by Joy Argento
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
It was Ali. Of course, it was Ali. Why would Madison have assumed she left, even after she said she would.
“What do you want?” Madison said in the least angry voice she could manage.
“I came to say good-bye. I’m heading back to Syracuse tomorrow morning.”
“Have a nice trip.” Madison unlocked her car with her key fob. The longer Ali stayed in town the more Madison feared some of her feelings for Ali would return. There were little jabs of it here and there—ordering the donut, seeing Ali with a bottle of beer like when they were young, even Ali saying she was sorry numerous times. They were small things, but they brought Madison back to better times. She wanted—no, needed—to let all that go.
“There’s something I’d like to say.” Ali looked like she was close to tears.
Madison almost felt sorry for her. Almost. “Then say it quick. I want to get home.” Even giving her a few more minutes of her time was more than she wanted to do. Madison had no intention of making this easy on her.
Ali hesitated. “I know I messed up. I’m so sorry. I just wanted to tell you that one more time.”
“Okay. Have a nice trip back.”
Ali plowed on. “I never stopped caring about you. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I just wanted to say good-bye. I’ll leave in the morning like I promised I would.”
Madison opened her car door and got in. She reached for the door handle and stopped. Something pulled in her back. She twisted slightly in the seat trying to adjust it. The sharp pain that ripped through her took her breath away.
Ali continued to talk, but Madison wasn’t taking in her words. She was consumed by the pain.
“All right. I can see by the look on your face that you’re ready to be rid of me. I hope you can find it in your heart to someday—”
“Stop,” Madison managed to squeak out.
“Okay.” Without another word, Ali turned and started to walk away.
“Stop,” Madison said again.
Ali turned, confused. “I did stop. I’m going.”
“I’m—” Madison started, then stopped.
“You’re what? I’m leaving like you wanted me to,” Ali said.
“I can’t move.”
“What?”
“I felt something pull in my back. I can’t move.”
“You threw your back out?” Ali asked.
“Yes,” Madison said through gritted teeth.
Ali reached the car in two steps. “What can I do?”
“My phone is in my back pocket. I can’t reach around to get it. Go inside and tell someone to come out and help me.” She would have Valerie call Jenny. Jenny could help her get home.
“I’m here. I’ll help you.”
“Go inside.”
“I’m right here. I can get your phone for you.”
“I don’t want you anywhere near my ass.”
“Stop being ridiculous.” Ali reached behind Madison. “Hold still.”
“Like I have a choice.”
Madison closed her eyes against the pain as Ali gingerly slid her hand between the seat and Madison. “Are you having fun?” Madison said, not trying to hide the sarcasm her voice. “It’s in the other pocket.”
“Telling me that sooner would have been nice.”
“I thought you would appreciate a free feel.”
“Actually, I did. Thanks.” She pulled her hand out and triumphantly waved the phone in the air. “Got it.”
Madison couldn’t believe she was in this predicament and the person who came to her rescue was Ali. “Can you hand it to me please?” Madison stretched out her arm to get it and was rewarded with a shooting pain through her spine. She sucked in a breath. “No, wait. Wait. Don’t move.”
“Um, you’re the one moving.”
“Very funny.” Not.
“What should I do?” Ali asked.
Madison lowered her arm to her side in slow motion. “You need to call my sister for me.”
“Okay. What’s the number?” She paused. “In contacts. I know. What’s your pass code?”
It occurred to Madison that Ali could look at whatever she wanted to on her phone if she gave her the code. Not that she had anything to hide. She just didn’t want Ali knowing any of her business.
“Pass code? Madison?”
“Okay. Okay.” She didn’t have a choice. “Zero, four, two, nine.”
“Your birthday. Clever.”
So, Ali remembered her birthday. It could have touched her heart, but it pissed her off instead. She didn’t want Ali knowing her birthday or anything else about her. “Just call her.”
Ali did as she was told. “It went to voice mail. Should I leave a message?”
“Let me do it.” Ali put the phone up to Madison’s face. “…available. Leave a message and I’ll call you back.” Beep.
“Jenny, I have a problem. I threw my back out. I’m kind of stuck in my car at the shop. Call me back. I’m not sure what to do here.”
Ali hit the end button. “I can take you to the hospital or home or wherever you need to go.”
“Nope. That’s okay. I’ll wait for Jenny to call me back.”
“You’re going to sit in your car unable to move for God knows how long? Madison, that doesn’t make any sense. I know you’re mad at me, but let me help you.”
“Go inside and get Valerie. She can drive me home.” Madison knew the chances of the shop being slow enough for Valerie to leave Ellie alone were slim. Ellie was just too inexperienced, and Lea mentioned a concert she was going to, so they couldn’t call her in.
Ali disappeared, going around the front of the building instead of letting herself in the back door. She emerged with Valerie in tow a minute later. As Madison had expected, the shop was busy. “I can either drive you or watch the shop,” Ali said. “I used to help out when we were kids. I know my way around the place.”
Madison shook her head and sucked in another breath. Even that hurt. “No, everything’s different now. That’s not going to work.” She was running out of options here. “You can drive me home. But I’m going to need help getting into the passenger seat.”
“I’ll pull my car around. It would be easier if I park close and you just go from one car to the other,” Ali said.
Madison didn’t want to admit it, but that was a better idea. “All right.”
It took several minutes and lots of stopping, but they got Madison out of her car and into Ali’s. Ali gently buckled the seat belt around her. “Where to?” Ali asked.
“Home. Take a right out of the parking lot.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Maybe you should go to urgent care or the emergency department.”
“I just need to rest it and take some meds. I want to go home.” The last thing she needed was to sit in a waiting room for hours.
Ali followed her directions and pulled into Madison’s driveway. Getting out of the car with just Ali to help her was going to be more of a challenge. Ali came around to Madison’s side and bent over her to unbuckle her belt, which would have made more sense if she’d done it before she had gotten out of the car. Madison held her breath as Ali leaned across her and wondered if Ali had done that on purpose.
Crap, Ali thought as she leaned across Madison. I should have unbuckled this from the other side. Madison’s going to think I’m a jerk. “Now what?” she asked as she extracted herself from the car.
“Let me see if I can get out by myself.” Madison cringed as she attempted to swing her legs out. “I guess I need help.”
“Ya think?”
“Never mind. I don’t need your attitude. Just leave me. I’ll figure out how to get inside.”
Ali immediately regretted her words. “Sorry. It’
s obvious that you can’t do this alone. And besides, I can’t leave you here. It’s my car.”
“Good point. Can you help me get my feet on the ground? Slowly.”
Slowly was right. It took almost five minutes of starts and stops to get Madison out of the car. Ali put her arm around Madison’s shoulders and helped her maneuver into the house, thankful that there was only one small step. She tried her best to ignore the feeling of having Madison so close.
She helped lower Madison onto the couch and adjusted a pillow behind her. “Pain meds?” Ali asked her.
“Yes. For sure.”
“Where?”
“Upstairs bathroom, medicine cabinet. It’s the only prescription in there. This happened once before. Although not nearly this bad.”
Ali spotted the stairs, found the bathroom, and got the medicine with no problem. She was back in the living room in a matter of seconds. She read the label on the bottle before handing it to Madison. “Um, when was the last time this happened? Because this expired five years ago.”
“Shit. It’s probably still good? Right?”
“I flunked out of medical school, but my common sense says no. You should get a new prescription. Can you call your doctor? I can go pick it up for you.”
“You went to medical school?”
Ali laughed. “No. I was just kidding. You know I wanted to be a writer.” Ali realized that they didn’t know anything about each other anymore. Ali didn’t even know if Madison had a significant other. Probably not or she would have had Ali call her instead of Jenny. Unless Madison didn’t want her to know she had a significant other. Yeah. She really didn’t know much about Madison’s life anymore. That was something she would regret for the rest of her life—all the time they had missed out on.
“Did you become a writer?”
“We can talk about that later.” Ali hoped there would be a later for them—at least to talk. “Let’s call your doctor.”
Ali made the call and put the phone on speaker for Madison. Her doctor said the old medicine wouldn’t hurt her but also might be less than effective. She called in a new script to the drug store a few blocks away. Ali googled back pain. “We need to ice your back. Do you have an ice pack?” Ali was on her feet heading to what she assumed was the kitchen even before Madison answered.
“I don’t think so.”
The online article had several suggestions for a makeshift replacement. She found a bag of peas in the freezer. Perfect. She grabbed the dishtowel that was hanging on the oven door and returned to Madison. “Can you move forward a little, so I can put this behind you?”
Madison did as she was told and directed Ali to where the pain was.
“Twenty minutes.” Ali looked at her phone. “It’s five fifteen now. If I’m not back take the ice off at five thirty-five.”
“Okay.”
“Anything else before I go?”
Madison shook her head.
Ali ran out to get the medicine and an ice pack. She stopped at Burger King to grab food. The doctor said she shouldn’t take the medicine on an empty stomach. If memory served, Madison liked cheeseburgers, no mustard, fries, and vanilla milkshakes. Ali felt funny letting herself into Madison’s house, but of course she had no other choice. She found Madison in the same exact position she had left her in. “How ya doing?”
“Same. I’m afraid to move.”
Ali held up the bag in her right hand. “Food.” And then her left. “Drugs. Which do you want first?”
“Drugs. Glasses are in the cupboard on the left side of the sink in the kitchen.”
Madison downed two pills in one gulp. She was quiet as she picked at her food. “How are you feeling?” Ali asked after she cleaned up. The pained look on Madison’s face had eased up. The meds must have kicked in.
“Better. Thanks. I’m okay now. You’re free to return to your life. I appreciate your help.”
As much as she hated to admit it, Madison meant it, she did appreciate Ali’s help. It didn’t change anything, but she would have been stranded, still sitting in her car, unable to move if it wasn’t for Ali. With the pain eased up a bit, Madison attempted to stand, but quickly gave up. Too soon.
“What do you need? I’ll get it for you,” Ali asked.
“Nothing. I thought maybe I can go upstairs after you go and lie down.”
“I can help with that. Do you think the stairs will be too much?”
“Never mind.” The last thing she wanted was Ali helping her to her bedroom. “I’m fine here.”
“Are you going to spend the night on the couch? I don’t think you’ll be very comfortable.”
That wasn’t a bad idea. It would solve the problem of getting upstairs alone. “Yes. I think I will.”
“Okay. What do you sleep in? I’ll go get your night clothes and help you get into them.”
“Yeah. I’m thinking no. You will not be doing that.” No way. No how.
“I can do it with my eyes closed.” Ali stood, put her arms out in front of her—resembling a zombie—and closed her eyes. “See. No sweat.” She took a couple of steps forward and smashed her shin on the coffee table. “Ow. Damn.”
Madison did her best to suppress a laugh. The stunt brought Madison back to when they were young, and Ali was always doing something silly to make her laugh. She pushed the memory aside.
It occurred to her that Jenny hadn’t called her back. “Let’s try calling Jenny again.”
Ali rubbed her leg where she bumped it. “Sure.” She used Madison’s phone and put it on speaker. It went directly to voice mail. “She must have her phone off.”
Damn. The meds were starting to make her sleepy. “Ali, you can go. I’m going to sleep on the couch. I’ll be fine.” She would be fine except for the fact that she had to pee. Just the thought of trying to get on and off the toilet by herself sent a moment of panic through her. The last time this happened she was out of commission for three days. Patty, Jenny’s daughter, had helped her out while Jenny filled in for her at the donut shop. Of course, that was before Patty worked and before she had a baby, now two years old, to chase after. She would figure this out. Jenny would call her back sooner or later. She could manage until then. Her bladder disagreed. Damn bladder.
“Madison, are you sure? I don’t mind staying till Jenny calls back.”
“I…um…well, I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Okay. Sure. How should we do this?”
Madison thought about it for a minute. It might be better to pee her pants and ruin her couch than to die of embarrassment. She wasn’t even sure she could pull her own underwear down. She was sorry she’d said anything as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “Never mind. I’m going to wait for Jenny.”
“Madison.”
“What? I can hold it.”
“I get the message. Okay. I’ll go.” Ali picked Madison’s phone up from the coffee table and typed. “I just put my number in your phone. Call me if you need me. Is it okay if I copy Jenny’s number so I can check in with her to see how you’re doing?”
“You didn’t send yourself a text from my phone, so you had my number?” That’s what Madison would have done.
“No. I didn’t think you would want me to have your number. I was trying to be respectful.”
“I appreciate that.” Madison rattled off Jenny’s number. It was the least she could do seeing as Ali had been a real life saver. “Thank you again for all your help. I’ll be fine.”
Ali nodded. “I’ll let myself out. Do you want me to lock the door?”
No one locked their doors in this small town. It was probably one of the few towns in America where people still trusted their neighbors. “No, it’s fine. Have a good night.” Madison hoped that last line didn’t sound like she was pushing Ali out. Which was exactly what she was trying to do.
�
��You too. Call me if you need me,” Ali repeated. Madison was sure she wouldn’t. Ali let herself out. Madison waited until she heard the door close before she attempted to get up to use the bathroom. No matter how slowly she moved, it hurt. She grabbed her phone from the arm of the couch where Ali left it and slipped it into her front pocket. She made it to the bathroom and managed to get her pants down and onto the toilet. She did her business and attempted to get up. There was nothing to hold onto to give her leverage except the toilet paper holder and that wasn’t very helpful. She called Jenny again. No answer. She tried Jenny’s daughter, Patty. No answer.
“Son of a bitch.” She called Ali.
“Hello.”
“It’s Madison.”
“Madison? Are you okay?”
“This is either hilarious or a tragedy. Either way it’s probably the most embarrassing situation I’ve ever been in.” She hesitated, knowing she didn’t have a choice but to tell Ali what the problem was. “I’m stuck on the toilet.”
There was no laugh or even a giggle like she expected. “I’ll be right there,” Ali said.
It took her only a few minutes to return. “Madison?” she called after letting herself in.
“In here.”
“Marco.”
Madison smiled despite her situation and embarrassment. “Polo.”
Ali stuck her head in the open door. “Hi.”
Madison felt her face flush with heat. She was sure she must be beet red.
“I hear you’ve got a bit of trouble.”
“You could say that. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“I’m glad you called me. Can I come in?”
“Not sure how we are going to do this otherwise.”
Ali slipped her arms around Madison and eased her up. Once she was in a standing position, Ali helped her pull up her underwear and pants, keeping her eyes focused on Madison’s face. Madison appreciated that.
