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But Lana hardly looked convinced.
Claire turned her face and noticed me standing there. At first, another wave of embarrassment washed over her face, but it soon faded into an accepting smile.
“Hi, Keith.”
“Hey. How are you feeling now? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine now,” she assured us.
“Then what happened? Were you able to get to your phone?” Lana asked.
Her eyes darkened. “I don’t want to tell you. You’re just going to freak out, and there’s no reason to. Everything’s fine now.”
“If everything’s fine now, then there’s no reason not to tell me what happened,” Lana argued.
“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But you really are acting just like my mom these days, you know that? I was stuck like that on the floor until the soup I was heating up for lunch started to burn. It set off the fire alarm. Mrs. Hawkins heard it from next door and called the fire department, then rushed over to check on me and called 911.”
“I can’t believe I let this happen,” Lana whispered, her eyes welling up with tears.
“You didn’t let anything happen,” Claire insisted. “You offered to stay home with me. I’m the one who told you to go. I guess I should have known I couldn’t count on Chris. I should be used to that by now. You know how men get when they’re doing their own thing. It’s like nothing else in the world exists.”
What little bit of color was left in Lana’s worried face drained out in an instant. Her jaw and teeth clenched. “What do you mean you couldn’t count on Chris? I thought he was with you last night and this morning?”
Claire’s brow furrowed, and she shook her head. “No. I assumed he got too drunk to drive home and stayed with a buddy or something.”
As if they had somehow conjured him up, Chris suddenly appeared in the doorway of the hospital room.
“Speak of the devil,” I sighed.
We both looked at Lana, who looked as mad as a hornet. She had been pretty fed up with me at times, but I never saw her glare at someone with so much disdain and disappointment before. I vowed never to give her a reason to look at me that way.
“Hey, baby,” Chris said sheepishly, walking over to Claire’s bedside to kiss her on the forehead. He knew he had messed up big time, but he was trying to play it off like he was perfectly innocent.
“Where were you?” Lana growled. “You lied to me.”
“Lied to you?” Claire laughed awkwardly, questioning him with her eyes.
“You told me…”
Lana was cut off by the doctor knocking on the doorframe. He had a chart in his hands, and he walked over to check all of the machines and monitors Claire was hooked up to. He asked a few questions about how she was feeling, then turned to Chris and Lana.
“Can I speak to you two, please?”
The three of us followed him out into the hallway. I took a seat by the door to give them some space, but I was close enough to hear everything they were saying.
“Is she okay?” Lana asked him.
“She’s shaken up, obviously,” he replied. “I can tell she’s trying to act strong in front of all of you, but she was scared when they brought her in. The fall set back some of the healing on her injuries from the accident, but she’s going to be okay.” His tone turned dark and accusing. “It could have been a lot worse. If the two of you can’t work out a plan to prevent things like this from happening, she needs a home nurse to stay with her until she’s fully recovered and more accustomed to her new limitations.”
“Yes, of course,” Lana croaked on the verge of tears. “Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.” Her eyes burned into Chris. “I can promise you that.”
“I’m going to put her back on the pain meds for a couple of days, just long enough to get her through this…”
He continued to explain instructions and everything else they needed to know to take Claire home. It was no surprise that Lana was at rapt attention, carefully taking in everything he said. While Chris looked disinterested, like he could barely wait to leave again.
When the doctor left them alone, Lana stared at Chris in disbelief, shaking her head.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he scoffed.
