Considering she has cuts, burns, and bruises everywhere, I imagine sweats would be softer on her abused skin than anything else. “Okay, I’ll be back shortly. Behave yourself,” I tease.
“Who me? I’m a captive audience right now,” she retorts, waving her arms around.
“We’ll take good care of her,” the SANE nurse promises. “Maybe by the time you get back, we’ll have the rest done so she can shower, and you can take her home.”
I nod but don’t reply, my mind already on what I need to get from Mindy’s place. My goal is to make sure she’s as comfortable as possible.
Coming face to face with Jolie as I step out of Mindy’s place was not on my Bingo card for the day, especially when she starts yelling at me. “Whoa, hold on now,” I say, my hands up in a placating manner.
“There’s no holding on for me, buddy,” Jolie seethes. “What I want to know is why Mindy’s Life360 shows she’s at the hospital and neither of you thought to call me!”
I don’t know why she opted to come to the house instead of the hospital, but I don’t ask that question. All I want to do is get back to Mindy, not deal with her best friend. Glancing at Dex, I raise my brow. There’s no way I’m going to be the one to tell Jolie what happened to her best friend. Nope. Not fucking happening.
“Jolie, did you stop and consider that maybe Mindy didn’t want you to know what was going on?” Dex asks.
She turns to face him, and I nearly break when I see tears are steadily streaming down her face. “Dex, she had a date last night, so if she’s at the hospital, something went really wrong,” she whispers.
“Maybe she didn’t want to worry you,” Dex replies, trying to soothe his wife.
I damn near snicker out loud, because she’s past that point by a long shot. Still, I have to try and turn the situation around because the last thing Mindy needs is to have Jolie showing up at the hospital and cause a scene. There’s gonna be a time when she’ll need her best friend, but that’s not right now.
“I won’t betray her trust in me, but I can promise that when she’s ready to let you know what’s going on, she’ll tell you,” I advise. “Now, I hate to break this up, but I need to head back and no, you can’t go with me. As your husband just said, there’s a reason she had me take her and she didn’t call you.”
As I walk back to my truck, I can’t get the devastated look that crossed Jolie’s face out of my head. Still, she’s not my focus.
The woman whose whole life was turned upside down the night before is… and I don’t even question the reason why.
Once back at the hospital, I’m allowed into the room where Mindy is sitting. She has a small Sprite as well as some saltine crackers on the tray in front of her and appears far more clear-headed than she was when I left.
“Oh, thankGodyou’re back!” she exclaims. “Now that they’ve done what they had to do, I feel like my skin is crawling.”
I hand her the bag I packed ,and she wastes no time scrambling off the bed to head to the bathroom. “Let us know if you need any help,” the SANE nurse, whose name is Jaye based on her name badge, says.
“I should be okay,” Mindy murmurs as she glances back at us. Then to me, “I won’t take long, I promise.”
Knowing from the little my sister shared that it might take longer than she’s used to, I reply, “Take the time that you need, Mindy, I’m not going anywhere.”
After the door closes behind her, Jaye says, “Thank you for all you did to get her here without showering and stuff.”
“Like I said, I called my sister because while I know some things, that’s not my area of expertise and I wanted her to have everything she could in order to get this prick locked up,” I state. “Men like him don’t deserve to get away with that shit.”
“She fought, though,” Jaye whispered as she looks at the closed bathroom door. “I’ve done more of these exams than I everthought I would, and we got so much DNA off of her that there’s no way he’ll be able to weasel his way out of anything unless the prosecuting attorney is a complete dumbass.”
“Good. I don’t know her well, but from what Idoknow, she’s got a brother who’s rather protective, and a best friend who’s like a rabid honey badger,” I say. “In fact, her friend was waiting for me when I left her house because she saw from some app that Mindy was here. I didn’t tell her anything simply because it’s not my story to tell, of course, but more importantly, Mindy didn’t call her to come. I don’t understand why, though, because from what I’ve observed, they’re thicker than thieves.”
“It’s because you can be objective,” Jaye replies. “Right now, she needs that… someone who will guide her on what needs to be done. There’ll be time enough for her best friend to smother her with attention.”
Rubbing my hand down my face, I realize how exhausted I am right now. Normally, I’ve eaten, showered, then scrolled through social media before falling asleep. Instead, I’m hungry, slightly sweaty from working, and a slight headache has formed because I’m tired.
“I’d have done it for anyone,” I admit. It’s difficult being in a hospital setting as a regular person, not someone who’s prepared to save lives, but that nurturing, caregiver mentality didn’t shut off the day the cell doors banged close.
Before I can respond, the bathroom door opens and Mindy walks out, looking so small it makes my heart hurt. Every time I’ve seen her out and about, she’s always so full of life it’s like being on the surface of the sun. Bright, beaming, and inclusive; she draws you into her orbit.
Now? Her arms are wrapped around her torso, her shoulders are slumped, and I don’t miss the fearful glances she darts around the room. It’s time to get her back home so she can begin to process what happened. After the police talk to her, of course.
