Part 7 (1/2)
Noah had dropped off small silver bowls with colorful handfuls of ingredients. Carlos was fidgeting with the dials to turn on the stove. ”This is about the only thing I can't turn on,” he muttered, making Sarah and Alexis giggle.
Alexis picked up various s.h.i.+ny instruments that were lying on the table, like they were performing an operation. There seemed to be different-shaped knives, a few tools made from wood, and something that must be for pressing garlic. Or an egg. She wasn't very savvy in the kitchen, having never cooked before.
She leaned toward Sarah. ”Can I help do something?” she asked.
”Sure!” Sarah's brow was furrowed. She clearly had no idea what she was doing, either. Yeesh. You'd think this Noah character would give a little more instruction. Right now he was standing with another nearby group of all women, laughing and touching one on the shoulder. Alexis rolled her eyes. She'd never learn how to make healthy chili at this rate.
Sarah handed her one of the s.h.i.+ny knives from the table. ”Want to chop these onions here into small pieces? If the knife doesn't work you can bash them with this wooden mallet thingy. Just be careful, the knife is really sharp.”
Carlos looked over from where he was now was.h.i.+ng cilantro in the small sink attached to their island counter. ”Hey, you can use the mallet on Aldo if he doesn't do diaper duty!”
”Totally!” Sarah responded, laughing and pus.h.i.+ng her dark curls off her face.
”Hey, so what the h.e.l.l do you think scorpion sauce is?” Alexis asked. ”It sounds really weird. I can't imagine it makes for very good chili. What are we, living on top of a mountain or something?” I'm trying too hard, she thought. She was trying to be funny, but she had a bit of a Valley girl voice and the joke came out sounding b.i.t.c.hy.
”Beats me,” Sarah responded cheerfully. ”Can't wait to find out, though. Maybe it will clear up my sinuses. I've had really bad allergies lately.”
Alexis began chopping, wondering if Billy had recorded The Real Housewives of New York City. She hoped so. She'd shown him how to work the TV but half the time he came home from either a shoot or work tipsy and would press all the wrong b.u.t.tons. Plus, he'd gotten red nail polish on the remote and she couldn't get it off, so the play b.u.t.ton stuck. She was lost in thought.
The hum of chatter was all around her, women's laughter. Music was playing, something by Bob Marley that Alexis didn't know the t.i.tle of. Just as she was starting to enjoy the cla.s.s despite the unusual ingredients, she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her right hand, like someone had bitten her.
”Oh, honey, you're bleeding!” Carlos exclaimed, walking quickly to her side and taking her small hand in his own. Sarah looked down, and indeed, she'd cut herself pretty deeply.
”Oh!” she said, as though the screaming-red blood now coursing over her finger and wrist had surprised her somehow. Like the knife had betrayed her.
Suddenly a flock of women crowded around her, fussing over her finger, which Alexis realized with alarm was looking worse by the second.
”Here's some paper towels!”
”Put pressure on it!”
”Lay on your back and hold your legs up in the air!” Carlos shouted.
”That's when you're trying to get pregnant, dumba.s.s!” Sarah shot back. ”And I should know!”
Alexis found herself giggling, despite the situation. She probably should have eaten more than a few slices of turkey breast for dinner. Blood was seeping out of the paper towel Carlos had wrapped around her finger and dripping onto the floor. So much for super absorbency, she thought. Her finger pulsed in time with her heartbeat, a steady rhythm.
She felt a pair of strong hands wrap around her shoulders, and just as she realized how dizzy she was, she found herself staring into the warmest pair of chocolate-brown eyes she'd ever seen.
”Let me take you to the hospital,” Noah said in a calm, steady voice.
”You'd make a good politician,” Alexis told Noah, slightly giddy from the blood loss. She suddenly felt like being silly. ”Like, okay, America, stay calm. Lock your doors. Go under your house into the bunker and lay on the floor.” She giggled even more. Carlos and Sarah exchanged a worried look. Alexis never acted silly. She must be near death.
But Noah frowned. ”My car's parked just out front. I think you're going to need st.i.tches.”
”You can't just leave your own cla.s.s,” Alexis said meekly. Sarah found a white towel and wrapped it around Alexis's finger.
”My cla.s.s, my responsibility,” he said firmly.
”We can hold the cla.s.s next week instead,” Carlos told Noah. ”There's an opening during the week.”
”Done,” Noah said definitively.
And before she could protest any more she was being ushered up the aisle between stoves and felt hands clap her gently on the shoulder from all the women in the cla.s.s as Noah led her gently by the elbow through the room and out the doors.
His rusty blue Subaru was parked in front of the gym, a small detail which Alexis was grateful for, as she really was beginning to feel quite dizzy. She'd bled a trail through the gym as they walked.
”Uh, what's that?” Alexis asked, gesturing to a yellow boot on Noah's right front wheel, which was quite deflated.
”Oh, I just put that on so I can park wherever I want,” Noah said distractedly, as he removed it and threw it through the back window. There was an orange kayak strapped to the roof.
”So it's like a fake boot?” Alexis asked.
”Yeah.” He quickly unlocked her door for her before running around to his side and sliding behind the wheel. He was so tall his head touched the roof.
Alexis was amused. She liked people who beat the system.
Maps and water bottles were strewn everywhere, and the car smelled distinctly of dog.
”I figured I'd take you to NYU, it's close,” he said. He drove quickly, never hesitating before turning or looking in the mirror. He drove forcefully, Alexis thought. She imagined him in bed, bossing her around. She had to look out the window at a wet New York evening to avoid smiling, despite the pain in her finger.
”What?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the road.
”Oh! Nothing,” she said. ”Just thinking about ... chili.”
He shot her an odd look.
”How's the finger?” he asked. He had an old-school CD system in his car, the kind one had in high school where the deck pops out so no one can steal it. He pressed play and strains of Phish rang out.
”Fine. It's really not a big deal, you know, I could have just taken a cab. I feel bad that you had to interrupt your cooking cla.s.s. You won't get paid now.”
”What, and let you never find out what scorpion sauce is?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
Oh. She hadn't realized he'd been listening.
”So, what's your name?” he asked, pulling into NYU Medical Center's emergency entrance.
”Alexis. Alexis Allbright.”
She realized she'd introduced herself the way her father had taught her to do when she was little, and inwardly cringed. Always reach out and shake hands, Alexis. Then look the person right in the eye and state your full name, first and last.
”I'm sorry to bleed all over your car. What year is it?” Her finger really hurt and it relaxed her to quiz him.
”I don't know, to tell you the truth.” He grinned at her, and it was like the sun coming out. She was surprised by the effect it had on her. ”I won it playing cards with a buddy back in Colorado, where I'm from.”
What kind of guy didn't know what year his car was? Interesting. ”So what else do you do, Noah, other than chauffeur girls around who cut themselves in cooking cla.s.s?”
A taxi cut him off. ”Big dummy!” Noah yelled out the window, shaking his fist.
Alexis raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. ”Is that the worst insult you can throw?” she asked. ”Wow, you really are a country b.u.mpkin.”