by Lauren Wood
“What's up, Doug? I'm kind of busy, so you're going to have to speak fast.”
“Something happened with the kids?”
“No, it's nothing like that. If something like that happened, I would have called you right away, Doug.”
“Then what's going on?”
I certainly wasn't going to tell him what was going on because I didn't want him to know that I was even dating anybody else. I wanted him to think that Steven was just a friend, and I certainly couldn't do that if I was sitting here worried sick about him. He would see right through me.
“I just had some stuff come up. There was an attack in the neighborhood.”
“Is everybody okay?”
“Yeah, everybody is fine. I'm just going to make sure that the neighbors are too. I couldn’t get much information from the police, and they’re up at the hospital.”
“Is it someone that you know?”
“Just an old friend.”
He was silent for a moment and I wondered what he was thinking about. Douglas was never silent and if he was, it wasn't for long. It also meant that he was thinking of a plan of attack. That's just how his mind worked.
“I thought you said that Ridgewood was going to be safer for the boys? Wasn’t that the whole reason you were taking them out of the big, bad city?”
“It has a lot lower violent rate of crime in the city. It isn't even comparable. It was just some fluke thing that happened, and I’m sure that it won’t happen again.”
“I hope so, Bonnie. I can't even think about the idea of them being unsafe. I wouldn’t be able to let that stand.”
“You know that I won't let anything happen to Jake or Phillip. You don’t have to do anything. I have a handle on this.”
Another moment of quiet before he told me that nothing better happen. I don't know if I was just being sensitive because of what was going on, but I took that a little threatening and it irked me more than anything.
How did he even have a right to say anything to me? We were divorced and that meant that Doug did not have a say in my life anymore. I didn’t want to hear his opinions on anything that wasn’t his concern, and my personal life and my friends weren’t. He was just using that as an excuse.
“Anyways Doug, I am pretty busy here. Was there a reason for you calling or what?”
I was parked in a spot in front of the hospital, and I was desperate to get in and find out how Steven was doing. There was no way that I was going to do that though, with my ex-husband on the phone. That was just dancing with destiny a bit too much. I wasn’t a gambler.
“Yeah Bonnie, I was wondering who the hell the guy was that you sent to pick up our kids this weekend. I wanted to talk to you sooner, but I had some things to take care of myself.”
“It is just an old friend from high school. I have known him and his family for many years and I completely trust him. I had to work. It was an emergency.”
“You trust him?”
“Yeah, I do, and he was just helping me out of a jam. I had to go in to work. The place was understaffed and I'm trying to get in good with the manager. Then I can get better hours. You know how it works. It's always the same when I start somewhere new.”
“I want to know who he is, and I want to know why you have him around our kids.”
“Because my parents weren't able to take them. I am sure that they would have if it was an option. It had to happen, there was no one else. This isn’t something that you need to make a big deal. You really don’t. You can just let it go.”
“I don't like it. I don't have women around them, so I think you shouldn’t have men around them.”
“Nobody said that I was dating them.”
“So, you're telling me that you aren't seeing that guy?”
There was a bit too much relief in the way he said it. I don't know why that would that bother me, but it did.
“I am not saying anything one way or another, Doug. None of this is any of your business.”
“They’re my kids too, Bonnie. It is my business.”
“Well Doug, as much as I would like to sit and chat with you, I have to go. I will talk to you later.”
And I hung up. I was worried about what that meant and how he was going to react to it later, but I just couldn’t listen to it anymore. It felt like he was threatening me, and I wasn’t too sure how worried I should be. I felt worried and knew I should just go with my gut. It didn’t feel like Doug was going to let it go.
Pushing all of that crap and the conversation out of my mind, I went into the hospital with knots in my stomach. I wish I’d known more of his medical status, but the police hadn’t seemed to know. That was what was worrying me the most.
I was also now afraid that something was going to happen with Doug. I didn’t want him to make life harder. We hadn’t gotten along in a while though. It was the reason why we were divorced, and I could foresee more problems in the future.
17
Bonnie
I don’t know what I was expecting when I got to Steven’s room, but not this. It had taken a few moments to get a pass to go into the ICU. That should have given me my first clue, that something was far worse than I’d thought. I knew that he’d been attacked and there was blood from it on the concrete, but seeing him attached to machines and a face so swollen he was unrecognizable, was not at all what I thought I would encounter.
I had to grab the frame of the door because I really thought I was going to pass out for a minute there. I wasn’t one to faint, never did. I have too sensitive of a disposition, but that was all different now. I couldn’t believe it, but there was a lot that I didn’t know. I didn’t know what had happened and how bad he really was. It looked like he was on the verge of death, but I knew from experience that it could be different altogether. My nurse brain wasn’t kicking in and it took it a minute for it to happen.
Before I went into the room, I went back outside to the hallway and grabbed his chart. I wanted to see what was really going on and I needed something to hold on to. To look at Steven, it looked like he was never going to be able to smile again, and I may very well not even be able to see his eyes. That’s how it looked anyways. He looked horrible.
When I got into his chart, while there was some internal damage, a lot of it was just going to be sore bruising and some cracked ribs. The face had several lacerations, but only a few stitches were needed. The swelling would go down and he would be better soon. Even though it looked like he had been hit by a truck, at least I could breathe again. The idea of losing Steven had really put some new thoughts in my head. I cared far more than I think I ever realized.
Back in the room, I was able to approach him, but he was out of it, and by the looks of it, he was going to be out of it for a while. I stayed for a bit and then talked to one of the nurses that had come in. He was out for the night and I gave them my number, just in case anything happened.
I was torn between staying there with him and getting back to my kids. I was trying my best to make sure that everything was going to be fine. I knew that he was in good hands, but I still hated to leave him. I kissed him on his lips and then left before I started to cry again. I was new in the hospital and I didn’t want to be seen losing it like that.
When I got home, it was late and the kids went to bed pretty quickly. I called Christina because I needed someone to talk to. She was always there to get my head back on the right way, but I didn’t have her to talk to tonight. She was busy and I left a message. I was going to have to deal with it myself, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw Steven’s face all swollen and bloodied. Then there was a flash of the red circle on the pavement. I couldn’t believe that any of this had happened.
After I got a glass of wine, I was out on the porch, trying to settle my nerves. The air was a bit colder, but I wasn’t even shivering. Something else was burning me up inside and I didn’t even need a jacket. I noticed a car slowing down in front of the house. For a moment, I worried that it was those guy
s back to get Steven. What if they didn’t find him, but me instead?
I was worried for those few seconds, until the car pulled into my driveway and I saw that it was Jesse. Relief was pretty much immediate, but just the fact that I was afraid here in Ridgewood was really saying a lot. I had never been afraid before, but now things weren’t safe.
I waved to Jesse and he got out of the car, waving back.
“What are you doing down this way?”
He said he was just passing through, though I knew there was more to it than that. Jesse had a thing for me, that was known, but I didn’t discourage the visit. I was lonely and I felt like I needed him there with me. I needed to not really talk about what had happened and how Steven was, but rather to talk about anything other than that. It was all that there was on my mind and it wasn’t very helpful. It just made me feel a bit crazy really.
After a while though, it was Jesse that wanted to bring up the occurrence. He’d been to the diner and had heard all about it.
“Gossip mill is running strong, huh?”
He agreed.
“Well, you probably know more than I do. When I got here, the place was full of cops. I bet that every squad car in the town was in front of the house, as well as some other people. It was a mess and they didn’t say much. What did you hear?”
“Just that he was attacked by several guys in ski masks.”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard as well. Do they have any idea who would have done such a thing? Whoever those monsters are, they need to be taken care of.”
He looked at me for a minute and then shrugged like he didn’t know or care. It threw me off, because I thought the two of them were friends, though I knew not to say too much. He had a thing for me, so he wasn’t going to want to hear me go on and on about another man. I wasn’t that insensitive.
“I suppose so. There is no telling what the motive was. Steve is into a lot of shady business from the city. There is no way that they came from here. It was someone that tracked him down. Many people think that Steve moved back here to escape from something else. I don’t know what it is he is trying to get away from, but it is definitely something.”
I was shocked to hear that. I knew that Steven and I hadn’t had time to fill each other in on all the years apart, but I think I would know if he was into some shady things. I would know, right? He wasn’t that kind of guy. I didn’t think so anyways.
Jesse put some doubts into my mind that weren’t very helpful. It just made whoever had done that to him a face in the crowd. If it was someone that we knew, at least it would make sense and hopefully, be taken care of.
“I hadn’t heard that. Are you sure that’s what you heard? I thought you guys were friends. You seemed that way. He works at the school, so I would think that you wouldn’t feel that he was into something shady.”
“He volunteered to give the school his services. It was an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up. He is famous and it’s going to bring a lot of awareness to the school, which will help with fundraising later.”
“Oh, so you’re just using him.”
“That’s what he wanted. He is making amends, or something. I don’t know. I would just be careful with him living next door to you. You have kids to worry about.”
That last comment made me press my lips together. Why was everyone warning of things that I should have already known? Was it all just smoke, or did he have some truth in his words? How would I be able to find out?
“I never thought of that. I came here to get away from crime. I didn’t think that something like this would happen. Has Ridgewood changed and I’m the last one to get the memo?”
Jesse said that it hadn’t. “It just has new residences that brought their problems with them. I am friends with Steve, he does good work, but there is something dark about him. I wouldn’t get too wrapped up into it all, if you are able to get away from it.”
It was another warning and it felt like that’s all I was getting lately. Both of the warnings that I’d gotten had been about Steven. The source had to be considered. One was easy enough to write off, but two? Maybe there was something to it.
“Well, I don’t know what to think about all of this. I am not really thinking about it like that, I guess. I just feel bad. He’s been beaten up pretty badly and it seems senseless.”
“How do you know that? I thought you said that the cops didn’t say much of anything?”
If I wasn’t wrong, there was suspicion in his voice, and I wondered what it was that he was thinking, that had him saying it like that.
“Yeah, well I went down to the hospital. I work over there, as you know, and I had to pick something up. I swung by his room and he was out of it. I couldn’t even recognize him. They had really done a number on him, and I can’t imagine Steven doing something that would make him deserve that. It’s just wrong.”
He wasn’t appeased and I immediately knew that I had to keep the true nature as far at bay as possible. Why did it feel like I was in the firing chair? I didn’t want to be there.
“I agree. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. I am sure that he will be out of there in no time. He is a strong guy and it doesn’t sound like he was hurt too bad, just superficially, from what I hear. It could have been worse.”
“It could have been, you’re right. You’ve given me a lot to think about, Jesse. I think I’m going to go in and go to bed. I have an early shift tomorrow.”
He frowned a little bit, but got up. It looked like he wanted to say something, but I really wasn’t in the mood to hear it. I was done for the night and I was done with all of the bad news and warnings that were coming my way. Neither Doug nor Jesse knew Steven like I did. He was a good guy, and no one was going to make me believe that he’d done something to deserve the treatment that he’d gotten.
I watched Jesse leave, but I didn’t go in right away. He really had given me a lot to think about, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It all kind of made me sick to my stomach.
18
Steven
“Are you an angel?”
The woman next to me jumped and then she smiled in the sweetest way. Then I was hit in the shoulder, hard enough that I groaned. I immediately was given an apology.
“You know that I’m not an angel.”
“You look like it to me.”
Bonnie sighed and then leaned down and kissed me. “You scared me, Steven. It’s about time you woke up.”
“Do I even want to know how long I’ve been out?”
“I don’t know. It’s been two days.”
“So, what happened?”
“You were attacked on the sidewalk in broad daylight apparently. In Ridgewood.”
That didn’t make sense. Ridgewood was a sleepy town and I’d never had trouble there. I didn’t know why, and I asked her if she knew.
“No, I think we were all waiting for you to tell us.”
I shook my head and tried to sit up. My body was not very happy, and I had no idea what was going on and why I felt this way. I felt horrible, and I didn’t have to look in a mirror to know that my face was fucked up. I could feel it and it was throbbing, as well as feeling like it was twice the size of normal.
“Can’t say. I do have a very serious question to ask you though, Bonnie.”
She looked concerned for a moment and moved closer. Bonnie sat on the edge of the bed and asked me what it was.
“I will help you anyway that I can.”
It was good to hear that, though it wasn’t what I was getting at. Bonnie looked so stressed that I wanted to make her feel better. I didn’t know how, but I had to figure something out.
“Will I ever be pretty again?”
She smacked me again and I swore then, that I wasn’t going to tease her anymore. She hit harder than I remembered, and I was still feeling the jarring move through my whole body. I grimaced and she apologized.
“It’s not funny, Steven. You really got hurt and it happened in one of the s
afest towns in America. Do you have any idea who would have wanted to do this to you? Do you have some deals that went bad or something?”
“Deals? What, like weapons and drugs?”
Bonnie looked guilty. “I am not saying that, Steven. I am just trying to understand why something like this happened. I am just looking for a reason.”
“So, it’s easier to make it like it’s my fault?”
“No.” Bonnie sighed loudly. “I am not doing this right. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I can understand why you think that, but I really have no idea what happened. I wish I did. I heard someone running up behind me and then I was hit over and over again. I was down before I could even defend myself. I want to find out who did it just as much as you do. I have to really.”
She kissed me again and worry went through her expression. I wanted to know what was going on in her mind, but maybe it was for the best that I didn’t know. It was hard to shake that feeling like she knew something that I didn’t. I didn’t have many enemies, and I couldn’t imagine anyone that would do this.
“Did someone say something to you?”
I couldn’t help but ask by the way she was acting.
“You know how the gossip mill is in this town. It’s always running.”
“So, what are they saying?”
“That maybe you brought some of your enemies from your old life and that you’re here hiding from bad people. Now they’ve found you.”
I couldn’t believe that gossip was so specific. I felt like there was someone else trying to make it appear worse than it was. My mind went to a couple of people, but one in particular was all I could think about. I should have known that Jesse was going to push back. I would if I were in his position.
