?” I said, “Where’s Lou?” I didn’t even have to time to wonder why it was him calling instead of my brother.

“He’s not here,” Romeo answered, “with Lisa I think. Are you ok?”

“No!” I shouted, unstoppable tears beginning to spill down my cheeks, “Gino’s had an accident and I can’t call an ambulance! Please help me!”

“Ok,” Romeo said, “hold tight. I’ll call the paramedics and then I’ll come over myself and pick you up. You’re at the Café, right?”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded.

“Cool, that’s not too far from the hospital—they’ll be there within minutes. So will I. Everything’s going to be ok Sandy. See you soon.”

“Ok,” I said, my voice choked and sniffling, “thanks.”

The line went dead and I went back to sit by Gino’s side until whoever arrived first, the ambulance or Romeo Mancini.

It went like this: the paramedics arrived in as fast and efficiently as a well-trained army, two tall, muscular men, striding into the café in their gleaming uniforms.

“Where is he?” the first one demanded.

“Out here,” I called from the hallway door.

They burst into movement again, striding past me.

“Any idea what it was? Does he have heart problems, poor health?”

“No,” I spluttered, “I think he fell down the stairs.”

“Ok, good,” the paramedic nodded and then they were beside him. “Sir, can you hear me?”

Gino murmured his affirmation and then they checked him over. One of them stood up and turned back to me. “Looks like he’s got a couple of breaks. They’re bad, but he’s going to be alright.”

“Ok,” I nodded, feeling more helpless than I had in years.

“We’re going to take him to the hospital. Can you follow behind us?”

At that moment Romeo appeared in the door, strong, cold and calm. “Yeah,” he said, “we’ll be right behind you.”

The paramedics loaded Gino up on a stretcher and he couldn’t speak when I squeezed his hand as they carried him past us, because of the ventilator mask covering his mouth. Romeo placed his hand on my shoulder.

“He’s going to be ok,” he said. “Come on, my car’s outside. We’ll be there practically before they will.”

I turned to face him. “Thank you,” I said, really meaning it. His face was expressionless when he nodded slightly in return.

Romeo’s car was double-parked outside (an excusable transgression in this situation, although something told me he probably flaunted the basic rules of the road everywhere he went and, indeed, he didn’t even put on his seatbelt when we jumped in the car to follow the ambulance—a fact which only dawned on me later). The car was a sleek, silver Lexus and exceptionally clean and spotless on the inside. I would have been impressed if I hadn’t been so shaken up. He squeezed my arm softly as I settled down into the luxurious leather passenger seat beside him, a comforting gesture that was at odds with the still-stony, almost frozen, expression on his face. He turned the ignition and pulled out into the street without even waiting to see if anyone else was coming behind us. From there to the hospital he stayed close behind the ambulance, bobbing in and around the traffic as it did, and looking at him, I had to wonder if he’d had a lot of experience chasing ambulances in moments of disaster and tragedy.

At the hospital, they wouldn’t let us in to see Gino (even though Romeo lied and said I was family—and ok, it was an
almost
truth, Gino kind of was family) until after the doctors and nurses had operated and we sat down to wait on the uncomfortable seats outside the room, two refuges stranded in a world of uneasy yet vibrant activity.

Romeo went to get us some coffees from the machine at the end of the corridor and I sat and waited for him, stuck to my chair like I was tied down by an impossible weight, completely lost and helpless in the bustling and unfamiliar hospital hallway. Doctors and nurses rushed past me from either side, talking as fast as they walked and disappearing almost as soon as they appeared. I felt dizzy, faint, and was almost certain I was about to have a full blown panic attack when Romeo returned to my side and softly touched my arm.

“Hey,” he said. He was holding a cardboard tray with two Styrofoam cups in his other hand, effortlessly balancing the uneven weight of the thing in his casual thumb and finger grip.

“Hi,” I said, looking up at him. I wanted to say more, like how grateful I was that he’d been there for us in our hour of need, but I was too shocked and exhausted from the experience to even know where to begin.

But Romeo nodded like I’d gone ahead and said it anyway and then he slid down with a sigh into the chair beside me. “Here,” he said, passing me the coffee.

“Thanks,” I said and gratefully sipped.

Halfway through the cup I started to get my strength back and felt confident that I could talk like a halfway’s normal human being again and maybe thank him at last for saving both me and Gino from who knows what kind of tragedy.

Instead though, for some reason all I said was: “So what were you doing reading my brother’s texts?”

For the first time since I’d met him I noticed a slight flush go into his cheeks, even though his face remained completely rigid and unreadable. Then to my surprise he smiled a little, a kind of wry grin that could have meant anything in the world and would, over the coming days and weeks, grow to cause me many moments of frustrated curiosity and personal conjecture each time it appeared.

“I think he’s with Lisa,” Romeo said, “he left his phone at my place.”

I narrowed my eyes slightly. I knew I had no right to press him after all he’d done for me but the words were already out before I had a chance to stop them, propelled forward by the growing caffeine rush and the still-surging anxiety of the circumstances. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Romeo considered me levelly with those big deep bottomless pools that he somehow got away with calling his “eyes” and then he said: “You don’t approve of Lou’s work much, do you?”

“No,” I answered, “as a matter of fact I don’t. And like
you
said, it’s your work too, right?”

“Right,” Romeo nodded, “that’s right. So you shouldn’t ask about it or even want to get mixed up in it at all. Stick to your studies and make something proper of your life and just forget about whatever else goes on. But I will say this: the kind of work we do doesn’t wait around until we’re ready—when it calls, it calls and you just got to get up and answer that call. And so Lou might get reckless when he’s off out with his sweetheart but somebody has to be there to pick up the phone.”

I didn’t know what to say so I said nothing, except, finally: “well I’m just glad that you
were
there to pick it up. I don’t know what we would have done otherwise.”

Romeo shrugged but didn’t say anything back. His restless eyes were already prowling down the hallway and I wondered what could be going on behind them, what angle or job he was thinking about that he would have to move on to after this. I followed his gaze down the corridor where it settled on the well-toned rump of a quite-frankly beautiful looking young African American nurse and then, as I looked back to him, our eyes met and his eyebrow went up with that teasingly vague little smile of his and my own gaze shot to the floor, caught out, embarrassed and more than a little ashamed to have been found out for prying on him. Thankfully, He didn’t press the issue.

Sometime later, what felt like hours but was probably only forty minutes or so, Gino’s doctor stepped out of the room and came towards us, holding his clipboard in his pink, perfectly-manicured hand.

“Now, Sandy is it?” he asked, “the patient’s daughter?”

“Niece,” I said, reasoning that it was close enough to be almost true and so not feeling
too
bad about lying to an authority figure of such importance.

“Well the good news is your uncle’s going to be fine,” he said and I breathed a sigh of relief—a little too soon as it transpired. “He’ll even walk again, though it may take some time.”

My heart dropped again. Like how long? What about the café? I wouldn’t be able to run the place all by myself, no matter how much I would want to. I had my studies to think of and there was no way I could put them off without jeopardizing the scholarship that had afforded me to be there at CCU in the first place.

The doctor cleared his throat. “And now, unfortunately, for the bad news. I’m afraid your uncle has no health insurance and his bills are going to be, how can I put this, quite steep indeed.”

Romeo stood up, apparently all of a sudden interested again. “What about workplace insurance,” he cut in, “wouldn’t that usually cover an accident like this?”

“Usually, yes,” the doctor nodded, “unfortunately Mr. Morelli doesn’t have that either.”

I felt like I’d been hit in the stomach with a ton of bricks. Oh Gino, you foolish old man. What have you done?

“So what are you saying here?” Romeo asked.

“That either you or Mr. Morelli will need to inform us how you wish to proceed. The patient is under sedation right now, so you still have a few hours to reach your decision.”

The doctor nodded politely and then set off down the corridor to let us think it over. I looked to Romeo for support but this obviously wasn’t the kind of support he was used to giving, because he just stared blankly back. Luckily at that moment someone far more skilled at the supportive arts of love and nurture arrived behind me and threw her arms around my back, like a big loved-up teddy bear.

“Oh God, Sandy, I’m so sorry we didn’t get here sooner,” Lisa said.

“It’s ok,” I laughed, turning to return the hug, “but seriously, you should check your phone more often. You too Lou.” I turned to face my decidedly sheepish-looking brother, standing slightly behind his girlfriend. At least he appeared to understand the gravity of the situation anyway.

“We’re here now sis,” he said, then looked to Romeo and nodded respectfully. “Thanks man.”

Romeo shrugged. “She’s right Lou,” he said, “what if that had been Sal on the phone?”

I spun towards them angrily, not able to help myself, “yeah!” I spat, “what if it had been Sal… like, something
really
important.”

I didn’t even know who Sal was and was well aware that I had no right to take the higher ground with Romeo at this point but I couldn’t help myself. The experience had shaken me to the core and I still felt almost hysterical after it. Luckily everybody, even Lou, seemed to understand and the worst that followed was an uncomfortable silence. I sighed and began filling them in on what the doctor had told us about Gino’s bills.

“Hey, it’s fine Sandy,” Lou said, “I can take care of it. No problem.”

Lisa looked hopefully from him to me, while beside them Romeo’s face had suddenly gone cold.

“What do you mean?” I asked, “Do you actually realize how much this is going to cost?”

Lou held up his hand with a self-assuredness that unnerved me, considering the amount of money we were talking about here. (Just what was he into these days, I wondered?)

“I think we can cover it,” he said, “right Romeo?”

Romeo merely shrugged, but his eyes seemed piercing as they stared into mine. What, I thought—taking immediate offense at his obvious distaste—are you angry because I think I’m too good to accept your money, your illegally-gained proceeds of crime? Give me a break, I had enough on my plate to be dealing with that self-righteous tough guy crap.

“No,” I said, firmly and for certain.

“Sandy…” Lisa began.

“No,” I said. “Just no. We’ll figure something out when Gino wakes up. Maybe he has some money put aside for emergencies.”

“And what?” Lou asked, “You want to wipe him out over this! I already told you me and Romeo can cover it.”

“Gino made his choice when he broke the law about workplace insurance,” I said, “he’ll know what he has to do.”

“Unbelievable,” Lou muttered but Lisa put her hand on his arm to still him.

“Leave it Lou,” she said.

At that moment Romeo straightened up. “Lou, take your sister home. The old man’s going to be out all night and I’ve got things to do,” he turned to go and I called after him, stung and determined to have the last say on the arrogant jerk.

“Um, excuse me,” I said, “I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m going nowhere. The doctor said Gino would be awake in a few hours and I’ll need to be here when he is.”

That little wry smile appeared on his lips again as Romeo turned back to face me. “Trust me,” he said, “he’ll be out all night no matter what the doctor said, now let your brother take you home. You want to be there for Gino? Then get a good night’s sleep so you can think clearly when you’re back here to see him wake up in the morning.”

Despite myself, I knew he was right… so no matter how much I might have wanted to, I couldn’t think of any other way to argue the point.

Lou placed his hand on my shoulder, “come on Sandy,” he said, “let me take you home.”

I turned to look back, but Romeo was already gone.