Page 113 of Rigid

“I bet. I can’t stand hospitals. Places creep me out.”

“I don’t think I like them, either.”

I admired her for a moment, and then cut a piece of pie with the edge of my fork. “Pie’s good. It was nice of Richard’s mom to send it.”

She looked up. “Do you think you and Sandy will get married?”

Her question caught me off guard. I stared at the pie for a moment, and then looked up. I knew how I felt, but had no idea how Eddie would feel knowing.

One thing I couldn’t do, however, was lie to her.

“I think we will, eventually, why?”

She shrugged. “I really like her.”

“What would you think if we did?”

She poked her pie a few times, and then looked at me. “I’d like it.”

“Would you?”

Her eyes lost focus and she gave a slow nod. “Yeah. I would.”

While I fidgeted with my pie, my questions about that night were answered.

“I uhhm. He came up behind me, and grabbed my shoulder,” she said, her voice without emotion.

I looked at her. Seeing her go through the hell of reliving that night would kill me. “Eddie, I don’t think it’s a good idea--”

“I’m okay. Let me tell you what happened.”

I wanted to know, I just didn’t want her to tell me.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

I let out a sigh and pushed myself away from the table. “Okay.”

Her eyes dropped to the table. “He asked for my ring, and I told him no. Then, he grabbed my arm. I uhhm. I hit him a few times, but it’s different. It’s not like kyorugi or shihap.”

She let out a sigh and looked up. “He uhhm. He hit me in the face and knocked me down--”

“Ed…”

She raised her good hand. “Let me talk.”

It hurt to hear it, but if she needed to rid herself of the memories, I needed to let her.

“Okay.”

“He kept trying to take it, and I poked my thumbs in his eyes, you know, like you taught me.”

I grinned and nodded. “Good for you.”

“He uhhm. So, he was hitting me and stuff, and I screamed for Sandy. And then I blacked out or something. It gets weird after that. But then, I heard her.”

“Sandy?”