No More Running

by Jayton Young

  “Did the police catch anyone, or find anything?” I already knew who did it, but I had a small hope that maybe he had been caught.

  “No, unfortunately not. They dusted for prints in your apartment, but initial reports are saying only your prints were found. They found where the shooter was approximately standing by finding the bullet casing, but he was on foot, and neither Claire nor I saw anyone. It’s not looking good. They recovered the bullet from your wound, but that won’t help until we have a gun to go with it.”

  “How do you know all of this?”

  “The lead detective on the case is an old Marine buddy of mine, so he’s keeping me up to date. He’ll be by in a little while to get a statement from you.” Garret said, taking my hand back in his. “I would really like you to stay with me. Margie has already moved in with Rose. She said she’d had enough of me when I was growing up.” He laughed a little. “I don’t know what she’s talking about, though. I was an angel.”

  “Yea, sure you were. I can totally see that, Mr. I have to know everything and have everything my way.” I smirked at him.

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about.” He tried to look innocent, but it definitely wasn’t working. “It can’t be me.”

  We laughed and talked a little more, but I didn’t answer his question of whether I’d stay with him or not. I really liked him, but there were several things to factor in.

  First, if I moved in with him, it would bring Chuck to his doorstep. I knew he was an ex-Marine, but Chuck was a mad man, so I figured madness trumped training. I didn’t want him to get hurt. Two is that I really did like him. I had from the moment I met him, but I tried to keep my distance. Look how my tastes have run so far. What if I was wrong and he was just like or even worse, than Chuck? The only other person I liked got hurt and blamed me in the end. I couldn’t live through all of that again. I didn’t think Garret would ever hurt me, but I had thought that about Chuck at one point. Lastly, I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know if I ever would be. I had so much baggage; I didn’t want to burden anyone like that.

  Stefan and Claire came back with the food, and my stomach rolled. I couldn’t even try to eat.

  “I’m so sorry that I made you waste money on me.” I told them. I was really hurting now, and I was getting tired. I guess Garret notice the grimace of pain I’d tried to cover because he hit the button for the nurse before saying, “Don’t worry, the food won’t go to waste.” And sure enough, when I looked over to Stefan, he’d grabbed my burger out of the bag and was stuffing it in his mouth.

  “What?” He asked, noticing me and Garret looking at him. I giggled but the movement sent shards of pain through my arm.

  Just then, the nurse came in with a needle and a little vial of medication. “Are you hurting, Ms. Evans?”

  I nodded, so she loaded the needle and injected it into the IV port then checked my vitals, noting them in my chart, before leaving again. Within a couple of minutes my eyes were drooping and I fell into a peaceful sleep.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I woke to two familiar male voices in a low voiced, but heated discussion.

  “I just think it’s awful quick. Even not stopping to sleep, you would have had to stop to get gas and to eat, not to mention the time it would have taken you to pack.”

  “I was already packed. That’s what I had called Dina for yesterday. I had bought a house a couple of days ago over the internet and over the phone with the selling agent. It’s fully furnished and I was going to invite Dina to stay with me.”

  “I just find this convenient timing and quick work.”

  “Garret?” I called. I was very groggy and my vision was taking some time to clear.

  He rushed over to me and grabbed my hand. “I’m here, Di.”

  “Who are you talking to?”

  Before he could answer, another man came up to the bed. “Hey there, Diana. You had me worried.” Looking up, I saw Doc. He was all disheveled and looked like he hadn’t slept in a while.

  I let go of Garret’s hand and held it up to Doc. “I’m so happy to see you.” I said as I pulled him down for a one-armed hug. “Did I hear right? Do you already have a house?” He straightened back up and then sat down on the edge of my bed, being careful not to jostle me too much.

  “Yes, you did. It was in the works when I talked to you the other day and told you I was transferring down, and I closed on it yesterday. That’s what I had wanted to tell you on the phone.” He said smiling down at me. “I had hoped you would stay with me. It’s a pretty big house for a bachelor to live in by himself. It has plenty of rooms and bathrooms. The house even has a storm shelter for hurricane season.”

  I saw a perturbed look cross Garrets face, while Doc’s held a hopeful expression. “I’m sorry, Doc, I was thinking of staying with Claire. You know, girls sticking together and all that.” Doc’s face fell as he nodded, but I saw relief on Garret’s face.

  This was going to get weird and awkward. Garret had made his feelings and wishes clear, but I had never thought Doc felt that way. Could he really be hoping for more than friendship? I mean, he’s ten years older than me. He couldn’t like me that way, could he? I know age doesn’t matter, but I had just never thought of Doc that way.

  “Well,” Doc said, breaking the silence we’d lapsed into. “I start this coming Monday as head of the ER here. I’m praying I won’t be seeing in there all the time like I used to.”

  “Come on, Doc. You know that this is the first time I’ve been in the hospital since I left.” I gave him a look. “You know what this means. Are you really sure you still want to be my friend?” Without really meaning to, I stressed the word friend. He lowered his eyes when I did, but he nodded. “I’ll always be your friend. I told you that I’m here for you now and we’ll make a stand together.” He said looking back into my eyes. “Your new friends included if they’d like to be. I think that between all of us, we’ll be able to keep you safe.”

  “It’s not just me that I’m worried about.” I said softly.

  Garret came up to stand beside Doc. “We’ll work together to keep everyone safe, and we will catch your ex.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I was released a week later. The wound had gotten an infection in it, so they had to clear that up before they let me go. The police still had not come up with any more on my case. Nobody knew where Chuck was. It was like he had disappeared. There was no debit card or credit card activity. According to Garret, there had been no activity in his bank account at all since he took leave from the force. It made me increasingly more nervous; not knowing where he was, what he was doing, or what he was planning. Garret said the investigator still had some things to check into, but something was not right with the reports they’d been given.

  I went to Claire’s house to stay. It was still awkward when Doc and Garret were in the same room together. They had hostility toward each other that I didn’t understand, but they tried to cover it up, so as not to upset me.

  Doc and I still talked as we always had, but it was with the undertone of his elevated feelings for me, but he never said anything or tried to push me in anyway. He spent all of his off time with me, either at Claire’s, or at his house. He did ask me to stay with him once again after I left the hospital, but I declined telling him that even with my injuries, Claire was going to be working with me on some defensive moves, which was the truth. I found that I was actually pretty good at it. After four weeks of working with her and Stefan, I could counter almost any attack move they brought my way; and that was with the cast on. I couldn’t wait to get it off.

  Garret was always there to cheer me on. He had asked me out a couple of times, and I really did want to go out with him, but I felt bad because Doc wanted the same thing, though he hadn’t asked. I didn’t want to rub it in his face.

  I finally broke down one day and told Claire about it.

&nbs
p; “You can’t let what Doc feels stop you.” She said. “As you said, he hasn’t said anything other than asking you to stay with him, and he always offers you your own room if you would decide to stay. I say go for it with Garret. I like Doc and all that, but I admit I’m biased toward Garret. I’ve watched him mooning over you for too long.”

  “I guess you’re right. Maybe I’m reading more into what Doc’s doing and saying than there is.” I thought about it for a minute and nodded. “I’m going to say yes to Garret next time he asks.”

  “Why wait, Di. Be a modern woman and call him; ask him out.”

  “What if he turns me down?” I was nervous, of course for all of the obvious reasons, but also because the only person I ever dated was Chuck. “I mean, I’ve turned him down whenever he asked me.”

  “Girl, he is not going to turn you down. He wants to be with you too bad.”

  I finally said to hell with it and picked the phone up to call him.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Garret.” I said softly.

  “Hey!” He sounded excited to hear from me. Probably because this was the first time I actually called him. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yes, everything is fine, but I had something to ask you.”

  “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “You know that Doc takes my cast off on Friday? I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me on Friday night to celebrate.” I asked hesitantly.

  “YES!” He sounded as excited as a five year old who just got a huge lolly-pop.

  I giggled. “Are you sure? You can take some time to think it over.” I said teasing him.

  He laughed at me like I’d said something stupid. “Are you crazy, woman?! I’ve wanted to get you on a date with me for how long? Do we really have to wait for Friday?”

  “It’s only two days away, and I would love to not look like a mummy when we go out.”

  “Fine.” He sulked, but then perked right back up. “Will you go with me to a movie?”

  “Sure, what movie?”

  “Happy Feet Two. I’ve wanted to see it, but it wouldn’t seem manly if I went by myself, so now I can use you as an excuse.”

  I had never seen or heard Garret act like this. I had a feeling that this date would be very interesting.

  Chapter 7

  “You’ll have to wear the sling at all times. Of course you can take it off to shower, but if I were you, I’d even sleep with it on until your physical therapist tells you otherwise.” Doc had just removed the cast from my arm, and was giving me advice on helping my arm gain strength quicker. “If you try to use your arm to much, it could slow the healing process for the muscles that were torn.”

  “Can I go a little while without it if I try not to use my arm too much?” I asked.

  “It would be better if you didn’t, why?”

  “I didn’t want to have to wear it on my date tonight.” I told him. His eyes hardened for a moment, but then he smiled, though it didn’t seem to reach his eyes.

  “You finally said yes to Garret?”

  “Yeah. I called him up and told him I would go with him today after I got my cast off. I didn’t know I’d still be limited and have to wear this thing, but I’ll make due.”

  “Diana, are you sure you can trust him? I know his background check came back clean, but I just don’t want you to get hurt again in any way.” He didn’t sound upset, just like a concerned friend. Maybe I had been wrong about him and just reading into things that weren’t there.

  “Yes, I think I can.” I smiled as I thought back over the past weeks. He hadn’t let my turning down affect the way our friendship was going. He was still easy going and fun to be around. “He was raised right. I don’t think he would ever hurt me on purpose. Mrs. Chambers would have his hide if he did, though.”

  He looked at me for a minute, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He didn’t seem angry, though.

  “Alright,” He said with a slight smile, but again it didn’t reach his eyes. He seemed kind of sad, and I felt bad for him. “If you trust him and like him, I’ll support you. You deserve happiness after all the stuff you’ve been through. So, what have you got planned for your date tonight?”

  That’s why I liked Doc. He had always put me first and supported me in anything, no matter how he felt about it, which in this case I just couldn’t get a read on. We talked for a while longer, me telling him about my plans, and him telling me about a nurse who’d been flirting with him. He was thinking of asking her out, and I was glad to see that he was finally taking time for himself. If he dated after I left, he never said anything, but I know he hadn’t been before. He had spent all of his time working and told me that, outside of work, I was the only one he talked to.

  ****************************************************************************

  I had spent an hour and a half showering and getting myself fixed up for the date. It felt really nice, and Claire even helped with my hair once she got home from work. She had told me how funny it had been to watch Garret. She said that he hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything, and seemed like he had been walking around on cloud nine.

  “Stephan finally made him go home around two o’clock when he had not heard a conversation someone was having with him. The man had been talking for twenty minutes and Garret had no idea what he’d been saying. Luckily though, Stephan took care of whatever it was.”

  That made me smile. I loved that I seemed to have that effect on him.

  “So, what are you going to wear?” She asked.

  “I was thinking about my black slacks and purple blouse. I want it to match this stupid sling I have to wear. I asked if I could go without it, but Doc said it would slow the healing down if I did, so I’m stuck.” I had picked a purple sling because it was my favorite color, but didn’t think about the fact that it didn’t match half of my clothes. I was stupid to have done that. Now I would have to dress to match it. I thought about buying different colors, but I had to talk to the therapist about how long I’d have to use them to know whether it would be worth spending the money.

  After I got dressed and slipped on my black flats, and added a gold necklace and ear rings I had bought, I went down to the living room to get Claire’s opinion, but Garret was already there. He was twenty minutes early. When he saw me, his jaw dropped, and he just stared. I looked down at myself wondering if something was wrong, but I didn’t see anything. I hadn’t really done anything different except wearing make-up. I normally didn’t because it would break my skin out if I wore it for too long, but I had wanted to look nice. Clair had French braided my hair, leaving a couple of pieces hanging. She had curled those.

  “You look beautiful.” Garret said when he was finally able to close his mouth.

  My face heated, and I knew it was probably beet red. I had always blushed at the smallest things. It was a curse I’d had to live with all of my life, but I hadn’t had a reason to blush for a long time until recently.

  “Are you ready to go? I know I’m early, but I just couldn’t wait. We can get there early and have the pick of the best seats…”

  I laughed at him, and he actually blushed when he realized he’d been babbling. “Oh, shut up and come on.” He said with a grin, gently taking hold of my right arm to lead me out of the house.

  “Pushy, pushy.” I said giggling.

  He had me laughing the whole ride to the movie theater, telling me stories of his ‘innocent youth’. He told me of multiple things he and Stephan would get in trouble for, only to proclaim their innocence. He said that Margie never believed him, though and he spent most of his time being grounded for one reason or another.

  “I mean, come on, look at this face.” He said trying, but again failing to pull off an innocent look. “Could I really do all of the stuff I was accused of? Does this look like the face of a boy who’d put dye in the soap dispensers in the shower stalls at school?”

  Still giggling, I nodded. “I can totally see that.�
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  He just huffed and pouted, but I could see the amusement in his eyes.

  I couldn’t believe it when we got to the theater and he actually did buy two tickets for Happy Feet Two. I just shook my head as he held my hand leading me in the door to the concession stand.

  “Did you think I was lying? I really love movies like that, but usually have to wait for the DVD to come out.” He said. “Now I can use you as my cover for as long as you’ll allow me to.”

  “Sure, big guy. Anytime.” I said indulgently.

  He ordered us a large popcorn and drink to share. It was free refills on larges, so it only made sense.

  “I’m glad you said that, shorty. Another Alvin and the Chipmunks movie is coming out. We can see it next week.” He said in a boyishly hopeful voice.

  I just shook my head. That this big hulk of a man was just an overgrown kid, was too much, but I loved it. That thought stopped me for a minute. I thought that I may have been actually falling for this man, and to me that was a scary thought. I didn’t think I was ready for that.

  “What’ wrong?” He asked when he realized I had stopped.

  “Nothing. I was just remembering that I hadn’t seen any of the other Chipmunk movies.” I said lamely, but sadly it was the only excuse I could come up with. I didn’t want to spill the truth to him.

  We watched the movie, and believe it or not, I actually loved it. I never moved my eyes from the screen.

  “That was so cool how they all came together to help in the end.” I said as we exited the theater hand in hand. “Thank you for bringing me to this movie. I really enjoyed it, and now I want to see the first one.”

  “Well, if you’d like to, we can go back to my place after dinner and have a Happy Feet and Chipmunk movie marathon.” He said, again he sounded hopeful of my affirmative answer, and with the look on his face I couldn’t refuse.

  We headed to the Golden Palace; the best Chinese food around. It was a bit crowded so we were seated in the middle of the restaurant at a table for two. We both ordered iced teas and decided to share a poo-poo platter. That way we could both sample several things and still have the won-ton soup.