I needed to know how you were doing so I told them we were married. I had this same conversation with Joan. She’d never heard of me.” He cocked his head and looked at her, his brows raised.
“I never told her your name. All she knows is that I’m divorced.”
“I think she was surprised to find me here.”
Sherri almost smiled. “I’m sure she was.” More tears flowed. “I didn’t get a chance to tell her.”
“Tell her what?”
“About what happened. I lost my job yesterday.”
“So that’s why you were on the highway at that time of day.”
She sighed. “It was definitely a Black Friday for me.”
She kept wiping away her tears. He took a tissue and wiped her cheeks.
“The important thing is that you’re alive. You can always get another car and another job.”
She glanced down at her body. “Right. With my arm and leg in casts, I have a hunch a prospective employer would not be impressed.”
“You don’t need to find a job next week, you know. You’re going to need time to rest and recuperate.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. I’m obligated to pay half the bills for our apartment. Joan depends on me just as I depend on her.”
“Joan wondered how you’d be able to climb the stairs to your apartment, which I think is a fair question. You can’t handle crutches until your arm heals and that would be at least six weeks.”
“Oh, no! I hadn’t gotten around to thinking about that.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe all of this happened in one day.”
“Did you get a severance check?”
She nodded toward her purse. “I hope it’s still in there.”
“May I look?” he asked, reaching for it.
She closed her eyes. “I suppose. I don’t seem to have any secrets from you.”
He saw the crumpled envelope just inside the purse. He handed it to her. “Is this it?”
She opened her eyes and looked first at the envelope and then at him. “With one arm in a sling and the other hooked up to a drip, I can’t even take it.”
“I’ll put it in the bank for you if you like. I’ll need a deposit slip.”
“Also in my purse.”
He found her checkbook and without looking at the balance, tore off a deposit slip and put it back in her purse.
When he looked back at her she was staring at him. She didn’t say anything, just looked at him. After a lengthy silence, he finally asked, “What?”
“I still don’t understand why you’re here.”
“I care about you.”
She sounded frustrated when she replied, “I don’t understand why.”
He smiled. “I’ve gotta admit, it surprised me, too.”
Her eyes drooped.
“Get some sleep. I’ll come back later.”
“You don’t have to. I’m okay.”
“Yes, I know. Just humor me, okay?”
Her eyes closed and he waited for her to say something, but she didn’t. She’d fallen asleep.
He stroked her hand as he studied her. He was glad to see she had a little more color in her face.
Greg stroked her cheek and whispered, “Take care of yourself, little one,” and walked out of the room.
Four
Two days later Sherri woke up in a panic. She’d been having a nightmare, or perhaps her subconscious had chosen to relive some of her worst moments. She looked around her room and saw that she was alone.
She realized she was holding her breath and let it out with a whoosh, her relief overwhelming. The nightmare had probably been the result of knowing that she was being released from the hospital today. Somehow she would have to navigate the stairs to her second-story apartment. Once there, she would be something of a captive until her leg cast came off.
At the moment, getting to her apartment wasn’t her worst problem. How could she look for work like this? No one in his or her right mind would hire her. She wasn’t even sure she could work full-time right away. She’d been in good shape, relatively speaking, but she was a long way from getting over the wreck. Her little car was gone. Her insurance would only pay a percentage of her hospital bills, which were going to be astronomical. For that matter, she might not have any insurance. Had it been canceled the day she was laid off? She hoped it had been in effect until midnight of that day. She’d paid her part of the insurance premiums for the entire month and, as if all of that wasn’t enough to deal with, she also had Greg to contend with.
He’d come by to see her for both of the past two days. She didn’t want him here. She’d hoped never to see him again. Why? Because she still turned to mush whenever she was around him. That was the reason she had asked him to leave her alone after the divorce. She could deal with the hurt and the pain of the divorce as long as it was a distant memory. As soon as she saw him she was instantly reminded of how much in love she’d been with him, and how much he’d hurt her.
One of the things she found attractive about him when they’d first met was that he was a man of action and didn’t talk much. Clams were chattier, she was sure. She hadn’t understood then that without open communication between them, their marriage could not succeed.
Granted, she didn’t expect him to talk about his work. She understood that. Eventually, they didn’t talk at all. She couldn’t live that way. He knew her entire life history. She knew little about his background or past. She understood that there were people who hated to talk about themselves, but Greg had carried his reticence to an extreme.
What had ended the marriage as far as she was concerned was that she’d discovered he’d lied to her. Flat-out lied. The other things had been tough enough to deal with, but when she’d found out the truth about him and that he had hidden it from her for their entire marriage, she knew she could no longer live with him.
And yet… He’d heard about her accident and had come to see her. Okay. She could understand that a little. I mean, they had known each other intimately at one time. She supposed he could have been concerned about her.
However, she was at a loss to figure out why he came each day to see her. It was ridiculous. They had little to talk about. She certainly had no intention of getting involved in his life again.
Each time he’d left she’d politely told him not to come back. He came anyway.
Well, if he showed up today she’d give up the polite part and tell him to leave her alone. If he didn’t show up,
