by Beverly Long
“You seem kind of relaxed about what is a very unusual statement.”
She wasn’t relaxed. Just out of choices. “She has a very active imagination. Have you heard the things she says to Ja-Ja?” she asked, forcing her tone to be amused.
“I guess,” Rico said, leaning back against the wall. He tilted his head up, stared at the ceiling.
Maybe he believed her. He could be hard to read.
A nurse walking down the hall stopped in front of Placido’s door. “It’s time,” she said, looking at Rico.
He nodded. Waited until the young woman went into the room before turning to Laura. “That nurse has been in and out for the last couple of hours. Between her and the doctor, I’ve got a pretty good idea for how this will go. He should be in surgery for four to six hours. If it all goes well, he’ll be in the intensive care unit for a day or two, moved to what they call a step-down ICU for the next couple days, and go home within six to eight days.”
“Do you have a good feeling about this?” she asked.
“I guess. The idea that they’re going to cut his chest open, saw through his breastbone and start rerouting blood vessels isn’t all that appealing. But the alternative really sucks.”
She put her hand on his arm. “It’s going to be okay. I can feel it.”
He stared at her. “I’m glad that you’re here,” he said.
Of course it was nice to have company. She didn’t want to make more out of his statement than he intended. She didn’t want to be anywhere else. “We should probably go in,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“I can take her,” Laura offered. “You don’t need the extra weight on your ankle.”
“You sound very official.”
Damn. “Must be the surroundings,” she said. “Makes me sound as if I know what I’m talking about.” She reached for the sleeping child, hiding her own warm face behind the little girl’s curls.
Chapter 12
They sat in the waiting room, a pager on the table in front of them. It would ring, they’d been told, when there was news. But had been warned not to expect to hear much, if anything, for several hours.
She sat with Hannah, grateful that there was a television in the corner of the room. While she would not normally let the little girl watch endless television, she was happy enough with what the PBS station was broadcasting and it kept her occupied.
Rico read the newspaper, or at least he pretended to. He was flipping pages so quickly that at best he was simply glancing at the headlines. When he got through one paper, he picked up another. Janice pulled a wad of yarn and knitting needles from her bag. Charro played with her phone.
The waiting was always the worst. She knew that from experience. She’d had to wait days, hoping that one or both of her parents would find their way out of the coma. And in that time, her mind had played cruel tricks, and memories, long dormant, had popped up. Good ones that brought smiles. Bad ones that brought regrets. Those were the ones that lingered, threatening to pull her under. Why wasn’t I a better daughter? Why didn’t I come home to visit more often? Why didn’t I ask them to visit me? The list was endless.
She reached into her purse and pulled out a paperback that she’d bought at one of the gas stations on her and Hannah’s drive from Nashville. Opened it to page one. On page ten, she heard a buzz. Thought for a minute it was the pager but realized it was Charro’s phone.
“Hey,” Charro answered. She listened to whoever was on the other end and Laura could see a whole array of emotions cross her face. Excitement. Disbelief. Sadness.
Finally, she said, “There will be other jobs. You’ll find something.”
She listened, looking weary. Finally, she said, “Look, I have to go. The doctor is coming.” She ended the call.
There was no doctor in sight.
The only person in the waiting room not looking at Charro was Hannah. But Rico’s sister wasn’t looking back; she was staring at her phone.
“What was that, honey?” Janice asked.
Laura thought it was pretty obvious but understood that Janice was attempting to give her daughter an opportunity to talk about it.
“That was Peter. He went to his interview and he said he was there for probably about ten minutes when they told him that unfortunately, they’d already offered the position to somebody else.”
Rico said nothing.
Janice frowned. “Why would they have had him come in to interview if the job had already been filled?”
Nobody responded. The question just hung in the air.
Over the years, Laura had done her share of interviewing physical therapy assistant candidates. She could recall advice that one of the other therapists had given her once. If the candidate is a real dud and you want to get out of the interview quickly and avoid him calling you back to check on the job, just tell him that you just offered it to somebody else. She’d never had to use the tactic, but was that what had happened here?
How awful for Peter if that was the case. And for Charro.
“I’m going to get some coffee,” Charro said.
* * *
“I’ll walk with you,” Rico said quickly.
Charro paused. “Oh, fine,” she said, and waited for him to grab his crutches.
“So it sounds like it was a tough morning for Peter,” Rico said, once they were ten feet down the hall.
“There will be other jobs,” she said, her tone defiant.
He pushed the elevator button. “I’m sure. Look, I’ve been thinking about Peter’s job search. I think I may have something for him. He’s pretty good on computers, right?”
“Yes.”
“I could use some help with my rental properties. I need someone to coordinate the verification of employment checks that needs to be done on all new tenants.”
“Is that a full-time job?”
Not hardly. In the four rental properties that he owned, there were over a hundred apartments. But there was also lots of stability in renters because he had nice places that were reasonably priced. “My renters all pay online,” he said, avoiding the question. “He’ll also be the point person ensuring that rent payments are made timely.” He had someone who did that job now but she was super talented and Rico could move her into a bigger job.
“That sounds great,” she said. “Can I call him and tell him?”
“Sure. Tell him I’ll stop over this afternoon to discuss the details.” By then, maybe he’d have thought of something else he could do.
Charro hugged him. Tight. “Thank you, Rico. I really appreciate it.”
“I know you do, Charro.”
He wanted to tell her that this meant that going to Mom and Dad for money had to stop—that they didn’t need that kind of stress. But he’d told his dad that Charro wouldn’t know and he intended to keep that promise. “Now, let’s get you that cup of coffee.”
In the cafeteria, he got green tea for himself, coffee for Charro, his mom and Laura, and hot chocolate for Hannah. He picked up a couple of containers of cubed cheese with grapes and a package of nuts. They gave him a tray to carry everything.
When he and Charro got back, he distributed everything, putting the fruit, cheese and nuts in the middle of the table, where everyone could reach them.
“Hot chocolate again,” Hannah said, as if she couldn’t imagine a better world.
Adults really needed to take a lesson from a kid once in a while to be thankful for the small stuff. “That’s right. It’s hot, so be careful.”
He sat next to his mom. Sipped his tea. “Charro mentioned last night that a couple guys stopped at the house, something about a class reunion.”
His mom looked up from her knitting. “Yes, nice men. Both of them.”
“You recall their names?” he asked easily.
She shook her h
ead. “Sorry, honey. I should have written it down. Charro walked them over to the house.”
“What did they say?”
“They said that they were looking for you, that they wanted to invite you to the class reunion that they were having over the Christmas holidays when former students would be home visiting their parents.”
He had not gone to high school in Torcak. His parents had moved here long after he’d graduated. “How did they know to find you here?”
Janice smiled. “I asked them that. They said that they had talked to somebody who remembered that you had an older sister. They found Charro, not realizing that we lived next door.”
“Can you describe them?”
She shrugged. “Well, they looked to be about your age. They were both white with brown hair. Nothing special about either one of them.”
“Okay. What did you tell them?”
“I gave them your address in Las Vegas and told them that Christmas might work out great for you because you generally spent some time at your cabin over the holidays.”
“Did you happen to give them the address of the cabin?”
Janice shook her head. “I can never remember the actual address. I may have said that it was off Hitchville Road, but I just don’t remember. Is something wrong?”
Rico shook his head. “No. But if they contact you again or you get a similar inquiry, just get their names and numbers and tell them that you’ll pass it on to me. Don’t give them anything else.”
Janice stared at her son. “Did I screw up?” she asked.
His mom was one of the nicest people in the world, but she was also a very straight shooter. And hard on herself. “Absolutely not,” he said. The woman had enough to worry about. “I need to step out for just a second, make a phone call.”
He quickly exited the hospital and found his SUV in the parking lot. He got in, found Maddy Bristol’s card on the console and dialed her number. She answered on the second ring.
“Hey, it’s Rico Metez.”
“Wow. Didn’t expect to hear from you this soon.”
“Yeah, it was great catching up. But I realized I had a question that I forgot to ask. Are we having a high school reunion?”
“Not for a couple years. We do them every five. You missed the last one.”
Who the hell had those men been and what were they up to? “That’s right. I’ll do better in the future. Hey, good to see you and thanks for the clarification.”
“No problem. Call anytime, Rico.”
He hung up and dialed the front desk of his building. He was glad when Hank answered so he didn’t have to go through the whole thing with somebody else. “Hank, it’s Rico Metez. I’m following up on our conversation. Were you able to get any security footage of the men who tried to deliver the bookcase to my condo?”
“Mr. Metez, I’m sorry. I should have called you back right away but darn it, I just forgot. We looked but there was nothing. Hate to admit it but we didn’t realize that the camera wasn’t working but that’s all fixed now.”
Rico tamped down his disappointment. “That’s okay. Thanks for looking. I’ll see you soon.” He ended the call. Sat for a minute in his SUV.
He slowly walked back into the hospital. Went to the waiting room and caught Laura’s eye.
“Something wrong?” she mouthed.
He angled his head. “Let’s take a walk,” he mouthed back.
She leaned down and said something to Hannah. Waited until the little girl nodded before she stood.
“Laura and I are going to take a walk,” he said to his mother. “Do you mind keeping an eye on Hannah?”
“Of course not,” his mother said. “She’s such a good little girl.”
He and Laura walked out of the waiting area and she matched her stride to his. “Have we been here three weeks?” he asked.
She laughed. “Not even three hours,” she said. “You looked pretty serious when you were talking with your mom.”
He wanted her to know the truth. For a couple reasons. He thought she was a good thinker and maybe she’d have some ideas. Also, he wanted her to be aware if she saw anything unusual. “Last night Charro said something about two guys coming around looking for my address, to invite me to the class reunion.”
“Don’t those things just sort of happen through social media now?”
“Exactly,” he said. “So I’m sort of wigged out about it.”
She turned her head. “I would have said that nothing could wig out Rico Metez. You’re like a calm lake, very Zen.”
He leaned close. “Only because I’ve had sex several times in the last two days,” he said quietly.
“I do what I can,” she teased. “Did your mom give them your address in Vegas?”
“Yes. And she might have mentioned that I have a cabin off Hitchville Road.”
She was quiet for a minute. “If it was a drone the other night, do you think it had something to do with those two guys?”
Nobody needed to connect the dots for Laura; she did a fine job of that on her own. “Maybe,” he said.
“I hope the cabin is okay when we get back,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful place.”
“It’s just real estate,” he said. “I’m not worried about it.”
“But you worry about people,” she said knowingly. “About your family. About Hannah and me.”
“Yeah,” he said. He’d promised to keep it light and easy. No pressure. “So just be aware. That’s all I’m saying.”
* * *
They were somewhere in the fifth hour when the buzzer on the table rattled. Rico leaned forward and grabbed it. He took it to the desk at the end of the hall. Came back in just minutes.
“Surgery is done,” he said. “The doctor will be out to talk to us in just a few minutes.”
“How is he?” Janice asked.
“The person on the phone didn’t have any information. Was just making sure we were still here to talk to the doctor. But we’ll know soon.”
“He’s okay,” Janice said. “I would know it if he wasn’t.”
Laura wondered if that was true. After so many years of marriage, were Placido and Janice so linked that each would immediately sense if something was wrong with the other? Her parents had been a little like that—hadn’t ever seemed to need anybody else—just happy to be with the other.
She’d always figured that maybe that’s why one of them hadn’t survived the accident—that it would have simply been wrong. Too lonely for the other.
When the doctor came through the doorway, Laura tried to read the woman’s face. But all she saw was weariness around the eyes and faint red lines on her face where her surgical mask had perhaps been just a little tight.
“Mrs. Metez?” she asked, looking at Janice.
“Yes.” Janice’s voice was strong. But she was gripping Rico’s hand so hard that her fingers were white.
“It went really well,” the doctor said.
All the air went out of Janice’s body. “Really?”
“Yes. We did grafts on three arteries, successfully creating a path for the blood to once again flow freely. He’s in recovery now but will be moved to intensive care within the next couple of hours. You can see him once he’s there. Just family. He’s got a tube down his throat to help him breathe and he’s not going to be able to talk to you. Once that’s out, he’ll be fully communicative at that time.”
“Probably asking for his pants back,” Rico said.
The doctor smiled. “He was making jokes all the way to the operating suite. He’s a character.” She glanced at the pager that was on the table. “We’ll page you when he’s in his room in critical care. I’ve got another surgery this afternoon but I’ll check in on him later. His care while he’s here in the hospital will be managed by a hospitalist—that’s a doctor who
focuses his or her practice on patients who are in the hospital. If anything unusual occurs, they’ll be in contact with me.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Janice said, reaching out her hand.
After the doctor left, there were long hugs between Rico and his mom, Rico and Charro, and finally, Rico turned to her. And it felt absolutely natural to walk into his arms.
“I’m happy for you and your family,” she said. The risk wasn’t over yet. There could be lots of complications post-surgery, everything from blood clots to infections, but getting through surgery was the first and most important thing.
Placido would also have months of cardiac rehabilitation ahead of him. She suspected he’d eat that up, enjoying the social aspect of working out with other rehab patients.
“Want some lunch?” Rico asked.
She nodded. “I should probably get Hannah something.”
He turned to his mom and Charro. “Let’s go get something to eat in the hospital cafeteria. Maybe by the time we’re done, we can see Dad.”
“I’m going to call Peter,” Charro said. “Maybe he can run down and join us for lunch. You...could talk to him then,” she said, looking at Rico.
“Good plan,” he said.
His sister walked away to make her call. “What do you need to talk to Charro’s husband about?” Laura asked quietly.
“I told Charro that I had a job for him.”
“Do you?”
“I will,” Rico said.
She studied him. “You’re a good man, Rico.”
“Not so loud,” he said, deflecting the comment. “Don’t want to ruin my bad boy reputation.”
They had reached the cafeteria and Hannah was pulling at Laura’s arm. As they went through the line, the little girl picked out a hot dog and a side of macaroni and cheese. Laura added a side of fresh fruit for her. She and Janice got salads, Rico a stir-fry and Charro picked a burger and fries.
