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You could change subjects on JB without him wondering why.
"Wow," he said, impressed. "She's smart and single."
I wiggled my eyebrows in a significant way.
"You think I oughtta ask her out?" JB looked as thoughtful as it was possible for him to be. "That might
be a good idea." He smiled down at me. "Long as you won't date me, Sookie. You're always number
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one to me. You just crook your little finger, and I'll come running."
What a sweet guy. I didn't believe in his devotion for a minute, but I did believe he knew how to make a
woman feel good, even if she was as sure as I was that I looked breathtakingly bad. I felt pretty bad,
too. Where were those pain pills? I tried to smile at JB.
"You're hurting," he said. "I'll send the nurse down here."
Oh, good. The reach to the little button had seemed longer and longer as I tried to get my arm to move.
He kissed me again as he left and said, "I'll go track that doctor of yours down, Sookie. I better ask her
some more questions about your recovery."
After the nurse injected some stuff into my IV drip, I was just looking forward to feeling no pain when
the door opened again.
My brother came in. He stood by my bed for a long time, staring at my face. He said finally, heavily, "I
talked to the doctor for a minute before she left for the cafeteria with JB. She told me what-all was
wrong with you." He walked away from me, took a turn around the room, came back. More staring.
"You look like hell."
"Thanks," I whispered.
"Oh, yeah, your throat. I forgot."
He started to pat me, thought the better of it.
"Listen, Sis, I gotta say thank you, but it's got me down that you stood in for me when it came time to
fight."
If I could have, I'd have kicked him.
Stood in for him, hell.
"I owe you big, Sis. I was so dumb, thinking Rene was a good friend."
Betrayed. He felt betrayed.
Then Arlene came in, to make things just peachy keen.
She was a mess. Her hair was in a red tangle, she had no makeup, and her clothes were chosen at
random. I'd never seen Arlene without her hair curled and her makeup loud and bright.
She looked down at me boy, would I be glad when I could stand up again and for a second her face
was hard as granite, but when she really took in my face, she began to crumble.
"I was so mad at you, I didn't believe it, but now that I'm seeing you and what he did ... oh, Sookie, can
you ever forgive me?"
Geez, I wanted her out of here. I tried to telegraph this to Jason, and for once I got through, because he
put an arm around her shoulders and led her out. Arlene was sobbing before she reached the door. "I
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didn't know ..." she said, barely coherent. "I just didn't know!"
"Hell, neither did I," Jason said heavily.
I took a nap after trying to ingest some delicious green gelatin.
My big excitement of the afternoon was walking to the bathroom, more or less by myself. I sat in the
chair for ten minutes, after which I was more than ready to get back in bed. I looked in the mirror
concealed in the rolling table and was very sorry I had.
I was running a little temperature, just enough to make me shivery and tender-skinned. My face was blue
and gray and my nose was swollen double. My right eye was puffy and almost closed. I shuddered, and
even that hurt. My legs ... oh, hell, I didn't even want to check. I lay back very carefully and wanted this
day to be over. Probably four days from now I'd feel just great. Work! When could I go back to work?
A little knock at the door distracted me. Another damn visitor. Well, this was someone I didn't know.
An older lady with blue hair and red-framed glasses wheeled in a cart. She was wearing the yellow
smock the hospital volunteers called Sunshine Ladies had to don when they were working.
The cart was covered with flowers for the patients in this wing.
"I'm delivering you a load of best wishes!" the lady said cheerfully.
I smiled, but the effect must have been ghastly because her own cheer wavered a little.
"These are for you," she said, lifting a potted plant decorated with a red ribbon. "Here's the card, honey.
Let's see, these are for you, too ..." This was an arrangement of cut flowers, featuring pink rosebuds and
pink carnations and white baby's breath. She plucked the card from that bowl, too. Surveying the cart,
she said, "Now, aren't you the lucky one! Here are some more for you!!"
The focus of the third floral tribute was a bizarre red flower I'd never seen before, surrounded by a host
of other, more familiar blooms. I looked at this one doubtfully. The Sunshine Lady dutifully presented me
with the card from the plastic prongs. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]