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“The set with the yellow smiley face keychain.” He grabbed his arm with a wince but turned to look at me. “Wait, you said you were Tyler’s date? As in Mindy’s brother Tyler?”
“Yes,” I said as we went down the concrete steps leading into the garage, then out the open door to the blue minivan.
“Shit,” he groaned while he eased himself into the front passenger seat. “Mindy really is going to kill me now. She’s been after Tyler forever to find a nice girl, or at least one he’ll introduce her to.”
“Well, he didn’t really introduce me as much as we had to pick up a candelabra…oh no! The candelabra!” I shot a panicked gaze at the house. “You sit tight. I’ll be right back.”
I ran inside, looking around the foyer for the candelabra and easily found it. The work was a beautiful sculpture of twining roses, and I would have taken the time to admire it if I wasn’t having a panic attack. Next to the candelabra sat a big box with the name of the bride and groom on it, as well as what looked like a cell phone number.
After checking on Viola and Madison, who had James ready to go into the car, I called the number and crossed my fingers.
“Hello?” a woman asked in a firm voice.
“Hi, my name is Nora, and I was wondering if someone there had ordered a candelabra?”
“Yes!” the woman shouted loud enough to blast my ear. “We were so worried—”
“Look, to make a long story short, no one is available at the moment to drop it off.” She started to protest but I talked right over her. “Mindy, the sculptor, is in the hospital getting surgery on her hand that she sliced open making dinner. I’m about to drive her husband Juan to the hospital because he just broke his arm, and I have no idea what I’m going to do with their kids. For now, they’re coming to the hospital with me as well. I could probably drop it off after he gets discharged—”
“And who are you?” the woman asked in a faint voice.
“A friend. Look, I really need to let you go so I can get Juan to the hospital. How late will you be up? I can call you or, if you can, I can bring it with me to Seaside United Hospital and you can pick it up in the ER.”
“Yes, we’ll meet you at the hospital, that’s no problem. Please let Mindy and her family know we’re praying for them.”
“I will and thank you for being so understanding! Bye,” I said as I tried to hang up the phone with my chin, grab the box with my free hand, and hold the surprisingly heavy candle holder with the other against my chest.
Did I mention the candle holder had sharp, pointy parts?
One of those sharp pointy parts poked my arm and, and as I fumbled with the sculpture, and the box, and the phone another sharp, pointy part raked down my jaw and the side of my neck like fire as I almost dropped the heavy thing.
“Motherfucker,” I hissed out and turned at the sound of a gasp, still fumbling with the candelabra as my neck and jaw burned.
Viola stood in the doorway with a backpack and a baby bag. She took one look at my face and her eyes began to roll back. Before I could even get out the first ‘No!’, she took a header to the floor. For one long moment, I just stood there, so overwhelmed by everything that my brain just stopped for a second. I teetered between laughter and breaking down, but I didn’t have the luxury of either. Taking in a deep breath, I pushed the mental garbage threatening to overwhelm me away and went into triage mode.
I decided to say fuck it to the box and just grabbed the candle holder in one hand. Something dripped down my chin, making me pause. I touched my face with the other as I raced for the bathroom I’d seen off the foyer.
A quick glance in the mirror showed me that, yes, indeed, I was bleeding, but it was just a shallow, long scrape from my jaw near my ear, down my neck. It stopped at my collarbone where blood had already soaked the neck of my pretty shirt. It was bleeding pretty good, so I grabbed a clean washcloth from beneath the sink and got it soaking wet with cold water, then grabbed another and held it to my neck as I went back to where Viola was still out.
Taking the cold washcloth, I put it on her cheeks, and she snapped right out of it with a gasp.
“Shit!” she said then blinked rapidly. “Don’t tell Mom I swore.”
The urge to laugh came again, but I choked it down as I helped her up then put the cold washcloth on the back of her neck. “Come on, we have to get your dad to the hospital. Keep that cloth on the back of your neck, okay? Think you can walk?”
