by Donna Fasano
Lee’s head twisted to the side, like that of an inquisitive child trying to figure out what the flood of words meant.
“Sorry, I’m thinking out loud. You’ll get used to it.”
“I’m sure I will. Why are you so worried about Angelina?”
“It’s Joe I’m worried about. The little I saw of him today, he came across as a heartbreaker; dangerous and with a subtle deviousness in his makeup.”
“If you mean, do the women like him, then yeah, they do—lots of them. But he has this thing about getting serious. Something to do with his five older brothers who are all married. Hitched to misery, or so he’s always telling me.”
“Is that how you feel?” Coralee decided it was time to bring the conversation back to the important subject.
“No! Of course not. My parents might not have been around that much, but there’s no doubt they love each other, and have a good marriage. I think my birth was just a mistake and never supposed to have happened.”
“I, for one, am glad they screwed up. And I mean that literally.” The gleam in her eye ignited a twinkle in his.
He leaned towards her, looked closely and saw her unhealthy pallor. Her tired lashes were fighting a losing battle.
“Hey, doll, you need your beauty sleep, no slight intended,” he grinned. “I’ll be back later.” Leaning over he gently kissed her forehead. Her eyes gave up the battle and she became immersed in a wonderful, healing sleep. Her dreams were full of a soft-eyed man with unique ears.
Two bagels and cream cheese on a tray, wrapped in cellophane, with a red rose nestled to the side, lay waiting when she woke up.
Chapter 22
“Angelina, I’m sorry if the kid overhead what I said. Trust me, I’m not usually so insensitive around teens, but then again she shouldn’t have been snooping.” Joe felt justified in his explanation. After all, he’d only been trying to protect her.
Face, angled to the side and wearing a peevish scowl, she had him backing up his thought processes. This time, the words passed through his brain. Shit!
“Okay, you’re right. She’s a kid on the run. I should have known to be careful. It’s just that you’re susceptible right now and I didn’t want to see anything more happen to you.”
“I can look after myself. I wish everyone would trust me, instead of trying to take care of me.” Angelina wasn’t backing down. He got that. He just didn’t like it that he was in trouble for caring.
“Right! Got it!” He held up his hands protectively in front him, which made her relax and even coaxed a smile.
“I had a feeling about her, Joe. I’m sorry she left. I truly wanted to help her.”
“Maybe she’ll come back. I’ll keep my eyes open for her in case she takes me up on my offer to treat her. In the meantime, you mentioned your car earlier. Do you want to take a look and see if we can salvage it from the lot in the back?” I need to get away from her. She’s addictive.
“I completely forgot about that, what with everything else going on. Thanks, Joe. I’d appreciate your help, especially since I seem to be holding you up.”
She’s too intuitive; I’ll have to be more subtle. “Not at all. I just thought I’d check the clinic and see if your Tee might be waiting.”
That brought another smile. “Good idea.”
Together, they went outside to where the destruction in the back had them both groaning. There were piles of debris everywhere and pools of dirty water to step over. As they approached the end of the lot, Angelina saw her car. It was the only one left in the rubble, as the others had been cleared away, probably the night before. Her habit of parking the furthest from the building, in order to allow others to get in closer, might have been her saving grace
Stepping over puddles and piles of rubbish, they approached the vehicle. Quickly, he verified that, other than needing a cleaning, the hood seemed to be intact.
“Joe, she looks pretty good. What do you think?”
“She? Your car’s a female?” he teased.
Angelina held out one hand and pointed to one finger at a time as she counted off. “She always goes where I want her to go–no arguments. She looks good and purrs like a kitten. She always runs efficiently. She waits for me—”
“Enough! I get it.”
Her giggles were infectious and, before he knew it, he joined in the merriment. God, she was beautiful. Laughter lit her face and showed off dimples that he’d love to kiss. The sun shone on her hair, turning its black to a shining mass of ebony. Her braids added an innocence to her features that in some strange way had him questioning his own common sense. After all, how many women today weren’t as sexually active as men? Not very many! None he’d been fortunate enough to meet. But, from the first time he’d met Angelina, he’d sworn she lacked experience.
Abruptly, he turned and rushed to get to the car, clearing the mess from the wheels. I need to stay away from her.
Without looking into her face, he turned in her direction and held out his hand. “Do you have a key?”
As she searched her bag, he stifled the grin and instead sighed and feigned a bored expression. It caused a shrug and another self-conscious giggle that turned his insides to pure mush. Her laugh wasn’t at all annoying, just the opposite.
“They’re here somewhere.” Angelina hefted the large carryall onto the hood, and began shifting through all the paraphernalia inside, lifting out five or six large objects to be able to see into the bottom. Finally an exclamation of success proceeded her flinging the keys into his waiting palm.
Joe unlocked the car and slid in behind the wheel. When he turned the key in the ignition, it didn’t exactly purr, but after a few tries, the engine started. Muttering, he began to ease the gearshift into reverse.
At the same time Angelina, who’d moved out of the way, bent over to retrieve some of the objects which had fallen from her purse. The outline of her tantalizing derriere captivated him and his foot came down harder than he’d intended. The little car responded abruptly, careening backward.
Chapter 23
It missed a telephone pole with only inches to spare.
The screech of hastily-applied brakes caught Angelina’s attention. First, she spotted how close the pole was situated to the side of her Mustang and shuddered. Then, for some strange reason, she glanced upwards.
Leaning at an odd angle, the post had one line haphazardly draped over another twisted cable, which was still attached but just barely. Both clung by a whisper and a prayer, as her Grandma Evie was heard to say, and Angelina wasn’t taking any chances. In a soothing voice, she cajoled the shaken, red-faced man swatting angrily at the wheel.
“Joe, stay still.”
“I’m sorry, Angelina. I can’t believe I just did that. I’m a good driver, never had any accidents.” Until I met you. “Now, all of a sudden, I’m a walking disaster, or should I say a driving disaster.” He reached to open the driver’s door, but her shrill voice stopped him.
“For God’s sake, don’t move, Joe. I mean it this time. Stop and look up.”
“Look up? What? You want me to thank God for missing the pole?” He joked until he saw the scowl on her face wasn’t nearly covering the fear.
“Madre de Dios, listen to me.” This time, the strident yell caught his attention. “Don’t move at all. The cable above your head is barely clinging to another. I have no idea if it is a live wire or not. If you move, it could come down and hit you, or drop into the water and kill me.” She knew that would get his attention.
Voice full of authority, Joe resumed command. “Don’t pan....”
“Basta!”
His index finger pointed in her direction. “I won’t move, but you—you back away, slowly. Get to safety. I’ve got my cell phone and I’ll call for backup. They’ll be here in a few minutes. You’re right about us not knowing if the wire is live, and after what happened last night, we can’t take any chances.”
Expecting her to follow his instructions, he slowly reached int
o his shirt pocket for his phone and, like the professional he was, began issuing orders and giving instructions. When he’d finished and saw her still standing there, he bellowed, “If you don’t move that pretty little ass of yours, I’ll get out of this blasted car and move it for you. You hear me, Angelina?”
Recognizing a time where stubbornness could be detrimental to one’s health, his and hers, she moved her pretty little ass.
Chapter 24
In no time at all, the Fire Dept. along with a Search and Rescue vehicle pulled up, and the trained volunteers followed Joe’s every suggestion. They contained the danger, freed him, and soon had Angelina’s car parked in front of the building.
“Quick thinking, Joe! That wire was live and could have created a whole lot of damage. It’s a good thing you noticed it and called us.” Treating Joe with respect, the older man placed an arm over the younger but taller man’s shoulders. “Would hate to see you charbroiled, son. You coming back to the office?”
“I’ll be there soon as I see that Angelina gets home safely.”
Two of the fellows called goodbye, and one called out ciao, as they piled into the truck. Waving, they drove off, this time with their lights dull and the siren silent.
Joe approached her warily. “I’ll see you home, Angelina. I think your car is fine to drive, but it’s still not running smoothly. After you saved me—again, it’s the least I can do.”
“Joe, please don’t take this the wrong way. But I think I’d rather take my chances, and drive the Mustang home myself. My plans are for a car-cleaning, car-washing evening. I couldn’t stand any more of your kind of excitement today. But I do thank you.” Her soft expression took any sting from her words, as did her reaching fingers, which fleetingly brushed over his clenched hand.
“I guess I can’t blame you, sweetheart. It’s been pretty hectic. But I promise you this isn’t the norm for me either. I’ll be seeing you soon. Take care.”
Angelina didn’t know whether to be glad or sad to see the tall man walking in the other direction. Her eyes never left his swaggering hips, moving with a rhythm that had a person wondering if he could hear music no one else could. Grimacing, shaking her head from side to side, she sent another thought winging upwards. Dios, you know my schedule, right? So... why now?
Chapter 25
“I feel like I’m on an emotional roller coaster. I need to get back to work,” Coralee whined, sounding like a manipulative juvenile. “My brain is atrophying from lack of use. I’m gaining weight with hospital food being my main source of nutrition, and that’s just plain scary. Okay! The chocolate everyone generously contributes isn’t helping either. Plus, I’m lonesome away from you guys; talking about it makes me weepy. And maudlin women are pathetic.” She sniffed and mopped at her leaking lashes, then blew her nose loudly.
When Angelina had appeared, Coralee had been crunching oodles of notepad paper into crinkled missiles and hurling them into the corner garbage can. Evidence her aim was way off was the amount of littered pages scattered all over the nearby floor.
It was three days after the earthquake, and Coralee was a basket case. She sensed Angelina’s patience was rapidly deteriorating. Understanding that her crabbiness was due now to pure terror—that she’d been wrong, yet again, about another man—had her acting opposite her normal self. But this time, if she’d made yet another mistake; her heart would take a real shit-kicking.
Sulking, she self-analyzed out loud. “That he’s attracted to me is a plausible concept? Right?” Even she heard her disbelief, but forged on bravely. “If he cared, truly cared, he’d have called me today. Wouldn’t he?” She sank into silence but Angelina, who knew her mind was like a revolving door, sat near her quietly and waited.
It was pitiful to be this distrustful, and so transparently needy. If she and Lee had had a history, Coralee would know what to expect. But they’d only met a matter of days ago. How could she be sure what he felt was real?
All the circumstances surrounding their meeting were clearly "unreal," and for that reason, it was hard to accept the miracle of his caring. Add to the fact she’d never looked worse in her life—and her experience of healthy commitment was nil—left her feeling vulnerable. She admitted most of her so-called beauty came from makeup, plus oodles of creams, dieting and meticulous nit-picking at her image. That the end product turned out pretty well only proved what miracles one could do with some help. Only Lee had never seen her at her best, and if he saw past the bruises, the scars, and her pathetic fear, then the result could be mind-boggling.
Notorious for having had numerous crushes, way too many pointless dates and meaningless hollow love affairs which had turned out badly, she was terrified that once again, she’d misread the signs. Comparing those previous feelings to what Lee aroused in her brought reality home dramatically. For her, this time, it was the real deal.
Hell, she pined for him and constantly ached for him to call. Hearing his voice made everything right in her world. Dammit, why didn’t the bum call?
“Oh, Angelina, I’m scared. What if I’m exaggerating the moments we spent together, imagining his feelings were genuine, and not just my sappy imagination? We both know it wouldn’t be the first time.” Coralee had confided to Angelina about her romantic interlude with Lee.
“Now you stop it, querida. He’s smitten. Crazy for you, like you are for him. When I talked to him, he asked me so many questions about you, I teased him, asking if he was a cop. He laughed and apologized, said he needed to learn everything he could. He didn’t say he wanted to, but that he needed to! Do those words sound like a guy who’s not interested?”
Glowing, Coralee muttered, “I guess not. He didn’t come last night, though he said he would. And I didn’t hear from him again today.”
“Don’t worry; he’ll be here to see you as soon as he’s able. You know he gets called out on Search and Rescue missions, and he doesn’t always have the time to contact you when those calls happen. Now relax and tell me what the doctors are saying. Your bruises are healing, but your overall color is still not good.”
“Seems the tests they’ve been performing have shown a problem with my heart. Now don’t get that goofy look—I’m fine.” However, grabbing Angelina’s hand she clung.
Angelina’s eyes ignited. “I’m not gullible, so don’t place me in that role. Of course, I’m worried. Tell me what tests have been done, and why didn’t you say anything about this before? I would have been here with you.”
“You have enough on your plate right now. Until they gave me the results from the electrocardiogram and the lab tests, I didn’t know myself. The cardiologist just told me a little while ago.”
Seeing Angelina pale with fear, Coralee, now contrite, reassured her comfortingly, “Don’t look so panicky, Angelina. It’s really not bad news. I was only advised this afternoon, and I wanted to wait to tell you in person.” Sheepishly she grinned. “I sorta forgot. Guess Lee is first on my mind. Anyway, no biggie! They’ll soon be performing coronary angioplasty surgery with some kind of a balloon, a stent—whatever that is—will be inserted somewhere in there.” She pointed offhandedly towards her chest. “It’ll open up some thingamajiggie—”
Pale and shaken, Angelina began trembling, her hands waving frantically. A torrent of Spanish continued until Coralee took control.
“Shush, it’s okay. I don’t understand what it’s all about, but they’ve frankly assured me, it’s not considered risky. Unless I don’t have the procedure. That could be dangerous. The anesthesiologist is coming early in the morning to brief me. Seems this old ticker of mine has been acting up now and again for a short while. My interpretation for the burning sensations was heartburn. The palpitations I explained away by thinking I was moving too fast or standing up too quickly. The pain I put down to doing too many sit-ups, exercising too hard. What can I say? I’m an idiot! The doc calls it percutaneous coronary intervention.”
“Oh, Coralee, I’m awfully sorry. It’s probably the stres
s from working all those hours at the office. We’ve been busy lately and you’ve put in scads of overtime.”
“Now cut it out. It has nothing to do with the stress from work. If anything’s to blame, it’s gotta be the stress from the lack of mind-blowing nooky,” Coralee deadpanned.
Predictably cracking up, exactly as Coralee intended, relaxed Angelina. “When will they operate?”
“Tomorrow morning. It seems they consider it necessary before I leave here, and since I’ve been such a pain in the ass, I guess they can’t wait to see that exact part of my anatomy walk out the door. My doctor, Gail Robbins, is a wonderfully understanding woman, and has assured me it’s not such a long or intricate operation, In fact, I can be released soon after. I can’t drive for a while, but as long as I don’t overdo it, I can be back at work in no time. It’s the only bright star on my horizon right now. If Lee would call, then my whole galaxy would explode.”
Angelina broke in. “I’m glad you two have hit it off so well. If it matters to you at all, I like him. He’s been wonderful trying to help me find Tee, the homeless girl I told you about who I found hiding in the office. He’s called to all the most likely places, and has even checked at the police station with her statistics for possible identification, maybe as a missing person. But so far he’s hasn’t found anything. It’s hard when we don’t know her name, and only an approximate age and a description. I’ll keep asking and praying for a miracle.”
“Tell me more about this Tee girl. You’ve told me how you found her, but what was it about her that drew you in so deeply? I know you care about people like her who live on the streets. I’ve seen you stop and talk to them and give them money. But you’re positively obsessed with her for some reason. Why?”
“I can’t easily explain it, except to say she reminds me of someone. When I looked at her, she seemed so darn familiar, and frankly, as foolish as this sounds, I had the overwhelming urge to take her home and keep her like a stray kitten or the puppy that was with her. In hindsight, I wish I had been more welcoming. She was desperate, and sickly, and so very young.”
