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“It’s so cool Harry is coming. I guess I’ll have to watch the playback. My last touchdown.”
“You’ll be a legend,” Clare said. “Like Wendy said, it’s already all over the internet.”
She watched Joanne bristle from the corner of her eye, and it brought her some satisfaction.
“I didn’t notice,” Joanne replied. “I was too busy praying he’d wake up.”
“I woke up,” he said. “And I want to get out of here. Where’s the nurse?”
The door opened and two smiling nurses entered the room. “I’ll take your IV out,” one of them said.
“And I’m here to get your autograph, if you’d humor about twenty fans out in the hall,” the other said, laughing. “They’re all nurses, too.”
“Where’d you get the pictures?” Oliver asked, pleased.
“We printed them off the internet.”
They told him about the furor outside the hospital, the television cameras, the hubbub of fans clamoring, hoping to get a glimpse of him.
“Everybody’s been saying they were holding their breath, so worried about you. So be prepared.”
The hospital arranged for his getaway car to wait at the loading dock, so he left the building with the stench of garbage wafting from the dumpsters in back but in relative privacy. When the car turned the corner, however, it was converged upon by fans and reporters. Oliver waved, smiling, giving the thumbs-up.
“I can’t believe this,” he said, pleased.
“Believe it, son,” Charlie said. “You’ll be famous forever in the annals of Lions football.”
“If I hadn’t scored points, ugh.”
“Yes, but you did,” Clare said. “They were six points behind.”
Laughing excitedly, they were proud parents who reveled in their son’s success and the possibility that he’d move back to California now. But they wouldn’t say anything. They’d leave it to Joanne to start that conversation.
“Was it really worth getting your head bashed in?”
He ran his hands over his curly hair and giggled. “It’s nice and smooth. No concave places.”
“Real funny, Ollie. I guess I’m the only one who understands the gravity of what happened. You could have been killed. That thing, what is it? A subdural hematoma could keep bleeding. You could still die. Read the discharge instructions! It’s petrifying.”
“You’re worrying for nothing,” Oliver said in a soft voice, trying to calm her down. “If I start to slur my words or forget who everyone is, just call 911.”
That further angered Joanne, and she folded her arms across her chest, pouting.
They arrived at Oliver and Jim’s apartment and got him inside and in bed with the remote.
“That was exhausting,” he admitted. “But I’m starved.”
“I’ll get busy in the kitchen,” Clare said. “There’s no grocery store around here though, is there?”
“Make me a list and I’ll go for you before I head to the airport,” Charlie said.
“Thank you. Thank you for being so civil this weekend.”
“Our son could have died. As much as it was inappropriate of her to say so in front of him, that’s a serious thing that he had. Anyway, give me that list. I don’t want to run into Harry.”
“Ha! No, he won’t care, but I know you’re not a fan. You’ve got that young girlfriend, too. Why do you still care about what I do?”
“Clare, I don’t care that you’re with Harry. It’s just that you were unfaithful with him for five years. Or was it longer than that? So I can’t exactly trust either of you.”
