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Chapter 21
Maxi was actively working to hold her foot still as she sat beside her dad’s bed. He’d been asleep for a little over an hour and she had to consciously stop her toes from tapping so that she wouldn’t disturb him. She couldn’t seem to sit still and every move she made sounded like it was being amplified.
Out of sheer need to do something she grabbed the remote and turned down the volume on the television that hung in the corner, which of course was on ESPN.
When she set it back down her eyes met Billy’s, who was standing by the door with Grandpa J speaking quietly. They’d retreated there to give Stephanie, who’d come in a few minutes earlier, room to work. She had no idea what the two men were talking about, but she had noticed that they’d looked over towards her several times. The expressions they wore were far too serious for her comfort. She couldn’t help but wonder if the two men were discussing the incidents back home, but she dismissed that theory since they still hadn’t told her dad about any of it, so she knew that Billy wouldn’t be discussing it here, even if her dad was asleep. Once he was home and got some of his strength back, she planned on letting him know what was going on.
Part of the reason that her heel kept breaking out in its best Fred Astaire impersonation was because her mind kept wandering to the situation she’d been completely ignoring since arriving in Harper’s Crossing. The other part had to do with Dr. Shaw’s visit that afternoon. Her dad would be released tomorrow. Antsy didn’t come close to describing what she was experiencing. It was all she could do to sit still.
If Billy was sitting beside her, she knew that his hand would be covering her knee and she wouldn’t have to give it another thought. So she should be happy that he wasn’t. She’d let her guard down this week big time. Being in Harper’s Crossing, in Billy’s home, spending every day with him at the hospital and every night with him in bed had been a temporary break from reality. But that was all ending soon. Her return to the real world was imminent and she needed to start putting some emotional barriers up or the after effects could be devastating.
“I heard that Dr. Shaw said he’s ready to be discharged tomorrow?” Stephanie whispered as she changed her dad’s IV bag.
Her dad had been in the hospital for six days, and although both he and his doctor believed that he was ready to go home, Maxi wasn’t so sure. Not trusting herself to speak without her reservations being evident, she nodded.
“I bet he’s thrilled.” Stephanie smiled as she continued speaking quietly, “He’s been itching to get out of here. I thought a couple times he was going to check himself out.”
He’d threatened to do just that multiple times.
“Thanks for putting up with him,” Maxi spoke at a hushed volume. “I know he’s not the easiest patient.”
Stephanie waved her hand dismissively. “He’s been great. He’s a big softie underneath that grumpy exterior.”
That was true. Charlie Rizzo was all heart beneath his Oscar the Grouch exterior.
As Stephanie checked the tubing that ran from the IV to the bag, she covered her mouth with her forearm as she yawned loudly. Maxi noticed it was the second time she’d done so since arriving.
“Did that neighbor of yours keep you up again?” Her dad’s voice sounded raspy and thin as his eyes opened.
“I’m so sorry.” Stephanie sighed. “I was trying to work quietly and not wake you up and then that yawn just hit me.”
“I wasn’t sleeping, just resting my eyes.”
Yeah, right. That story might’ve worked if he didn’t “rest his eyes” so audibly. Maxi wouldn’t be surprised if the patients at the end of the hall had heard him “resting his eyes.”
“Oh, really?” Stephanie’s left brow rose. “Do you always snore when you rest your eyes?”
“I don’t snore,” her dad refuted.
He’d never admitted that he was a chronic snorer. Even being presented with video evidence that Maxi had recorded one night wasn’t enough to get him to own up to snoring. Growing up she’d actually kind of liked it. Every night he’d perform a symphony of nocturnal nose breathing that she’d hear through their thin walls. Even now it made her feel like she was home again, back when things were simple.
Her dad pressed the button that raised the incline of his bed until he was seated upright. “So, did you get any sleep today or was trouble at it again?”
“I got about three hours, but it’s really not his fault,” she defended. “I’m the one who needs to get sleep during the day when everyone else is up living life. I think I just got spoiled because my last neighbors both worked in the city so they left before I got off my graveyard shift and didn’t usually get home until I was getting up for work. It wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t share a wall. My bedroom sits beside his garage.”
“You need to go talk to him,” her dad barked. “Tell him to keep it down.”
“Nope.” Stephanie shook her head and the ponytail that her hair was pulled up in swung back and forth. “Not going to happen. I told you he’s trouble.”
“Trouble?” Maxi asked with concern.
If she felt unsafe, then Maxi would make sure that Billy knew and maybe have him stop by to have a talk with the neighbor.
“Oh yeah.” She nodded enthusiastically as she began counting on her fingers. “Dark hair. Light eyes. Big smile. Dimples. And I heard him talking to someone in his garage and I clearly heard a southern accent. T-r-o-u-b-l-e with a capital T.”
“Sounds like you like him, so you should definitely go talk to him,” her dad insisted.
Maxi resisted rolling her eyes. For a man that hadn’t dated in the past twenty years since her mom left, he sure didn’t mind playing cupid in other people’s love lives. If she had a dollar for every time he’d tried to set someone up, she wouldn’t have needed her inheritance to buy her condo.
