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I found her sitting next to her mom, and it looked like her mom had already dozed off for the night. Beatrice said that she had stayed with me many nights, sitting in the room with me when I was sleeping. I hadn't known it then, but knowing it now gave me some sense of guilt. Here she was being the perfect daughter, and here I was expecting nothing but the worst. I really didn’t know why I was messing this up so bad. I wanted to leave, I didn't even want her to know that I was here, but she looked over at just the right time and then had this huge smile on her face. I didn't deserve that smile.
“Hey, baby, what are you doing here?”
Baby. That's what she called me. It probably only would have been worse if she called her me her love. She's being a good daughter, dutiful as always, just like she had been for me, and I had accused her of cheating. I hadn't said it out loud, but I had already thought it in my heart, and it felt even worse to do it that way. I didn't know what I was thinking. Of course, Beatrice wasn't going to do something like that. How could she? I was her baby.
It just kept running through my head, repeatedly, and my guilt just became too much. She said something was off and asked me if everything was alright.
“I was just worried. I haven't seen you or heard from you for a while and I just wanted to make sure everything is alright.”
Beatrice told me that she was better now that I was there. It just made me feel even worse.
“Do you want to go get something to drink? They have coffee on 4 that isn't too bad.”
She smiled but disagreed. “No, not coffee. There is no good coffee in this hospital.”
“Then just tell me what you want, Beatrice. I’m here to deliver.”
It was the middle of the night, and I would have done pretty much anything to keep her off the floor where Dr. Thompson was. They were going to run into each other soon enough, I knew that because he was one of her mother’s doctors, but it didn't mean that it had to be tonight. Tonight, I was her baby, and we were going to find something to do while she was still in such a good mood. I was an opportunist above everything else, and I was going to take this opportunity and use it for what I wanted.
* * *
Beatrice’s mothergot out of the hospital and Beatrice had more time. We were spending it all together, even though there were complications. Lester was still avoiding me and that just wasn’t going to do. I needed to talk to Lester and her parents. There was a tension between Lester and me, my best friend, and it was time to fix it. I was still unsure how I was going to do it, what I would say to make all of this mess go away, but I was going to make it happen.
Lester was working with another partner at work, but I talked to Danny and made sure that I was the one that was riding with Lester today. We were going to work this shit out between us, even if it came to blows one more time.
We were riding in the firetruck to go drop it off for maintenance. There was another truck that we were picking up and it was set to be a day of driving. That meant that we were locked into a cab together and we were going to have to talk this out. He wasn’t going to have a choice. Lester had been avoiding this conversation like the plague, but now he wasn’t going to be able to.
“Lester, we need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk because all you ever want to talk about is Beatrice.”
He was right, I had been trying to broach the subject for a month, but I had not been having much success. He was avoiding me at all costs, avoiding this conversation we were about to have, but he couldn’t anymore. He was stuck in here with me and we were going to figure it out. That was the only choice we had because I was sick to death of the way things were going between us. I didn’t want to be like this anymore.
“Well, today isn’t going to be any different.”
“You did this on purpose, got us together like this?”
I didn’t deny it. Lester blew out a breath and told me that I had some nerve. He was right, I did, but I had to. What was going to happen next was important.
“I need to ask you something, Lester.”
He scoffed. “I swear if you are asking to marry my sister, Jeff…”
I was. How did he know?
“I am.” The words rushed out, like they were afraid I would lose my nerve to say them, if I didn’t do it now.
He looked at me with intent in his eyes. I thought he was going to hit me. “Do I need to pull over so we don’t wreck? I don’t want to spend any more time in the hospital.”
Lester just groaned and shook his head. “Fuck!”
For once, Lester’s favorite four letter word seemed to sum it up nicely. That’s exactly what I was thinking.
29
Beatrice
Jeff left me a message, telling me to meet him at his place. He didn’t say what was going on, just that it was important that I get there as soon as I could. My mind was working on all sorts of scenarios. It took time to get up the mountain road and by the time I got there, I didn’t see Jeff’s car.
