Part 15 (2/2)
”Nick!”
”'Bye, Lee, I'll talk to you tomorrow.” He disconnected the call and found a morose Dave watching. The reason it was called a hangdog expression was brought into crystal clarity. Nick knew how the dog felt.
”Look on the bright side, big guy. At least you're not in a kennel.” Try as he might, Nick failed to see the bright side of his own situation.
Dave limped into the bedroom, lumbered onto the bed, and fell into a run-induced coma. So much for dogs being good company. Nick wandered around the apartment and, after about an hour, realized what was wrong. He was lonely.
Rosalie rolled over again and looked at the clock. It was only eight-thirty, and she'd been lying down for two hours. What a complete waste of time. How was she supposed to nap after what Nick had done to her? All he had to do was talk to her in that come-to-papa voice, and she turned to unset Jell-O.
Sitting up, she ordered room service. She wasn't hungry, but she needed to take her medicine. In her head, she heard Nick bugging her about the importance of taking medicine on a full stomach.
Oh, G.o.d, when had his voice replaced her mother's as her inner nag?
The phone rang, and she stared at it. It had to be either Nick or Gina. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk to either of them, but she knew wondering who had called would drive her crazy. She might as well answer the d.a.m.n phone.
”h.e.l.lo.”
”Well, ain't that a fine how-do-you-do?”
”Gina? Why are you talking like a yokel?”
”I thought it might take some getting used to. I'm trying to help you out.
”You know, just because Michigan is west of the Hudson doesn't mean it's full of country b.u.mpkins.
”Honey, as far as I'm concerned, there are three cities: New York, Chicago, and LA. If you're not from one of the above, you're a b.u.mpkin.”
”Thanks for the lesson. Now, have you called for a reason?”
”Several.”
There was a knock on the door. ”Hold on, I think my food's here.”
”Okay, answer it, but look through the peephole first. They do have peepholes in Michigan, don't they?”
”No, Gina, Home Depot only sells doors with peepholes in New York, Chicago, and LA. They don't have mad rapists anywhere else.”
”Funny, very funny.”
She answered the door and let the kid set the room service tray on the table. After tipping him, she followed him to the door and locked up tight.
”I'm back.”
”What'd you order? Something expensive, I hope. Lord knows, they owe you for making you fly all the way out there to clean up this mess. Oh, and it is a mess.”
”I gathered. I ordered a steak. I couldn't remember if Michigan was famous for steak or if that was Kansas. Geography was never my strong suit.”
”Don't ask me. If it isn't in one of the six boroughs, I don't know much about it. Sure, I'd like to go to Hawaii, the Bahamas, maybe Guadalupe, but aside from that, the only place I want to be is New York.”
”Gina, there are only five boroughs-”
”You forgot Florida. You've heard of the South Bronx; Florida is the South Manhattan. Don't you know anything?”
Rosalie cut into the perfect steak-so rare, you could save it with sutures-and took a bite, nearly groaning in ecstasy. She'd never known how good it could feel to be able to taste food again. A trickle of blood dripped onto her chin, and she laughed.
”What's so funny?”
”Oh nothing. You know how I like my steak rare-” ”Uh huh.”
”Well, Nick would be calling me Vampira right about now. He says I'm the only person alive that likes steak more rare than he does. One night he was cooking and, well, we got distracted. We forgot about the steak until it was well-done.”
”Eeww.”
”I know. As far as I'm concerned, the term ”well-done” is an oxymoron. Nick ended up boiling some pasta and making this amazing clam sauce. Dave ate the steak. Thank G.o.d, Dave wasn't picky.”
”Listen to you. You miss him.”
”I do not. I miss Dave, not Nick. Though it does feel strange being alone. Nick barely left me all week, and when he did, he seemed to have this innate ability to come back just as I was waking up. h.e.l.l, every time I awakened, he was there with liquids, food, or drugs- sometimes all three. It was amazing, really. He only got on my nerves when he shoved medicine down my throat. But then, that had more to do with the medication than with him.”
”Oh, yeah, I can see you don't miss him at all.” ”He's nice... and a really good sport. He didn't even mind when I called him Nurse Ratched. He gave me one of his don't-mess-with-me looks, but he wasn't very convincing.”
”Sounds like a real prince.”
”I admit, he's special. He'd have to be to like Dave- either that or crazy. It was cute, the way he got so perturbed over the thought of Dave in a kennel. As if I would put my baby anywhere but the Ritz Carlton of kennels. I doubt they offer daily ma.s.sages in Sing Sing.”
”I thought you were going to call him from the airport so he wouldn't give you a hard time about traveling.”
”Yeah, that was the plan, but I called to cancel the doctor's appointment-”
”Oh, you had another appointment with that Barbie clone?”
”No. Nick made me see his friend, Mike. He's a pul-monologist.” ”A what?”
”A lung doctor. And Mike called Nick, and Nick came running over like-”
”Like he cares about you?”
”No, he was more concerned about Dave going to a kennel than he was about me flying to Michigan.”
”Somebody sounds jealous,” she said in the singsong tone third graders use.
”Gina, is there something you need to tell me, or did you call to get on my nerves?”
”I emailed you the report I put together from the trash I got from Randi with an 'I,' La.s.siter's a.s.sistant. After one look, you'll see why the Board of Directors hired us. Talk about a sloppy job. Giving you a hard time is just a bonus.”
<script>